General Guidelines and Advice for Section One Referee Instructors

(Gary Whitaker, SDRI last modified 4/23/05)

A. When it comes to Instruction, Quality is better than Quantity. Not all good referees are also good instructors, and vice versa. A bad instructor can create problems that spread very quickly and can take years to correct.

B. Area Directors of Referee Instruction should make a reasonable effort to attend the courses that are offered in the Regions so they are familiar with the capabilities of the instructors in their Area. In some instances, it may be necessary to involve other high-quality, experienced instructors to accomplish this goal.

C. Every Area should conduct at least one Intermediate and one Advanced Referee course each year. If there is difficulty in finding instructors to lead or teach these courses, do not hesitate to contact the Section Referee Staff for assistance.

D. All course rosters should be submitted to the National Support and Training Center within two weeks of the completion of the course.

Area and Regional Directors of Referee Instruction should monitor the roster status of the courses in their respective Areas/Regions on a monthly basis by visiting the web sites at AYSOHelp.org or eAYSO.org to monitor compliance and to follow-up for roster submission on a timely basis.

E. Lead Instructors are responsible for all aspects of the course for which they’ve been assigned. They may delegate some of those tasks, but it remains the Lead Instructor that is the individual held responsible.

Along this same line, as much as is reasonably possible, the Lead Instructor should be in the classroom when other instructors are making presentations.

The Lead Instructor is accountable for what the other instructors say in the classroom. If erroneous information is being provided to the students, it is the responsibility of the Lead Instructor to gauge the seriousness and materiality of the situation, and to take any necessary action to remedy the situation in a manner that will preserve the integrity and authority of the instructor that made the mistake.

F. It is highly recommended that the instructors briefly meet together after a course to review their performance and to determine how the course can be improved.

G. Every effort should be made to use Demonstration and Guided Participation teaching techniques.

H. PowerPoint presentations can have a dramatic impact on the delivery of a lesson plan, but the most important part of any presentation is the Instructor himself.

• The slides should briefly summarize a point. The instructor should elaborate on the topic and should use words that differ from those on the slide itself.
• Do not read from the PowerPoint slides (try not to even look at them)
• PowerPoint presentations that supplant Demonstration and Guided Participation opportunities, are generally less effective in meeting the lesson plan goals and should be avoided.

I. The execution of good Questioning Strategies in any presentation is the mark of an excellent instructor, but this is very difficult to master. Questions to the audience should have a design and a purpose that usually require more than a simple, straight-forward answer. Every instructor should review the Instructor Resource Book prior to every course in which he is going to make a presentation.