I learned a lot about how kids study online while observing their Zoom sessions with their teachers. My observations have confirmed some old assumptions about format and structure.
I’m not a teacher and it is not a field I studied, but I do love teaching and I found I’m naturally good at it.
Growing up, I’ve done most of my learning online via eBooks and recorded videos. I learned quickly that not all books are equal, and that some teachers are better than others at teaching a subject.
I decided to write about my own observations and conclusions, just in case this helps someone who is preparing materials and structure for remote teaching.
All is full of love?
It may sound obvious but sometimes I feel certain teachers simply do not like teaching. Or they do not like children. Or they do not enjoy the subject they are teaching. In some cases, they do not enjoy the format that they are forced to follow by the institution they work for.
Maybe some teachers figure it would be relatively easy to teach young children; after all the subjects are relatively easy to understand, so how hard can it possibly be?
I think it makes a big difference if:
- They love children: And I mean they truly love children, with all their quirks and faults and shenanigans. They will put up with it all, with a gentle smile and a lot of patience.
- They love teaching: it is a fulfilling activity that makes it feel like they are living a life of substance. They feel honored and privileged to be the guides and mentors of so many young minds, as they develop and grow on their life journey.
- They love the subject matter: A good teacher will be passionate about the subjects they teach children. Those children will feel the energy emanating from the teacher as they study, and the result is that in addition to studying that subject, they will also learn how important it is to be passionate about something.
- Income is adequate: Personal health must be first and foremost on anyone’s priorities. This includes financial health. If you’re drowning in bills, can barely make rent, and you are not eating healthy because food is too expensive, then you have to re-negotiate your salary. At the very least you should discuss your income with your bosses. You can’t do a proper job if you are constantly stressed about money.
So if you are considering a teaching job, please make sure you have all of the above issues covered.
Attention Span?
The issue of attention span does not just apply to children. Most people will struggle with attention. But who’s at fault? And is it a chicken and egg problem? Let’s exlpore!
Segmented teaching
Here’s how you hold people’s attention long enough for them to absorb a subject:
- Review the complexity of your lesson structure. Are you saying something in a complicated and convoluted manner? Are you circling around the subject? Too many unrelated examples? Try to keep it as simple as possible. Imagine you’re in an elevator, and you have 10~20 seconds to explain a concept to someone who is riding with you. How do you do that?
- Do you understand it well enough, before you start explaining it to others? Make sure you’ve practiced the materials enough times such that you’re a master of that subject. Be prepared for any question that may come up. Research the subject until you know everything there is to know about it. Be passionate about the subject (see the “All is full of love” section above).
- For children, try keeping it under 10 minutes per segment. At the end of the segment, review what they have learned in that segment, and then ask them questions. Asking someone to repeat the concepts they just learned forces them to process those concepts through their own perception of reality, and adapts those concepts for better long term absorption.
- Does it pass the Driving Test Philosophy? (See next section)
The Driving Test Philosophy
Not every subject can be learned through words and theory. Learning to drive is one such activity where the student has to sit inside a car, hold the steering wheel, and manipulate foot pedals and various control sticks and buttons to properly operate and vehicle.
Test driven teaching
I think every short segment should end with 2~3 questions about the segment. Even if you come up with a single question, that’s still better than not asking any questions at all.
Asking the kids to answer a simple question that indicates their understanding of what they just learned forces them to think one more time about what they just learned, and they are more likely to remember the subject later. Again, a good question to ask is a question that forces to to think about the subject they just learn, as a whole.
A rebalancing of efforts
This format I’m proposing may take a bit more work, in the short term. However, as kids learn and memorize better, it will make it easier to teach them overall throughout the course.
For a good example for this fine balance we can look at the world of engineering. If you tried to build a house without a proper plan, you’d make a lot of mistakes which would result in material waste. As you make mistakes you would waste concrete, wood, glass, metal, nails, glue, and so on.
However if you spend the proper amount of time coming up with a detailed plan for your construction project, you’ll make significantly less mistakes, and you’ll finish the project sooner. You’ll spend less money on it, too.
I believe the same applies to teaching; if you constantly check on your students and you make sure they understand the subjects you’re teaching, you’ll have more participation, more interest, and overall more educated students on average. You’ll also have higher job satisfaction, you’ll be a superstar teacher in super high demand and every school will fight for you, parents will fight to have their kids in your class, and you’ll raise the standard of any school you teach at.
Repetition via Overviews
It’s much easier for people to absorb a subject if they first get an overview of the factoids, topics or techniques they are about to learn. As you then cover the material, ideally in the same order as in the overview, your students will make the connection between the current segment and the overview. That’s just how our brains work: We naturally connect the dots.
By making their brains perform that “connecting the dots” function, they will be more energized and engaged. Ironically, we need this periodical context switch to maintain focus and attention.
Here’s a cool anecdote from the medicinal world. If I asked you to guess if the molecules in Adderall increase or decrease brain activity, you would probably guess that people with ADHD have too much activity, and the molecule in Adderall should reduce that activity so people’s brains can “quiet down” and they can focus on the subject they are trying to learn. But what the molecules do (amphetamine salts dextroamphetamine and levoamphetamine) is the opposite. They actually increase brain activity.
So by making brains do a bit more work, you’re keeping them more engaged and focused, not less.
On motivation & Nagging
Who is a student studying for?
A student should study because they are passionate about a subject. We can’t obviously study only the subjects that are convenient to us, I honestly believe most students would gain a lifelong advantage by doing a few basic STEM courses. However if a student has a passion and they invest the time and energy studying what they are passionate about, it’s easier for them to also do courses that are less obvious in their usefulness.
Unfortunately though, if you constantly nag students they may adopt the flawed perception that they are doing it for you, or in order to make you happy. This sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? You have their future in mind, you want your students to be ready for the future. However if your students think they are doing it for you, they will become dependent on your nagging. The moment you stop nagging, they will stop achieving. This is not a healthy situation, and you should avoid it.
The big question: Why study?
It’s important that kids become aware of academia, how studying works, why people study, and how studying impacts people’s futures. But how many children have the capacity to understand this?
I urge parents to have that discussion with their children, but there is a simpler way to make sure this happens naturally for a person. Any person.
Find passion in something you care about
And the subject does not even matter because what you learn when you go down that route is the following:
- There’s something you’re passionate about (meaning, you have the capacity to be passionate about something)
- There’s tons of information about that subject that you can read about, or videos that you can watch
- You have the capacity to learn about something, and the capacity to grow your knowledge significantly when you put your mind to it
- You learn about new ways to learn, which is critical
It’s much easier for the above to happen if you find something you’re truly passionate about.