Becoming a My Smart Hands® instructor is even better than ever! My Smart Hands® baby sign language program was just awarded the Parent Tested Parent Approved award of excellence. We can use the PTPA seal on all of our marketing materials, showing potential clients that our program has undergone the PTPA evaluation and was awarded their seal of excellence!
On top of that wonderful recognition, My Smart Hands® instructors now have the opportunity to be CERTIFIED instructors via a testing program instead of simply getting licensed. Once you have undergone the My Smart Hands® training program, you will have a chance to take an online test designed specifically for My Smart Hands® instructors. When you pass the test, you will receive a laminated certification card that will have your information along with the PTPA seal that shows people you are an official certified baby sign language instructor!
As a My Smart Hands® instructor you will receive amazing support. Laura Berg is always available to instructors via the phone and email to give help and guidance, especially during the start-up phase. We also have Regional Co-ordinators who are allocated to you to also give ongoing support. You will receive emails from them each month giving you great suggestions for running your classes. Finally you will have the support of other MSH instructors. We have a uniquely designed MSH forum that is only open to MSH instructors. In this forum, you will find a place where you can e-meet all the other instructors, read great suggestions on topics such as marketing, workshops, running exciting classes etc. and get supportive feedback. There is a file section where you will find hundreds of files at your disposal. There are brochures, flyers, business cards, certificates and game ideas available to you as well. You won’t have to ‘reinvent the wheel’; it is all there for you to use. Our instructors are extremely supportive of one another. We have people from all walks of life which is why MSH is a great company to be affiliated with!
At My Smart Hands® we have easy to follow, full-colour manuals for the parents who take your classes that have full descriptions of all of the signs that we teach. Most importantly, and what instructors find most helpful, are our training videos. As a My Smart Hands® instructor, you will receive 3 DVDs with over 5 hours of instruction. Our training DVDs consist of walking you through each lesson. You will see clips from actual classes as well as how to sign all our songs and play the games we play in class. You will also see full classes from start to finish in order to help you understand the structure and flow of a class! The videos are broken up into easy to view chapters for quick review of specific parts.
What are you waiting for? To apply to become a My Smart Hands® baby sign language teacher please contact Karen at: RCdirector@mysmarthands.com
**PLEASE NOTE: Instructors in Toronto, Ontario and Calgary, Alberta work under a different model. Please contact us for more details.
First step: Send your resume or a detailed email about yourself and why you want to join our wonderful team of instructors to Karen Popma. Please put ‘Application for MSH Instructor’ in the subject line.
Second step: After your application is reviewed, Karen will send you our licensing agreement for your review and will schedule a time to call you for a phone interview. This interview is an opportunity for Karen to get to know you better and a good time for you to ask her any questions you may have about our program.
Most importantly, you will receive a sense of accomplishment for learning a new tool for communicating with your baby and other babies that YOU can now share with other parents and caregivers!
With that said, the cost of becoming a licensed MSH instructor is $175.
The only other cost to you is the required fabulous MSH manual for each parent in your class. Our manuals are broken down into weekly themes. They have full-colour pictures of children producing the signs along with a description of how to make the sign for easy review long after the course is finished. The manuals have songs that we teach each week, along with homework suggestions for the parents in your classes.
Each manual also comes with MSH downloadable songs that we teach in our classes. It includes original MSH songs that parents and babies really enjoy! The cost of the manuals are $20 (plus shipping and taxes where applicable) which includes the 15-song CD download ($15 for manual and $5 for music = $20 total). The cost for the manuals is passed along to the parents in your class registration fee. We feel very fortunate that our instructors are able to run successful businesses, and that is why we are able to keep our membership costs so low!
To maintain your membership with My Smart Hands®, you will be required to sign a new license each year. The renewal expectation is that you have purchased 20 or more manuals throughout the year. If you have not purchased more than 20 manuals, you will be required to purchase that amount to renew.
We have 2 levels of curriculum: MSH Level 1 and MSH Level 2. These 2 levels can be modified to teach a number of different programs:
Our curriculum is extremely user-friendly that it is easily modified to suit your interests as a teacher. You will find great ideas in our MSH forum to make each one of these classes a huge success, and fun too!
