Instructor told student "you are boring"

[kloe]

thanks guys for the comments once again

I also get frustrated as my instructor tells me to prepare forced landings to perform in the classroom so I go home and study it and then when I show this person tells me to show them navigation!! WTF!

[Duchess_Driver]

Possibly preparing you for real life....

"You're 10 o'clocks just cancelled.....can you take X for their first nav trip please......" Happens all the time in flight training.

[kloe]

Romeo India Xray

But this is the Chief Flying Instructor!!!

Asking not to fly with this person, would this make look bad and what would this chief instructor think of me, probably would not even give me a job.

This instructor does look alot at their book to see if they are covering everything as this person was out of instructing for a long time.

should I stay or should I go?

that is the question

kloe

[Charlie Foxtrot India]

this person is also dealing with personal issues and work issues.
Sounds like you are too! Running a flying school isn't a walk in the park. And once you have students, be ready to hear thier life history and woes...

right now I am not having fun which is what we should be doing.
You are there to learn how to be a flying instructor.

I know another instructor at another school not too far away which always comes in with a smile and makes me feel good flying,
You are there to learn how to be a flying instructor.

Take a big step back, and ask yourself why you are doing this course. Do you want to be a flying instructor, or do you just want to have fun and feel good?

See how it looks from the other side, where you hope to be soon. Perhaps the "miserable" instructor finds you difficult also? Maybe the decision to stay or go might not be your decision?


What will you do when you qualify, and get a student that is "miserable"/smelly/obnoxious/does ZERO preparation etc? Decide you don't want to fly with them because it's not "fun" even though they are paying good money to fly with you?? See the other side of the coin?


This is a professional job and requires maturity and the skills to deal with people of all types in a professional manner. If you want everything to go your way all the time then maybe you are not yet ready to be a flying instructor?

Think about it, don't take it personally.

[kloe]

charlie foxtrot india

you are probably right.........

I should quit while I am ahead.........

instructing should not be fun but a very serious matter and I agree ..........

thanks for the info charlie foxtrot india,

I will pay my instructor a visit maybe today or tommorow and quit.

I would like to thank everybody for their comments and because Canada at the moment have very few class 1 instructors to do any actual instructor training anybody wishing to start should take their time to find a happy, experienced and somebody that they at least enjoy being with and hopes to learn from their instructor.

I started the instructor course over a year ago and have had 3 instructors all of them class 1 and I must say the first one was horrible and could not accomodate my schedule because of his golf game, the other one retired which I liked and now this last one that has not teached for over 20 years , well you know this instructor brief history through me.

I just wanted to have some fun along the way but maybe not.

I will donate my instructor notes and books to somebody else and just continue to fly privately.

again thank you for the comments you too charlie foxtrot india

kloe

[Whirlybird]

kloe,

Whoa there! That sounds a little impulsive and over the top on the basis of what one person tells you.

If it helps at all, I absolutely hated my instructor's course. However, when I started instructing I found out how useful all of it had been, and wrote to my former instructor to thank him for everything. And instructing is fun....most of the time, for the right sort of person.

So your course may not be fun. However, some of what you say does sound as though it's not quite right. Some doesn't, for instance the checking to see if you've covered everything - that's conscientious, and I tend to use notes a lot too, even if I don't think I need them.

If there's somewhere else to go and you're sure your instructor is causing your problems, then go there. If not, stick it out, IF you want to be an instructor. But in my experience, there is no way an FI course will ever be fun!

[Angels 25]

Welcome to the school of hard knocks

Kloe, don't quit. Go to that friendly instructor down the road, the one with the nice smile and who sounds in current training practice. Have a heart to heart, and perhaps consider enrolling there! Don't quit! Treat all of this as a learning experience which will prove valuable in your career.
Being a pilot in any professional capacity is about learning to act, not react.
Determine in all your interactions with people the kind of influence you wish to exert, and the kind of outcome. Think about your course of action, and be decisive! As an instructor you will need to sometimes make split second decisions, sometimes life and death decisions. This is a small taste of what you might expect in the training environment.
Unfortunately, there is a small proportion of instructors out there who take delight in putting down instructors and students (especially if there is a captive audience), as if to prove their superiority. What this person doesn't realise yet is that he or she is more boriong than you'll ever be.
Delivering a lesson or brief and being able to make it cohesive and flow, and captivating, takes practice. This is what the FI course trains you to do, and what this instructor should be doing, not delivering tongue fu remarks.
Good luck! You've got a lot of support in these forums.

