Musings from a practitioner-teacher
If you are a practitioner trying to teach (keynote, running cohort courses, conducting webinars etc), this post is for you.
Musings of a failed practioner teacher 👇
"Doers do and others teach" - That must be written by a doer who has no idea about teaching!
If they understood what it takes to teach, then it would read like, "Doers do and teachers teach".
It took me 3 years of teaching and failing to frame that simple statement above.
Here are my learnings from that journey.
1. Teaching is not explaining the doing. It is much more that that! Most doers fail here spectacularly as they think, if they share what they do and how they do it, the folks listening to them will understand. NO. They don't.
2. Teaching is about making the other person learn. It is not just imparting information.
3. Learning has many layers to it. The depth and breath depends upon the intent of the learner. Understanding this will make you a better teacher.
4. Learning cognitively is one way. Learning experientially is whole new way. The learner must be greedy of the ROI for the I they invest. If you want more ROI then go full on in experiential learning.
5. Learning passively gives you least ROI. Learning actively gives you most ROI. Choice is yours.
6. Internet is filled with teachers who want to share what they know. Internet is also filled with learners who want to learn. The fitment is where we make it or break it.
7. Not all internet teachers know how to teach. Not all internet learners are hungry to learn. So we can't judge teaching or learning with a general public. Both teaching and learning must be intentional. Else it doesn't work.
8. Nibbling or Grazing is the worst form of learning. It is like having snacks in meal times. It will never fill you. Internet is full of nibblers. So teaching in internet means you must feed the nibbling. Don't go deep. No one cares about first principles but every one will care about tips to crack into FAANG. Be smart as a teacher as your learner is mostly a nibbler.
9. Click-baity things work for a while but what works is your consistent character as a teacher. Being a teacher is an intent not just a role. Your students study you and your values for years together before they choose you as their teacher.
10. In teaching quality beats quantity. As a designer I came from the other side and it hurt very badly. Whatever little you teach, teach them deeply. Quantity doesn't matter as they will never know everything.
To learn the above it took me 1000+ days.
Teaching is sacred. It removes the learning fear of the scared.
I blame my amazing teachers like Mohan Kuruvilla and more for damaging my brain (in a nice way 😜). It is not a teacher's day post. It is a post about my career pivot which is sinking in slowly. I am still not able to digest I became a full time teacher and not a designer anymore 🙈 Gosh!
We'll talk about Career Pivots and Iterations this week!
🥂 to fourth-career!