The art of teaching
What distinguishes the best teachers? Insights from a student.
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
I’ve always wondered why I learn some subjects better than others (much better). Could it be because of the lecture setting? Or maybe the pace of class was too fast? Nah, I wasn’t born for it. There was a time I believed that I lacked talent for my poor-performing subjects. But then again, why would I start performing well in those subjects after putting my mind to it? It had to be hard-work.
Hard-work was the key to success for anything in life. As long as I could power through the nights, I’m all set for the final.
Wait, I don’t think so. I tried really hard for that insert-subject-you-are-weak-at final and still got a C+. Hard-work can’t be it.
This was when I started to think why I wasn’t performing well for some subjects. And surprisingly, why didn’t it reflect my effort? From the teacher’s perspective, she wondered why I wasn’t performing well even after all those remedial lessons.
Even though a student might only spend 2-4 hours in the classroom with the teacher, the teacher plays a much bigger role in the student’s life. If the students are the violinists, the teacher is the concertmaster. The teacher brings discipline, sharpens focus and gives assurance of a beautiful ending. The student will spend the long hours at home thinking about the beautiful ending. The focus will push him to study on his own. And the discipline will ensure he studies everyday.
In essence, the teacher is a storyteller first and foremost before anything else. And like any good story, there are at least 3 parts to it:
- Understanding the audience
- Motivating the audience
- The play
I was poor at English pretty much throughout my school years but started improving exponentially the last 2 years. The only reason I improved was because I wanted to improve. My English teacher had known that I wanted to be an entrepreneur; she then painted me scenarios in which my analytical thinking skills (something I believed I could only acquire through the mastery of the English subject) would be absolutely critical in achieving success in the entrepreneurial world. She understood my motivations well and painted a picture to convince me that I actually really wanted to care about the English subject.
She went beyond that, she also understood that I wanted to do well in my SATs so that I could study in the US and hence taught me the tips and tricks to help me do well in reading and comprehension section of the SAT. (She had no obligation to teach me about SAT test-taking skills)
This scenario had played out again and again with all the teachers whose subjects I had aced at but never realized it because I started those subjects well.
I’m in my junior year in college now and I’ve observed a couple of patterns related to what motivates me to learn. Teachers have played extremely important roles in my successes. Similar to managing employees in a business, a teacher must:
- Understand what motivates the student and what his goals are (studying at a premier institute, doing well in business)
- Demonstrate how the subject at hand relates to his goals (improve my analytical skills)
- Spark a desire to learn by painting a vision of the end goal (success in my business, getting into a premier institute)
- Align your teaching methodology such that it motivates the student (personal coaching, assignments where I can see the direct relation to achieving my goals and etc.)
The teacher has to be a good storyteller. Steve Jobs sold stories of the iPhone that resonated with millions. Barack Obama sold the story of change that resonated with millions. My English teacher sold me the story of the English subject that resonated with me.
Sell me a story. I’ll be motivated to make it a reality!
