Tips Regarding How To Teach

Teaching is one of the most difficult professions that exists. Having taught full-time for 18 years, I am very aware of the many challenges that teachers face. Based upon my experience, here are some ideas regarding who to teach the subject matter each day.

• Teachers are performers-Your classroom is your stage. Make your students feel it is worth learning from you.
  
  
• Tell Stories- Most people enjoy a good story. Anytime you can use a personal experience  to help your students connect with what you are teaching, do it! Years later they will remember those stories. It happened to me several times.
  
  
• When teaching, think about teaching- Prepare before your class by thinking of your audience and what they need to know, not what you want them to know.
  
  
• Emphasize the movement of thought- Most people use a combination of the three modalities of learning, but learning by doing is the most powerful in my opinion. Show students the process of finding answers. Also show them how making mistakes is a part of the learning process, and allows one to see what direction to go. People often try to avoid mistakes. Adopt the habit of thinking; Be willing to make mistakes to find out what to do next.
  
  
• Remove the wall between the performer (teacher) and the audience (students)-Ask students thought provoking questions, encourage them to ask questions. For example, “What is missing?” “Could this be extended?” “Is there more to be seen here?” Learning is best when it is interactive.
  
  
• Keep learning how to improve as a teacher- It is easy to go through the motions and do the same thing each year. Challenge yourself to provide your students with your best effort when teaching. Attend conferences and grade level meetings, join a teachers community on Google+, connect with fellow educators on Twitter, or learn a new technological skill that can be used in your classroom (e.g Google Drive). If you don’t try to improve your skill set as a teacher, you will quickly become bored as will your students.
  
  
• Teach the class you have rather than wishing you had a class like a previous year- Teaching is challenging, and you can’t hand select your students. Helping a struggling student succeed proves your value as a teacher. It doesn’t take much effort to teach a student that is motivated and a high achiever.
  
  

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