The Open Water Teaching Assignments that make up the IDC are designed to teach you how to brief students on previously taught skills and have them perform them in the water. Each assignment is made up of two skills.

For my first teaching assignment I’ll be assessing students on two skills from Open Water Dive 2:

Alternate Air Source – Stationary AND 5 Point Assent

Briefing

(introduce yourself and state the objectives)

Skill 1: Alternate Air Source – Stationary

Objective: (read it verbatim from the slate)

In a stationary position, secure and breathe from an alternate air source provided by another diver. Students alternate roles and act as both donor and receiver.

Value: (why is this skill important)

In the unlikely event that you find yourself in an out of air situation, you will be able to breathe from your buddy’s alternate air source.

Skill 2: 5-Point Ascent

Objective: (read it verbatim from the slate)

Using the 5-point method, ascend at a rate no faster that 18 metres/60 feet per minute while maintaining buddy contact.

Value: (why is this skill important)

Practising this skill will help you avoid critical steps when ending a dive and help you maintain buddy contact.

Review:

Skill 1: (state the key points of the skill)

Remember to show the signal for out of air and to share air. The donor should pass the regulator to the out of air diver. Remember to hold on to each other’s right arm, show the signals for ascent and also raise the LPI.

Skill 2: (state the key points of the skill)

Remember to follow the acronym STELLA (signal – time – elevate – look, listen – ascend). Keep contact with the line. Do not ascend faster that me, remember to deflate BCD on ascent.

Signals:

General: cut, redo, up, down, stop

Skill 1: (which signals will you use)

Signal for skill, tap arms, lift LPI,

Skill 2: (which signals will you use)

Signal for skill, slow down, deflate BCD, grip line,

Organization:

As we come to end the dive, we will find a sandy patch to settle down on and perform the Alternate Air Source skill, once you have both completed that we will then ascend together using the line. Remember that I will come to you and give you the signal before performing the skill, please don’t start it before this otherwise I will have to make you do it again.

Problem Solving

Skill 1:

Problems:

1. Failure to signal and secure alternative air source from buddy
2. Difficulty securing, clearing or breathing from alternate
3. Failure to make bubbles
4. Lack of secure contact

Solutions:

1. Remember to signal your buddy that way he knows what is happening to you.
2. Unclip and pass the alternate to the out of air diver, making sure you give it to him the correct way up.
3. Remember to make bubbles as we shouldn’t be holding our breath
4. Hold on to your buddy, you don’t want him to float away from you, he’s the only one with air

Skill 2:

Problems:

1. No – five point check
2. inflating BCD to ascend
3. ascending too quickly
4. not looking and reaching up
5. Not using the line.

Solutions:

1. Remember to make a five point check, this helps you to make all critical steps in the ascent process.
2. Don’t inflate your BCD to ascend, remember to kick with your legs to help you ascend. We don’t want a runaway ascent.
3. We should not be exceeding 18 metres/60 feet per minute. Go slow.
4. Remember to look up and reach, we don’t want to bang our heads onto an over head object
5. Use the line to help you ascend, it will keep you close to your buddy and it will help you achieve the correct ascent rate.

Debriefing

Positive reinforcement:

I really like the way that you

Identify problems :

However, I did notice the following problems.

Solutions:

Remember

Restate Objectives:

So we can now…

In a stationary position, secure and breathe from an alternate air source provided by another diver. Students alternate roles and act as both donor and receiver.

Using the 5-point method, ascend at a rate no faster that 18 metres/60 feet per minute while maintaining buddy contact.

Restate Values:

We do this because…

In the unlikely event that you find yourself in an out of air situation, you will be able to breathe from your buddy’s alternate air source.

Practising this skill will help you avoid critical steps when ending a dive and help you maintain buddy contact.

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So how did I do? Well I passed. I would have gotten a perfect score but I was too succinct when giving my description of the skills so they need to be more detailed. However I did score 4.8 out of 5 on both skills. So a good pass! 🙂