Effective Teaching

Effective teaching is controlling the learning of an individual or a group. Five elements are involved, but these are not necessarily steps in a sequence.

1. Learning objectives.
• Before attempting to teach, it is important to know what is to be taught.
• To determine learning objectives ask, "What should the participants be able to do by the end of the session?"
• Learning objective should clearly state what someone should be able to do at the end of the session.
• The learning objectives should be written down as guidelines to the instructor.
• The objectives usually will determine the content of the instruction.
2. Discovery.
• In a "discovery" one of three things happens:
1. People discover that they do know something.
2. People discover that they need to know something.
3. People discover that they desire to learn more about something.
• Sometimes a discovery just happens. An alert leader can turn this happening into a learning experience referred to as "opportunity teaching."
• An instructor often will set up a discovery as the introduction to a learning activity. A discovery can be simply a leading question, or more complicated as in dramatic role-playing.
3. Teaching-learning.
• Once the discovery has shown what they already know, the instructor has choices to make.
1. No further teaching is needed - the person knows and can do what is desired.
2. Some teaching is needed - subtract what they know from what is desired and work on what they need to know.
3. Give the full instruction session. They will learn what they need to know and will review what they already known.
• Teaching involves a variety of communication techniques. We learn principally from hearing (lecture, discussion, conversation, dramatization), seeing (reading, displays, visual aids, demonstrations), and doing (trial and error, experimenting, copying the acts of others).
• Learning is actually a series of discoveries.
• As each task, skill, or idea is broken down into simple steps, the learner can see:
1. What they already know,
2. What they need to know, and
3. What they want to know.
• Each step should lead to some success--it is important to keep them encouraged that progress is being made.
4. Application.
• They should have a chance to apply what has been learned.
• Application may lead to another discovery.
5. Evaluation.
• Evaluation is a review of what happened to see if the learning objectives were met.
• "Did it work?"
• "Do I understand?"
• "What do I do next?"
• Evaluation itself often becomes another discovery.
6. Recycling (if needed).
• Teach it again.
• If evaluation shows that the person has not learned what was to be taught, there is a need to recycle.

Learning works best when a student is really involved in his own teaching.

• The more a person is involved in his or her own learning, the more they will learn and the longer they will remember it.
• Teach from the point of view of the student--not the teacher.
• Move from what is known to what is unknown, from what is simple to what is more complex.