Personality Of Teaching

People have opinions… well no duh, you might be thinking. Its true it is a simple statement that anyone could believe. But what does it mean to have an opinion? An entire dissertation could be created to answer this question, one exploring how they form and why and how people portray them. However for our purposes here there is one vital factor we must understand. An opinion is an idea that is directly connected to someone’s heart.

When we are teaching and invite comments and questions we must understand that we are inviting opinions or in other words we are inviting people to publicly voice their hearts. When this happens you must realize what a great responsibility you have just taken on. You are telling people that you want to hear what they have to say because you feel their thoughts will add to your lesson. And so when they speak in order for them to feel appreciated you must wield each comment with the utmost respect.

Lets look at 4 major mistakes people make when facilitating comments.

1- Unprepared- Comments are not something you should ask for to fill time, you should prepare for them to be a supplement to your lesson. Something that connects you with the class. You never know what someone will say in their comment but you should take some time to think about major related topics that could be subtopics to your lesson.

For instance if you are teaching how to take better digital photos then you will want to do a little research on which cameras on the market will be best. Or maybe a little bit of history on digital photography. Or places to print your pictures. Although those topics don’t deal directly with ‘taking a better picture’ they are related and will give you an arsenal to work with to help include people’s questions and comments. Don’t spend hours because those aren’t your main topics and you may not end up even incorporating your findings but you won’t be caught off guard. This strategy really only takes an extra 10 or 20 minutes but will help you manage the comments thrown at you with more class.

2 - Nod your head and move on- We’ve all been there sitting in class listening to a thought provoking lesson when out of no where we are hit with a sudden epiphany! It hits so hard we have to fight the urge to jump up and exclaim Eureka at the top of our lungs! We feel it our duty to enlighten the rest of our peers but fear rejection and so for the next couple of minutes we argue with ourselves. Until finally we find the courage to raise our hand, a shoot it up into the air before we change our mind. A couple pain staking seconds pass until the teacher finally realizes we aren’t stretching, by that time our heartbeat has doubled and our voice is threatening to flea the scene if we don’t put that hand down.

Finally though we are called on, we carefully divulge our amazing insight and then wait with a smug look waiting for the instructor to affirm our brilliance. To our dismay though she simply nods her head, says thanks and moves on. We feel unappreciated, cheated and embarrassed! Its the most frustrating feeling in the world! Unfortunately for the teacher in a matter of a few seconds she has destroyed any sense of trust we had in her because she let us down publicly, failing to properly care for our opinion.

Every comment you receive will not be enlightening or relevant but every comment deserve some sort of acknowledgment. Try your best to find some way to incorporate it or reword it to be relevant if possible. Just remember if you want someone to listen to your ideas they have to know that you respect their thoughts.

3- Turning your ears off- Simply put, just listen. You have to know what is said in order to know how to incorporate it in your presentation. Comments are not just for the rest of the class, they are broadening the scope lesson and if you want a sense of how your lesson is being perceived then you must hear and understand the various ways it is effecting your students. So be intent and make the effort to understand and then give them what they want, feedback on what they have just said.

4- Denying the power of comments- Comments do one of two things. They either make people feel open and comfortable because they feel appreciated and valued. Or they can make people feel overlooked and angry because they feel as if their thoughts are viewed as invalid. Those negative emotions will close their mind to your ideas making your arguments, no matter how powerful, insignificant. On the other hand putting the effort forward to make them feel valued will bond them to you, opening their minds.

Teaching is about passing on knowledge but I believe the secret to teaching effectively is building a relationship with your students. No matter who or what age group you are teaching when a relationship is formed your power to influence grows to immeasurable lengths. Comments have the ability to start and strengthen that relationship.