July 16, 2013
10 tips to be a brilliant adult teacher
To be a good adult teacher is not only about skills and knowledge but also about communicating that knowledge to your students.
To be a teacher, you’d need a formal education in training others and the certificate will be needed to get you a job. Other than that, it will be a slow accumulation of experience that will boost your understanding of the teaching methodology and the psyche of students. Here are a few tips that are time and again mentioned by many revered teachers:
- Learn thoroughly
The road to becoming a brilliant teacher starts right from being a brilliant student. Master your subjects at university, but don’t limit yourself to just that. The more knowledge you will have about everything, the better your perspective will be in life.
- Have an inquisitive mind
Take an interest in things that spark your curiosity. Ask questions, find answers. Brilliant trainers are also avid learners with an open mind who are accepting of ideas, even when they originate from their students.
- Be receptive of all views
Good teachers often fail to be excellent because they cling on to their beliefs as a hard-liner. You need to understand that every individual has their own way of understanding things, so to be better at teaching them you should try to understand their perspective and respect their opinions. Diversity could present a number of differences, but if you’ll keep an open mind yourself, you’ll be able to be inclusively brilliant.
- Patience is a virtue
For any trainer anywhere, patience is at the core of the job. Your training sessions could easily turn heated if you aren’t patient. Don’t lose your nerve at snotty comments and take it all with a smile and a cheeky sense of humour.
- Follow what you preach
In order for your students to believe in you, you need to follow your own advice.
- Understand your students
In a classroom, you can’t expect to shush everyone and just talk. It’s a two way communication process where you should aim to satisfy your students’ curiosity. Listen to them and what they have to say and understand them better.
- Step away from boring lectures
If you tend to always teach and not challenge your trainees, you will never be able to excite their interest in the subject. Device some creative ways of teaching, plan workshops and sessions that would make learning more interesting.
- Entertain your audience
Even though you are not a street act, you still command a crowd. If you entertain them properly, they would remain attentive to what you have to say. Brilliant teachers always use humour and emotions while teaching.
- Have a passion for the job
Teachers who love teaching others, excel in what they do. They wear a smile and enjoy the challenges of shaping other minds. If you don’t love your job as a teacher, you can’t be brilliant at teaching others.
- Inspire your students
Brilliant teachers don’t just get called brilliant because they can teach well, it’s mainly because their students are interested in what they have to teach and make an effort to learn from them. If you are looking to move on from being a good teacher to an excellent one, you should work on inspiring your students as well. Remember that if they aren’t inspired to learn, you can’t teach them anything.
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