Self-awareness helps in establishing the
needed rapport and trust with the students.
Students come in all age groups and "issues"
as they enter our classrooms. Being able to
reflect back on ourselves and different
life experiences and how we went forth, gives
us the ability to relate to each student and
still maintain the class as a whole unit.
You should know your strengths and weaknesses as instructor and classroom manager. You can play to your strengths, capitalizing on those aspects of your personality/experience/capabilities that contribute the most. Recognize and work on weaknesses. Purposefully looking at yourself as an instructional leader to understand yourself better will help you find ways to improve. You must do this continuously in always striving to improve.
I think if you know your limitations and excel at the things you know you are good at it will help you as an effective instructor. Students know when you are reaching or uncomfortable when teaching out of your element.
Hi Richard:
Utilizing the best of what we have to give our students is a natural tendancy for the teacher to rely on. Also, shying away from areas they feel weaker in would also tend to be present.
Understnding how far I can go and where I need to hold steady is key to being a balanced instructor. Trying new techniques, willing to make mistakes (and learn from them), and grow some of our weaker areas to stronger ones. Of couse, all would benefit in this environment.
Regards, Barry
The more you understand your personality, presentation style, learning style, etc., the better you can identify your strengths and respond to those with different learning styles. This is why it's good to work with a variety of instructors that challenge you on your teaching approach and style.
It is important to understand myself so that I will know my strengths and weaknesses. That way I can improve my skills in certain areas and also determine what type of teaching style works the best for my students. I am usually a super organized person, but planning goes against my nature. I have really put forth a great amount of effort in lesson planning out of necessity. And of course, the more you succeed in planning, the more your plan succeeds. :0)
by understanding yourself as a perosn and as how you will be an instructor helps your studetns be more comfortable with you and yourself.
I think it is important for everyone to have an idea of their strong and weak points as an instructor and be able to adjust accordingly. I understand that my teaching style is not for everyone and sometimes I have to be flexible and be able to draw on more than one strength in order to make the class successful.
Hi Andrea:
You mentioned feedback. What a terrific collection of methods to assess how a teacher is performing or the degree of their effectiveness.
For me, I feel we are always growing, changing, hopefully improving in our work. I think understanding when I can go and when I need to hold back provides a basic guide for self direction and self awareness in the classroom.
I want to be current, try new methods/activities, make a mistakes (but learn from them), and not be inhibited from fully expressing myself. That's like streching a muscle. Development requires effort (energy or work) to grow. There may be a temporary desitination we help provide to students, but for us as teachers, there's really no end destination, just the journey.
Regards, Barry
I my line of work I often see SMEs as instructors. While they have a wealth of knowledge in their career field, they sometimes lack the ability to relate that exerience to students in a classroom environment. Understanding how you come across to your students is very important; an instructor needs to know that the information they are providing to the students is not just being heard, but understood. We use feedback forms in all of our courses and I find they are a great way to evaluate our teaching methods and tailor our courses to meet the needs of our students.
Hi Phillip:
Good, and true. I tink when we can understand enough about ourselves to know how far to go and when to hold back, we are exercising control, which is a key to both self-understanding and effective delivery of the presented material.
Regards, Barry
By understanding your personality you have a good idea of your limitations and what to allow in your class. You have a better idea of how your students will respond to you.
Hi Sara:
I think balancing classes with a vareity of delivery works best for student interest and enjoyment, even if it requires the teacher to use a less favored delivery style. Thats how we grow - like a muscle we stretch to build something weak into something strong.
Also by trying new techniques teachers often find they enjoy the activity and incorporate it into their delivery. Part of the key I think, is having an understanding of when I can go and when I need to hold off. Blending these two methods will produce better teachers who know their limitations but are willing to try ne techniques.Sort of best of bot worlds.
Regards, Barry
Hi Sheila:
Self awareness is the sense of knowing yourself well enough to choose when to go and when to hold back. We all can improve in various areas, but control of that knowledge is, for me, the benefit of personal understanding.
Regards, Barry
If I want to be an effective instructor, I should be self-aware. This way I can work on areas I need to improve upon while still planning presentations using my strengths.
Know thyself - a first commandment in teaching. Part of teaching is knowing what type of person you are. This will help you prepare for how you will organize your classtime. A shy instructor might prepare more group activities and encourage students to do the majority of the talking. A more boisterous instructor may want to lecture for a majority of the time. Also, if you are the type who is always lecturing, you may want to try something else and venture out of the comfort zone. If you are hands on learner, you may be giving too many hands on activities and not enough for other types of learners. So, knowing yourself as an instructor is going to help in learning your teaching style as well as how your students learn.
I admit that I do not understand my personality. As a result, I am not exactly sure how to run my classroom, beyond the agreed upon rules and procedures. I come across as patient. Inside, however, I am easily frustrated and impatient. I have done personality inventories, but still I have a tough time figuring out who I am as an instructor.
To find your strengths and weaknesses. Also to modify your teaching strengths and look for better ways to instruct.
We also need to understand our strengths and weaknesses, so that we can major on our strengths and take steps to resolve our weaknesses. As Alana said, we need to be adaptable. I am more of a words person than a picture person, but some of my students are visual learners. They take great delight in my feeble attempts at drawings and diagrams on the whiteboard, but they work after a fashion!
Hi David:
Glad you've found something useful from the forum.
Regards, Barry
