Drivers Ed – Page 2 – thedriversedlady

Ben D.

I have never done a student profile before. I think the first one needs to be done before this young man graduates. Ben is one of my many legacies. I had his lovely sister first, and then came Ben. He has become a fixture in my classroom long after he finished driving with me. He comes in after school, usually looking for chocolate, which he knows is likely to be found in my room, (shh… don’t tell.) He sometimes leaves me profound or confusing quotes on my blackboard. He shares his mood and what he’s been up to lately. He always makes me smile.

He’s really gotten the most out of his time at school. He’s worked there over the summers, been in charge of changing the message on the signs throughout the school year, which shows you the kind of trust everyone has in him. He’s active with campus ministry and volunteering. He’s passionate about running, and super supportive of his friends and teammates. He’s the only student of mine who ever said he wants to be a motivational speaker as a career. He’s been frustrated with a lack of path to get him there, but I keep telling him he will make his own for sure.

I think if you ask him, he will tell you he’s passionate about food as well. That’s his fondest memory of driving with me, the drive-throughs. That’s not unusual for a growing teenage boy, but Ben takes it to a new level. I’ll miss his smiling face, silly messages, and ever present self-deprecating humor. Good luck Ben!! Be safe out there on the road and in life after high school.

Police Update

So much fun! Tonight we were stopped at a red light and a police SUV pulled up next to us and rolled his window down. Matt, who was driving, rolled down his window in return. The police officer, with a great big smile and the proverbial head nod, said, “Do you want to race?”

I said, “At exactly the speed limit? ” What a sight that would be!

Observation Hours

I don’t know about everywhere, but here in my state we require all of our students to spend six hours sitting in the back seat of the driver’s ed car observing each other. I’ve had a lot of inquiries regarding why this is. Kids say, “I’ve spent the last sixteen years sitting in the back seat of cars watching other people drive. Why do I have to sit in the backseat of yours?” My quick answer has always been, “I don’t know. The state makes and us, and so we shall.”

It’s part of what we call a graduated licensing program, which has as many steps as possible between you being a non-driver, to a fully privileged licensed driver. The idea is that the more exposure you get to instruction, the more you can learn. Parents have said to me, “I’m not sure I feel safe having my kid in the car with a new driver.” Well, I’m right here to keep us safe, and if I can do it for your kid when it’s their turn behind the wheel, hopefully I can do it for all of the kids. It’s truly in my best interest to keep the drivers ed car in one piece as well as all of my students and myself for that matter. I’m going to to do my best.

It’s kind of a sneaky good idea though. In this age of screens in the back of every mom-van, phones in the hand of every kiddo starting younger and younger, having students actually look up and pay attention is really necessary. So many students are scared silly that they will not know how to get anywhere because they have never watched their parents drive. They are really shocked when I tell them that in our state until you turn 18, you cannot use GPS either unless it’s programmed into your actual car. No use of hand held devices AT ALL.

Having never watched people drive, they have less of a sense of right-of-way, and the common courtesies of driving. All that seems to penetrate that screen coma are the curses, honks, and feeling of road rage that permeates the car when parents are stressed and in a hurry. That’s what they are taking away, not the thank-you waves, careful inching out to see at a difficult intersection, or thoughtful blinker usage. Those things are quiet and so they don’t notice them.

Observation hours let them see what they did wrong on that same route, or what they can feel good about. It helps them see that we all make the same mistakes, and that we are all in this together. If something crazy happens, there is more than one student to learn from that one incident. We also have a lot of fun. Having some kids in the car means we can make new friends, have meaningful conversations, inside jokes, and positive encouragement.

Observation activities give direction to the hours, so there is meaningful learning going on. The activities should be simple so that kids who get car-sick or have night driving observation hours don’t have to read or write very much. It’s a fight sometimes to keep the observing kids engaged and not on their phones, doing other homework, or falling asleep. I try to have them be part of the experience as much as possible. Some of my students just muddle through them and cannot wait to get them over with. Some of my students would rather be in my car than some other places they might be stuck or have friends in the class and wind up doing several more than the allotted 6. Sometimes they just come along hoping we can squeeze in a drive-through during a driving hour, (which I firmly believe is a driving skill that is intimidating to new drivers and so I will do this if the driver wants to and it fits with time and our lesson plan.)

All in all, I’ve become more of a fan of the observation hours. I think parents should give thought to having kids be more and more engaged any time they are not the driver. Insist they put down the screens and observe. I know, then you have think about what you are modeling for them, but I hope you’re doing that anyways.

