Learning to Teach “My Way”
By Carolyn Hoessler
Every so often I return to the question I first thought about when I started teaching my first lab: Who am I as an educator?
I remember attending a workshop early in my career about using humour in the classroom. With a sense of humour tending towards puns and irony that might be misunderstood, I remember watching the amusing presenter but quickly realizing that this particular approach was not quite for me. I did take away the importance of enthusiasm that was an element I could embed in my own teaching.
“You have to…develop your own style”, Dr. Patrick Winston shared, because what works for some people will not work for others and copying only means becoming “the second best” version of that other person (26.50 time in the video linked below). Referring to the strategy of world cup skier Ingemar Stenmark, he advised that each person is unique, so look at many people and find “points of style that I can adapt to my own skills and my own body.“
I continue to evolve as an educator and still enjoy watching people teach. Each time, I learn another approach, phrase or metaphor that I can reflect on and possibly adapt in light of my own teaching skills, philosophy and context. This evolving style is then shared through the words I say, the actions I do, and the materials I create or use. The result is a learning environment based on a (hopefully) coherent amalgamation of inspirations.
Further resources on exploring and expressing who am I as an educator:
