by Jim Trusty
Changing roles with your student during each lesson will have absolutely no ill effect on your ego. I know because I do it each and every day with every student I have. If the student is having a little trouble grasping some extremely hard information, swap places and let them teach you what they do know, then swap back and teach them what they left out.
This gives the student a feeling of equality within the relationship, and it lets them know that you are willing to listen to them speak. They spend many an hour listening to you, so it's only fair that they be given equal time. Who knows, it might just make your job as an instructor a bit easier. I know it does mine.
What we as instructors sometimes forget is that we are supposed to ascertain before we begin teaching exactly what our students already know about the subject we are about to teach them. We start at page one and go on from there. This is usually a mistake because whatever this person has been doing in life they have learned something that can be applied to aviation. If nothing else, they have learned a way not to do something.
We always forget the rule that before you teach someone anything you have to understand how they learn. Are you thinking that it is impossible for your student to teach you anything? Big mistake. When they do something that you perceive to be wrong, ask them how they did it. They should be able to explain exactly how they arrived at this point.
Actually, being a good teacher is not all that hard. All you have to do is point them in the direction of the information, help them understand the meaning of it, put it together in some manner they can make use of, and then take all the credit. I spent two hours this morning working with two of my students on flight planning. We went through a multitude of information together, weather, flight plans, correct altitude, and more. One would talk and then the other, and the meeting went very well. I think I now have a better understanding of the subject matter after we all agreed on the best way to do everything. Not necessarily my way, but the best way.
We actually flew the flight. One fly half the flight and the other the other half. We did two of everything, preflight, checklist, and, of course, flight plans. With both of them talking constantly, we all learned that there is certainly more than one way to do something and it still be right and safe. When you fly with as many students as I do in a year and many of them under 17, you must build a rapport quickly and continuously or they will give up on the learning part and take on an adversarial role before your very eyes. You might as well throw in the towel if you let the relationship deteriorate this far. It's completely gone!
Let's not forget just how much we as instructors really know. This business we call flight instruction changes almost as regularly as the weather and sometimes it is about as severe. We can become dinosaurs quickly unless we are constantly honing our craft and one good way is to listen sometimes and let someone else do the talking.
Everything students say is not going to be exact, but what they are saying is all they know. You, as an instructor, now have a more exact starting place than you did before. You wouldn't think someone who has held the title of FAA/General Aviation National Flight Instructor of the Year could learn anything more about the business or would dare to admit it if they did, but in reality I learn another way to do something almost every day. Some of these things I adopt as better than the way I was doing it before and some I just remember as different.
Think this is a strange way to teach? Well, I adopted this method even more so after I started handling a lot of instructor candidates. Finding it worked so well with them, I wondered why not let the other levels try it, too. I have never had a student that didn't have an opinion or an idea that they thought could improve on what we were trying to learn. Teachers, which is what we really aspire to be, should never stifle this streak of ambition when it rears its head. Try to bring it all out in joint sessions. Get other students at the same level to ask questions and make constructive criticism and voice their own opinions.
Actually, I think it helps keep me young to hear young people talk and listen to their minds go in and out of gear trying to constantly improve on the syllabus. I am proud to be a part of their learning patterns for the future. We make our own little contribution to the next generation if we teach them now that they have the right to an opinion and that in order for them to be accepted as rational and as making a contribution the words they speak must have validity and meaning.
Free speech, improving on the norm, the right to speak out, the praise when you are right, and the goofy laughter when they make a mistake fits right in with a relaxed learning pattern. Don't tell me it's wrong for them to make changes at the ripe old age of 14, 16, or 18. Who am I to say that everything I say is right at the age I admit to being?
Take a chance with your student at the next session and let them teach you what they know and don't know. It might just surprise you. And think of all the money you will make just sitting there twiddling your thumbs and nodding your head. I think you'll enjoy this concept. It really brings out the most from a youngster and some grown-ups that are not particularly fond of speaking in public.
See you on the launch field!
Jim Trusty is the 1997 National Flight Instructor of the Year, FAA Aviation Safety Counselor in Nashville, Tennessee, and a member of the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI). He welcomes your comments. You can reach him at 103 Highland Drive, Old Hickory, TN 37138-1617, or 615-758-8434.