By Forest Reeder
The International Society of Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI) Fall Conference is in full swing in Cincinatti, Ohio, September 27-October 1. Keeping in touch with our goals of Inspiring-Supporting-Elevating fire service instructors worldwide, we are starting off each day of the Fall Conference with an instructor-level quick drill.
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Each participant will be issued a quick drill to complete at the start of the day and a large poster-sized “answer key” with some suggested responses that will be posted at the first break to provide discussion and guidance for the participant. This series of instructor professional development drills will build on Instructor I and II level skills and job performance requirements found in National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1041, Fire Service Instructor Professional Qualifications. This three-part series covers the following areas of responsibility (click on each to view the drill):
Working with Behavior Objectives are typically responsibilities of an Instructor II and, in this quick drill, you will review the components of a properly formatted objective and then diagram sample objectives identifying each element. Additional practice will include reformatting objectives that do not contain all of the required elements present into the correct format. (Click HERE to view this drill’s answer key.)
NFPA Standards are considered to be the best practices of our industry and the fire service instructor needs to have a working knowledge of them for use almost every day. This quick drill challenges you to match the correct standard or recommended practice by its NFPA number. This is a general knowledge exercise for all levels of instructor certification. (Click HERE to view this drill’s answer key.)
Writing Test/Examination Questions are typically Instructor II level skills. An Instructor I has been trained to administer and grade exams while the Instructor II develops them. This challenging quick drill provides a behavioral objective which the test question is written to evaluate. Several types of test questions can be written against this objective including multiple choice, true/false, matching and short answer. A further challenge is provided asking the student to increase the level of comprehension to a higher level through the use of action verbs and the domains of learning. (Click HERE to view this drill’s answer key.)
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For more information, please visit the ISFSI web site HERE.
Forest Reeder began his fire service career in 1979. He serves as Division Chief of Training & Safety for the Des Plaines (IL) Fire Department. He is a past recipient of the International Society of Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI) prestigious George D. Post Instructor of the Year award and has been responsible for the design, implementation and coordination of in-service firefighter training activities as well as a full-service fire training academy program. Forest holds numerous Illinois fire service certifications and holds a Masters Degree in Public Safety Administration from Lewis University.
