I'm bad at teaching, any tips on how to improve? Vol Let's study...

humpasaurus rex · Nov 30, 2011

I'm a very good student however, when it comes to explaining things to my peers, I find it difficult to convey information in a way they can understand. This is something I would like to improve on because I want to apply for a tutoring position for my school. Any advice?

futuristic · Nov 30, 2011

Make sure your making things as basic as they need to be. I know that sounds obvious, but it's not to a lot of people.

gaseousfashion · Nov 30, 2011

Never say "this is simple."

It makes people feel stupid if it isn't simple to them.

ikari xd · Nov 30, 2011

As a teacher... I'd say the biggest thing is making the material as relatable as possible. Making things matter to the student is one of the easiest ways to get them to internalize the information.

gottabeem21 · Nov 30, 2011

Try to determine whether the person you are tutoring is a visual or auditory learner.

pmatic · Nov 30, 2011

I'm going through the same issues as a student teacher.

My best advice is to put things in context for your students and be very clear in your directions.

humpasaurus rex · Nov 30, 2011

Thanks for the advice guys. Maybe I've just had a bad run of peers that I've worked with. For instance on a chemistry test I studied with the person that sat next to me, I got a 99 and he had a 42. I was wondering to myself damn am I that terrible at explaining things. Dude did manage to bounce back on the second test and received an 80, so that was somewhat comforting.

Things I've noticed:
-A lot of students lack the ability to differentiate between what's important and what's not important. Leading them to waste study time.
-Students also tend to overcomplicate things and are too stubborn to revert to a simpler method. I tell them "Keep it simple stupid."
-Students are not able to grasp what's expected of a professor. Each professor can stress one topic more than the next, which I see as a problem if you have a lab with a different professor.
-Lack of proper studying, i.e. discipline. Make school your priority get off FB, turn off your phone, you don't need to work extra hours etc.
-Blaming failure on the teacher or on work hours and not accepting responsibility.
-Majority of students don't use office hours properly (meaning at all), that's why we pay these professors. Not to mention all the resources that schools provide us with now a days.

End Rant

curbyourenthusiasm · Dec 1, 2011

you have to be creative.

you have to come up with like 20 different ways of explaining something

and run through each one till the student is like "OHHHHHH, OKAY, I GET IT NOW"

thats basically all teaching is.

ddrtronco · Dec 1, 2011

Originally Posted by Futuristic

Make sure your making things as basic as they need to be. I know that sounds obvious, but it's not to a lot of people.

THIS. My music teacher also told me a similar thing back in high school. If you're not able to teach these things to a child, then you really don't know what you know.