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During the hour or so they were next to me the instructor was unable to get the student to bring his shots down.
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I've never had a student who couldn't correct a major deficiency in half an hour. Cocky students who are too full of themselves to listen? Only a
very few, and all I had to do was humor them a little, demonstrate I can, (I probably ought to say "could,") shoot as well as or better than they, and encourage them to shoot better. Intimidated students? Lots of those. They need patience, encouragement, empathy, and .22 caliber guns that recoil less and make less noise.
If someone's shooting markedly high, the first thing to do is veryify it's not the gun—and it rarely is. The second thing is watch what the new shooter is doing: usually flinching and/or not hanging onto the gun with sufficient strength and/or closing his or her eyes while pulling the trigger. The third thing to do is leave the range, shoot dummy rounds in an otherwise empty gun, and demonstrate what the shooter is doing, then demonstrate not
the right way to shoot, but a
method that's likely to work better. It's easier for people to accept suggestions than criticism, and easier to practice with dummy rounds than live ammunition. Switch from center fire to .22 long rifle? Yep. Switch from a semi-automatic to a revolver or a revolver to a semi-automatic? Yep. Switch to another stance? Yep. Switch eyes? Yep. As soon as the student shows even a little improvement, I've got praise and more encouragement. Short breaks? Yep. More encouragement and praise? Yep. Tell and show and tell and show and tell and show? Yep. Switch guns every five rounds? Yep. Measure groups so the student can both see and numerically measure progress? Yep. More encouragement and praise? Yep.
A student can show up with several deficiencies instead of just one, of course, but focusing on the most noticeable and demonstrating it's correctable makes it easier to deal with the rest.
Would you like to hear the great secret? I've never given a lesson without getting more out of it than I've given.