If you have a good sense of yourself and how you may be perceived by students and others, you will have the means to make adjustments and modifications as needed for your particular audience. (In this case, your students).
Erica,
Good example. I'm a little hard of hearing. Knowing this, I always look to how I can best position myself to field questions. I also tell students they need to keep the class quiet from extraneous noises as it interferes with my clearly hearing their questions. Most students are respectful of that (but do need reminding. So, although there is some mild impairment, by understanding and preparing to adapt, this helps create better class discussions.
Barry Westling
It is important to know yourself in order to know your students and have an understanding of different learning styles of students to be able effectively instruct them on material, especially if it is challenging and they have not seen it before. If you know yourself enough, you will know your pitfalls which may help in helping your students with their pitfalls. And you can also work to correct your own pitfalls so it doesn't happen in class.
Brandon,
Very true. I think if we are sincere and approachable, most students will warm up to their instructor quite readily. Being willing to listen, having patience, a good sense of humor, and a general care for the students success can only add to the positive merits an instructor exhibits as well.
Barry Westling
It is important to know how you come across to student and your communication style. Students may interpret your meanings in another way in which it was given. Expectations, personality and dislikes/dislikes all come out the more time you spend instructing a group.
Anthony,
I think when we reach a point where we can be honest and open, humble and kind, along with competence in our subject matter, we will be at a point where we can relate to the variety of individuals and situations often encountered in the classroom, especially in career schools.
Barry Westling
It is important to understand myself as an instructor so I can continue to evolve, change and adapt to the student ever changing needs.
Jacqueline,
We all have strengths and it's natural to play into them. Iven with areas that may need a lttle work, I thin k if we are genuine and honest, students will appreciate that we are the real thing, only there to help the students succeed.
Barry Westling
Pietro,
Yes, we can have an impact on student lives and their academic successes. I think if we are comfortable with ourselves, approachable, patient, willing to listen, have a good sense of humor, and competent with our subject matter, students will learn to trust and respect their instructor, especially if they feel they're honest and genuine.
Barry Westling
I think it is important to understand who I am in reference to my strengths and weaknesses so I can use my strengths to teach my students. I think it is also important to work on my weaknesses to develop them into strengths. Understanding who I am and what works for me as an instructor will be the best way for me to convey the information to my students whether it is using power point, handouts, or other examples. The strengths of my personality will make the classroom a more effective learning environment.
This is one of my favorite things to remind myself. Not to long ago I was a back in school completing my BBA. I remember in one of my classes in which my teacher was a PH.D. in there field, spoke down to me like I knew nothing and why am I not smart like her (hated her). This was a good example of what not to do. Later I took another class again another teacher with a PH.D. with multiple international awards under his belt. The difference was when I had a question he spoke to me at me level, he would ask the questions that lead to my difficulty. This has had a everlasting impression on me. This is just one example.
As an instructor in a couple of disciplines, there is great importance to understand the student is not you. They are their to learn from you. Just because we were taught one way we now do not teach the same way. Just because we learned on way our student(s) do not learn the same way. Placing the learning needs of the student first will (should) automatically kick in the instructional leader role to serve the student best.
Absolutely agree. When a new teacher is willing to learn and try new things that teacher will suceed...
Melissa,
This is a great sentiment and principle to guide our professional lives.
Barry Westling
By understanding your stength and weaknesses, you can be a better instructor. Natually, we like to gravitate towards our strenghts,. However, if we are student centered in our teaching, we need to make sure we also teach methods that too, as that may be the ways some students learn best. By working on our weaknesses, they can become our strenghts. Also, by always focusing on our strenghth in the end they could be our weakness as a instructor if that is all that we focus on.
We need to be a role model for our students and to continually learn and grow, as that is what we ask of them.
Nancy,
Well, experience teaches us all much of what is described and it's a fact there is no teacher better than experience. I think being a natural, genuine version of ourselves, honest with students, and with applied skills of patience, courtesey, and confidence, we improve ourselves and our students will benefit as well.
Barry Westling
Vickie,
Yeah, its like someone who says they have 10 years experience, when really its more like one year experience, 10 years in a row.
Barry Westling
This is all so correct, makes sense to me, and seems a lot easier than it really is. I have learned a lot about teaching skills from this site, however, when I actually try to make this all work for me, it just doesn't come together for me as I would like. I still struggle with being the instructor that I would like to be. My question is: is there such a thing as an individual,instructional coach, or something that I can do to make this work for me to my liking?
I completley agree. You should always seek self evaluation to see area that you can improve as an instructor. As all things new techniques and technology are are always changing and we as instructor should embrace that as new and exciting for us instructors to teach our students.
Vickie,
I think we all teach to our strengths; those willing to make improvements, work on weaker areas will probably find the weaker areas can become among their strongest, if they're willing to work at it.
Barry Westling
It is very important for a instuctor to understand their teaching methods as well as about themselves. A instructor needs to evaluate themshelves for their strong and weak points to make sure they are delivering the material in the best way possible to their students.
