Instructor rating help

[flap 20]

Hi guys,
I m begning a flight instructor rating actually and i need some help.
I m studying the TC FI guide ,and now i should begin to write my own ground lessons, so any help !!!
An example of lessons that some one can gives me so i can follow the plan.all i know is that i must have all exercices lessons ready to expose in Power POint format.
Thank you

[Instructor_Mike]

Ask your class 1 for help. That's why they are your instructor.

With that said, read the aim, motivation, etc and think about the best way you can help a student learn the material. From there think about what notes you would need for yourself to teach that.

[Colonel Sanders]

Creating PGI is hard until you realize that each lesson will
be present in exactly the same format.

Get your class 1 to show you what format he wants. There
are a couple of popular ones. They all work.

Free advice: I had a CPL come to me a couple years ago,
he had flunked his initial class 4 flight test. Didn't even get
to the airplane. It was easy to see why. He had created
(and amazingly his class 1 did not object) a groundschool
lesson for each PGI. Every lesson went on for pages and
pages and pages and pages. Death by briefing, as my
father calls it.

As an instructor, you need to clearly understand the
difference between:

1) groundschool
2) PGI
3) pre-flight briefing
4) in-flight instruction
5) post-flight briefing

PGI is NOT ground school. It is also NOT pre-flight briefing.

Anyways, what I told the prospective class 4 was that we
were going to re-do all of his PGI (sigh) and each lesson
was going to fit on one piece of paper. Seriously. Ok, I
let him use both sides. But I told him that I was going to
charge him $10 for each word that he spoke, so he better
make them good ones.

My point is that you DO NOT WANT 100 pages of powerpoint
for each PGI lesson. That is groundschool. That is not PGI.

If your class 1 does not understand the difference between
groundschool and PGI, get another one that does.

Most new instructors talk WAY too much during PGI. They
try to do a total brain dump of everything they know about
a subject to some poor farmer or truck driver that might
remember 2 or 3 things of the 178 things their instructor
is telling them.

PGI should not take 8 hours. During the PGI you are going
to tell the student WHAT you are going to do in the airplane
and HOW he is going to make the airplane do that.

If you find yourself talking during the PGI and you are not
holding a model airplane in your hand, OR you are not talking
about how you wiggle the aircraft controls and what you see
out the windshield .... SHUT UP.

There are an awful lot of class 1 instructors out there that
hold the rating, but frankly don't have a clue how to teach
a class 4 instructor.

PS re PPT ... pictures are nice, but you can also find them
in books. A good model airplane is worth a million PPT
slides - for PGI.

[Trapper]

Very well said CS, it boggles my mind that candidates are coming on this forum asking questions that their class 1 should have informed them about on the very first lesson.

Trapper

[Colonel Sanders]

Trapper: with the recent movement in the industry, very
few higher-time (esp younger) instructors are able to resist
the siren song of the right seat of a Navajo or King Air.

As a result, I have suspicions that there are some class 1
instructors that are, shall we say, "mailing it in" from afar.



PS Explanation of "siren song" above. Upon re-reading
this, it sure looks gay. It makes a lot more sense if you've
ever read "The Odyssey" by Homer (not Simpson):

http://deoxy.org/alephnull/sirens.htm

On a tangential sirens trivia note:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sirens_of_Titan

Kurt Vonnegut actually sold the film rights of his
book to none other than Jerry Garcia, enigmatic
guitarist of The Grateful Dead.

In a 1979 interview released in 2007, Douglas Adams discussed Vonnegut as an influence on The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy:

"Sirens of Titan is just one of those books – you read it through the first time and you think it's very loosely, casually written. You think the fact that everything suddenly makes such good sense at the end is almost accidental. And then you read it a few more times, simultaneously finding out more about writing yourself, and you realize what an absolute tour de force it was, making something as beautifully honed as that appear so casual."

[flap 20]

Roger that mister!!!
I can tell you that my class 1 use PGI word,but when i was writing the post here, i use ground course word...any way i will ask for an example of a PGI if possible i must prepare one or 2 for next week so he will check them with me , he refuses to give me any example....and from what i know , i still remeber what it looks like when i was doing my PPL..he asked me to give them in a power point format thank you guys...waiting for examples if possible...

[Shiny Side Up]

he refuses to give me any example....

