Flagstaff Hunter Ed Class

[IA Born]

We are hosting an in-person classroom Hunter Ed class in Flagstaff Feb 9-12.  I set it up three weeks ago and only one kid has registered so far.  Class will be 6-8pm Feb 9 and 10, 8am-5pm Feb 11, and the field day will be 9am-1pm Feb 12.  Classroom portions will be at the Flagstaff AGFD office and the field day will be at the NAZ Shooting Range.  100% attendance for all portions is mandatory.  NAZ NWTF will be providing pizza lunch on Saturday, Feb 11.  All firearms and ammunition will be provided.

https://www.register-ed.com/events/view/190843

 

[drcarr]

Very nicely done facilitating this much needed class...My 2 sons and I were Instructors, throughout the 1990s and up to about 2005, in the Tucson area...I know of the effort that you give towards putting on this class... again thank you for your service to the hunting community...

[IA Born]

1 hour ago, drcarr said:

Very nicely done facilitating this much needed class...My 2 sons and I were Instructors, throughout the 1990s and up to about 2005, in the Tucson area...I know of the effort that you give towards putting on this class... again thank you for your service to the hunting community...

Thanks!

What perplexes me now is how hard it is to fill a class up here when I know how the demand is. I get asked constantly when we're having in-person classes. We try hard to favor our local NorAZ kids, but then nobody signs up. 

[IA Born]

Forgot to mention that there are only 30 seats available and 11 have been taken as of this morning.

[Coues247]

This isnt meant to be rude and Im glad you guys are doing a class but I can see why noone wants to attend 4 days of classes. If you live right in flag that's one thing but if you're coming from out of town that's a lot of time and money into it vs knocking out the class online in a day then going to the field day for a few hours. Are you guys allowed to just put on the field days? Because that's where the backlog is. Not the need for in person classes.

[PRDATR]

1 hour ago, Coues247 said:

This isnt meant to be rude and Im glad you guys are doing a class but I can see why noone wants to attend 4 days of classes. If you live right in flag that's one thing but if you're coming from out of town that's a lot of time and money into it vs knocking out the class online in a day then going to the field day for a few hours. Are you guys allowed to just put on the field days? Because that's where the backlog is. Not the need for in person classes.

Plus 8-5 is a long day for a young kid.

[IA Born]

On 12/23/2022 at 3:17 PM, Coues247 said:

This isnt meant to be rude and Im glad you guys are doing a class but I can see why noone wants to attend 4 days of classes. If you live right in flag that's one thing but if you're coming from out of town that's a lot of time and money into it vs knocking out the class online in a day then going to the field day for a few hours. Are you guys allowed to just put on the field days? Because that's where the backlog is. Not the need for in person classes.

I don't take it as rude at all.  It's a valid opinion and I always appreciate constructive feedback.  I don't disagree and also don't mean to be rude (I promise no sarcasm intended), but, we set up our classes here in Flagstaff to cater to our local kids (Flagstaff, Williams, Parks, Bellmont) first and foremost.  I would expect an instructor team in another town to do the same (cater to local families' schedules and their availability).  I took the class with my daughter in 2013 in Pinetop because getting into a class in Flagstaff was impossible at the time.  We arranged our schedule to be there when we were supposed to be because she needed the class.  That's actually what prompted me to become an instructor; I wanted to provide more opportunities for our local kids.  Classroom classes have a 16-hour requirement, including the field day.  We've been doing Thurs-Sun classes like this for 9 years with great success.  From experience and feedback, the classroom classes that drag on for 2-3 weeks get really long and students forget the material really easily.  It's painful for instructors (at least that's our team's perspective) to have classes 2 hours/night 2 nights/week for 3 weeks.  Several folks from Camp Verde, Prescott, Prescott Valley, and even Tucson say they prefer our class schedule and are willing to put in the time because they prefer the in-person classes to the online classes.  Several of our locals up here are asking for in-person classes for their kids because of the more in-depth coverage of material, quizzing, and testing we provide.  You are correct that there is a backlog of online students and we offer several online field days May-October, including some 2/day online classes (morning and afternoon) when the weather is cool enough.  At the same time, AGFD is encouraging all instructor teams to get back to in-person classes as much as possible, while still catering to the need for online field days.  All of the requests we've had up here for in-person classes is why I was perplexed that nobody had signed up even after we advertised it 3 weeks ago.  And, to be perfectly honest, we see much better test scores and material retention from kids who take the in-person class vs those who take the online class.  We have much less need to provide test corrections to get kids passing grades in the in-person class compared to the online class.

On 12/23/2022 at 4:19 PM, PRDATR said:

Plus 8-5 is a long day for a young kid.

It certainly can be, but we break it up with rotations. between chapters taught.  We break all classes up into three groups for Saturday and the field day.  We have the AGFD room split with a divider for Saturday and rotate between each side, pulse the lobby so kids aren't sitting in the same seat all day.  Throw in plenty of breaks, an hour lunch with a test review, and plenty of jokes, and the day flies by.  The kids get plenty of time and opportunities to blow off steam and pent-up silliness and wiggles.  On top of that, we rarely, if ever, go until 5 pm.  We reserve the conference room for all day just in case there is a kid who needs extra help with their test.  We just don't want parents showing up too early to get their kids and I'm personally communicating constantly with parents and students so they know what's happening and what to expect.  We've never gotten any negative feedback from kids or parents about the length of the day or how our classes are scheduled.  I've even had parents tell me they appreciate the opportunity to have a day to themselves.

[AZJR]

This is a heckuva Educator/Instructor Team. If I had a youngster within driving distance of their event we’d be registering for a seat in their class! Keep up the excellent work all as I am sure you will fill up as the Holiday fog is shaken off. With the increased speed of results getting updated in the system, the students will likely earn their Permanent Hunter Education Bonus Point in time for the elk/antelope draw in February.

[IA Born]

As of this morning (12/29), there are 3 slots left in the class.