Learn how to teach

It doesn’t matter what you do. Good teaching practices are important.

Why?

The obvious answer is that good teaching practices are important when you teach.

The less obvious answer is that good teaching practices are important any time you deliver a presentation to an audience.

By learning how to teach–by developing good teaching practices–you may be acting in the best interests of your career.

Difference between scientists and teachers

You know the scientific routine: They develop a testable idea–it helps if this idea is spiffy enough to be funded– about how some system works, they design an experiment to explore that idea, they collect and analyze data from the experiment, and they publish their results and conclusions.

In order to succeed at scientific discovery, scientists must:

• know their discipline
• be skilled at experimental techniques
• understand statistical concepts and principles.

When teachers teach, what do they do?

They help a learner learn.

It sounds so simple!

But in order to succeed at teaching, teachers must:

• connect with the learner
• make learning relevant to the learner
• help the learner relate new knowledge to what the learner already knows
• help the learner learn how to apply new knowledge to a new context
• integrate teaching strategies with learning processes.

Teacher-Centered Approach to Learning

Taken to its most extreme interpretation, teachers are the main authority figure in a teacher-centered instruction model.

Students are viewed as “empty vessels” who passively receive knowledge from their teachers through lectures and direct instruction, with an end goal of positive results from testing and assessment.

In this style, teaching and assessment are viewed as two separate entities; student learning is measured through objectively scored tests and assessments.

Student-Centered Approach to Learning

While teachers are still an authority figure in a student-centered teaching model, teachers and students play an equally active role in the learning process.

The teacher’s primary role is to coach and facilitate student learning and overall comprehension of material, and to measure student learning through both formal and informal forms of assessment, like group projects, student portfolios, and class participation.

In the student-centered classroom, teaching and assessment are connected because student learning is continuously measured during teacher instruction.

High Tech Approach to Learning

Advancements in technology have propelled the education sector in the last few decades.

As the name suggests, the high tech approach to learning utilizes different technology to aid students in their classroom learning.

Many educators use computers and tablets in the classroom, and others may use the internet to assign homework.

The internet is also beneficial in a classroom setting as it provides unlimited resources.

Teachers may also use the internet in order to connect their students with people from around the world.

Flipped Classrooms

The idea of the flipped classroom began in 2007 when two teachers began using software that would let them record their live lectures. By the next school year, they were implementing pre-recorded lectures and sharing the idea of what became known as the flipped classroom.

Broadly, the flipped classroom label describes the teaching structure that has students watching pre-recorded lessons at home and completing in-class assignments, as opposed to hearing lectures in class and doing homework at home.

Teachers who implement the flipped classroom model often film their own instructional videos, but many also use pre-made videos from online sources.

A key benefit of the flipped classroom model is that it allows for students to work at their own pace if that is how the teacher chooses to implement it.

In some cases, teachers may assign the same videos to all students, while in others, teachers may choose to allow students to watch new videos as they master topics.

From a technology perspective, the system hinges on pre-recorded lessons and online activities, meaning both students and teachers need a good internet connection and devices that can access it.