How to Effectively Teach Students (It’s Probably Not What You Think)

When I learn something for fun in my free time, I tend to skim through books, websites, online articles, watch some YouTube videos or TED talks on the topic, share what I’m learning with friends, write down my thoughts and feelings about it, and take some sort of action to incorporate it into my daily life.

What I don’t do is seek out hour-long lectures on the topic that are presented by one person who may not present it in the very best or relatable way, without a break, and without making the content really mean something important to me.

But somehow this is what we think teaching is supposed to be like in a school setting.

Recently I read The Chronicle article Your Students Learn by Doing, Not by Listening by David Gooblar, and it had some great insights I wanted to share.

One is:

“We have to go beyond the idea that the perfect presentation of the relevant facts will be enough to help the majority of students learn.”

And another (my favorite, because it’s simple and true) is:

“Teaching needs to be less dense… and more interactive.”

Students have been conditioned to think that the only way they’re learning is if they’re listening to an instructor the entire class period, taking extensive notes, memorizing facts, taking a test, getting a grade, and then leaving all that content behind to move on to new classes the next semester.

Speaking from experience as a student, it took years to undo those bad “learning” habits I’d developed over my lifetime (and unfortunately, this only happened after becoming a teacher myself, and realizing that despite getting straight A’s my entire life, I hadn’t really learned or retained much of anything after so much memorizing and test-taking).

As I’ve grown as an instructor, I’ve started seeing how my students learn best, how they stay engaged, and how much they can actually retain when they’re not overloaded with information. I know it’s tempting as instructors to use as many big words as possible, and make our courses feel intimidating, but what you really have to ask yourself at the end of each semester is:

What’s really important for them to know here? Will my students remember this next year, in 5 years, or 10 years from now?

I have some former students who I still talk to, who have gone on to do public speaking for a living, or simply join a Toastmasters club, or take on more public speaking opportunities in their jobs because they truly learned the essentials of public speaking and took something away from the course.

That makes me feel like I’m doing something right.

One of the best comments I hear from students is something along the lines of, “I never feel like I’m actually learning in your class, but then I realize I’m applying so many of the concepts to my life, relationships, jobs, and other classes.”

Admittedly, it can be scary (and kind of cringeworthy) as an instructor to hear that your students don’t “feel” like they’re learning anything, but you have to remind yourself that in the academic sense, “feeling like you’re learning something” is the same as information overload and excessive studying, and that’s not effective, real learning in the long run.

One of the best things you can do for your students is to teach them in a way that gets them involved, leads to long-term results, changes, retention, and a real understanding of the material, that may not “feel” like learning at all.

Happy teaching!

(To learn more about this, read the article Your Students Learn by Doing, Not By Listening)