I feel you need to have an uderstanding of what your strenghths and weaknesses are in order to successfully teach students what they need to know. I feel teaching in a way that you are comfortable with is aa much more beneficial way for you to teach and your students to learn.
Patricia,
Very true. Being adaptive allows us to reach the largest number of students in a postive manner.
Barry Westling
Alana,
I think instructors who want to do well will always see improvement over time, because they'll be will be open to suggestions, seek ways to improve, and welcome constructive comments that work to improve our effectiveness.
Barry Westling
I also come from a health care background and change is the name of the game. The patients I see are often not at their best and we still have to teach them about whatever brought them to the hospital. This means a constant adaptation of teaching styles for the many different people. The same can be true for the variety of students now enrolling in career colleges. The teacher has to know their own teaching style with strengths and weaknesses and adapt that to the different learning styles of the students. This is especially true in clinical situations with smaller groups of students and one on one instruction.
Understanding who you are and how you contribute as instructor is imbedded in one's character and personality. Not only are you assessing yourself for your strengths and weaknesses but you are determining which of those characteristics will affect and improve your students.
Being an for 4 years has helped to see recognize my strengths and weakness I never thought I possessed. It is amazing how much I have learned about myself and how much I have improved over the years. My students have helped me realized these aspects and have made me into the instructor I am today.
Richard,
I agree and think feed back from students, peer instructors, supervisors and even family members are fit to provide a least a partial picture of how one presents themselves to the public. Probably never able to please everyone, but willing to and working towards constant improvement will produce improved effectiveness in every case.
Barry Westling
Dear Sir,
As an instructor, it is wise to get a feedback from students, despite delivering a course content to the best of my ability because it gives me an opportunity to reassess and introspect my weaknesses and work to improve them.
Khouloud,
Good points. I think if an intructor is willing to assess for weaknesses, make improvements, and be flexible about their outlook regarding class delivery methods, they'll make continuous progress, and students will benefit from their efforts. Students will see (over time) their instructor cares and is interested in the students success.
Barry Westling
In order for an instructor to be effective, he or she must initially have a comprehension of their strengths and weaknesses. With that said, the personality of an instructor may have a major impact on the quality of education. Therefore, once an instructor identifies the essential areas for improvement, he or she will eventually begin to develop professionally.
Beatrice,
Open, honest, and genuine individuals tend to be more interesting, and what they have to say more enjoyable. It may being comfortable with who we are, our past experiences, or just a confidence in our abilities. Getting students to pay attention and learn from what we give can be affected by our persona and delivery attributes.
Barry Westling
I believe that sharing my expertise and experience with the students is the best way to undestand myself as an instructor.
Carmen,
Yes, we all have a self perception of ourselves, which may or may not be what the students see. True self awareness and understanding takes in the perspective students may have, and the good instructor will try to align with the educational objectives while meeting individual student needs.
Barry Westling
its very important for me to understand myself as a instructor this way i can project a positive energetic attitude towards my stuent keep them motivated trought out the course
Amy,
Great self assessment. I think youy've got a good perspective in that instructors who are willing to improve, grow, and become better at what they do will have successful classes, and students will benefit as the result.
Barry Westling
My background is not in a classroom setting so while I may be a subject matter expert I am certainly NOT an instructional delivery expert (yet). I still have much to learn about learning and teaching styles. If I didnt understand that, I would have no reason to grow and learn in order to become that IDE. Instructional delivery is the gateway to realizing/understanding subject matter.
Laura,
Selfawreness, understanding ones positive attributes, and a knowledge of where improvement is needed describes instructors who want and desire to do their best in the classroom and for their students. Keys to success here lie in creativity, variety, and a willigness to stretch oneself to make classes interesting.
Barry Westling
I feel it is very important to be aware of your personal strengths and weaknesses as an instructor. In order to reach and impart knowledge of the subject matter being taught, an instructor has to be aware of their audience and the different learning styles required to reach everyone at some level. This may require an instructor to incorrporate delivery styles that may seem uncomfortable for them. This is where it is the instructors responsibility to step out of their comfort zone and stretch themselves to do things they might not usually do.
This is positvie in that the instructor will grow in his/her own abilites to be creative and flexible and the more you incorporate new approaches to teaching the sooner the instuctor will gain new skills and confidence to continue to utilize thest new techniques.
I personally need to improve on being more visual when I lecture by including interactive writing on the board and more PowerPoint presentations. This is a goal of mine. I am not intimidated in the least to incorporate more of this, but I do need to get more instuction from my colleagues to become familiar witht the use of the hardware necessary to accomplish this goal. I just sent an email out this morining requesting additional training in this area.
Learning new skills also gives an instructor a sense of accomplishment, which only fosters more confidence and joy that you are making an effort to reach out to students that require more visual and tactile learning to process information. I teach course such as Training and Development, Labor Relations and Strategic Staffing; lots of reading and lecture, which gets boring quick. It's not like teaching a plumbing glass where you can use lots of props and hands on materials. I have to find ways to make delivery of course content that facilitates interactive exchange with the students.
Brenda,
Very true. We become most effective when we are aware of what attributes we possess that can be utilized to reach our students on all levels; professional, interpersonal, advisory, instructional. Students admire instructors who are genuine versions of themselves.
Barry Westling
Understanding ourself as an instructional leader enables you to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses and unique qualities that you bring to the classroom.
Wendy,
Good point. Confidence brings a comfortableness and smoothness to our delivery and presentation.
Barry Westling
