PHD #240: A Little Advice
A Little Advice
Summary: Wade and Leyla run into each other in the library and the two instructors in training talk story about teaching methods.
Date: 24 Oct 2041 AE
Related Logs: Student, Teacher, Training and Dreams and Nugget Teacher Nugget.
Players:
Leyla Wade 
Ships Library
Racks of books extend deep into this room, nearly darkening the overhead lights towards the back. The shelves are neatly labeled to each category with nearly everything represented here. Fiction, Sci-Fi, Romance, and everything down to comic books has been loaded up onto the shelves. A smaller research area at the back has a large table for maps to be opened-up. Nearer the door is a small library of movies that covers some of the most recent blockbusters and flows through some of the more campy movies from about two decades before. Next to the door, a Petty Officer can usually be found at a desk to help someone checkout their selections.
Post-Holocaust Day: #240

Leyla has once again returned to the library, this time finding no ghosts or ghost hunters to interrupt her walk from the hatch to the sciences section. She's working her way down along the length of the stack, pulling out books in some sort of sequence, and stacking them on a rolling cart she's tugging along behind her.

There's another person there actually, not a ghost hunter so Leyla won't have to worry about that. It's just Wade. The man is wearing his pilot outfit, so it's possible that he's trying to catch some reading before he has to jump in the Viper. He is sitting on a chair, leaning back against it with a book in his hands. If one is to walk closer to where he is, the cover of the book would read 'Teaching' yeah, nothing else, just that. Good insights there.

Finally, Leyla finishes with the small pile she's started, and squeaks her way out of the stacks, moving the cart over to one of the seating areas. Which will mean passing up Wade, and so, she pauses, leaving the cart where it is to gather up the books and carry them over to the low table across from him, "Middy. Don't often see you in here."

The sound of a familiar voice interrupts his reading. He shows a brief smile and stand up, offering a salute to the now superior officer "El-Tee" With that out of the way, he sits down again and just looks at the woman "Middy?" repeats the man, not sure what she's talking about or at least, distracted enough to not understand. "Yeah, I started this book on the basics of teaching."

"The day I expect you to salute me, is the day I eat my own helmet. We've known each other too long, Wade." The last of the books are gathered, as she continues, "Teaching what, exactly? Lots of different techniques, depending on what you're teaching." The books are set down, before Leyla settles in. One of the chairs, rather than along a couch. but being that she's in her offduty sweats, and she can kick off her boots, you know, it's mostly alright as she curls up for comfort.

Wade does show a bit of a smile and nods to her words "Good to know, still regulations tho." He chuckles at that, him being one known for not following regulations from time to time. "Well, I spoke with the CAG and the new SL of the Black Knights, I want to teach Viper piloting to newer generations. If we get any. Been flying Vipers for 7 and flying for 12 altogether so I figure it's a good moment to start passing some knowledge" He follows Leyla with his gaze and then looks at her books "You? What are you up to?"

"Yeah, because you're such a stickler." Once she's settles in, Leyla pulls the first book of the stack closest to her, turning it so that Wade can read the cover. 'Aeronautical Applications of Advanced Theories in Aerodynamics.' "Just some light reading. There's a smile, at Wade's revelation, "I can't think of anyone better. You're the sort of pilot they should be learning from." But that's just her biased opinion.

Wade takes a look at the books and nods "Impressive, very. Some project in your hands I take?" He closes his book for a moment and runs his fingers over his hair, moving both hands over his eyes to pretty much, rub on them. Bad Wade, bad! "Nah, I'm just a pilot willing to teach." he smiles tho and finishes with "But thank you, I appreciate that coming from you"

"Been spending a lot of time with Flasher running through sims with the virtual raider. He's always trying to improve it, make it more realistic. And what means trying to work out new ways to avoid it." Being that she's a raptor pilot and lacks the pew-pew ability to kill raiders, you see. "Lot of pilots would like to teach, doesn't mean all or any of them should be allowed to. There's a difference. This your first time?"

Wade nods at what Leyla said "Ah, yes, I've heard of that. Good project." He looks up at her and leans back against his chair, relaxing at this point, just before CAP. "Well, I haven't heard of a lot of them," he just shrugs at that and clears his throat again "Yes, I never did this type of work. I just gave pointers in the past so, I guess it's all new to me."

