Brett House began skiing on the ridgelines of southern Ontario and western New York when he was 7 years old and started instructing during his high school years.
Now an economist at CBS, House returned to ski instruction during the pandemic-induced shutdowns. Teaching people to ski provided a way to be social in a safe, outdoor setting while engaging in fun with a purpose.
House notes, “There are a lot of parallels between ski instructing and teaching economics. Both can be distilled down to a few key essentials that can make learning simple and enjoyable: explaining theory with relatable examples, providing low-stakes opportunities for practice, priming students to receive feedback, and enabling experimentation.”
For House, learning with the body complements learning with the mind: “I get enormous joy out of novel sensations from subtle changes in technique, creating community with other queer skiers, and navigating through wild, backcountry spaces far from ski lifts. My 86-year-old father is still out on the slopes. I want to keep skiing at least as long as he has!”
