The more and more you interact with people, the more and more you will need to teach effectively. Whether you are a stock broker, PG&E technician or professional teacher, you can always work on your communication skills. Do not get me wrong- I have problems too, but I think that I have developed some fairly viable tips, so read on!

1. Choose the easiest way. Many times, people don’t fully understand topics because they are being taught in a way that is too complicated to understand. So, try to break things down. Way down. Pictures and demonstrations are really easy ways to do this, so make sure to have as many diagrams, instructional videos and models on hand as you can, because once people can visualize something, it usually becomes a lot easier to understand. Also, keep your vocabulary as simple as possible. This is not an insult of the pupil, but a good piece of advice heralded by greats of classic literature-superfluous, overcomplicated words can make things terrible for people trying to understand something beyond your language.
2. Check in with your student every so often. Make sure that the person is following you, and know their learning pace. Know which topics you can gloss over, and which you need to elaborate on. This makes a world of difference in your learners understanding of a topic, because some things need to be concrete in the mind before understanding the bigger picture. It is really interesting to see how people learn, because you can see how their mind evolves, and also how your communication skills evolve. Being able to communicate with all different types of people is a very, very valuable skill.
3. Make learning interactive in any way you can. Get your learners help in making diagrams, writing lesson plans or even your own teaching techniques. If you can get the student to help you with the lesson plans and your techniques, you could change the entire class for the better. The pupils are the consumers; therefore they could give you a consumer report to help improve your ‘product.’ Remember, as a teacher, you are trying to convey information as best as you can, not please yourself with the complexity of your ideas and the longevity of your lectures. Teaching needs to be a two way relationship.
4. Be sure on what you teach, because if you start telling your pupil a sundry of different things, everything starts to get messy. The student will not really trust much of what you said, even though if some of it was right, and he will become unsure of the topic. Learning is a journey, and if someone flakes out on a journey, their entire reputation goes down hill.
5. Don’t teach something unless you enjoy teaching it. The teacher’s attitude, teaching style and mannerisms have a huge impact on the student in ways that can be irreversible. For example, if you are teaching a math class, but you absolutely detest the entire field of mathematics, chances are some of that disdain will rub off on your student, which could act as a roadblock for them in the future.

Read the rest of this entry »

Related posts

• The Application Essay
• What You Must Know About Online Degree Programs
• Community College Disadvantages
• Understanding Learning: How Recent Research Supports Natural Affinities
• Homeschooling and Record Keeping