Duration – 1 Hour 28/4/17

We had planned to have a 2 hour lesson today, but we had to cut it down to 1 hour. Therefore we had to re-adjust the goals we had set the previous lesson. We agreed there probably wouldn’t be time to begin tackling roundabouts. Annie was more than keen to keep improving on her junctions and work towards being ready to venture onto main roads.

We discussed where she thought she was with her junctions. Then what we would need to improve on to allow her to feel confident to go onto main roads. She felt she needed to improve her right turns.

‘Why’?

‘Not sure, I just want to feel more confident with them’

‘Anything in particular?’

‘Not really’

‘Would you like me to help with anything?’

She laughed ‘No I just want to have a go’

‘Ok great but you know I’m here to keep you safe so I’ll jump in if I feel I need. Is that ok?’

‘Yeah of course’

Off we went. As she asked me to do, I left her to it. Annie did pretty well. Remembering pretty much all of what she needed to do on the approaches. On her 3rd turn we had a bus, at a bus stop, really close to the beginning of the road. It’s a bit of a blind turn in. I knew Annie hadn’t seen it, and there wouldn’t be time for me to tell her what to do…..and for her to process what I was saying, so I got ready with the duals…just in case!. Turned out they were needed.

I helped her get through the situation (my part of the deal). We had agreed to complete one block before pulling up to discuss, so as we only had one more junction to complete the block we continued. Also it wasn’t a great road to stop on. We carried out one more emerge. As we straightened up she realised she was in the middle of the road and got herself back to her lane pretty quickly.

We pulled up and began with a discussion about the bus. Had she seen it?

‘Yes’

‘Brilliant, great observation. When did you see it?

‘Erm when it was in front of me I think’

We discussed the pro’s & cons of looking into a junction before we turn into it. The bus was a gift from the ADI gods! I was pretty sure it made sense to Annie why. I then asked how she was feeling at the next turn and whether she felt she was still thinking of the ‘bus incident’. My assumption!

‘No’

That’ll teach me to assume!!

‘Ok describe to me what you noticed as we came out of the junction’

‘I was on the other side of the road’

‘Do you know why?’

‘Did I steer too soon?’

‘Well why don’t we have a go at steering a bit later next time and see what happens?’

Off we went. Again Annie did well. I kept a close eye on her body language to see if the ‘bus incident’ had a affected her. I didn’t notice anything different. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t! We arrived at the last turn again. This time a car was waiting behind us. A definite change in Annie’s body language here. She had asked me not to help again, so I just observed. She was rushing, looking in her mirror, rushing the biting point. To be fair she got away pretty well…..and she remembered to steer later! We pulled up.

‘How did that block go Annie?’

‘Ok I think’

‘Did you steer later on that last junction?’

‘Yes but not enough because I was a little bit on the other side still’

‘Ok so what have you found out?’

‘I’ll steer even later next time’

I thought it was a great opportunity to discuss the car behind, and how it made Annie feel.

I can’t remember how the conversation went exactly. What I did notice was Annie feeling increasingly ‘anxious’ and ‘uncomfortable’ talking about it. I didn’t know why, and I didn’t want to assume again! Also I didn’t want to push this discussion as it would probably harm the rapport we’d developed. I changed the subject. But I know we will probably have to discuss it at some point in the future.

We discussed how the lesson was going in terms of the lesson goal of getting out onto main roads. Annie didn’t feel ready yet. We agreed to continue with the junctions, mixing up left & right turns. Also we agreed we would keep going until she told me she was ready to have a crack at the main road. I would help her if needed, or she asked me to. The lesson continued on a similar vain as before. Annie driving around the estate, gaining confidence as she did so.

We had about 15 mins left and Annie hadn’t told me she was ready to go onto main roads. I gave her a choice. We could swap seats and I could drive her home (about 5 mins along the main road) or she could drive it if she felt ready. After a bit of umming & ahhing she said she would drive. That a girl 🙂

We had a quick discussion about the differences of a main road instead of an estate and what each of us would do. Off she went. We hit traffic! Great opportunity to discuss how far behind the car in front we stop in traffic though.

‘Not sure’

‘What could the car in front do?’ (rubbish question)

‘What do you mean?’ (see, rubbish)

‘Well what if it was a really old car and the owner didn’t look after it?’

‘It might break down then’

‘Yeah it might. So how far back from it do you want to be?’

‘Far enough to get round it I suppose’

‘Brilliant. Show me how far that is next time we stop’

She stopped next time a perfect distance behind it to be able to get round it easily. I don’t use ‘tyres & tarmac’. T&T almost annoys me. I find this method makes much more sense to pupils.

I could sense that Annie was quite enjoying being out on the main road. Maybe the traffic was a blessing in disguise. She seemed really pleased she had driven home.

We went through what she enjoyed about the lesson & what she had done well. We then worked out what she would like to improve on next time and get better at.

‘More main roads please’

Until next time……