Hi Alex,
Welcome to the club !!
Instructing can be very rewarding but it can be very draining and hard work
as well. Some simple tips:
- Be yourself. Some people fall for the trap of pretending to be someone
they're not. Let *your* personality shine through. You either have the right
personality to grab people's interest and attention or you don't.
- Don't be afraid of the "I don't know" questions. They're going to come.
How you deal with them governs your credibility. Some people fall for the
trap of giving any old answer, no matter how crap or incorrect it might be.
Perfect way to dig your own grave. Be honest, make a note of the question
and chase the answer up in a break. If you keep your commitment and come
back with the correct answers, you gain both the students respect and trust.
- Have fun !! By that I mean don't be overly serious and try to enjoy the
whole experience. If the students perceive you are comfortable and have a
sense of fun, they will follow suite. A course shouldn't be like eating dry
muesli (good for you but hard to swallow) so add heaps of milk. But don't
stray from the real you.
- Be aware of PowerPoint and student notes. Use them as a guide and tool,
don't use them as a crutch. Speak *your* mind, provide *your* opinions and
experiences, adlib as much as possible and demo and show what you feel is
appropriate. If the students perceive it's *you* that's teaching them and
not the notes, again, you gain their respect.
- The Introduction. This is the most crucial part of any course. This is
your opportunity to determine the mix of class, their experiences, their
strengths and weaknesses, their reasons for attending the courses, the areas
of most or least interest and the fundamental question of what they want out
of the course. Every course I teach is 'customised' to some degree based on
what I learn at this stage. I have a range of techniques to suz this out of
them.
- Review "Games". I had a whole range of games, competitions, activities
that I get the class to participate in, generally as a review exercise of
what has already been covered. Firstly, as the instructor, you need to be
comfortable in attempting some of these things. If it's just not you, don't
even attempt them. The idea of the exercise is to reinforce in a *fun* way,
concepts that are key to moving on. Many students have commented that it was
only after these activities that they finally "got it". If you want to learn
some, let me know.
- Questions, questions and more questions. At the start, I always encourage
questions and comments from the students. Questions are *key* in the running
of a course because it provides the students with the opportunity for vital
clarification and it provides you with a vital mechanism to see how they are
faring. The more 'interactive' the course, the better the flow and the more
the students will take away. I challenge them to ask me a question I can't
answer and I threaten them with questions of my own in case the course
becomes too one-sided. Only once in my career have I run a course where I
had too many questions.
- Know your stuff. At the end of the day, you have to know your stuff to
teach successfully. And not just what might be within the notes, you also
need to understand related and associated stuff as well. The courses which I
hate to teach are those for which I'm not fully prepared (the term "New
Features" still sends a shiver down my spine). If you're uncomfortable with
the material, it will generally show. Thoroughly review the material and go
through all the exercises to ensure there are no surprises.
- David Bowie. A good dose of classic DB and the class will be putty in your
hands ;)
Good Luck
Richard
"Alex Ivascu" <alex_at_ivascu.comNOspam> wrote in message
news:3DD1BA51.3000108_at_ivascu.comNOspam...
> Greetings. I hope that there some of you out there, that are currently
> teaching Oracle. I'm about to embark on a new adventure - obviously,
> teaching Oracle 8i and/or 9i DBA and PL/SQL.
>
> So... any notes and/or tips from either instructors or students would be
> great!!
>
> Greatest regards.
>
> --
> Alex Ivascu
>
Received on Wed Nov 13 2002 - 09:36:23 CST
