Tying Knots Without Tying Up the Class

   During Firefighter 1 class, teaching firefighter knots is a necessary but often challenging topic to teach in a large group setting. If your experience was anything like mine, the instructor stood at the front of the classroom with a rope, demonstrating how to tie each knot. Then the students would attempt to tie the knot on their own—some grasping it quickly, others struggling and requiring individual help from the instructor. This approach typically left half the class bored because they were already proficient, while the other half felt frustrated or anxious as the rest of the group waited for them to catch up.

   Every class seems to have a couple of “Eagle Scouts” who can tie every knot underwater and behind their back, while at the same time, there’s always at least one new firefighter handling rope for the very first time. With such a wide range of experience in a class of 20-30 students, it can be difficult for an instructor to effectively engage everyone at the same time.

   That’s exactly the challenge I faced when I was asked, last-minute, to teach knots to a Firefighter 1 class of 25 students after the scheduled instructor had to step away due to a family emergency. Naturally, I was a bit anxious. As I began preparing, an idea struck me. These days, if you don’t know how to do something, there’s almost always a YouTube video to show you how. I figured there would be plenty of videos demonstrating how to tie firefighter knots, and sure enough, there were.

   Since I would be the only instructor in the room, I decided to take a different approach than the one described above. I selected a high-quality YouTube video for each required knot and used an online QR code generator to create QR codes linking to those videos. I then created a handout for each knot, which included the QR code and a photo of the finished knot. (Copies of these handouts are available under the Resources tab on the IFA Training Article Archive website: tinyurl.com/mwty7p7m)

   When class began, I divided the students into small groups of 3-4 and provided them with strands of rope and a packet containing the QR codes. Using their phones, students scanned the QR codes and practiced tying the knots at their own pace following along with the videos. Additionally, I showed them how to slow the videos down to half or three-quarters speed for easier learning.

   In these small groups, the more experienced students—the “Eagle Scouts”—naturally took on teaching roles, helping their classmates who were struggling. Meanwhile, this format freed me up to work one-on-one with those needing extra guidance, without making the entire class wait to move on. As the session progressed, I identified the strongest students and encouraged them to float around the room and assist other groups.

   Once a group of students began feeling confident in tying the knots, we moved into the next phase: using those knots to hoist various tools such as axes, pike poles, and ladders. Again, I incorporated video-based instruction, utilizing skill videos from the Essentials 7 app. Again, this allowed for additional one-on-one coaching and gave students plenty of hands-on practice.

Ultimately, this self-paced, video-supported approach proved highly effective for teaching knots to a large class with diverse skill levels. It allowed students to progress at their own speed, while also fostering peer teaching and collaborative learning which created a supportive and engaging classroom environment.

   This experience reminded me of the importance of staying flexible and open to new teaching methods as an instructor. While this approach wouldn’t necessarily fit every Firefighter 1 topic, the combination of technology, self-paced learning, and peer instruction proved to be an excellent strategy for teaching knots. It’s an approach I will definitely use again.

   Cole Kleinwolterink is a member of the Waukee Fire Department, Granger Fire Department, and Fire Science instructor at Des Moines Area Community College. Feel free to reach out to him at kleinwolterinkc@gmail.com with any questions, comments or inquiries.