Leyla sets aside the book for a moment, considering the man sitting across from her, "You want some advice? I'm no certified teacher either, but just like you, I've had to pick up a few things along the way. I've been trying them out on Boots, during our training flights." She waits though, not about to offer advice unless its wanted.

Wade runs his fingers over his chin and then behind his neck. "Advice, sure," says the man, and lets her finish what she was saying, "So you are suggesting I try, teaching someone and see what happens?" He tilts his head at that, not sure if that's the actual advice.

"Think of all the terrible teachers you had in your life. Think about the things that made them terrible. Then think about all of the good teachers you had, and all of the reasons that made them good. Make a list of both. And then think about why you picked those things specifically. A book like that, its theory, but it's not always practice. Learning from other people, from watching their successes and failures can help you to find your own way. Take Boots for example. He's not a bad pilot. And he could certainly be better. But he thinks like an ECO, not like a pilot, which is what's holding him back in the pilot's chair. So I've found, one trick that works with him, is not to tell him he's doing something wrong or to berate him, which seems counterintuitive, since he does that fairly often to other people, because he tends not to respond well to having the same done to him in return, but to acknowledge what he's doing, and then explain to him why he needs to do things a bit differently to see the bigger picture."

"No student is ever wrong. They're just not right, you know? And they're not right because they're willfully or purposefully doing things wrong, usually. It's because they don't know any better. Or they only know a certain way to do things. And there's nothing wrong with that. You have to take what they know, make it useful, keep it relevant, and then apply it to what they're learning now. It helps them to feel as though they're contributing to their own education. As if they already have tools they can apply to what they want to learn. Same as you did, when you went into viper training having already five years of flying. You'd never flown a viper before, right? But you could take bits and pieces of what you learned before and apply it to flight school."

Wade listens in silence to what the Raptor pilot is saying. He looks at her with full attention and takes a deep breath when she finishes. He takes a moment to consider what has been said and presses his lips together in thought. "Not bad, I think that would work." He taps his fingers on the table and leans forward on his chair, opening the book again to go though the index. "I did had some very bad teachers and some really good ones, which makes me wonder if that's an already setup situation or authorities are retarded enough to hire piss poor teachers."

"I think it really is just a matter of style. Or perhaps the need to get people taught without a focus on how they are taught. I remember having a teacher in flight school. If he could find a way to insult your race, gender, sexual orientation or, pretty much damned near anything else about you, he'd do it. But he was also one of the best raptor sticks I ever met. Some of the pilots I started out with washed out because they couldn't handle his style. Others rose to the occasion. It was like they used him to weed out people who couldn't hack it. I had another who was so nice, she'd let you get away with anything. She only left after a trainee who was under her was killed, because she had gotten so used to fudging things in the seat, when she actually had to do it for real, she had no idea what was going on. Both of them had good points and bad points. The trick was finding someone who could balance both. Reading your students is key to knowing how to approach them, how to teach them in a way that's effective for them. It's no different than being in a squadron. You know which pilots you can joke with, and which haven't got a sense of humour, and over time you learn how to speak to both of them. Same thing."

Again, Wade listens to what the woman says. He nods in silence here and there and then sits back against his chair again. "Well, I'm not planning on making a career out of this, I'm a pilot after all and my place is in a Viper's cockpit. However, I will take your words and apply them to whatever training I get to provide. Heck, we might even stop getting Nuggets, who knows." He takes a deep breath and finishes with "Anyway, I'm supposed to work with my new SL on this stuff."

"What would be wrong about that? Cidra, for example, is a certified instructor. Teaching IS a career for her. But she's also an accomplished pilot and the CAG. Poppy is also certified, and she's a viper pilot and your SL. Being a teacher doesn't mean it's the only thing you do, it just means it's one of the things you do do. I'm also working on my own certification as an instructor. Hopefully neither Boots nor I will kill each other before I get it." A nod though, as Wade prepares to depart, "Don't keep her waiting. She hates that. Don't let her manner put you off, Wade. She's a good woman."

Wade just shrugs at her first words, takes the book and his helmet. "I'm not saying that, what I mean is that my main focus should always be, flying Vipers." As for her last words, he just looks at Leyla and says "We'll see…" he shrugs at this and adds "It takes more to be a leader than just, boss people around." To this, he shakes his head "I don't have a formed opinion on her, but I believe what you say." Now a firm nod and he takes a step back, offering a small smile "Enjoy the books Plebe…" he winks at her and leaves. Dum Dee Dum.

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