[Canadapilot]

I hated my instructor course too...was glad to get it done! I know a Class 1 here in Calgary who'd be able to get you finished quickly....PM me for details if desired! don't let one asshole CFI put you off, i lost all confidence and passion with my first one....get out and switch schools is still my advice! you've come this far buddy

[kloe]

thank you once again for the positive remarks

- I never said that instructing is always going to be fun and you are right, you will have to make life and death type decisions in flight and you must be ready at a moments notice, I agree

- I went into this instructors course very serious as I am the person that will be a career flight instructor and not one that will use this as part of the experience and then move on to something bigger and better, so all I am asking is to have an instructor that has the passion and knowledge to pass their experience on to me so I can be the best that I can be to my students

- like I mentioned before, this is the third instructor that I have had and I do not want to keep switching but these class 1 instructors here in Canada are far and few between.

- I understand that on a moments notice I might be asked to teach another subject to a student but RIGHT NOW I AM THE STUDENT! learning to be an instructor, so when you tell me prepare to teach me forced landings and then show up and you tell me to teach you navigation I necessarily might not have looked at navigation enough to be ready and I don't find that fair in my phase of training. When I am the instructor that is a different situation.

- I do not want to make my present flight instructor look bad, not at all. This person is actually a nice person but I believe has been out of the flight instructing world for a long time and there are times when this person doesn't even know how to fill out a flight plan form when we did the navigation planning.

- this instructor has been flying for a very long time and I respect that very much, but when this person called me boring and reading my overheads in the ground lesson, the reason is that this person thinks they know everything and instead of saying that I was boring, could have re-phrased it and for everything that I have either presented wrong or forgotten I would stop and ask this person how we could correct it. I have no problem accepting remarks but my confidence in flying and working with this person is making me stiff, nervous and afraid to make a mistake. This did not happen with my previous one that retired.

- If I am supposed to know everything by memory as this person makes it out to be and not read my notes then guys I don't know what else to do. I like the person but not the "instructor" in them.

- the weather here in Canada has been brutal and I have not been able to do a whole lot of flying and my written exam is going to expire soon and I am starting to panic that if the time expires I must rewrite the exam which is a very hard one.

Believe me, most of my training has not been fun and I accept it because there is alot of work to be done and material to learn, and I just want to learn to be the best that I can be and pass it on to others.

others here have said stay and fight it and it will be hard fight and others have said go. I have alot to think today as I need to make the decision quick!

again thank you all for the comments and suggestions

kloe

[windriver]

Maybe your instructor could adopt a more constructive manner... but this is an interesting extract from your post.

but when this person called me boring and reading my overheads in the ground lesson

The use of overheads/PowerPoint/pc projectors etc should normally be used to complement briefings rather than act as the main point of focus.

Maybe your instructor detected a tendency for the aids to be the main point of focus rather than you (as instructor) engaging with your "student."

Reading directly from Slides can send a student or class to sleep in seconds - especially after lunch!

Stick with it.. it gets easier and very enjoyable with practice.

[kloe]

again thank for the comments guys

my previous instructor that has retired told me to do the "oveheads" as they can make your lesson better. Now, I don't just read my overheads and go on, I add theory to each point that is on my overhead. Obviously if you just read off your overhead than anybody can teach.

my present instructor makes me nervous and I freeze in the class and in the air when my excercise is not up to par you can see the facial expression that this person makes, I just want to go back and land and go home.

I seem to hear ten different ways to teach an excercise, ten different ways in the class using power point, overhead, chalkboard, whiteboard, etc. driving me confused!!

It has been so frustrating for me lately that I don't know whether I should proceed or just stop.

kloe

[Lister Noble]

I've been reading this with interest but not posted to date.
I'm a low hours PPL but I have given hundreds of presentations on various topics in agriculture,involving precision farming with GPS,satellite images,etc also a lot on environmental issues and organic farming.
The audiences have varied from politicians,media,academics,farmers,consultants to school pupils.
First of all I used overheads but they were horrible to manipulate etc,then I used 35mm slides and finally last 10 yrs Powerpoint.

Always I used the slide etc to act as an aid memoir and talked around it,facing the audience,sometimes a bit light hearted humour,and depending on the type of audience asking for participation.I've done radio and live TV,the TV was a bit stressful as I had never done that before and was arguing the case against organic farming with someone from the Soil Association for 30 mins,but it went OK.

You must avoid "death by powerpoint",giving slide after slide of tables and graphs,even worse having the script up there and reading it off.
You've got to be a bit of an actor,move about a bit,be animated and smile occassionally!

Obviously your main aim is to pass info over and make sure it sticks,but if you can do this in an interesting manner then you are nearly there.
Good luck,and stick at it.
Lister
Edited to add:
My first presentation was to a room full of journalist,some of whom we knew were not going to be too friendly,and I was shi**ing myself.
A respected colleague said,
"Don't worry,you know really your subject and if you don't know the answer to a question don't try and answer it or bullsh*t them,tell them you'll get back to them when you have more info etc"

[OneIn60rule]

Doesn't see much.

One person tells you they you bore him/her.

Maybe the presentation was really boring. Nobody manages a great presentation first time.

