Category: Teaching and Learning Strategies

You are an expert on something. Even if you don’t know what that thing is yet, it’s a fact. And because you’re an expert, the Curse of Knowledge applies to you! Not sure what the Curse is? I’m going to explain it, and tell you how to beat it by driving a car.  But first, let me tell you a story about something that happened to me last week. Last week I signed up for a short online course on how to use the popular online graphic design app, Canva.  I’ve got a website so, you know, I wanted to learn how to do some fancy stuff with images, etc. I logged on to the course and began watching the first video.  The teacher was excellent! She spoke slowly and…

Why you should create a learning experience Maybe you’ve created and taught dozens of courses, or maybe you haven’t given your first workshop yet.  I’m going to tell you why you need to start thinking about “teaching” differently if you want to wow your students, deliver the transformation you promised them, and make them raving fans. There are a lot of teaching strategies out there - good ones, too!  In fact, I post a new article about one every week on youshouldteach.com. But, The best strategy for getting your message across is to stop focusing on presenting information, and start focusing on allowing your students to learn. If you’re thinking, “Uh, Kirstin, aren’t those the same thing?”  I’m going to try to convince you that they’re not even close to…

I’ll bet you can think of a presentation or class you attended where you felt like you were drinking from a fire hose. Can you remember why you felt that way?  Was the presenter crashing through slide after slide dense with bullet points? Did they talk about so many things that you couldn’t figure out what the most important points were? As teachers, we sometimes feel compelled to “cover a lot of material” in a short time, but the fire hose analogy is a good one here.  If someone aims a fire hose at your face, you're not going to be able to swallow much water!  The same thing happens when too much information is aimed at a learner’s brain. Instead of “covering a lot of material” it’s as if…

Have you ever watched the Oscars on TV?  When the celebrity announcer opens the envelope, says, “The Oscar for best picture goes to..." Then pauses dramatically, how do you feel? Interested, eager to hear the answer, or even excited?  You probably have an idea in your mind of who the winner will be, and you are dying to find out if you are right! Of course, part of the reason we want to know is that we love to see our favorites, like Titanic, win.  But there is more brain science at work here in the way our minds react to prediction, and it’s a concept we can use to improve our teaching, too. Strategy: Prediction Prediction is asking students to predict the answer to a question before teaching it…

Remember cramming for final exams during high school or college?  I do! I stayed up late into the night - or all night - drinking powdered General Foods International Coffee. (Which, by the way, I just looked up and found on Amazon listed as “vintage” coffee - ouch!) It was gruelling. I was exhausted the next day as I trudged to the classroom. And I always had a deep suspicion that I hadn’t done myself justice. I knew I should have started studying earlier, and put more time into it over the weeks before the test. Now, as a teacher and learning professional, I understand why. Our brains do a much better job remembering things when we space our study out over time instead of doing it all at once.…

If you are creating a course, or any kind of learning experience (workshop, webinar, etc.) there are TWO results you really want to see: You want your students to learn something that transforms their lives in a lasting way,  and You want them to become raving fans who tell all of their friends about you! In order for students to benefit from your course in a lasting way, there is something very important that your course design must enable them to do. Your students have to remember what you taught them. But most presentations, workshops, webinars and online courses do not present information in a way that makes it easy (or even possible!) for students to remember. Think of it this way: how in the world can your students have…

Remember the best class you ever had? Maybe it was your 10th grade English class, where you got turned on to Pride and Prejudice or Catcher in the Rye.  Or maybe it was a college math class where you learned that math is not hellish - it’s actually cool! Think back to how you felt in that class.  Engaged? Like it was FUN? Like you wanted to recommend that class to everyone you knew? There’s a very real possibility that the reason you felt that way isn’t because it was an amazing subject, it was because you had an amazing teacher.  I still remember my high school physiology teacher. Somewhere between dissecting a cat and stabbing my own finger to determine my blood type, that guy won me over from…

On Saturday morning, for the first time ever, I recorded a lecture on Zoom.  It was a guest lecture for a friend who teaches a class at a local university. Afterwards, she sent me a link to the recording, so I got to critique my own performance. Wow, did I learn! Because everyone is scrambling right now to shift meetings and classes online, I thought there might be some value to sharing my experience for the benefit of all.  I hope these lessons learned and tips make you feel more confident in the coming days and weeks when you need to present on Zoom or any other video conferencing platform. 1. Don’t be the host  If you are the primary presenter, have someone else be the host.  There are several…

How would you like to find a single activity that could help you: learn your specialty subject more deeply,make a positive change in the world, andestablish yourself as an authority in your field? You found it: it’s teaching! You might be thinking: Me? A Teacher?  Kirstin, you’re crazy! I’m not an expert at what I do - I’m still learning. That’s absolutely true, and do you want to know something?  The people you look up to as experts and teachers in your field are still learning, too.  They just started a little before you, and they are doing it faster because they are teaching!  Here’s an important secret you should know: You don’t have to know everything about a topic to be an effective teacher and provide value to others.…

Why You're Already a Teacher You might be thinking, "I'm not already a teacher - I'm a professional (or entrepreneur)!" Well, I'm going to convince you that you are a teacher, and explain why that's great and why you should embrace it and learn to do it better. Picture this: You’re in a conference room with 10 of your colleagues. Sandwiches and Tupperware containers full of yesterday’s leftovers are scattered on the table. People are chatting quietly, but they’re waiting for something. They are waiting for you to start talking. You’ve agreed to do a brown bag presentation about a project (or new technique, or report summary), and ready or not, it’s go time.  You look at your watch. It’s 12 noon so you say, “Well, I guess we should…