Coaching the first lesson
Ryan has just started to learn to drive with me. He is already eighteen and has a little bit of driving practice under his belt although he has had no formal driving lessons. I drove him out to a quiet area and swapped seats with him. During the drive I explained that my style of teaching was to coach and asked him if he understood what that meant. He immediately said, wasn’t it something to do with being less directive. I confirmed this and said I was going to support him as he learned to drive for himself. I would avoid telling him how to do things and would like him to experiment to come up with things that work for him. He thought that sounded okay. I asked what he enjoyed most and least about driving, what he would like to achieve from today, and how much support he would like from me. I didn’t teach the cockpit drill or the controls of the car but simply asked him to think about his driving position and do what he needed to in order to be able to reach the controls comfortably and drive. Within a few minutes he moved away and stopped. He practised moving away again, changing gear and driving around a block of left turns. We had agreed a route in advance and expanded it after some time to include right turns as well. He spent time working on his clutch control; braking early on the approach to junctions; and thinking about choosing a safe speed on each road.
There were moments during the lesson when I knew Ryan was frustrated and wanted me to just tell him. There were also moments where I seriously questioned whether I should tell him. Ryan’s frustration was around smooth gear changes; and the use of clutch control to avoid stalling as he pulled away at junctions. I tried scaling: asking him on a scale of one to ten how smooth his gear changes were and then getting him to improve the smoothness by one point. This worked really well and fairly soon his gear changes were smooth and he was smiling and relaxed again. In terms of the clutch control I asked him what he could do to pull away smoothly from junctions without stalling and he suggested further practice, which he did at the side of the road. He said, Oh I can see how that works, as he dipped the clutch a fraction to slow down.
Towards the end of the lesson I asked Ryan what he had learned and he listed a whole number of things. When I asked him how helpful my coaching had been to his learning, he was extremely positive, despite acknowledging that it had felt too difficult at times and that he had wanted me to tell him what to do. He said, in the end, not being told was much better because he felt he would remember it and that he had thoroughly enjoyed the two hours, which had flown by.
When I coach and then reflect on the lesson, the measure I am using to judge the effectiveness of my coaching technique is to consider the two issues of awareness and responsibility. I ask myself two questions:
To what extent did I raise Ryan’s self awareness?
To what extent did the responsibility for the lesson and learning process sit with Ryan?
Self awareness is about recognising how your thoughts and feelings influence the way you behave (drive) and understanding how to maintain and develop your strengths and your limitations.
Self responsibility is about taking ownership of the driving task so that decisions are made with reference to your goals for life and your skills for living. It is about managing your behaviour to achieve the outcomes you desire. Self responsibility follows as a result of self awareness.
By asking questions such as, ‘What did you enjoy most?’ ‘How did that feel?’ ‘How do you feel now?’ I am encouraging Ryan to consider how his feelings motivate his behaviour. Similarly, by asking questions like, ‘What would be a safe speed to drive on this road?’ ‘What is your opinion on seatbelt wearing?’ I am encouraging Ryan to consider how his thoughts motivate his behaviour. By asking him to scale his thoughts and feelings as well as his driving actions, I am encouraging him to self evaluate. By asking Ryan about his life outside of driving - for example, what he enjoys doing in his spare time - I am starting the process of encouraging him to consider how his lifestyle choices could influence his driving style. On a scale of one to ten I would give myself a seven for each of the above two questions. So definitely room for improvement!
When reflecting on the effectiveness of my coaching techniques I also consider two further questions:
Did learning take place?
Did I give value for money?
Both of these relate to how he is going to drive once he has passed the driving test. If I keep the lesson in the context of developing skills for life and encourage Ryan to consider how his personality, views and opinions (GDE level 4) impact on the way he controls the vehicle (GDE Level 1), integrates with other road users (GDE level 2), and deliberately chooses how, when and with whom to drive (GDE Level 3), then I am giving value for money and learning is taking place.
If, however, I focus solely on the driving test then I am doing him a disservice, not giving value for money and the learning that is taking place is a waste of time.
