Linda,
Teaching is something I care very deeply about. Thus, when I saw your request
for input, I was eager to contribute my thoughts. I hope they help.
I believe that three experiences (one kind of unusual) have contributed to the
success I've had as an instructor: teaching communications; performing before
audiences; and experience teaching young children who require higher levels of
empathy.
Teaching communications at Arizona State made me aware of the many subtle
details that stand between my understanding of the topic and the student's
developing understanding of the information I'm sharing. These subtleties
effect both my general presentation of the material (e.g. slides and visuals
used; use of eye contact; use of gesture; facial expression; vocal tones (for
emphasis and attention); effective distribution of eye contact; etc.) I've
found many instructors that cognitively know much about these things, and yet,
aren't intimately in touch with their own subtle body and other nonverbal cues.
Performing before the public taught me about managing energy levels with an
audience. Though, ideally, many if not most instructors want to sit back and
rely on the student's responsibility for the material to retain attention, the
fact is that students often take courses they NEED or are REQUIRED to take as
often as courses that they personally desire raw knowledge of. Thus, to be
effective, I view one of my major responsibilities as setting the energy level
in the room: too low and I get inattention; too high, and they don't retain...
I view it as my responsibility to present the material dynamically, and to truly
identify the angle on the material that my students will best identify as
important in their own minds. Thus, I view my teaching from a "performance"
perspective.
Finally, empathy. I find that many of us forget, or never experienced what the
average student faces in a college course. Most of us moved onto this level
because of our success as students. Most of us understood and retained
information more easily then the average student does. Thus, it's often
difficult to identify with "why" the student doesn't easily understand what
came/comes so easily to us. Yet, this is exactly the key to making the first
two points effective. We must listen to our students in the classroom, and find
the way to rephrase the material in a language that they find some intuitive
contact with. It often requires several tries; but with practice, we can become
very effective at anticipating the language that they need to hear the material
in.
Thus, I urge anyone seeking to improve their teaching to: a) seek a good text,
or course in business communication (this is usually directly oriented to our
style of presentation in the classroom moreso than a more general communication
course/text); b) to view their time in front of the class as a "form" of
performance presentation, and to control the energy level in the class: raising
it when necessary, lowering it when the kids get too excited. Finally, c) I
recommend a very focused effort on understanding the thinking of the "average"
student.
I hope there is something in the above that proves useful to your friend.
Bruce T. Teague
The Wharton School
Department of Management
2055 Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6374
(215)898-1224