Teaching

[rumpletumbler]

I know this sounds stupid and probably will make everyone wince...but the more I think about teaching the more I like the idea. The more I think about teaching the more I feel unqualified. The difference I think is that I care and I wonder if that will make enough of a difference to be a good teacher. I want to be a good teacher but feel like I won't be etc. but might grow into being one. Am I the dumbest person who ever lived or what? Tell me somebody else went through this............

 

[bigD]

The way I see it, the fact you care enough to even ask the question is a pretty good step towards being a good teacher.

 

[flyer172r]

Teaching definitely isn't for everyone. But the fact that you don't think you'll be good enough is probably a good sign for you, since that means you're probably more likely to look things up and give students correct answers instead of b.s.'ing your way through tough questions.

I was terrified the first time I had a student. But if you do the preparation ahead of time (yes, that FOI stuff really can help you out) you'll be fine. And it does get easier after the first couple hours. Just think of the best instructor you ever had, think about what you liked about him/her, and try to do the same thing. Above all else, try to have fun with it, make sure your students feel like they've succeeded at something on every lesson, and you'll be fine.

Good luck!

 

[Lead Sled]

I know this sounds stupid and probably will make everyone wince...but the more I think about teaching the more I like the idea. The more I think about teaching the more I feel unqualified. The difference I think is that I care and I wonder if that will make enough of a difference to be a good teacher. I want to be a good teacher but feel like I won't be etc. but might grow into being one. Am I the dumbest person who ever lived or what? Tell me somebody else went through this............

The mixed feelings and apprehension you have about instructing are completely normal. Getting a CFI certificate is a lot of work, the FAA doesn't give them away and CFI applicants are held to a higher standard. They are placing a lot of trust in you.

I had an ATP and over 3,000 hours before I got my CFI. I thought that somehow I had "dodged a bullet" by being able to go directly into Part 135 (charter) flying after I got my commercial and instrument rating. I was wrong. In any teaching situation, it's always the teacher who learns the most. The same thing applies doubly in aviation. Getting your CFI and actively instructing for a while will teach you things about flying that you will only learn through instructing. In my case, I ended up getting my CFI certificates so that I could keep my hand in flying while I went to school full time to finish up my degree. I learned a lot and to this day the lessons are very valuable and useful. Becoming a CFI, in my opinion, is one of the most important steps you can take in your aviation career.

Does that mean that you're going to enjoy the process? In the beginning you're going to be very nervous, remember how you felt just before your first solo flight? Just wait until you are ready to solo your first student.

It's not going to last forever. You'll probably get about all your going to get out of flight instructing after 500 to 1000 hours and it will be time to move on to bigger and better things. However, you may find that once you get into it you really enjoy it. I've kept up my CFI for nearly 30 years. I still find that it helps me to keep on my toes so to speak. I know many guys who once they got into it found out that they really enjoyed it and changed their career plans accordingly. Believe it or not, there are career CFIs out there.

The aviation community needs quality instructors. I agree with BigD.

Lead Sled

 

[midlifeflyer]

The way I see it, the fact you care enough to even ask the question is a pretty good step towards being a good teacher.

Ditto. The doubts and concerns you express are normal and are usually the first sign of a good teacher.

Did you ever notice that people who are truly incompetent don't know it?

 

[Goose Egg]

Flight instructing is a blast, but I don't see myself doing that my whole life. I figure that I will do my best at it and enjoy it while I can, and then move on when it is time. Perhaps I might even do some on the side later on. But full time for the rest of my life? Nah.

Goose

 

[JAFI]

rumple tumbler,

I applaud your candor and honesty. Teaching is not for everyone, with your question you show a spark of IMO a sign of a great teacher. To assist you in your quest allow me to post thoughts of people much smarter than my self. I hope some will be of assistance. The quotes, like my life, are eclectic.

JAFI

---------------------------------------------------------

EXPERIENCE IS A WONDERFUL TEACHER. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again, and again, and again. Only if you live through the first time. Aviation is not always that kind. (unknown)



We are all manufacturers - some of us make good, others make trouble, and still

others make excuses. (unknown)



"... More pilots have been killed by arrogance than by faulty equipment."

CHUCK YEAGER, Gen. U.S.A.F. Ret.


