*Sips Red and strokes chin...*
Well, grasshopper....
If you already have an instructor rating, this might sound very familiar or even patronising but these are my thoughts on the most challenging job in Aviation.
The worst thing an instructor can do (or anybody) is fly with the one company from Go to Woah. You will end up with 10th Generation drivel that has been passed on down the ranks and then you will end up spewing it forth too.
heaps of research ( I can't remember the author's name) into teaching suggests that the best way to start teaching is to visualise your favourite instructor or teacher from school. Try to emulate their style and in quiet moments try to work out what it was about their style that made them good teachers. Driving to and from work might be a good time to quietly go over the day's lessons, and I found reflection to be the most important part of learning to teach.
Airborne instruction was broken down for me basically into three stages: Demonstrate, Talk-through, supervise. These aren't rock-solid and depend on your student's ability, eg: i had a brilliant student who did his GFPT in a PA-28-140 and went on to do his PPL navs in a C210. I could talk him through almost every manoever and he would rarely have to be shown that sequence ever again. His best mate on the other hand had to be shown everything three times and then shown again the next week, and usually the week after that.
There are no hard-and-fast rules, sadly, I think you have to bend with the student's learning style. And because you only work one-on-one, it takes us longer to recognise those styles.
I haven't worked out a good way of teaching the less able students efficiently, which is very frustrating for everybody... Charlie Fox India? Any words of wisdom on that one?