Full stop, demand your money back and get a different class one to work with.

he asked me to give them in a power point format

Again, get your money back. All that matters with the PGI is that it works. If someone can show me a PGI using interepretive dance, I'll let them run with it. That said though, heed the Colonel's advice. A PGI should be able to be used with but a white board and a toy airplane. Not sure if it occurs to many instructors but you might have to do a PGI with minimal resourses sometimes. Power goes out at the school. Do you cancel all the lessons because you can't fire up the powerpoint?

thank you guys...waiting for examples if possible...

Don't thank us yet, sounds like you got some shit to work out. Don't take it personally, I'd give an example but it irks me that I'd be doing another class one's work for them. One who by the sounds of it shouldn't have the rating.

[flap 20]

Oups, money back!!! Loll
Everybody in the knows that he is the number one...so idk if i will change instructor for this reason ,anyway i will follow the TC guide and prepare a PGI for next lesson by my way, and he will correct it ...
Thank you all again

[Shiny Side Up]

Well I suppose if you don't mind parting with your money in such a fashion, you're an adult. Do me a favour and pm me the name of your class 1 so I can add his name to the list of ones I don't hire from.

[Colonel Sanders]

he refuses to give me any example

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

This guy may hold a class 1 instructor rating, but he
doesn't know how to teach a new class 4 instructor.

Unfortunately this is becoming the norm.

Run away. Get a class 1 with a clue.

[mike123]

Just to give you an idea, this is the format that I used:

First slide: Introduce the lesson (insert a nice picture to get their attention)
Second slide: Why we learn it (make them understand why it is important)
Third slide (if needed): a little theory of flight relevant to the lesson
Fourth slide: how to initiate the maneuver
Fifth slide: what you do while performing the maneuver (add pictures of the airplane relative to the horizon or view from inside the cockpit and, if useful, instrument indications)
Sixth slide: recovery
Seveth slide: factors affecting the maneuver
Eight slide: safety factors

[Colonel Sanders]

TC says to pass the flight test, you need to do this for your PGI:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/p ... y-4282.htm

Assessment will be based on the candidate's ability to apply the instructional techniques and learning factors set out in the Flight Instructor Guide, including the ability to:

1.prepare the teaching area for effective student learning (readiness);
2.prepare/check training aids;
3.determine that the student is ready for learning;
4.explain where the lesson fits into the overall picture (relationship, readiness);
5.identify the main teaching points (readiness);
6.relate the lesson to past and/or future experiences of the student (relationship);
7.start presentation of new material at the student’s level of understanding (readiness, relationship, effect);
8.proceed at the rate of student comprehension (relationship, exercise, primacy, effect);
9.use developmental teaching (exercise, effect, relationship);
10.introduce each stage of the lesson and provide a link between stages (relationship);
11.obtain student feedback throughout the lesson (exercise, effect);
12.respond to student feedback (effect);
13.identify and emphasize major points for the student (exercise, effect);
14.give clear explanations (primacy, effect, relationship);
15.use visual aids effectively (effect, intensity);
16.use voice effectively by varying rate, volume and pitch (intensity);
17.appear enthusiastic about the subject being taught (intensity);
18.use eye contact effectively (intensity);
19.involve the student effectively;
20.confirm student learning at the end of each stage.

During the PGI of your instructor flight test, the examiner
will be sitting there with a clipboard and the above.

Why not deliver what he wants? As a class 4 you don't
have to do a very good job at anything, but you need to
at least have something there for the required stuff.

For PGI I might suggest a TKT and plenty of application
of the learning factors in the FIG. Don't be an output-only
device.

The fact that your class 1 hasn't told you this very basic
stuff is a red flag that you should not ignore.

[Shiny Side Up]

he refuses to give me any example

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

This guy may hold a class 1 instructor rating, but he
doesn't know how to teach a new class 4 instructor.

I know huh? What I'm starting to find is more worrisome is that somehow these guys are getting the rating in the first place, the implications of which is very distressing. Did these guys pass adifferent testing criteria than I did when I did the class 1 test? Part of that test was how was I going to show students how to do lesson plans, part of which requirement was how I was going to make sure they knew about items 1-20 out of the test guide. The idea that a class one is out there's who's plan is to make his new class 4 acolytes "figure it out for themselves" either doesn't know what he's doing, or is purposefully milking them for time to pad his paycheck. Worse, if someone from transport accepted said plan as good enough, we have to assume the whole system has been corrupted.