Ryan has just started to learn to drive with me. He is already eighteen and has a little bit of driving practice under his belt although he has had no formal driving lessons. I drove him out to a quiet area and swapped seats with him. During the drive I explained that my style of teaching was to coach and asked him if he understood what that meant. He immediately said, wasn’t it something to do with being less directive. I confirmed this and said I was going to support him as he learned to drive for himself. I would avoid telling him how to do things and would like him to experiment to come up with things that work for him. He thought that sounded okay. I asked what he enjoyed most and least about driving, what he would like to achieve from today, and how much support he would like from me. I didn’t teach the cockpit drill or the controls of the car but simply asked him to think about his driving position and do what he needed to in order to be able to reach the controls comfortably and drive. Within a few minutes he moved away and stopped. He practised moving away again, changing gear and driving around a block of left turns. We had agreed a route in advance and expanded it after some time to include right turns as well. He spent time working on his clutch control; braking early on the approach to junctions; and thinking about choosing a safe speed on each road.
There were moments during the lesson when I knew Ryan was frustrated and wanted me to just tell him. There were also moments where I seriously questioned whether I should tell him. Ryan’s frustration was around smooth gear changes; and the use of clutch control to avoid stalling as he pulled away at junctions. I tried scaling: asking him on a scale of one to ten how smooth his gear changes were and then getting him to improve the smoothness by one point. This worked really well and fairly soon his gear changes were smooth and he was smiling and relaxed again. In terms of the clutch control I asked him what he could do to pull away smoothly from junctions without stalling and he suggested further practice, which he did at the side of the road. He said, Oh I can see how that works, as he dipped the clutch a fraction to slow down.
Towards the end of the lesson I asked Ryan what he had learned and he listed a whole number of things. When I asked him how helpful my coaching had been to his learning, he was extremely positive, despite acknowledging that it had felt too difficult at times and that he had wanted me to tell him what to do. He said, in the end, not being told was much better because he felt he would remember it and that he had thoroughly enjoyed the two hours, which had flown by.
When I coach and then reflect on the lesson, the measure I am using to judge the effectiveness of my coaching technique is to consider the two issues of awareness and responsibility. I ask myself two questions:
To what extent did I raise Ryan’s self awareness?
To what extent did the responsibility for the lesson and learning process sit with Ryan?
Self awareness is about recognising how your thoughts and feelings influence the way you behave (drive) and understanding how to maintain and develop your strengths and your limitations.
Self responsibility is about taking ownership of the driving task so that decisions are made with reference to your goals for life and your skills for living. It is about managing your behaviour to achieve the outcomes you desire. Self responsibility follows as a result of self awareness.
By asking questions such as, ‘What did you enjoy most?’ ‘How did that feel?’ ‘How do you feel now?’ I am encouraging Ryan to consider how his feelings motivate his behaviour. Similarly, by asking questions like, ‘What would be a safe speed to drive on this road?’ ‘What is your opinion on seatbelt wearing?’ I am encouraging Ryan to consider how his thoughts motivate his behaviour. By asking him to scale his thoughts and feelings as well as his driving actions, I am encouraging him to self evaluate. By asking Ryan about his life outside of driving - for example, what he enjoys doing in his spare time - I am starting the process of encouraging him to consider how his lifestyle choices could influence his driving style. On a scale of one to ten I would give myself a seven for each of the above two questions. So definitely room for improvement!
When reflecting on the effectiveness of my coaching techniques I also consider two further questions:
Did learning take place?
Did I give value for money?
Both of these relate to how he is going to drive once he has passed the driving test. If I keep the lesson in the context of developing skills for life and encourage Ryan to consider how his personality, views and opinions (GDE level 4) impact on the way he controls the vehicle (GDE Level 1), integrates with other road users (GDE level 2), and deliberately chooses how, when and with whom to drive (GDE Level 3), then I am giving value for money and learning is taking place.
If, however, I focus solely on the driving test then I am doing him a disservice, not giving value for money and the learning that is taking place is a waste of time.
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