It is not just the men and women of the World who stand up in front of a class full of people and impart knowledge that require strong teaching skills. The qualities that are necessary to be a great teacher can help in the work place, as a parent and also of course, in the classroom or lecture hall. Not everyone is born with a natural ability to teach and for many they need to work extremely hard on improving their teaching abilities.
There are some great teachers and educational specialist out there in the world that we can learn a great deal from in terms of educating others Thomas M Rollins teaching specialist and the man who designed the incredible Great Course materials for example. It is teachers like Mr Rollins who we should be learning from and here are some of the skills which teachers like him possess.
Knowledge
It may sound a little strange but you must have strong knowledge about what you are teaching to ensure that you can best serve the person that you are teaching. Without sufficient knowledge you will struggle to answer questions on various subjects when they come back at you and you will also lack the conviction in your teaching style. The first place to start when trying to improve you teaching abilities is to fully arm yourself with comprehensive knowledge on the subject you are teaching.
Flexibility
There is no one-size-fits all when it comes to learning and you need to be able to adapt your teaching style to different individuals depending on how they best learn. Some people like to learn visually, others require repetition whereas there are some learners who prefer to do in order to learn best. It is up to you to assess who best learns in what way and at what speed and from there you should adapt your teaching style appropriately.
Feedback
One of the best ways to find out what your strengths and weaknesses are as a teacher is to gain feedback from peers and possibly ex-students. Nobody likes to hear criticism but if it is done in a constructive way then it can really help to highlight where your weaknesses are as a teacher and where you need to improve. This can be a difficult process but it will be a necessary one when it comes to how successful you are as a teacher.
Watch and Learn
You may be in a teaching position but there is nothing wrong with still being a student and if you want to improve your teaching abilities then watch and learn a great teacher in action. Emulating a great teacher is a good way to improve your skills and help the people you are teaching to learn better, which after all, is the whole idea of improving your skills. If you know a great teacher then watch them work and try to imitate what you see in your own style of teaching.