I hope you can take some time to really observe the world around you. Make fun of people driving badly, have a street sign BINGO game, play road trip games. Stop and smell the exhaust around us, and admire the pretty lights. Be safe!

First day of class

Yesterday was my first day of class with new students. As drivers ed teachers, we get to do this far more often than regular school teachers, who only have first days once or twice per year if they have half-year classes. I get one about every two months. Would you believe that even after 18 years of doing this, I still get nervous? Really nervous. I want so badly to get off on the right foot with new kids. Set the right tone, say all things I want to say, get through all the information. It’s difficult to get across the idea that this is a very serious class, with a very serious topic, but that it should also be fun. Driving is fun! Driving is scary enough, my student’s shouldn’t also be afraid of me.

I invite parents to come to some of my first day as well, which adds to the nerves. I want them to get to know who they are entrusting their kiddos in the car with. I want them to see how much I care about their kids, and how seriously I take their safety. I want them to know we are in this together and we need to communicate and practice as much as possible in order to get the most out of our limited time together.

You never know what personalities you will get in a new class. By the end of a class, my students and I know each other so well after ten hours of driving with lots of one-on-one time, and having survived something together. It’s hard to let them go. I walk back into the same room, expecting the same smiling faces, ready to hear about their day, their latest driving adventures, or whatever they want to share, and instead I have a sea of anxious faces not knowing where to sit, what to expect, or who I am.

Luckily for me, yesterday as I walked in, several of my old students came running in, shouting my name, waiting to tell me about their DMV stories and how they got their license, or still have to wait. Their big smiles, inside jokes and victories totally made my day. My hope is that the new kids see that and know that old kids still stop by happily, means to me, I am doing something right. So to my most recent former students, “clouds and cammo,” will forever remind me of you. To me new students, I can’t wait to see what our adventures will bring. We got through the first day, and now we can get down to work. Driving begins today, and I hope you are excited too.

Blue Warm Fuzzy

I have always had nothing but respect for our men and women in blue. Our local police consistently go above and beyond the call of duty to keep us safe and be of help to our community. Lately, I have had several reasons to make my beliefs even stronger.

First, a huge burst of gratitude for my favorite local police officer, Chief Fisher, who I often refer to as either a rock star or Superman. He is a respected police chief, SWAT leader, parent of three amazing boys, (all of whom I got to teach how to drive,) tireless volunteer, coach of two high school sports teams, and somehow always make time out his incredibly busy schedule to come a talk to my driver’s ed classes. He is knowledgeable, approachable, funny, firm and yet friendly. He is the perfect positive police presence for my students, and I could not be more impressed every time he speaks. (That was a lot of P’s.)

Next, on one of our typical trips down Main St., in a quest for the most interesting thing we can fine, we spotted one of our illustrious bicycle police officers walking his bike as he helped a little old lady slowly cross in the crosswalk. He carried her oxygen tank for her balanced on one of his handlebars as he smiled and patiently chatted as they strolled. Totally made my day! I wish I had a video of that for you.

Lastly, yesterday, (I still can’t get over it!) we got pulled over in the driver’s ed car. My student was driving perfectly nicely down a busy road. We stopped at a traffic light, and as I always tell my students to do when stopping, we checked our rear view mirror. We casually noticed a police cruiser behind us. As the traffic light turned green, we went on through the intersection, and then came the flashing blues behind us. We smoothly and quickly pulled over to the right, we thought, to get out of his way. A little flicker of nerves came up in the car as he pulled in behind us. We waited as the officer got out and walked up to my instructors-side window. I rolled it down and took a deep breath. He asked us if we had recently been on a specific local road, where we had not. He then explained that he was looking for a car exactly matching the make, model and color of ours, minus the big yellow sign of course. He was incredibly polite, and further explained that he was pretty sure it wasn’t us, and reassured my student that he had not done a single thing wrong. He had been driving well, pulled right over, and had nothing to worry about. We wished him luck in his search for whomever he was looking for, and with one last smile and equally wishing us luck with our drive, got back in his cruiser and drove away. With a nervous laugh and look of disbelief, we pulled back out into traffic and went on our merry way.

In all my years as the driver’s ed lady, I have had so many positive interactions with police officers. We’ll have to do a post about what to do when pulled over soon… In the meantime, one last big thank you to all the police officers in our area for all that they do for me, my students, and our community.