Expectations of Instructors
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Prepare thoroughly. Study the course content you are going to teach.
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Establish a collaborative and constructive classroom environment.
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Communicate expectations.
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Encourage student engagement.
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Respect student diversity in backgrounds, talent, experience, and learning style.
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Professionally represent your instructor cadre, your home unit, and your agency.
See S-130 minimum instructor qualifications.
Recommended Class Size
Recommended class size is 24 students. Instructors should maintain a 6:1 ratio of students to instructors/coaches to facilitate exercises and discussion and to enable strong mentorship to the students.
Cadre Meetings
Conduct initial, pre-course, daily, and close-out instructor cadre meetings. These provide opportunities to plan, organize, preview materials, review training and exercises, and identify and address concerns and issues. Consider using an informal After Action Review process. Instructor cadre meetings are critical for instructors who do not have previous experience with the course. Additional information is located in the NWCG Standards for Course Delivery, PMS 901-1.
Course Materials
Each student must be provided the following:
Technical Considerations
All presentations should be downloaded and tested before the start of class to ensure compatibility with software.
PowerPoint presentations are built in Microsoft Office 365. Saving them in an earlier version of PowerPoint may prevent some features from working correctly. Instructor notes are built into the presentation slides under Presenter Notes.
For help, visit the Microsoft Office website or contact your local IT support personnel.
Student Assessment
Knowledge checks are embedded in the S-130 course in the form of exercises and discussion questions. Knowledge checks are not graded; they are designed to encourage student engagement and class discussions, and to enable students to demonstrate understanding of course content.
The S-130 Student Evaluation Task Sheet provides a more formal method for students to demonstrate understanding of course content. The task sheet mimics the format and intent of the NWCG Position Task Book. Task sheets should be distributed during the Course Introduction.
Course Evaluations
Students and cadre members are asked to contribute course evaluations. Input is welcome on all aspects of the training course, including course content, pre-course work, reference materials, quality of instruction, delivery methods, and testing procedures.