He who increases knowledge, increases sorrow. –Ecclesiastes 1:18 Holy Bible

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. - Theodore Roosevelt



People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
- Jean Jacques Rousseau, "mile, ou de l'education", 1762



The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. - Bertrand Russell


The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. - William Arthur Ward

The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said. - Peter Drucker



Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
- Albert Einstein



Everyone must row with the oars he has. - English proverb



We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
- Epictetus



Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence.
- Hebrew Proverb


Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach. --Albert Einstein
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning. --Albert Einstein

Who dares to teach must never cease to learn. --- John Cotton Dana 1856-1929, American librarian and museum director





A good teacher must be able to put himself in the place of those who find learning hard.--Eliphas Levi



If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.--Ignacio 'Nacho' Estrada



You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover it in himself.—Galileo



Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself. Chinese Proverb



Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty. Mark Twain



I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. Albert Einstein



The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. Mark VanDoren



Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
Sir Winston Churchill


It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. James Thurber


It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. -- Aristotle



Most students treat knowledge as a liquid to be swallowed rather than as a solid
to be chewed, and then wonder why it provides so little nourishment. Sydney Harris



If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people. Chinese proverb



You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself. - Galileo



He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger! Confucius



Ask a question and you're a fool for three minutes; do not ask a question and you're a fool for the rest of your life. Chinese Proverb



You can educate a fool, but you cannot make him think. The Talmud



Any fool can know. The point is to understand. Albert Einstein

A teacher has two jobs; fill young minds with knowledge, yes, but more important, give those minds a compass so that that knowledge doesn't go to waste. Mr. Holland's Opus

 

[Alchemy]

When you start flying with zero time student pilots your confidence will grow fast. You may think you don't know much, but when you get into the cockpit with someone who is completely overwhelmed by trying to keep a C172 straight and level in calm air for 5 minutes, it puts things into perspective. 90% of the students you encounter will put an ungodly amount of trust in you simply because you have three magic letters behind the name on your business card, regardless of how you look, how old you are, or how many hours you have. The other 10% were probably abused by a previous instructor.



Teaching a primary student how to do things such as communicate at a towered airport or plan and carry out a cross country flight become extremely tedious if you dwell on every detail. Very seldom do my students make radio calls exactly the way I want them done, but at some point you just have to let the little things slide and let each student develop his/her own style. You can only tell them to read the AIM so many times. There's a fine line between over-bearing criticism and helpful instruction.

 

[acaTerry]

I'm on the "other side" (121 air carrier). In all honesty, airline flying gets boring and unfufilling after 2 years or so. On the other hand, I've been CFI-ing for 10 yrs and am still not tired of it. It always has something new and never falls into monotony. The only reason I stay at the airlines is that making a living as a CFI is not possible.
I tried the independent CFI deal, but I can not find even ONE school in the PHX area who will let you do it and set your own rate. If I found a school in PHX who would let me keep the $40-45 an hour, I'd drop this airline flying in no time. It was more fun before 9-11-01. Now it's just a hassle.

there's nothing wrong with being a CFI. And if you are concerned about your performance, then you show signs of becoming a good CFI.

 

[Lead Sled]

...In all honesty, airline flying gets boring and unfufilling after 2 years or so.

It didn't take me quite that long to figure out that flying for the majors was turning out to be a pretty crappy (but well paying) job. I bailed out and went back to flying corporate. I much prefer the "hands on" nature and variety of corporate flying.

On the other hand, I've been CFI-ing for 10 yrs and am still not tired of it...The only reason I stay at the airlines is that making a living as a CFI is not possible...I tried the independent CFI deal, but I can not find even ONE school in the PHX area who will let you do it and set your own rate. If I found a school in PHX who would let me keep the $40-45 an hour, I'd drop this airline flying in no time. It was more fun before 9-11-01.

I was in a slightly different situation. I was attending evening classes at UNLV and flying air tours through the Grand Canyon during the day. It was the perfect setup up until my senior year - it was hard to schedule some of the classes that I needed to graduate. By that time, I had my flying credendials (ATP and 2000 ME PIC) pretty much in order so I left Las Vegas and transferred to another school to finish up my degree. At that point, I picked up my CFI so that I could keep my hand in flying while I finished up. I tried the 141 and flight school route, but there was no way that I was going to work for $6 an hour. I ended up finding a student with a C172 and taught him how to fly. He ended up allowing me to use it for other students as well. This was 25 years ago, but back then I was flying as much as I ever wanted to fly and charging $25 to $30 an hour and keeping every cent of it. I'm sure that you could do the same thing now if you wanted to and you'd be able to get $45 to $50 an hour.

Lead Sled

 

[rumpletumbler]

Thanks for all of your comments. I've been following just running silent...

 

[propilot1983]

I remember when I started that I was really, REALLY nervous with my first student. Worried that I would tell him the wrong thing. I have about 625TT and 200 dual given. You will never know everything and a lot of times, you will have to look stuff up to make sure you are telling your student the correct info. It's a big learning process but you start getting the hang of it as you get more and more time under your belt. A good instructor (and pilot) is always learning. *Sorry to steal your thunder AOPA*

Good Luck...you are on the right track.

