M1: 9 Jul 2016 - Reydon

Do you have many years of experience teaching learners to handle a bell? One thing that is for certain you will learn so much more on the ART Teacher Training Scheme Module 1 on Teaching Bell Handling.

This training day, apart from being very well organised and put together, offers so much more than I anticipated. Graham Nabb is an excellent tutor and a very skilled teacher – just as well, so that he can pass on not only the theory but demonstrate the good practice.

One of the biggest issues we have in the bell ringing exercise is the quality of teaching newcomers how to ring. It may be that our own habits and style could do with some fine tuning (who looks in the mirror at themselves when they are ringing?) but it is also the way in which we impart information to others that we need to understand.

This training day is not just “how to teach a person to ring a bell” but gives the knowledge and understanding of how people learn, the different styles of learning and the different ways people progress with their learning. One size of teaching does not fit all, as we discovered trying to teach each other.

Another very helpful concept demonstrated was the teaching of simple exercises that can improve bell handling and techniques, without the rope being pulled or bell being swung, so no panics about losing control of the rope or cracking the stay – how reassuring for the learner and instructor.

So, by the end of the day, you become a more reflective teacher, not just looking at the issues of the learner and handling the bell but how you as a teacher are performing and can best improve your performance so that learning to ring a bell becomes a positive and enjoyable two-way experience. The training doesn’t stop at the end of the day – but that is material for another time.

The traditional ‘ringers’ tea’ (lunch) and hospitality at Reydon was excellent and the church room next to a lovely ring of 6 makes the venue perfect too.

Thank you to all involved in the organisation of the training day.

Veronica Downing, Chediston

Teaching Bell Handling

Practical advice for teachers, right from the first lesson.