Watching The Learner:
Step 1 - Introduction
This is one of the most important, if not the most important lesson to learn with regard to passing the final part of your exam and going on to be a safe and effective in-car teacher.
ADI Part-Three is all about communicating your knowledge to the learner - however, you are not learning to be a lecturer - if learners simply need to know facts they can watch videos or read books. Your job will be to interact with the learners, delivering information that is relevant to their needs. However, before you can do this you need to know what those needs are.
There are a few ways to discover the needs of your customers. Perhaps the most obvious way is by asking. You can ask questions to explore your learner's knowledge and then fill in any gaps - and this is a skill that you will use a lot, but not all the time.
One thing that you will be doing 'all the time' is watching your learners. You will watch them to spot what they are getting right, so that you can give motivational feedback, and what they are getting wrong, so that you can help them to improve.
One of the most common reasons for ADI Part-Three failure and for Standards Check problems is failing to spot mistakes. This happens when the instructor pays too much attention to the road and insufficient attention to the learner.
VERY IMPORTANT: We cannot stress strongly enough just how important this skill is - please take opportunities to practise whenever and as much as you can. If at all possible go out for dedicated practise sessions.
We want you to take any and every opportunity that you can to practise watching people drive.
Informal project 1
For your first project, whenever possible, sit in the passenger seat* when friends an family are driving and watch them drive.
For your watching practise to be successful you:
Must gain permission from the driver before watching
Simply be an observer - don't comment on the drive or try to 'fix' things
Focus your attention on driving routines - Mirrors, Signal, Position, Speed, Gear Look, Assess, Decide, Act.
Trying to sort out the driving of friends and family can quickly lead to arguments - we cannot be held responsible in any divorce proceedings!
*As you know from your study so far, driving school cars don't have a front passenger seat - they have an 'instructor's seat'. You will never be a 'passenger' when you are working. However, for the watching practise we want you to be a passenger.
Informal project 2
For this short project you need to sit in the car with a friend – both facing forwards and looking out of the windscreen.
Simply listen while your friend talks to you about any subject, it might help to close your eyes as you listen – perhaps they can tell you about a holiday, a hobby, or maybe simply waffle about nothing in particular.
After twenty or thirty seconds, ask your friend to turn towards you and direct his/her voice directly at your ear keeping the same pitch volume and tone. At this point you continue to look out of the windscreen (or keep facing forwards with your eyes closed).
Repeat the process a couple of times.
People who do this exercise typically report that in addition to being clearer, the communication is 'warmer' or 'more personal' when the communicator is looking directly at them and 'aiming' their voice at the listener's ears..
Next: Step 2 - Watching the learner examples...