Personality Of Teaching

Lets dive into the first topic, Content is King, of a 5 part series in becoming a better teacher and public speaker.

Ideas are the basis of every lesson, whether you are teaching the idea of Newton’s law, the idea of appropriate dating or the idea of running a more effective office meeting an idea is the foundation. Everything else is just supporting the idea being taught. It is easy to get caught up in the facts, the experiences or the argument we are sharing, and allow the idea to get lost under it all. (more…)

There is a common myth that all of society seems to be entrapped by. It is perhaps one of the reasons a lot of us get so nervous to teach anything to anyone. People believe that the ability to teach is a gift, you either have the gift or you don’t. The fact of the matter is that teaching is skill and so just like any other skill you can learn it. People aren’t born knowing how to carve, or play the piano, or sew. We learn those skills because that is what interests us. Our level of interest is often what drives our skill level.

If you have minimal interest then it only makes sense that you will have minimal skill level. We have to understand though that interest is more then just a desire it is a force that pushes us to action. Action is what ultimately takes you to great skill levels. You can learn to be an excellent teacher. Teaching is a skill and just like learning to carve or sew there are things you can study to become an expert teacher. So lets put that myth to rest and start now studying to be a teacher that students are effected by. People are not born great teachers they are driven by interest to that greatness.

I’ve compiled a list of skills (in no particular order) that every teacher must research, understand and then implement. There are 5 skills and my plan is to write a post about each one over the next couple of weeks. 5 skills, one post every three days or so, discussing: why it is so important, the impact it can have and where to go to find out more information. Here is a brief summary of each post to come. (more…)