The amount of work you put into this is actually amazing. I actually tutor some high school students, and this will help me a lot! I'll forward this to other tutors I know and spread the word!

GhandiEAGLE

United States20754 Posts

January 11 2013 07:21 GMT

#63

This was a good read

A lot of this stuff I definitely remember knowing is important as a student

AFKing

128 Posts

January 14 2013 03:16 GMT

#64

As someone that's godawful at teaching but still has to do it pretty often;, this was a helpful guide, thanks <3

sdecker32

United States38 Posts

January 14 2013 05:57 GMT

#65

I think many people in this thread are rubbed the wrong way b/c it does not deal specifically with the issues of classroom management and dealing with students that are difficult due to their behavior, learning issues, or general attitude towards school/teachers/authority. I would say that though these issues in reality are inextricably linked to "teaching", there is still much to be gained about thinking of "teaching" in the more abstract and pure sense, in one where there is no question as to the general attitude or willingness to participate of the student. It provides a way to examine the fundamental goals and obstacles that we are dealing with. Perhaps someone should write an article on classroom management or student motivation?

ZERG_RUSSIAN

10417 Posts

January 20 2013 03:31 GMT

#66

By the way, I'm not sure many people caught your title, but it's amazing LOL.

micronesia

United States24670 Posts

February 09 2013 00:26 GMT

#67

On January 14 2013 14:57 sdecker32 wrote:
I think many people in this thread are rubbed the wrong way b/c it does not deal specifically with the issues of classroom management and dealing with students that are difficult due to their behavior, learning issues, or general attitude towards school/teachers/authority. I would say that though these issues in reality are inextricably linked to "teaching", there is still much to be gained about thinking of "teaching" in the more abstract and pure sense, in one where there is no question as to the general attitude or willingness to participate of the student. It provides a way to examine the fundamental goals and obstacles that we are dealing with. Perhaps someone should write an article on classroom management or student motivation?

It would be difficult to write an article on that topic that would be appropriate in the knowhow section. It is too controversial, and there are too many different perspectives.

On January 20 2013 12:31 ZERG_RUSSIAN wrote:
By the way, I'm not sure many people caught your title, but it's amazing LOL.

I didn't write it XD

sabas123

Netherlands3122 Posts

February 17 2013 17:09 GMT

#68

great read.

this exetly points out why i hate some of my teachers teaching, becouse they basicly yust do the opposite of whats in this guide roflXD

Zariel

Australia1285 Posts

February 19 2013 01:54 GMT

#69

Very good read. Although I'm not a teacher, but as a computer technician, it is quite useful to have teaching skills to help customers out.

I follow my own points such as:

1) put myself in their shoes
2) explaining concept in simple english, avoid jargon. Aim > Process > Result
3) apply pictures if possible or at least visualisation
4) don't sidetrack
5) write it down/type it up

rei

United States3594 Posts

February 23 2013 00:16 GMT

#70

any teacher can do an awesome job given motivated students. They basically can self teach the materials. For any student, motivated or not, It is more important to teach them how to acquire new knowledge by using new subjects as example on how to learn. That way you are teaching them how to fish instead of giving them the fish, so they can use that skill to learn what ever they want later on in their life.

It doesn't matter how well a teacher can articulate the lesson, if the students aren't motivated it or down right disruptive there will be very little learning to be done. Student management in essence is to help as many students as possible at the best of the teacher's ability, do whatever it takes, bribe them, make a deal with parents if nothing else works. in then end if nothing works for a kid, then clearly the teacher have done everything it can be done, it's time to spent efforts on other students.

Bigtony

United States1606 Posts

March 17 2013 23:09 GMT

#71

On February 23 2013 09:16 rei wrote:
any teacher can do an awesome job given motivated students. They basically can self teach the materials. For any student, motivated or not, It is more important to teach them how to acquire new knowledge by using new subjects as example on how to learn. That way you are teaching them how to fish instead of giving them the fish, so they can use that skill to learn what ever they want later on in their life.

It doesn't matter how well a teacher can articulate the lesson, if the students aren't motivated it or down right disruptive there will be very little learning to be done. Student management in essence is to help as many students as possible at the best of the teacher's ability, do whatever it takes, bribe them, make a deal with parents if nothing else works. in then end if nothing works for a kid, then clearly the teacher have done everything it can be done, it's time to spent efforts on other students.

Current political and social pressure does not align with this view. Communities are demanding that teachers do more to engage their students. Creating interesting lessons is part of being a teacher. At this stage in my career I feel like the job is 90% planning. If you plan well, most of the other elements fall into place.

Danglars

United States12133 Posts

March 19 2013 07:25 GMT

#72

I've been reading and using this advice since shortly after it was written, and I want to pause to say thank you. I've been tutoring in my free afternoons/evenings for roughly 7 years. The principal students are high school students in very poorly staffed public high schools. I focus on the math and science subjects and have a reputation for explaining things clearly, but I didn't know before now how much was accident and how much was not helping.

It took me a couple years of tutoring to realize your point of giving students time to process. This is particularly true if they just throw out the first thing that comes into their heads with the expectation that you will give the "correct answer" right after. I don't overreact and give encouraging responses if they address me. The second thing that helped me was the visualization point. I started out giving probably the worst first-brush diagrams to my students on concepts. Unit circle, quadratic equation solving, asymptotes and everything. I have a good memory and stocked up on the ones that just confused students and the ones that very clearly illustrated the point. You helped me realize that no on-the-fly visualization is a good idea; only think it through for some minutes apart from the lesson before settling on the introductory visual.

If you have more stuff to dispense in this series, by all means keep it going! I really liked this one! ~Engineer, Amateur Educator