Flight Training - November 2012 - 50

INSTRUCTOR REPORT»

student doesn’t effectively remember any of it, you will re-do the lesson one The FAA's Aviation Instructor's Handbook says that while stress way or another. In the during flight training is common and expected, abnormal best-case scenario, you stress is not. This can be seen through unusual reactions to will go back over the items situations, such as extreme overcooperation, anger at a flight that didn’t get absorbed intructor, inappropriate laughter or singing, and rapid changes the first time. The worstin emotions. case scenario is that the student continues to muddle through with one be getting his or her money’s or more handicaps left over from worth, but that’s a problem that early training. doesn’t seem to plague our indusFor example, my primary try. However, an over-challenged instructor rushed through teachstudent seems to be a scenario ing elevator trim. After I got it that could use some attention. An right once, he never mentioned overwhelmed student’s attention is trim again. What I really needed at spread so thin that little or nothing the time was—well, time. If I had gets through. A lesson too jambeen given an extra split second packed can leave a student barely to recall whether trim went up or knowing any more than before, and down before being rushed on to worse, it can create apprehension the next thing, I’m sure it would for the next lesson. have become second nature in just Remember, as tempting as it a lesson or two. It might have gone can be to rush through training even faster if my instructor had sometimes, the fastest way to do prompted me with a memory aid anything is to do it right the first (for example, “If the nose wants time. If you get all the items for to go up, roll up”) for the first a lesson checked off, but your few times. As it was, I had about

IS YOUR STUDENT OVERSTRESSED?

200 hours in my logbook before I could tell which way to roll the trim wheel without pausing to think about it. I had been fighting the controls sans trim throughout most of my training because whenever it was time to trim, it was also time to do three or four other things, too. What finally changed? Working on my commercial pilot certificate, a seasoned instructor took the time to make me really focus on trim. It was an extra five minutes to our lesson that would have saved me untold hours of time and aggravation over years of training. Forget which level the syllabus says a student should be, or even where he might have been last lesson. Pay attention to realtime indicators. Is your normally talkative student silent? Is he missing things you think he ought to know? Chances are he needs your help with a task or two so he can focus on something. Maybe he needs a quick reminder (“step on the ball!”) so he can do the next item in a timely manner himself.

Go at it another way
» By Rod Machado

HE SAID 'YES' BUT MEANS 'NO'
Try asking more content questions— those requiring the student to give you back information, not affirmation. For instance, after a short presentation on the electrical system, say, “John, what part of the explanation should we review?” Implicit in the question is the assumption that something needs reviewing. Phrasing the question this way makes it easier for a student to confess his or her confusion. Suppose you want to know about a student’s state of mind as he or she prepares to depart on a long cross-country flight. You won’t learn much by asking, “Sally, are you ready for this flight?” Pose your inquiry as, “Sally, tell me about the five things you should be concerned about before this flight,” then listen carefully and you’ll learn a lot about what’s going on inside Sally’s head. The content question requires Sally to reflect on her personal experience and give you a more useful answer. Good questions are windows into your students’ mental state. Ask questions that make it easy for students to admit what they don’t know. Good questions also show you how well you communicate. If your students are having difficulty understanding a particular topic, perhaps you need to tweak and tune part of your presentation.

DURING FLIGHT TRAINING, students may find it difficult to admit they didn’t understand one of your brilliant explanations. Some worry about disappointing you if they say, “Sorry, I don’t get it,” while others worry about looking as though they have the wrong stuff. Regardless of the reason (and there are many), it’s often easier for a student to feign comprehension than admit confusion. I’ve learned not to trust the word “Yes” as a student answer to the question, “Do you understand?” The best way not to get “Yes” for an answer is not to ask a yes/no question.

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Flight Training - November 2012

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