Teaching - Essential Attitudes (Part 1)
In the K.B.L.T. model teaching refers to any form of communication which attempts to impart Knowledge. Many things which might not usually be considered teaching, such as speeches delivered by politicians or a salesperson's attempt to persuade you to buy his or her product are classified as Teaching. Remember, that Knowledge in the K.B.L.T. model is not limited to factual knowledge or even truth. A liar who successfully deceives his or her audience has "taught" that audience "knowledge."
However, the purpose of this column is not to teach you how to be a better deceiver or seducer or NLP practitioner, but rather to teach how to develop internal cohesion and personal integrity. In order to teach with integrity, there are certain attitudes which are essential.
The Humility of Ignorance - In the first half of the twentieth-century, Americans had a love/hate relationship with science. It was believed by a vast majority of Americans that science would eventually be able to explain everything. This attitude gave rise to what has come to be called the "Modern" view of science. During this time period science-fiction flourished. George Jetson and Captain James T. Kirk became cultural icons. But there was also a negative reaction to this view of science. From the 1940s to the mid-1980s, Lex Luthor, the arch-villain of the Superman series, was a scientist. Within the "Modern" age this was a typical view of science as well. Many horror movies of the "Modern age" revolved around a theme of science run amuck.
With the rise of an awareness of the uncertainty principle and of chaos theory, the view of science transitioned and joined other changing views to form what is now called "Post-Modernism." Because science is now viewed as possessing a degree of "ignorance" it is neither held in worshipful reverence nor feared as the nemesis of civilization. In the Post-Modern world, the adult "fairy tale" (more commonly referred to as the "fantasy" genre) has flourished and the arch-villains of the Post-Modern world tend to be created from a socialist view of the business world. ( If the post-modern version of Lex Luthor had been presented in the 1950s, DC comics would probably have been targeted by Joe McCarthy and his disciples. )
Any communicator who presents his "Knowledge" as if he were speaking from either the top of Mt. Olympus or the top of Mt. Sinai, is going to have a similar affect upon his audience. There will be some who will develop an uncritical adoration for "The Teacher" and others who will develop an equally strong aversion to "The Cult Leader."
The teacher who possesses integrity has a strong awareness of how much he has left to learn and how much he has left to achieve in developing his own cohesion. It is humility which allows a teacher to both possess a Doctorate in Mathematics and also be a teacher of elementary school arithmetic.
The same attitude which allows this teacher to work with elementary students must be the attitude of every effective teacher who possesses integrity, no matter how long you have been teaching the same student. An effective teacher does not focus on where he thinks that the student ought to be in the learning process, but rather on where the student actually is.
An effective teacher possesses patience, forbearance and longsuffering. An effective teacher is not focused on how much he has said, but rather on how much his student has learned and retained.
The reason that the "Socratic Method" of teaching is so effective with older students is that the teacher is attempting to guarantee that learning is actually taking place.
In my experience in teaching over the last twenty-four years, I have discovered that very few adults retain what they hear in lectures. Classes, involving two-way communication, are a much more effective form of creating a learning environment. The smaller the number of students within a class, the more effective the teaching. One to one mentoring or coaching is the most effective method of teaching when measured by the individual, but the most ineffective method when measured by the crowd.
Teaching is one aspect ( Living is the other ) of managing people. In December, Jeffrey Phillips wrote an article on Adaptive Management. This caused quite a bit of discussion among bloggers as can be seen in the trackbacks and comments attached to Jeffrey's article. Some more discussion may be found through Google's blogsearch.
No one teacher (or manager) works well with every potential student. One area of the Humility of Ignorance is the ability to recognize that sometimes the student will be benefited more by being referred to a Teacher who is better suited for working with that specific individual.
The next article will continue dealing with attitudes essential to effective teaching.
teaching personal development knowledge attitudes humility learning integrity cohesive
However, the purpose of this column is not to teach you how to be a better deceiver or seducer or NLP practitioner, but rather to teach how to develop internal cohesion and personal integrity. In order to teach with integrity, there are certain attitudes which are essential.
The Humility of Ignorance - In the first half of the twentieth-century, Americans had a love/hate relationship with science. It was believed by a vast majority of Americans that science would eventually be able to explain everything. This attitude gave rise to what has come to be called the "Modern" view of science. During this time period science-fiction flourished. George Jetson and Captain James T. Kirk became cultural icons. But there was also a negative reaction to this view of science. From the 1940s to the mid-1980s, Lex Luthor, the arch-villain of the Superman series, was a scientist. Within the "Modern" age this was a typical view of science as well. Many horror movies of the "Modern age" revolved around a theme of science run amuck.
With the rise of an awareness of the uncertainty principle and of chaos theory, the view of science transitioned and joined other changing views to form what is now called "Post-Modernism." Because science is now viewed as possessing a degree of "ignorance" it is neither held in worshipful reverence nor feared as the nemesis of civilization. In the Post-Modern world, the adult "fairy tale" (more commonly referred to as the "fantasy" genre) has flourished and the arch-villains of the Post-Modern world tend to be created from a socialist view of the business world. ( If the post-modern version of Lex Luthor had been presented in the 1950s, DC comics would probably have been targeted by Joe McCarthy and his disciples. )
Any communicator who presents his "Knowledge" as if he were speaking from either the top of Mt. Olympus or the top of Mt. Sinai, is going to have a similar affect upon his audience. There will be some who will develop an uncritical adoration for "The Teacher" and others who will develop an equally strong aversion to "The Cult Leader."
The teacher who possesses integrity has a strong awareness of how much he has left to learn and how much he has left to achieve in developing his own cohesion. It is humility which allows a teacher to both possess a Doctorate in Mathematics and also be a teacher of elementary school arithmetic.
The same attitude which allows this teacher to work with elementary students must be the attitude of every effective teacher who possesses integrity, no matter how long you have been teaching the same student. An effective teacher does not focus on where he thinks that the student ought to be in the learning process, but rather on where the student actually is.
An effective teacher possesses patience, forbearance and longsuffering. An effective teacher is not focused on how much he has said, but rather on how much his student has learned and retained.
The reason that the "Socratic Method" of teaching is so effective with older students is that the teacher is attempting to guarantee that learning is actually taking place.
In my experience in teaching over the last twenty-four years, I have discovered that very few adults retain what they hear in lectures. Classes, involving two-way communication, are a much more effective form of creating a learning environment. The smaller the number of students within a class, the more effective the teaching. One to one mentoring or coaching is the most effective method of teaching when measured by the individual, but the most ineffective method when measured by the crowd.
Teaching is one aspect ( Living is the other ) of managing people. In December, Jeffrey Phillips wrote an article on Adaptive Management. This caused quite a bit of discussion among bloggers as can be seen in the trackbacks and comments attached to Jeffrey's article. Some more discussion may be found through Google's blogsearch.
No one teacher (or manager) works well with every potential student. One area of the Humility of Ignorance is the ability to recognize that sometimes the student will be benefited more by being referred to a Teacher who is better suited for working with that specific individual.
The next article will continue dealing with attitudes essential to effective teaching.
teaching personal development knowledge attitudes humility learning integrity cohesive
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