 

[Matterhorn]

I’ve known and flown with many great pilots who were not very good teachers. Most of my flight time is as a CFI. People think I’m nuts but I still like it. My staff teases me that I’m about to become the rare “career CFI.” I’m to the point now where I’m running a great part 61 school that is about to expand, and actually make enough money to pay the mortgage and bills every month.
As far as feeling unqualified: I felt very qualified, but the first time I taxied out with a student and realized, “oh my god, this guy thinks I know what I’m doing!” I think a lot of people feel this way at first, but with time and practice things will smooth out. Besides you never stop making mistakes. My student love it when I screw up a radio call, have a less than perfect landing, etc. I think you’ll do great because of your great attitude.
Like I said, I still like it and it pays the bills.

 

[vetteracer]

In one of my first college classes the Professor told us that "the more we learn and know the more we find we don’t know". Did not make sense to me for a while until I caught on to what his point was.

The point is that as we learn and our knowledge expands into subjects, the more we realize that we have more to learn. After taking a semester of Chemistry, you think you know it all, until you realize that you could spend years studying and learning just that one subject.

Your feelings are just that, you are grasping material and realize there is much more to learn. Well, it never stops. So like everyone else, just prepare for you lessons with your students and do your best.

I have a degree in Education and found the best teachers are those that can mold to meet their students on their level, versus the student molding to yours.

Some people simply do not have a full vocabulary and words like parallel or disc brakes. You may have to be a teacher of many classes, just not flight. I had students that needed basic math and physics help.

So the Instructor that is a multi-faceted teacher will have the best results. Remember that nothing puts students at ease as that of good feelings. If they dread coming in for a lesson because you snap at them or criticize them tastelessly they will show up tense and the lesson will be downhill from there.

At the end of lessons, I always started the debrief off with excitement in my voice on the good points of the flight. And then positively mentioned the things we need to hone to bring it all together. Their self-esteem and excitement stayed alive. Nothing is worse then sending your student off with a punishment type debrief. Many times students fly once a week, and will dwell on the negative all week and be so worked up from days of pondering that it will effect the next lesson.

Mark

 

[acaTerry]

Lead Sled,

The trouble with making money as a CFI (at least in AZ) is that the emergence of these academy-type schools make it impossible.
They only hire their own grads (prefer a 300 newby to someone who knows how to instruct!) and the FBO's are so full that they want to keep the $$...only let you work FOR them rather than TROUGH them (so 15/hr is all you get).
BTW, did you fly an F4 or an F105? The screen name tips me off to that question..

 

[Illini Pilot]

my CFI ground instructor used to say that we are pilots, not teachers, so we usually gonna be crappy teachers, but seriously, after I started instructing, you really realize that all that aviation knowledge really does stick with you, and as long as you are prepared in teaching, you should have no problem. i find myself using my past instruction and my own personal (while still relatively meager) experiences so much now.

 

[SkyGuyEd]

I felt the exact same way you do... it goes away, just don't ever let your guard down with any students

 

[bobbysamd]

Instructing

The way I see it, the fact you care enough to even ask the question is a pretty good step towards being a good teacher.

I second that. Excellent observation.

Having the right attitude about instructing, which you appear to have, will carry you far. All flight instructors were new at one time; even those who might have been teachers or instructors of another subject still had to learn aviation and how to teach it. Your students will pick up on your enthusiasm for teaching and will likely respond to it. Experience will hone your abilities.

The odd thing about flight instructing, though, is the amount of knowledge that you, the instructor, will acquire. I only had three instructors for training toward ratings and they were fair to good. The best flight instructors I ever had were my students. While I feel I influenced my students positively and helped them become successful, they probably taught me far more overall than I taught them.

Good luck with getting your CFI.

 

[Uncle Sparky]

The first time that I taught a student holds and holding procedures, I stood in front of a dry erase board and after I would ask a question about entries, I would then turn my back to him and look at the board. I was using this time to sneak looks at my plastic holding reference that I had cupped discreetly in my hand. By the time another month had passed, not only could I do it without the reference card, I knew the curriculum like I wrote it myself.
The moral to the story is: even though you will be a CFI, you are a student yourself. It does become easier. Once you have learned the BASE material(you should always continue to acquire new knowledge)you will start to find a groove and instructing becomes easier.
The real challenge will be maintaining the student's interest. Try to imagine yourself in that students position. If the material is particularly dry(most primary students struggle with VOR's for example)take them out of the classroom(if the school is flexible in that respect) and sit in an airplane or just get outside of the building. A classroom can assume the motivational qualities of a morgue. You will notice your student's eyes glazing over and when you ask questions(you should frequently) they won't know the answers. This is when it's time to take a break or go outside.
My school gave us a lot of latitude so I would go out to a REAL airplane to teach aerodynamics or use a sidewalk as a runway and have them walk through a "pattern".