Al Bender is an extraordinarily dedicated teacher for Bridge For Youth, a nonprofit organization that promotes youth bridge in the Seattle area. After the pandemic struck, Bridge For Youth and Al switched from a face-to-face teaching model to solely virtual instruction. He caught my attention through this Bridge Winners article on the benefits of teaching online. To say the article brightened my day would be a massive underbid. Read it!
The most important takeaway from Al's experience is that virtual instruction is an incredibly effective teaching model. We want to see this model duplicated across the country!
Episode Highlights:
2:20" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 2:20- The many flaws of teaching face-to-face
4:25" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 4:25- Advantages to virtual teaching
5:05" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 5:05- Bridge For Youth's journey in learning how to teach online
7:55" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 7:55- How Bridge For Youth got a staggering 110 students
9:50" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 9:50- Interesting gender discrepancy
12:40" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 12:40- The power of the Shark Teaching Console
- "I no longer have to watch my partner make stupid mistakes"
16:10" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 16:10- Testmoz and the allure of competition
18:55" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 18:55- A serendipitous success
20:40" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 20:40- The dedicated student
23:40" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 23:40- Summer camp will be taught by former Setting Trick guest, Tom Carmichael
25:35" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 25:35- Collaboration to on youth tournaments
29:20" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 29:20- SharkBridge is free for teachers who teach youth bridge for free
30:05" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 30:05- Teachers must be good with youths
32:10" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 32:10- Bridge For Youth is in search for teachers!
37:50" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 37:50- The important thing is having FUN!
40:35" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 40:35- A big weakness is the lack of social interactions when using Shark Bridge
45:00" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 45:00- Al warns you to not use the word "kid"
47:00" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 47:00- Al wants to make a difference in his students' life