CFI for dummies...

dmahan said:
I'm going to throw out a suggestion that may or may not make your check ride much easier. Get yourself an ground instructor certificate. It's one extra written and technically gets you around the FOI portion in the CFI PTS. The examiner can go through the entire FOI portion if they choose, so it's certainly not a guarantee to make things easier, but it has helped a few people including myself.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I have no practical experience here (I do have my AGI, but I'm still working on my CFI), but I've heard a few firsthand reports where exactly the opposite was true -- CFI candidates showing up with a ground instructor certificate were absolutely grilled on the FOI because of it.

Bottom line: It seems wise to get your ground instructor certs, aye, but also to come with a head full of FOI.

~Foxy
 
Something I wanted to hear when I was in your spot about 6 months ago : we've been there. We know it sucks. We read it too.

Seriously, in addition to the other great suggestions here, power through it. The DE you'll get had to also!
 
A lot of useful tips in here. Thanks guys! I was put up for my MEI Initial Stage check, and I have had summer school prevent me from completing the stage check. I'm really trying to crack down on this FOI stuff and get it cold for my stage check and check ride.
 
sounddoc said:
Something I wanted to hear when I was in your spot about 6 months ago : we've been there. We know it sucks. We read it too.

Seriously, in addition to the other great suggestions here, power through it. The DE you'll get had to also!
Click to expand...
The DE I got for mine was pretty easy on the FOI stuff...I think I only had to talk about the principles of learning (REEPIR, I think...I already forget:D)
 
I've started studying the Aviation Instructor's Handbook and FOI material hoping to pick up my AGI and IGI while saving $$$ for the instrument, commercial, multi and CFI ratings.

I actually think it's a pretty damn good book as far as textbooks go, which is really surprising for anything coming from the FAA. But unfortunately for us it's a cognitive science and psychology textbook, and has virtually nothing to do with flying an airplane! (At least so far haha.)

My personal learning style is that I'm only really receptive to material if I can find some way of connecting its relevance to the ultimate goal I'm working towards (i.e. I enjoy scenario-based but can do the traditional route too so long as I can find where it is in the PTS and how it will help me on a checkride). But I had an epiphany about this book and the FOI test by relating it to a college education. Pursuing your Private, Instrument and Commercial are like focusing on your major coursework - getting immersed in specific technical material directly related to your hands on training. Now all the sudden with the FOI, the FAA says "that's all well and good, but if you want to graduate you need to take your general education requirements too." That's psychology, cognitive science, human behavior (i.e. Abraham Maslow's triangle) and understanding how that effects people's ability to learn and retain information, and how you as a teacher have a responsibility to change your style to try and meet them half way and get through to them. I spent a few years tutoring science and math classes in college, and concepts like socratic questioning really do work - and it really all comes down to the saying "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime."

Anyway I'm sure by the time I get through this book I'll be as jaded as the rest of you. But I figured it was worth stating the above, in case others with a similar mindset to my own who come in wondering "what the hell is wrong with this book?" may benefit from looking at it in this context. At the end of the day it's just another hoop to jump through to get that piece of paper (or plastic), "Cooperate and graduate," etc. But I'm trying my best to walk away with as much insight as I can from the FOI to try and understand human behavior down the road and 'get through' to the people I'll be instructing even if they learn things differently than I do.
 
I'm in the same boat as JordanD . I've been reading through the older Instructors Handbook and I have a Jeppesen book to complement it, but it's difficult to make it stick.
Any more Acronyms out there, like the REEPIR one?
 
This may be a long shot, but do you have access to a psychology major or a teacher? I will bet you anything that they know most of this stuff and can explain it better than the FAA's handbook.

When I was studying for my CFI, what made the FOI material hard to understand, let a lone remember, was my own lack of experience. Think about how difficult some of the basic aviation concepts were to understand, until you were able to experience it in the air.

I was lucky due to the fact that my wife is a psych major and that my father is a teacher. When you have someone who can explain, relate and give you real life scenarios of the FOI stuff, it really begins to click!

Next thing you know, all those mnemonics aren't so jumbled and everything begins to make a little more sense. The problem I found with have a mnemonic for everything and little understanding of what I was trying to memorize, was that it was easy to begin to mix up all those E's and R's!!

Good luck!
 