Unfortunately this is becoming the norm.

Very unfortunate.

Run away. Get a class 1 with a clue.

Again unfortunate that I think another new potential is going to be wasted. Bad class ones are in a position to extensively sell their own bullshit to unsuspecting new pilots, a gross misuse of the responsibility we entrust them with.

[Colonel Sanders]

a class one is out there's who's plan is to make his new class 4 acolytes "figure it out for themselves"

I've never been quite that developmental with my
class 4 instructor candidates, but I suppose I could
give it a try.

Bad class ones are in a position to extensively sell their own bullshit to unsuspecting new pilots (instructors)

Yeah, this is very bad. Probably one of the most important
responsibilities in aviation is the creation of new instructors.

New, substandard instructors, go on to teach badly to the
next generation of pilots (and instructors). Lots of leverage
there. Going in the wrong direction.

[200hr Wonder]

From way back when I did my Class IV. I was expressly told NOT to use Power Point for about a dozen good reasons.

1. Power point is not always avaliable. How often does your PC crap out or maybe you just don't want to leave it in your car because your going out after etc.

2. PPT is inflexible. If you have a student who is struggling with power on stalls and needs a quick refresher combined with a circuit less what are you going to do?

3. PPT is boring, you show a slide you talk. Get out of that box to be engaging. This should be an interactive one on one time not a lecture.

I can do a PGI at Timmies before we head to the airport, on a nice sunny day on the picnic table out back or even under a shady tree. These are all places I have done PGIs. All I need is a pen and peace of paper and my plastic model all of which where in my bag.

My Class 1 spent an inordinate amount of time on white board usage and control. Or paper if no white board. At the end of your presentation anyone should be able to look at it and get the key points from the PGi and understand the lesson. If you can do this you are in good shape.

DO NOT USE PPT! The technology will take away from the key of the content and understanding of it.

[Colonel Sanders]

Remember when overhead projectors and
clear slides were all the rage? That was what
all the cool instructors back in the 1980's were
using.

[SuperchargedRS]

[padre12]

Not to get too bogged down in the conversation, I would use PPT for Ground School, but absolutely *NOT* for PGI or preflight's - I agree with my (not likely any longer) 200hr friend. There are amazing and wonderful things you can do with a fresh package of coloured white board markers (if your school has white boards...) Besides, what about that part in the FIG that requires developmental teaching: in teaching a Class IV candidate how to do this well, you may need to adapt far outside outside of your own Powerpoint slides to make a really meaningful learning experience within a Class IV lesson plan.

Signed,
A "hard core" and "old school" Class I ....

[DanWEC]

To give my 2 cents. I'm a techie through and through. Always had the latest and coolest crap just because. Lately I've been regressing because I've realized, after way too long, that some things just work better regardless of pixels.
I'm mostly through a class 4 rating myself, but I find that a whiteboard has a more human and immediate aspect.
It's easy to get lost in the process when using tech. But ultimately it's the material that's important, and if you can present it in an exciting way (intensity) and drawing all the info out of the student using questions (effect) then you're golden.

I really floundered a bit the first while, I wasn't given a concrete framework, (edit, was given a very general outline, but not specific enough for a linear thinker like me. ) but it wasn't until about ex 20 that I started finding my groove and the PGI prep went from 6 hours to 2... then less.

Simple PGI-
Hey student, What do you know about what we're going to do?
Ok, How are going to go it?
Awesome... here's some safety items and points.
Let's fly!

Good luck!

[Colonel Sanders]

I really floundered a bit the first while, I wasn't given a concrete framework

Dan: If you ever become a class 1 instructor, and
teach new class 4 instructors, remember what you
just said.

Instruction is all about providing frameworks to the
newbies, much like your first bicycle had training
wheels bolted onto the back. (What learning factor
did I just apply there?)

After a while, you didn't need your bicycle training
wheels any more. But they came in awfully handy
when you were starting.


Edit #1 -- Learning Factors in the FIG. Do not gloss
over them. You must learn them in detail for your
instructor written test, and you must apply them
for your instructor flight test. Even if you think some
of it is a little weird, too bad. As I tell my instructor
candidates:

We Eat This Sh1t With A Spoon

I keep meaning to get bumper stickers made up.


