I always thought that I could never teach elementary age
children, which is why I only taught high schoolers. However, after being at
home with my own toddler age children, I have found that it's not much
different. The subject matter has changed slightly: potty in the toilet;
chickens don't have a penis. So whether you are teaching your own children or a
teaching professional, enjoy these tips.
1.
Know your shit. If you don't know what your
talking about, no one else will either.
2.
Practice your smile. If you aren't happy to be
giving information, no one will be happy to receive it.
3.
Lay the hammer down! In other words: kick some
butts, drop kick those kids out of the classroom, mama don't play.
4.
Repeat, repeat, and repeat. I used to tell my
high schoolers that I don't teach, I just repeat myself over and over again,
but using different words each time.
5. Just roll with it. Accept that you are never fully in control.
6.
Know your audience. If no one laughed at your
first joke, don't tell another one, just try again with the next class. You are
bound to have one class that laughs.
7.
Expect success. Set the bar high, but make sure
they know it's okay to fail. An F+ is better than an F.
8.
Take risks: have your toddlers help you paint a
room, or have high schoolers paint your office.
9.
Give those consequences teeth every time. No
means I will keep you in the shopping cart even while your screaming trying to
climb out. No means you will scrape gum off the bottom of my desks if you drive
your truck down to the field because you are too lazy to walk.
10. Know
when to throw in the towel. If plan A isn't working, move onto plan B, and
cross your fingers. Plan C and D should be kept in mind as your hail mary.
Anyone can teach, and it's likely that you can even recall
times when you have. Sometimes you don't even recognize it as teaching. It's a
learned skill that takes time to develop your own style. Happy teaching.
I like number 5 especially. When I go one the road to teach a class, I never know if my flights will all make it, who is going to show up, if the equipment will be there, if the room is adequate, etc. Every new class is an adventure, and I just have to roll with it. Sometimes making the best of a bad situation is the best you can do. I have to remind myself that the only one who knows exactly how the class should have gone is me. As far as the students are concerned, what they got was exactly what I had planned. "Never let them see you sweat!" LOL
ReplyDeleteI like number 5 especially. When I go one the road to teach a class, I never know if my flights will all make it, who is going to show up, if the equipment will be there, if the room is adequate, etc. Every new class is an adventure, and I just have to roll with it. Sometimes making the best of a bad situation is the best you can do. I have to remind myself that the only one who knows exactly how the class should have gone is me. As far as the students are concerned, what they got was exactly what I had planned. "Never let them see you sweat!" LOL
ReplyDeleteI just hosted some higher up academia folks and this is the one thing the group leader said as well, "In academics students can tell if you don't know what you are talking about, that is if you lack experience in the real world in applying the theory we teach." If I have to teach a topic that I am not an expert on I simply let the audience know that and tell them where to reach the experts, it has never failed me as I know the topic inside and out and can answer advanced questions but I don't blow smoke and tell them I have experiences I don't have. I also agree with the jokes, if no one laughs EVER it is time to google some new jokes and jokes can be dangerous so keep them clean always as people are wired to make quick judgements and you don't want their first impression to be you telling an inappropriate joke.
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