Finished the NRA Basic Pistol Instructor's Course today...

[The Annoyed Man]

Skiprr, I actually took the class at Crossfire's urging. She said that they needed additional certified instructors because demand has outstripped their ability to provide. So initially, I'm going to be working some of their classes, probably alongside Keith B.

Congrats on your certification, TAM! I'm kinda bummed...I have several NRA certifications, but I don't have the infrastructure where people need instructors. I just don't have the time to invest to build up my own business. In Washington, I worked with a range that handled all the logistics - classroom, signups, materials. I'd just check out the instructional pistols or rifles from the armory and away I'd go.

Clearly I was spoiled

Call the NRA and tell them that you want to be added to their referral list. You'll probably have to turn business away.

[OldCannon]

Skiprr, I actually took the class at Crossfire's urging. She said that they needed additional certified instructors because demand has outstripped their ability to provide. So initially, I'm going to be working some of their classes, probably alongside Keith B.

Congrats on your certification, TAM! I'm kinda bummed...I have several NRA certifications, but I don't have the infrastructure where people need instructors. I just don't have the time to invest to build up my own business. In Washington, I worked with a range that handled all the logistics - classroom, signups, materials. I'd just check out the instructional pistols or rifles from the armory and away I'd go.

Clearly I was spoiled

Call the NRA and tell them that you want to be added to their referral list. You'll probably have to turn business away.

Ah, finding students isn't often the problem, it's the logistics behind it...getting the training materials, getting a classroom, a range, proper guns for training, co-instructors if you have a large class (you never want to try to manage more than 4 shooters on the line as one instructor). THAT is the hard part.

[BrianSW99]

Does the GPGC hold instructor classes very often? I don't see anything about them on their website. How do you find out about upcoming class dates?

[PBratton]

Anyone know of anyone doing these kinds of courses in the Houston Area? Preferrably around NW Houston/Cypress? Either the Instructor's or the Actual Basic Pistol/Rifle/Shotgun courses.

Personally, I'd love to get instructor certified in some of these, plus I'd actually be excited to take the course! =D
I'm sure someone's going to probably say PSC, but sorry, Pearland is a little bit far from Cypress for me :(

There is a Basic Instructors class this Monday, (yes, the 4th...) and a Pistol instructors course the 5th in Pearland.

[Keith B]

http://www.nrainstructors.org/searchcourse.aspx

I'm strongly tempted to take the course - TAM convinced me that the curriculum isn't as rigid as I'd feared... I like to be able to put things into perspective for students using my own terms and wouldn't like being locked into someone else's dogma.

Andy, you would have no problem with the course. The biggest thing is being able to learn HOW to teach, and demonstrate you can do that to the instructor in both a classroom environment as well as on the range. In our class we partnered with another student and presented a section of the training as instructors to the other students in the class. Then we went to the range and had to demonstrate we could work a student through taking their first shots by the NRA guidelines.

Overall, it was great and I will tell you TAM and Son of TAM did very well.

[Crossfire]

Does the GPGC hold instructor classes very often? I don't see anything about them on their website. How do you find out about upcoming class dates?

Brian,

They do not do them very often, just when they find they have enough students to make a class. Call Jan Heath at the GPGC to let him know you want a class. He will let you know when he does the next one. BTW, do not try to email him. He does not do email.... Or, you can do like I did, and recruit 3 or 4 friends to take the class so that he will schedule one.

I do HIGHLY recommend you go through Jan, if here in DFW area. That is, unless you really want to spend some bucks. Then I can make another recommendation.

[The Annoyed Man]

Does the GPGC hold instructor classes very often? I don't see anything about them on their website. How do you find out about upcoming class dates?

Actually, I don't know for sure about the one I took. I found out about this particular class because Crossfire apprised me of it. But I did ask the training counselor if the upcoming classes would be posted to the website, and he said that they are supposed to be......

[The Annoyed Man]

http://www.nrainstructors.org/searchcourse.aspx

I'm strongly tempted to take the course - TAM convinced me that the curriculum isn't as rigid as I'd feared... I like to be able to put things into perspective for students using my own terms and wouldn't like being locked into someone else's dogma.