Rote learning got me through the first two questions . Then the inspector got tricky and switched to the correlation level :confused:
 
PugetSoundMan said:
I also like doing my own lesson plans and outlines of the technical subject areas. Helps lock it in.
Click to expand...
That's what I've really been having a lot of trouble starting. What order to do them in, how much to put in them (how much is too little, too much, etc). I've kind of put that off until I have the written stuff done but hopefully that will come easier. Appointment to take the FOI is Monday!
 
Good luck with the written!

+1 on outlining the CFI PTS' area's of operations and each individual task within. It helps keep your notes organized. It will also make a great study guide when complete and will serve as a quick reference for your CFI binder if you need to brush up on anything before you meet with your students. When you are making your outline you might want to insert page number references to the various FAA publications as well.

As far as the lesson plans, I put mine in the same order as the PTS. I would also make sure your lesson plans aren't too complicated. They need to be easy for you to work with and not cluttered. Remember, they are mostly to be used as a reference. Think of giving a speech, you know what you need to say but you have notes to make sure you don't forget anything. Same thing with your lesson plans.

I spent weeks trying to make my own and I often felt like I was running around in circles. What I did was take my CFI syllabus and cross referenced it with purchased commercial lesson plans. I then tailored them to suit my style of teaching; what flowed well. I also added references to the AFHB and PHAK and common errors. Use the lesson plan template found in the Instructor's Handbook. I get the impression that the Inspector I had like that.

Try: Flight Instructor Notebook (2009), written by Bridgette Doremire and Gene Hudson. It worked to help get me started with a template anyways. I double checked the work with the current PTS standards and didn't find any errors when making my lesson plans.
 
Websterpilot said:
Good luck with the written!

+1 on outlining the CFI PTS' area's of operations and each individual task within. It helps keep your notes organized. It will also make a great study guide when complete and will serve as a quick reference for your CFI binder if you need to brush up on anything before you meet with your students. When you are making your outline you might want to insert page number references to the various FAA publications as well.

As far as the lesson plans, I put mine in the same order as the PTS. I would also make sure your lesson plans aren't too complicated. They need to be easy for you to work with and not cluttered. Remember, they are mostly to be used as a reference. Think of giving a speech, you know what you need to say but you have notes to make sure you don't forget anything. Same thing with your lesson plans.

I spent weeks trying to make my own and I often felt like I was running around in circles. What I did was take my CFI syllabus and cross referenced it with purchased commercial lesson plans. I then tailored them to suit my style of teaching; what flowed well. I also added references to the AFHB and PHAK and common errors. Use the lesson plan template found in the Instructor's Handbook. I get the impression that the Inspector I had like that.

Try: Flight Instructor Notebook (2009), written by Bridgette Doremire and Gene Hudson. It worked to help get me started with a template anyways. I double checked the work with the current PTS standards and didn't find any errors when making my lesson plans.
Click to expand...
I'll take a look at that. Much appreciated!
 
scooter2525 said:
I'm in the same boat as JordanD . I've been reading through the older Instructors Handbook and I have a Jeppesen book to complement it, but it's difficult to make it stick.
Any more Acronyms out there, like the REEPIR one?
Click to expand...

Here's how I was taught REEPIR - it's a flight lesson:

First things first, the law of Primacy; you want to teach your students the right way first, so it sticks. You want to make sure the Exercise, e.g. a maneuver is something you do over and over (stalls, steep turns, smash and goes, etc...) and is both fun and makes an impression, i.e. the laws of Effect and Intensity. Finally, you want your student to come back soon, because the law of Recency states that things done often are better learnt . So, Primacy, Exercise, Effect, Intensity, and Recency.

I'm now accepting virtual high-fives! :bounce:
 
sounddoc said:
Here's how I was taught REEPIR - it's a flight lesson:

First things first, the law of Primacy; you want to teach your students the right way first, so it sticks. You want to make sure the Exercise, e.g. a maneuver is something you do over and over (stalls, steep turns, smash and goes, etc...) and is both fun and makes an impression, i.e. the laws of Effect and Intensity. Finally, you want your student to come back soon, because the law of Recency states that things done often are better learnt . So, Primacy, Exercise, Effect, Intensity, and Recency.

I'm now accepting virtual high-fives! :bounce:
Click to expand...
Simple, logical, to the point. I dig it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top