Hi Allana:
Passion and enthusiasm are difficult attributes for any student to extinguish! I agree that this can be a great motivating factor.
Regards, Barry
If I am confident in myself as an instructor and what I teach, then it is great to know that my enthusiastic personality will pass onto my students. They will become motivated in the subject matter while knowing how passionate their instructor is about the subject matter.
To know how to use my strengths to my advantage in order to let them filter down to the students through my teachings in a particular subject matter.
Hi Daniel:
Great! Adapting takes skill, persistence, humility, and courage - same traits students taking your classes need. But willing to make adjustments as needed help good teachers become great teachers.
Regards, Barry
I think it is important to know yourself so you can adapt your teaching style to the needs of the students and the subject matter that you teach. For the most part, I'm a "learn by doing" instructor, which seems to work good most of the time.
Hi Mark:
Good thoughts. Students definetly benefit from our strengths - that's why we are employed as instructos to teach in the first place, I suppose. Enthusiasm, passion, sincerity, and humility can help cover over deficiences to some degree. I think just being real is the best way to relate to students.
Regards, Barry
In order to be the most effective you must understand your own stregths and weaknesses. You can use your strengths to help with real life examples and show your enthusiasm for the subject. When it comes to "areas of improvement" it will help you as an instructor and person to educate yourself more in order to educate your students.
Hi Stacy:
Great ideas. Teaching styles can really make a difference. Thanks for sharing!
Regards, Barry
Hi Christina:
Great description of keeping things under control and guided by a solid foundation. Terrific!
Regards, Barry
I believe it to be important to know ourselves as instructional leaders because we need to know how we teach in order to be effective in terms of trying to reach as many students as possible. I believe this topic to be related to knowing our teaching styles. I feel that I am a combination of several of these instructor-styles. I am a socratic instructor and a learn-by-doing instructor, but I use lecture,too. I feel these are all importaant because some material is more difficult than other material, and the students may need another approach as well.
If I don't feel prepared to lead my class, my class will lead me, usually off course! By knowing my strengths and weaknesses I can continue my self improvement in the most productive ways. It also helps me to better relate to how my students who are also pushing themselves out of their comfort zones to learn and grow. I take my leadership role very seriously. My students look to me as a source of knowledge, guidance and support, if I don't feel mastery over the subject matter or over the direction of the class they will flounder and know that they didn't have the support they signed up for.
Hi Chrissy:
I like that statement about challenging yourself. It both sets a goal, recognizes improvement may be needed, and there's a willingness to adapt. Good instructors are willing to be open to improvement and change.
Regards, Barry
Hi Jeffrey:
Great thoughts!. Planning is so very important. Good instructors want to be able to provide a balanced course that is weighted too heavily just on material they are most comfortable with. So, in that event, some extra work (prparation) may be needed to shore up weaker areas. Over time, a more balanced course will emerge.
Regards, Barry
Hi Aimee:
Yes, as instructors, we want to use all our abilities put into action to see the students achieve their best.
Regards, Barry
Without an understanding of myself, it is not possible for me to be an effective leader for others. In knowing and understanding myself, I'm better able to look at others and find areas in which they can grow and be challenged. And as I challenge myself, I can also develop more empathy for their situation AND find ways that may be helpful for them in overcoming obstacles or challenges.
I also feel that without understanding myself, it is difficult to see how I can contribute or detract from the experience of those I'm leading. As I continue to learn and grow, I can be more effective at providing an enriching experience for the majority of people that I help as an instructor!
Understanding yourself will help you in planning your classroom content. If you are stronger in a particular subject, and weaker in another, you can better plan and research the weaker content. This benefits you as an instructor by becoming better at what you are doing.It also benefits the students because they are getting the proper information with confidence.
so that you can use your strengths to create learning outcomes for your students.
Hi Peter:
You're right, each class seems to have it's own dynamic. Good teachers will do their best to size up the class, and prepare accordingly to provide the best delivery approaches.
Regards, Barry
Hi Justin:
Stephen Covey called the concept you're describing a "Habit". Getting good at anything requires practice, repitition, etc. Good post.
Regards, Barry
when i think of how i manage my class it does change with each new enrollment today because of the change in the students profiles. some come right out of high school and then you have the students who has lost a job due to plant closing or downsizing.
