Real Life Experiences
I think that adding your own real life work experiences are essential when teaching others. It helps students see what they are learning in the classroom really pretains to the work field and what they are learning is very important in the field and how it is is implied.
I would have to concur. I teach an Intro to Veterinary Technology course and I have found that at such an early point in their education that while the students may have a career in mind, they really have no idea what it actually involves. The lack of any empirically based knowledge of their own and the temporal distance between the students and their goal makes it challenge to find any cogency on their own for what the instructor is teaching. I have learned that when I use my own real life experiences they will act as a surrogate memory for the students making their elaborate rehearsal more effective as the hippocampus attempts to encode and store the new information.
I like to share my experiances with the students. It shows them that I have been in their shoes and that they can succeed as well. I share my failures also and that lets them see that I too am human and not the "know it all" instructor!
Hi Chris,
Good point on how to share a mistake or failure you had in your previous life experiences. These kinds of incidents can be very valuable to students if we follow your guidelines so they see how we benefited from our mistakes. Hopefully we can help them to avoid such mistakes in the future because we know already they will make enough of them on their own. We base this upon our own life experiences so any "heads up" efforts will help to guide them.
Gary
By sharing our experiences, we allow our students to correlate what they have learned to actual scenarios that they may encounter. This method also provides imagery that may help solidify an idea or concept that might otherwise have been missed. I also believe that it is important for educators to share some of the pitfalls they have experienced, as well as, the mistakes they have made along the way. We are all fallible and students must be given permission to fail. One important note is that when you share a mistake or failure, make sure you also share the outcome, lessons learned, and how you overcame the situation and used it to enhance your knowledge.
I agree, adding your real life experience can add to the course content by explaining how you can apply the information from the course. It also allows you to discuss situations that don't fit the "mold" and where you need to be flexible and not only go by the book. Often times we get so hung up on following a process we forget that there are situations that are one-off.
Hi Bessie,
This also helps the students to see you as being human. They start to realize you went through what they are going through to get your education, not to mention your career expertise. They start to take notice of the relevancy of the course content and career examples you share with them.
Gary
By the Instructor sharing his or her life experience of a successful career, helps to moviate the students, even to the point of continuing their education to a higher level, at the same time having a little sense of humor keeps them interested as well as being healthy for them.
I definitely agree. By using real life experiences, it gives a sense of the instructor's credibility. I also agree that it shows the students that the instructor has had to learn this material at some point and has used it in real life. By using examples, I'm using tricks that helped me remember the complicated material or procedures. These tricks might also help the students.
When teaching adults there is usually a diverse background of work experiences and I think that when these are shared (not just by the instructor but by the entire class) it makes the information the students read about in classrooms more tangible.
I do this all the time in class. I think it teaches the students what REAL life is like when they work with clients. I tell them about how I interact with clients for my own business. That's when I notice most of the students stopping what they are doing on the computer to really listen to me.
Hi Christine,
So do I. I am a big fan of sharing "real life experiences" with students as well. As a result of the stories they start to see themselves in the career area and how they can have a successful future.
Gary
I agree that using "real life experiences" in the classroom as anecdotes serves not only the students, but the instructor as well. I think "story telling" allows the students to view the instructor in a different light; that they themselves have jumped through some of the same hoops the students are having to do currently and that it can be done. It also makes the classroom environment less "formal". I use this method daily in class.
Hi Jessica, as you imply, instructors are considered to be the subject matter experts and therefore the sharing of our own real-world work experiences helps to make the subject come alive to our students. Thanks for your comments!
Jay Hollowell
Guest Facilitator
