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Understanding the Past, Creating the Present, Imagining the Future
Understanding the Past, Creating the Present, Imagining the Future
A teacher once told me that I had a way of making challenging topics clear to others.
This was put to the test when I was tutoring a student in Advanced Microeconomics. The topic was explaining the Nash Equilibrium in game theory. I won’t bore you with the details! However, it took me seven different ways to explain the concept before the student understood it.
My persistence helped, but it was the flexibility to look at things from different perspectives that was key. If one approach didn’t work, I would try another, using a different analogy or using props.
I often use analogies or props that are related to my students’ interest; this allows them to “latch” on to something familiar.
Over the years, I have developed a flexible approach to explaining things, which has been one of the greatest assets for my career in education.
The satisfaction I get out of this is when I see that lightbulb moment when my student exclaims, “ohhh…I get it now!”
Academy of the Renaissance believes that great teaching starts with mastering the art of explaining.
If I asked you to “explain” versus “teach” something to someone, would you know the difference?
According to the Oxford dictionary, the words “explain” and “teach” are as follows:
Explain: Make (an idea or situation) clear to someone by describing it in more detail or revealing relevant facts.
Teach: Impart knowledge to or instruct (someone) as to how to do something.
The problem with education is that too many teachers “teach!” They would argue that that is what they’re supposed to do…it’s in their title! I often see teachers impart knowledge to their students without making the content clear.
Great teaching starts with great explanations.
If we look at learning and teaching styles such as audio, visual, kinesthetic, and reading/writing, we can see that each style requires the teacher to have a different way of explaining something. Even within each style, there are subgroups of learners who learn differently. Therefore, it is safe to assume that each person needs things to be explained in different ways.
The challenge for teachers is they have to make sure all thirty students leave class understanding the material in less than an hour! Students who don’t understand the lesson are frustrated. Then they are expected to complete a homework assignment based on the lesson they never understood. The frustration is further exacerbated when the next lesson builds on the last!
To resolve this issue, one area of focus for resources will be towards support staff such as classroom tutors. Tutors play a vital role in helping to clarify a lesson. Well-trained tutors tailor their explanations to each students’ learning style.
A teacher can only reach at best 80% of his or her students within a class period. Tutors help reach the remaining 20%.
Resources will also be allocated towards professional development to help teachers learn how to teach and explain to different learning styles. As teachers, we often gravitate towards a teaching style for which we are most comfortable. We need to understand that most of our students learn differently; therefore, we need to learn how to be more flexible.
Clarity develops understanding and understanding leads to success. This is important to our students, teachers, staff, parents, and all stakeholders.
The success of Academy of the Renaissance will require that our students, parents, staff members, and all other stakeholders have a clear understanding of all that we do.
