Lesson Planning
The Lesson needs to have a clear purpose to it.
It needs to have been agreed between the pupil and the instructor.
And it must be at a level that is appropriate for the pupil's abilities or is building further on those abilities.
Take a look at our Teaching Methods
Think about something as simple as putting on a pair of laced up shoes.
You wouldn't tie the shoe laces first and then try and put the shoes on would you?
Once the laces are tied up it would make it extremely hard if not impossible to put the shoes on.
So you ensure the laces are untied first, open the mouth of the foot entrance, slide in your foot, and then tie up the laces.
By having a structure to how you are going to put the shoes on before you attempt to do it makes the task in hand a lot easier to achieve.
This structure is no different to that which we do for our pupils when we plan a lesson.
Picking up a pupil for their very first lesson who has never driven a car before, and ask them to jump in and drive you both to a safe place would probably scare the hell out of your pupil and probably not be achievable without lots of interactions from you if at all, to keep things safe.
So you drive them to a safe location first and work on things bit by bit by creating a lesson structure/plan.
The structure has to have a defined purpose that your pupil understands.
As your lessons progress the tasks for the lessons structure will work from simple - more complex and the learning will become more challenging as your pupil gains their skills and things become easy for them to achieve. If they become too easy to achieve they will become bored and unmotivated.
When we talk about the Lesson Structure being agreed, we mean that the instructor will work with the pupil to work out how the goals will be achieved.
This needs to be discussed with the pupil rather than imposing the lesson structure on the pupil.
As part of the lesson planning, you will need to know more than anything about your route.
The route you use will be a crucial part to whether learning takes place or not.
Stick your pupil on a road that is too busy, too fast, has complicated junctions or things they just have never dealt with before and you will end up firefighting the whole session.
Likewise, if your pupil is more experienced, and you take them on a basic back street route that is very quite and doesn't challenge them, it is also likely that your pupil will become demotivated and bored very quickly.
Although your lessons are structured around your pupil and their needs, it is your role to ensure that the lesson plan is suitable from a safety point of view, as well as challenging which evokes learning to take place.
By having this 2 Way conversation, the Instructor has engaged with the pupil.
The pupil understands what the structure/plan of the lesson is.
They understand there may be things that they haven't covered before, or will be things that they have and you are expanding their knowledge and skills on the route.
Ensure that they understand the level of risk they will be responsible for and what you will be taking care of.
Both Instructor and Pupil need to be aware of their shared roles.
By engaging your pupil, you are creating an integral part of learning and building the skills of your pupil to be able to reflect on what they have done in the past and what might be required of them moving forward thus building their responsibility.
If you are creating proper LESSON PLANS/STRUCTURES, then they should fit the experience and ability of your pupil.
It may be that your learner will have the abilities to be capable of carrying out the goal of the lesson structure but not the experience to deal with it confidently.
Based on their learning style it may be necessary for you to demonstrate how to achieve the goal they are trying to achieve before they have a go.
It may be that you'll need to give a full brief of what it required, or by showing the method by means of video, visual training aids or whatever best suits your pupil. It may just be a case that as their instructor you know they are capable of carrying out the task and just let them have a go at it and see how things progress.
You are best suited to make these decisions by knowing how your pupil best learns.
When we talk about experience and ability, their ability does not just cover how good or bad they may be at something,
it also links with their mental and physical ability.
Are they physically and mentally "Fit"
Do they have a cold?
Are they feeling under the weather?
Are they tired?
Have they had some bad news recently?
Have they just come out of a relationship?
Are they on any medication?
Have they consumed alcohol or drugs recently?
Have they had an disagreement with someone just before the lesson?
This list is far from exhaustive, but will be some of the more common factors that could effect hugely the outcome of the lesson structure/plan.
It is therefore important that for each lesson you ask your pupil how they are today.
They may answer with "fine"
But as the lesson progresses, things might not be going as well as they usually do.
You may find out part way through the lesson that they are yawning or by looking at their body language you may see that they are not their usual self and may not be as focused or look like they have something on their mind.
Obviously, if your pupil does not want to divulge information to you about their private life, that is fine, it is by all account their private life.
But if you sense something is not quite the "usual" you may re-question them about how they are feeling.
How do Instructors grow at becoming confident at ensuring they are supplying well structured lessons?
1. Be sure to reflect on your own instructing methods.
2. Ensure that you feel that the lesson was planned out with your pupil and agreed to.
3. Ensure that there is a good balance between linking the practical side of the lesson with the theory side of driving.
4. Ensure that you ensure the lesson has a clear and concise structure to it that is understood by both parties.
5. Ensure that the lesson has a good balance of the pupil's experience and current ability.
6. Ensure that if the lesson needs adapting based on the pupil's mental or physical state, that it is adapted.
