What is the secret to being an
absolutely great teacher/flight instructor? First, before you can teach
anyone anything, you have to know how they learn. That's correcthow they
learn. And this applies to all ages, kids and grown-ups alike.
What is the secret to being an
absolutely great teacher/flight instructor? First, before you can teach
anyone anything, you have to know how they learn. That's correcthow they
learn. And this applies to all ages, kids and grown-ups alike.
In your initial interview with a candidate, you should start asking questions such as, "What do you think that you do best? How did you learn to do it? What is your hardest thing to do? How did you learn to do it? What do you enjoy most about learning to fly? Reading the material? Seeing it on the blackboard? Watching a video? Listening to me talk? Riding in the backseat while another student flies or actually flying yourself?"
With the answers to these questions, you can figure out the combination to design a learning syllabus for this particular student that will work. You can then use it as your carrot on a stick. If they like taking cross-countries, I tell them that as soon as we can devise a correct flight plan with all the necessary information that will take us from "A" to "B" and land safely, we can then go on a long cross-country to the city of their choice. This really works although the students quickly realize what I am doing. However, they think of it as a "win, win" situation so they go along with my childish mind games.
As a classroom teacher, I always hated it when the classes got so big that I could not put this practice into use. If you can only teach one method for a roomful, then you are actually reaching some of the students some of the time but never all of the students all of the time.
I've drawn up a generic syllabus from the regulations and then blended it around to reach my students. This is a way to turn out good students almost all of the time. However, even knowing how they learn does not necessarily mean they have speed and endurance. It may be that you will have to improve on the way they learn in order to allow more room in their head for information. How? Make them want it. Make it interesting. Make them the central character in everything that takes place. Make them feel it simply cannot work without their input, their paperwork, their correct answers, and their planning. They will then perform above the standards they previously set for themselves if learning to fly is what they really want to do.
When you sit down and give the learning process some thought, you realize for the first time that most of us really only use about 10% of our brain power, and by the time we, as flight instructors, get to them most of that space is already under lease. Adults are even worse than the kids. With families and jobs and chores and bills and a hundred other distractions to contend with on a daily basis, it is really hard to get them to make room in their peanut for any more incoming information. An old professor once told me that no matter what I was trying to teach I had to make it more interesting than what was now occupying space in the memory bank.
Introducing your students to others in aviation is another great way for them to learn. By meeting visiting air show performers, war heroes, record setters, inventors, or anyone else in the business, they seem to better understand that the dedication I am seeking from them gives proven end results. I also recommend letting your students fly with as many other flight instructors as you can. Even though we are supposed to follow the same syllabus, the Practical Test Standards combined with the Federal Aviation Regulations, instructors have always managed to be totally different from each other in their approach to transferring information to a student. This is good because the only bad instructor is the one who tells you that their way is the only way it can possibly be done. Get rid of that instructor quickly.
What the student really needs to know is that it is okay for them to have some input into the training program. As long as they can follow the course outline and do whatever is required safely, it is probably going to meet with the approval of the flight instructor. You can tell someone that something won't work all day long and not convince them, but if you allow them to put their thoughts into action and let them demonstrate for themselves that it is not working, you make a lasting impression. We then stand a better chance of getting it done strictly by the book.
Our job is to be teachers, not demonstrators. Make them do every single maneuver from start to finish without any help, and when they make a mistake, talk about it and talk about how it can be corrected. Then let them do the whole thing all over again. (Secretly I call this "fetch Rover, fetch," but it works.) If you ever have a chance to speak with one of my students, they will tell you quickly that not only did they do all the work, they also had to spend half their time watching me so that I wouldn't do something wrong to mess them up (distractions multiplied by 10). This is how they learn the best, by doing. Generally, most students learn the best by talking out a task and then doing it completely by themselves. (Sounds like future flight instructor training to me.)
What we are learning here is that teaching has to be innovative and blendable to each and every student. After working with hundreds of them over the years, I have never had two that were anywhere close to each other in the way they learned. If you find yourself in a situation where they seem to understand everything you say and agreeing with your every word, their mind is somewhere in Hawaii. Moving your head up and down does not necessarily mean, "Yes, I understand." It could just be a sore neck, or they could just be trying to get the meeting over with and get on to something they have some control over.
Just for the heck of it, next time you start a student, talk to them a little while before you begin teaching them. You'll find it easier on you and cheaper on them. And always remember that the only reason they chose you as their flight instructor is because they thought you would be able to teach them something and for no other reason. Don't disappoint them. Find out how they learn and teach them. It's really pretty simple.
I'll see you in the air! Always remember, pilots who don't fly have no advantage over people who can't fly. What's your excuse?
Jim Trusty is a former National Flight Instructor of the Year (1997), the first ever Southern Region FAA Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year (1995), holds the "Master CFI" designation from the National Association of Flight Instructors (1998), and works daily as a full-time, free-lance flight instructor at MQY in Tennessee. He welcomes your comments. You can reach him at 103 Highland Drive, Old Hickory, TN 37138-1617, or 615-758-8434.