Edit #2 -- closed loop. For at least the last 50 years,
rec/ppl/cpl students have struggled with steep turns,
diversions (and most of all) practice forced landings (PFL)
on flight tests in Canada. Can you guess which lessons
I hammer home with my class 4 instructor candidates?

As an instructor, you need to be able to flawlessly fly
a perfect demo of a steep turn from the right seat,
and at the same time you must be able to explain
what you are doing, AND keep a good lookout. This
is not always easy for everyone, and requires practice
to be good at it.

Similarly, I just love diversions and PFLs. With my class
4 instructor candidates, you can count on nearly every
flight terminating in a PFL to the ground, starting overhead
the airport from a different angle. And as time goes on,
a lower and lower altitude. I want my class 4 instructor
candidates to be real aces at the forced approach, and
here's why.

Boyd's Law of Inequalities

Rarely (if ever) does a student's performance exceed
that of a flight instructor's. If you do encounter this
rare "natural pilot", let me know.

More realisitically, the student's performance might
approach 50% (perhaps even 30%) of the instructor's
ability to perform a particular maneuver.

But if the instructor isn't able to perform a particular
maneuver very well, I will guarantee you that this
students will do far worse.

Again, this is leverage in the wrong direction. An
instructor, for example, whom is horrible at footwork
(eg rudder pedals) is going to create pilots who are
horrible at footwork, too. There might be an occasional
Wonder Boy that learns despite his instructor, but that's
not exactly what we should be relying on.

You can see how breeding particular skills and knowledge
out of the instructor pool can have a horrible effect on the
future pilot population. I'm not saying you can't fix it, but
it's a Herculean job to correct something when "everyone
knows" something which is wrong.

[Colonel Sanders]

If you do encounter this rare "natural pilot", let me know.

I have only met one "natural pilot" in my nearly
50 years on the planet known as "dirt". They
are not very common.

However, that doesn't stop everyone else from
wanting (nay, expecting) to be such an incredible
phenomenon. The disappointment, when they
discover that they are not this one-in-a-hundred-million
freak, is paplable.

I wrote an article about this:

http://www.pittspecials.com/articles/Confidence.htm

It is something that your students will struggle with,
and you must help them with it.

[Shiny Side Up]

Remember when overhead projectors and
clear slides were all the rage? That was what
all the cool instructors back in the 1980's were
using.

We still got that unit in the back somewhere. It did have the advantage of being better than the blackboard of being easier to see for students, and those horrible transparencies made up for most instructor's inability to draw even stick figures. Soon as we became board-racist and changes to white we stopped using that old noisy beast.

I really floundered a bit the first while, I wasn't given a concrete framework

Dan: If you ever become a class 1 instructor, and
teach new class 4 instructors, remember what you
just said.

Indeed. To that end for the benefit of some, though against my better judgement, here's the outline I use to make a PGI. I'll reference the 20 things TC wants to see while presenting it.

1.prepare the teaching area for effective student learning (readiness);
2.prepare/check training aids;

One and Two are't really items you'll need to have in your outline, most people can remember to do these things before they present a PGI. If you need have a shopping list of items you need to check before starting written down so you don't forget. Check your markers, clean your white board, find any references you're going to use - if you are going to use books I'd advise having the pages bookmarked so you aren't standing there flipping pages.

3.determine that the student is ready for learning;

Part of this is also common sense, make sure you aren't going to be bothered - if necessary make sure cel phones are off, that sort of thing. The other part - and part of your script - will be your Threshold Knowledge Test you might need some questions prepared, but keep it simple. You should ask as one of them whether the student has done any prepwork you asked for (the dreaded reading of the FTM) and some questions to review what you did the previous lesson. Now its time to launch into the PGI proper.

4.explain where the lesson fits into the overall picture (relationship, readiness);
5.identify the main teaching points (readiness);
6.relate the lesson to past and/or future experiences of the student (relationship);

Here's the main bits of your introduction, and your view may vary, but I find TC loves Orientation boards when using the white board. Your introduction should grab the student's attention and in simplest terms be essentially What and Why. That is to say What are we going to learn today and Why are we going to learn it. Should be no more than two sentences. Your orientation board should outline how the PGI is going to proceed, should have 3-5 points depending on the lesson. The last is usually safety/airmanship. If it is necessary for the lesson any theory should be reviewed as point one. I should note that only a few of the PGIs need any bit of theory with them, the main ones being Range and Endurance, Slow flight, Stalls, and Spins. This is as minimal as possible, you're not to delve into a long discussion on it, its only enough to sell what comes next.

