It’s simply the little things!

It is all about presentation!

I like many others became a teacher by accident. It just seemed to happen at work, at home, at school. I ended up being the swim instructor for the kids I babysat, the tutor for my peers, and the training coordinator at work. It just happened. One day I realized I actually liked teaching and maybe it could be my career instead of just another “additional duty as assigned”. I don’t know how I learned to teach, I was never formally taught how to be an instructor; I just got up and started teaching. Whatever worked, I continued to do, whatever didn’t work I didn’t repeat. I seemed to be a natural at it.

Through the 26 years of my formal and informal teaching career, I learned many ways to improve my effectiveness as a teacher. My quest is to be the best, not too lofty a goal I hope. I have met many people who, whether new or not at the profession, are seeking help meeting their quest of being a good instructor. For years I have focused on presentation skills; which I define as the skills necessary to get information to the student so that they can actually learn. I wanted to share what I have learned about presentation techniques so that others can either use the information or at least be intrigued enough to seek out more on the topic.

While in a class as a student, I had an opportunity to watch a master at work. She introduced us to the world of personality profiling and how it applied to how she taught as she changed her teaching style to match the learning style of the students in the classroom. I realized by watching her that there was something important going on. This is when I realized that I had to change my way of thinking. I no longer wanted to teach just to teach. I wanted to be like her, someone who took the time to learn about her students and provide them with what they needed, not what I wanted to give them. I realized that since most of my students pay for their classes I need to give them their money’s worth, not simply in content but in context. I have since learned a lot about personality profiling and teaching/learning preferences. I can tell you that knowing this information has made me a much better teacher. I now can change what I do when I need to meeting the needs of each student.

As the years went on I was afforded the opportunity to take a class in learning disabilities designed for teachers in the k-12 grades. It occurred to me in class, these disabilities follow students right into the adult classroom and as an adult educator (unlike the public school system where the teacher is notified that the student has a disability) an instructor knows if a student has a disability unless they share it. Most don’t. Most of us older students would never know if we had a disability, as they were not even addressed when we were kids. So not only are there different personalities and preferred learning styles, there are hidden disabilities to contend with. And let’s not forget about the gifted and talented (as defined by the public school system) students. If an adult education instructor could learn what the most commonly occurring symptoms were for disabilities and gifted students and then learn what modifications they could make for the individual, would the instructor use this information? Would it benefit the student?

What about other issues such as color deficiencies, learning difficulties that are disabling, aging students’ needs, and communication styles that are determined by gender differences? Knowing how to reach more of my students each time I walk in front of a group has been a driving force behind my continuing education.

Over the next couple of issues I will be retracing the path that taught me the tools I use today to reach my audiences more effectively. I hope you will join me on this journey.

After each story you will find a link to the Talk Back section of the site. This is for you to talk to me and others to share your stories and lessons learned relating to presentation techniques that help students learn.