How to teach-Anything ?

I felt I had to write this piece because, as a deliberate lifelong learner I am always working at learning something new (currently Internet Marketing, jazz guitar and salsa) but, along with some excellent learning experiences, I have had some poor ones. One of the reasons I keep taking on new things is that for me learning is fun and if it is taught with humour it's even more so and I learn better! I feel its time to share some of my learning because I have been teaching for 20 years, 15 years of those as a qualified secondary school music teacher. Teaching is now under close scrutiny and this has really improved my teaching. Basically, I believe know how to teach.
Most people who go into non-formal teaching come from the skills route. They are good at something - perhaps an expert and therefore feel qualified to pass that knowledge on - mainly because it allows them to continue doing what they love. That is excellent because the first things good teachers need are sound subject knowledge and a love for their subject. The next things most non-formal route teachers have is that they are good with people (otherwise they probably wouldn't have chosen to go into teaching). This is another great plus and in some cases is absent in traditional teachers. However, this is still not enough. The most important ingredients in knowing how to teach are an understanding of how people learn (the many different ways) AND a knowledge of how to check they have learned what you want them to learn. You must be able to assess them in the context where they will deliver that learning.
You have really learned something when you can take the learning and use the skill or knowledge in a different context. This brings me to my most frustrating learning experience (well, its not frustrating anymore - because it has helped me understand exactly how I learn. It just is what it is.)
Salsa. I love dancing and wanted to do something healthy, rhythmical, a bit sexy and fun where I would meet lots of new people (and I have - in fact the singer of the band I'm playing with I met through Salsa). I have had 20 lessons with 3 different schools and pretty well all of them have been wonderfully skillful dancers with excellent communication and a fine ability to transfer their knowledge. Then how come I still can't go to a Salsa club and dance? I've been a musician just about all of my life so have good rhythm. I love dancing and can mix it with the best of them when doing R&B, funk and even have had some psytrance moments. So, what's the deal? Why do I go blank the moment I step on a dance floor? Its the way I learn, the story I tell myself and the way most of them teach. I've worked on the story because I know I learn well in the right contexts. But still......
What they generally do is teach you a new step each lesson - each week. You clearly can't go out and do one step over and over again at a salsa club (unless you want to bore a girl rigid - most girls are there to improve their dancing as well and the guy has to lead) so realtime practice isn't really on yet. So, each week is a totally different step. Hang on, I can't remember the last one and quite often the teacher can't as well. Apart from one school that I couldn't remain at because of distance, my salsa learning hasn't been part of a progressive course with skills building upon reinforced skills. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. It appears to work perfectly well for most people. But I am a learner who must see something working in context for the learning to 'bed' in. I have that particular type of learning style. And this doesn't stop at salsa for me. How many of you readers have done a course or class, taken loads of notes only to find that, in a few days you don't really know how to 'do' it? My most successful learning experiences have usually been at life-drawing classes and tai-chi where you do it and do it in context and each time you do it, something is suggested to correct your style. You bed in the learning and then the next week you start from where you are and build on that and so on.
I could expand upon the aspect of doing the skill with non-participant learner (who may have learned the same thing in a different way) or in front of an audience, but I think I'll just stick to how to be better at teaching for now.
When I teach people guitar, I work hard on the context. The art of improvising a solo is very much like dancing. I teach them the skills needed to be able to physically play the solo and then teach them how to construct a solo. I teach them entry points, exit points and styles therein, the different effect that a certain harmony or pitch will create and the shape of a solo. I then play a rhythm part over and over in different ways for them while they try out the construction ideas and how to get the newly learned 'licks' to fit. I assess how well they have taken the learning on board. This informs my next lesson (which is usually the same thing from a different angle that in my view will address the perceived shortcoming). I'm not saying I'm a great teacher, I probably teach in this style because that is how I learn. I just know I get pretty good results.
Now, for a moment lets take this into personal development. Perhaps you've been on a course or workshop and been shown a great technique for clearing an issue or improving an area of your life. This then becomes challenging to put it into context because the thing we usually want to work on has a significant emotional dimension to it. Its not always something you want to do in public. So, it is up to the teacher to work out how the student can learn this technique so they can use it in their own context. They know their stuff but they don't always know how to teach it. I've come home from so many workshops all keen to do some work on issues and, because I'm not sure I am doing it right, having not learned it in the context it would be used, I stall and then sometimes even stop. I don't want to keep asking how to do it because I feel a little bit embarrassed (stupid) as it seems that I'm one of only a few who hasn't got it. I know I'm not, but these feelings do arise. It's also because I don't want to stop others from moving to the next stage. Again, it is because of my style of learning. Now, I know I'm unique - but I can't be the only one who learns in this way!
So, here is my recipe for how to teach anything.
Decide what you want them to learn in what period of time and how you will check that they have Come up with a remedial system for the ones that are falling behind Differentiate the learning to accommodate most learning styles. These are visual, kinaesthetic and audio Set the learning objective at the start of each lesson - the mind likes to know what it is being asked to do Teach it with humour and passion Check that they have learned it in the context they will use it If there are areas still not learned make a not to inform your next teaching experience Start the next lesson picking up the issues from the lesson before and then check again There you have it. How to teach anything. by John Sammers