The remainder here are pretty much a guide as to how to conduct the meat of your PGI - your 3 to 5 points.

7.start presentation of new material at the student’s level of understanding (readiness, relationship, effect);
8.proceed at the rate of student comprehension (relationship, exercise, primacy, effect);
9.use developmental teaching (exercise, effect, relationship);
10.introduce each stage of the lesson and provide a link between stages (relationship);
11.obtain student feedback throughout the lesson (exercise, effect);
12.respond to student feedback (effect);
13.identify and emphasize major points for the student (exercise, effect);
14.give clear explanations (primacy, effect, relationship);
15.use visual aids effectively (effect, intensity);
16.use voice effectively by varying rate, volume and pitch (intensity);
17.appear enthusiastic about the subject being taught (intensity);
18.use eye contact effectively (intensity);

Notes on the above. The structure of these points is something, if you paid attention, you spent roughly grade 7 to 12 (or possibly also 13) English or Language arts or whatever they call it in High School hashing through how to do. If you've ever had to present a thesis, you'll know about it even more. Some of the things you might have learned about creative writing will come into play here, though we're certainly not talking about pulitzer prize material. Some of the above is also essentially performance art critique, but there's ways of organizing your script to it flows logically and minimizes dead time during it. Remember when organizing; what does the student know at the start and what do you want them to know by the end.

By said end you should be able to wrap it up in a conclusion, one sentence which sums up what you just went through.

The last two deserve special note:

19.involve the student effectively;
20.confirm student learning at the end of each stage.

For every lesson you should have some final check questions devised, TC usually likes there to be three, one of which should revolve around your last talking point of safety/airmanship (Question: which learning factor dictates this comes last?)

To sum up, in simplest terms your main PGI should go like so:

0: Prepare
1: Threshold Knowledge test
2: Introduction
3: Orientation of lesson
4: Point 1 (theory if needed - why)
5: Points 2-4 (the hows, whats, wheres, whos and whens)
6: Point 5 (safety/airmanship)
7: Conclusion/teaser/link
8: Check questions (3)

Not rocket science stuff, not sure why someone who is tasked with the responsibility of making sure someone knows said info would with hold it. Of note you can use the above format to do a PGI on anything. To start with I usually demonstrate on a non-flying excersise, anything where we talk about something the student is already skilled at, or something mundane like changing the oil in their car or baking cookies.

[Dagwood]

However, that doesn't stop everyone else from wanting (nay, expecting) to be such an incredible phenomenon. The disappointment, when they discover that they are not this one-in-a-hundred-million freak, is paplable.

Sometimes, unfortunately, they don't realize that they are not this one-in-a-hundred-million freak. It isn't uncommon to have the odd guy think he's flight test material while bobbing up and down 200 feet in a steep turn. It can be hard to break through their confidence and explain they still, well, suck at flying.

[CFR]

Remember when overhead projectors and
clear slides were all the rage? That was what
all the cool instructors back in the 1980's were
using.

The military used to give a session on how to use one during their M of I course. How to operate the projector (including how to avoid burns), ensuring that you had a spare bulb (until the advanced OHP's came out with a second bulb inside) and how to change it (don't you dare touch a new bulb with bare hands!!!), how to store the slides, how to ensure they were right side up and not backwards (put them in those cardboard frames) and finally the big debate, how to change from one slide to the next. One school of thought was turn the project off during the change while the other side swore this caused premature bulb failure and to simply cover the slide with a piece of cardboard while changing to the next. Many projectors were modified with a flap in front of the lens that you could flip down during the change over.

Ah those were the days!

[Colonel Sanders]

Remember those high-tech dongles that you
could plug into the VGA output port of your
laptop, and you would put it on the overhead,
and it would display what was on your laptop
screen?

When I was going to school, the instant the
lights went out, and that soothing fan of the
overhead projector went on, my head would
fall instantly to the desk. I would wake up, 45
minutes later, with cold drool on my face.