HOW TO TEACH A SKILL 1

This how-to sectionaddresses two important issues:(1) how to teach and (2) how toteach a skill in particular. Let’sstart with talking about anapproach to teaching, based ondiscovery and learning throughexperiences.

Teaching

Teaching is not primarilytelling. It’s helping other peoplelearn. That means the focus ison the learners, not the teacher.Earlier in this handbook, wesaid that people learn bestthrough experiencing somethingthemselves, so when you arestriving to teach something, youare constantly trying to

• Get into the shoes of thelearners so that you can bet-ter understand where they areand what they need from youto learn the subject understudy.

• Develop learning experiencesin which the learners are try-ing to do something with theinsights or skills involved.

• Help learners realize whatthey have learned to increasetheir comfort and confidence

in using an insight or skill inactual situations.

• Appreciate that learners donot have one set, definite wayof demonstrating that theyunderstand or know some-thing. Each learner is anindividual.

Teaching a Skill

Teaching a skill is moreobjective and tangible in naturethan, for example, trying toteach an insight. However, thefocus is still on the learners; youare trying to help them gain thisskill and be able to use it with asense of comfort and confi-dence.

In Exploring, skills oftencome into play in an activity sit-uation, so it’s important thatyou know how to teach a skill.This is especially important foractivity chairs and activity com-mittee participants. Teaching askill involves five basic steps.

Preparation

The first step in teaching askill is to obtain the necessaryequipment and supplies in suffi-cient quantity so that the skill

can be demonstrated, taught,and practiced. For demonstrat-ing and teaching, simulated ormakeshift equipment is neveradequate. Preparation alsomeans that you have carefullythought through how to teachthis skill in a way that causesthe learners to understand itsusefulness and to gain the nec-essary experience to acquire theskill.

Explanation

The explanation serves twopurposes: (1) to introduce thesubject by giving some back-ground about its usefulness andapplication; and (2) to describethe subject in a simple, com-plete, and tantalizing way. Theexplanation should create adesire to become proficient inthe skill. Unusual facts or illus-trations arouse interest andcreate an appreciation of thevalue of learning the skill. Thelearners should be able to senseyour respect for the skill and theimportance of being able to per-form this skill.

How to Teach a Skill

HOW TO TEACH A SKILL 2

Demonstration

This is where you actuallyshow how to do the skill. Youneed to demonstrate each stepslowly and clearly so that thelearners can easily follow youand gain confidence in their ownability to acquire this skill.

Practice

This is the heart of teachinga skill to others. In this step, thelearners try out the skill underyour guidance and carefulcoaching. Learners should haveenough opportunity to try theskill so that they feel comfort-able and confident. You shouldbe especially sensitive to the dif-ferences in how people learn.Some participants in this prac-tice might be ready to go veryquickly, while others will needto practice the skill more delib-erately.

Application

This final step gives learnersthe chance to demonstrate thisskill to someone else. Theybecome the teacher. You are stillthere in the role of a coach toprovide help when necessary.This last step should givelearners the awareness thatthey are ready to use this skillin actual situations.

Time Balance in Teaching a Skill

The most important part ofteaching a skill is having theparticipants practice it. There-fore, most of the time involvedin teaching a skill should bedevoted to practice.

The proper time balance is:

• Explanation (hearing): 10 per-cent of the time

• Demonstration (seeing): 25percent of the time

• Practice (doing): 65 percent ofthe time

Tips on Coaching a Skill

The following tips will helpyou teach a skill effectively. Asyou read each item in this list,try to visualize yourself usingthis tip when you are actuallyteaching a skill.

• Be able to perform the skillwell yourself.

• Review your own experiencein learning it, and work out aseries of steps for teaching it.

• Keep the instruction personalby working with an individualor small group and lettingthem teach others in thissmall group.

• Size up your audience’s abili-ties and personality traits andconsider how the abilities andpersonalities affect yourteaching of the skill.

• If the learner is not familiarwith the skill, go slowly. Insiston accuracy first, then speed(if speed is a factor).

• Don’t interfere when learnerstry to do it on their own. Don’tinterrupt their efforts unlessthey bog down or go off on thewrong track.

• Let the learners make mis-takes if this will help themlearn. Simply point out mis-takes tactfully.

• Never make corrections sar-castically or for the benefit ofonlookers.

• Encourage the learners bymaking remarks on theirprogress, pointing out thecompletion of each step, andremarking on the steps theyhave done well.

• Urge them to practice and toteach someone else.