Using, Adapting and Creating Progressions covers the ways that you can structure, deliver and prepare for lessons. Learn how to put together activities to develop new skills, structure presentations and deliver information. Understand how to create longer teaching sessions to explore the mountain and continue to develop skills.
Progression Building (Getting Your Students from A to B) (Level One)
Here, the focus is on building effective progressions for teaching, starting with decision-making processes and instructor experience. It highlights how instructors can adapt activities based on the student’s development and needs, from copying proven progressions to creating customized ones. The content also explores how progressions align with skill acquisition phases—cognitive, associative, and autonomous—and how instructors can modify teaching methods based on a student’s unique motivations and learning styles.
Decision Making & Building Progressions
After the lesson setup, there will be a time when an initial activity is introduced, analyzed, and then adapted to the next step. Once this process is repeated multiple times, the series of activities can be referred to as a progression.
A progression is a series of steps taken to move a student from one point of their development to the next. Progressions are often described as linear, logical, gradual, or step-by-step, with each step being appropriate for the student’s level.
While this might sound straightforward, building a successful progression requires good decision-making by the instructor. The instructor must decide how and when to adapt the activities to suit the student’s needs.
Decision Making and Experience
Decision-making in building progressions is developed over time, with instructors gaining experience to help guide their decisions. A good instructor can draw on prior experiences to make more educated decisions about what will work best for the student.
Recognising common faults or movement patterns further aids decision-making, as instructors learn from what activities have proven successful for students in the past. This ability to reflect on past lessons and outcomes will help instructors continuously improve their approach.
Three Key Factors for Building Successful Progressions
When making decisions about how to build a progression, the instructor should consider three main factors:
The next sections will dive into these three decision-making factors in more detail, explaining how each contributes to creating effective progressions.