Yes 'tis a skill to make the subject interesting and interactive, did the CFI point out what you could do to make it more interesting?


Just keep practicing. *sometimes one has to leave to a better tutor, holds true for students and student FI's*


1/60

[SNS3Guppy]

My question I guess, should the instructor teaching me which also happens to be the chief flying instructor at this school tell their student that they are boring and what should I do about it?

What should you do about it? Be less boring.

You've been given valuable insight. Take it, digest it, and make a change. The definition of learning, of course, is a change in behavior as a result of experience. You've just experienced your instructor giving you feedback with which you can improve your performance.

You seem worried that your feelings are hurt.

Are you there to have your ego stroked, or to learn to be an instructor?

Your instructor is an experienced instructor, and the chief instructor. You are not. Do you know more than your instructor?

You are going to find that others do things you don't like from time to time. When you're an instructor, you can take what you've found that worked and use it, and reject what you've found didn't work...but you don't have the experience or place to be rejecting anything at the moment. Now is a good time to listen, to learn, and to make changes.

Your instructor tells you to prepare a lesson on X and then when you show up you're told to teach a lesson on Y?

Then teach a lesson on Y. Very simple.

As a flight instructor, you won't have the luxury of taking a day off every time you have to teach a lesson, in order to prepare that lesson.

You may find that a student shows up with a question, and now you have to teach that subject. Right here, right now. You started out the day planning on teaching cross country navigation, but you've discovered the student doesn't understand crosswind landings...now you're teaching something different. Your instructor understands this, and understands that YOU need to understand this.

Stop looking inward and worrying about yourself. Being an instructor, and more importantly a teacher, is worrying about your student.

Your student may tell you that you're boring. What are you going to do? Get rid of the student? Every student is different. Adapt.

[kloe]

Where do flight instructors enjoy teaching, at an average size school with a few airplanes that is quiet and enjoyable or a large school that is affiliated with a university or college and is just hustle and bustle?

I find the large busy school there is not alot of personal teaching time but going from one student to another.

any stories would be appreciated

kloe

[Canadapilot]

I think in present times not many of us can be selective in schools to teach at!

[OneIn60rule]

Points.

Small flying clubs, the FI's have each their own way of teaching.


Bigger places, college links actually prepping people for CPL's etc are more "standardized". Set way of doing things, less flexible due to contracts etc with other companies which send their students over for courses.



Decide which you want to work with. You might not be the type of A but maybe B.

1/60

[VFE]

I personally prefer the more personal flying club environment to teach in. Larger places, as has already been intimated, tend to have a set way leaving little room for individual styles and more importantly, time for adequate briefing given the conveyor belt approach.

VFE.

[BigGrecian]

Sounds like the instructor is trying is hoping for you to stand up for yourself and show some enthusiasm - I wouldn't take it to heart, I think your being a little over-sensitive - students will treat you worse - but just behind your back! and will find other instructors!

We've had plenty of people who give dull briefs, and you can't teach someone to show enthusiasm and make their briefs more interesting, they have to do it for themselves.

When comments were like that were passed, the ones which got hired were the one's who stood up for themselves, asked why and rectified the situation!

Good luck!

[Cap'n Arrr]

If I may say a few things

- I think you might be being a little bit too precious here. If an instructor gives a boring brief, then the student doesn't pay attention, and won't take anything away from it. Did the CFI say why you were boring? If he did, then that is constructive criticism. If he didn't, then he probably should have, but at the end of the day he is trying to help you be a better instructor.

- Your reaction to Charlie Foxtrot India's post reads to me like a tantrum. The instructor rating is not first and foremost about "fun." It is about knowing your stuff and being able to impart it to your student. I've yet to experience anything more rewarding than taking a struggling student and getting them flying at a high standard. It's also about taking onboard criticism. If you immediately disregard what someone has said just because you don't like it, or it hurts your ego, then you will not make a very good instructor regardless of how well trained you are.

- When you do start instructing, you will have to fly with a wide variety of students. These will go from the clean, fast learner who doesn't even really need you to be in the plane half the time, to the unwashed struggler who frustrates you at every turn, who you hate sharing a cockpit with and seems to spend their nights coming up with new ways to try and kill the both of you. The instructor rating teaches you how to deal with not just good students, but with the poor ones as well. You may have noticed your instructor pretending to be a struggling student in your briefs (it'd be too easy if they didn't make you work!)

At the end of the day, he is not calling you a boring person, but is telling you the way that you delivered the brief was boring for him, and as such boring for potential students. Remember that he has much more experience than you at teaching students, even if he has been out of it for a while. Take on board his advice, by the sound of it he is not trying to ridicule you, but to tell you what you are doing wrong. I once knew an instructor who was happy all the time and nice to fly with, but he wouldn't tell students if they had done something wrong because he was worried about offending them. Consequently, the students struggled through their training, and had to pay for extra flights. Can you see the point I'm trying to make here?