Well, you can take the course, and decide for yourself if it works for you or not. You won't be out that much money if it doesn't. Of course, you can't....or shouldn't, at any rate........bill yourself as NRA certified and then deviate completely from their methodology. And the one thing you have to remember is that these instructor certifications are intended to teach a prospective instructor how to teach someone who has never even seen a real gun before how to handle, operate, and shoot one safely. Your students would for the most part be strictly rank beginners.

[Keith B]

Does the GPGC hold instructor classes very often? I don't see anything about them on their website. How do you find out about upcoming class dates?

Actually, I don't know for sure about the one I took. I found out about this particular class because Crossfire apprised me of it. But I did ask the training counselor if the upcoming classes would be posted to the website, and he said that they are supposed to be......

I believe the training counselors said GPGC will not be having another instructors class of any kind until after the 1st of the year, and they wouldn't be posting them until after the 1st of the year. The ones they mentioned that would be coming up them were rifle and shotgun instructors courses. If you are in a hurry, I would suggest you go to the NRA site and see who has one sooner.

[PBratton]

TAM, thanks for your report on the BIT training. Your note reminded me to check on the next class here in the Houston area.

It's the 4th, with a Basic Pistol Instructors class on the 5th.

Just got through scheduling both.

[Skiprr]

You do have to teach the NRA curriculum. Gotta be clear on that. That’s the only way the NRA can maintain national standards for the training and certification. Course outlines and lesson plans are provided, and some things are non-negotiable...for example, absolutely no live ammo anywhere in the classroom, even in an instructor’s concealed firearm.

There may be things that you might disagree with or do differently, but the NRA material has to be taught. For example, you may prefer to say “autoloader” rather than “semi-automatic,” or feel there is little reason to teach the operation of single-action-only revolvers, or feel that a Modified Weaver should be taught instead of an Isosceles. That doesn’t mean you can’t mention or go into detail about a Modified Weaver, just that you have to be clear that it is not NRA material that you are teaching at that point, and that you must teach the Isosceles.

There is a written test at the end of every NRA course, and the students must be prepared to answer those questions...and not be confused too much with additional or tangential material.

That said, the recommended duration of the courses is a minimum, and you’ll need just about all of it to teach the NRA material. But that doesn’t keep you from offering a 10-hour rather than an 8-hour course to allow you time to go into more/additional details you feel should be included, or to do a little more range work than described in the lesson plans. So you can augment, you just can’t substitute.

For me, there’s not much in the Basic Pistol curriculum that I could imagine anybody feeling the need to change or substitute. When you get into the personal protection courses where you’re teaching more advanced material, there may be more temptation to want to alter things. For example, I’m not a fan of the old rock-and-lock technique for close-contact shooting. I prefer to teach a drawstroke that goes through a close-contact-ready position and then has the hands join high and close to the chest for a press-out nearer to eye-level. But something closer to the rock-and-lock is what’s taught in the Outside the Home course. No biggie: I can teach the simple method the NRA describes, and then demo the method I, in MHO, think is slightly more effective.

You can buy many of the materials associated with NRA courses in advance, so you can see if or how subjects are covered differently than the way you would do it: http://materials.nrahq.org/go/products. ... I_Training.

[OldCannon]

You do have to teach the NRA curriculum. ... <rest of good stuff here deleted>

You said exactly what I was thinking. It's not an NRA course if you don't teach the NRA materials, and there's really not enough time for "wiggle room". You can always schedule a follow-on day of additional training, but it has to be outside the NRA curriculum. This is for the NRA's liability protection as well.

[BrianSW99]

Does the GPGC hold instructor classes very often? I don't see anything about them on their website. How do you find out about upcoming class dates?

Actually, I don't know for sure about the one I took. I found out about this particular class because Crossfire apprised me of it. But I did ask the training counselor if the upcoming classes would be posted to the website, and he said that they are supposed to be......

I believe the training counselors said GPGC will not be having another instructors class of any kind until after the 1st of the year, and they wouldn't be posting them until after the 1st of the year. The ones they mentioned that would be coming up them were rifle and shotgun instructors courses. If you are in a hurry, I would suggest you go to the NRA site and see who has one sooner.

Thanks, I'll keep them in mind when I'm ready for it. I doubt it will be before the first of the year anyway.