One of the basic jobs of all leaders is teaching. A good leader is a good instructor. Training is a big topic, but there are a few ground rules for effective teaching:

• People must be motivated to learn.


• You have to communicate with people to teach them.


• We learn mainly through sight (75%) and hearing (14%).


• People learn best by doing.

Preparation

If you don't prepare to teach, you're nearly guaranteed to fail. When you are teaching, make sure you take the following steps:

• Know what you're teaching and why.


• Determine when and where you're teaching, how long you have, who you're teaching, what equipment the students have and what equipment is available to you.


• Prepare or get a lesson plan.


• Check that the scheduling is right, that the class area is cleaned and ready and anything you need is available right before the class.

Lesson Plans

A lesson plan is an outline of what you're teaching, how and in what order. It can be as simple or as detailed as you need. Even if you're teaching something that's very familiar, you should a least have a check list of items you want to cover to glance at as you teach.

Teaching Aids

Teaching aids are anything that will help you get your point across or help your students learn. They should not be overdone or distracting and they should have direct bearing on the teaching. Teaching aids should be clearly visible, but covered before and after use. Don't stand behind the teaching aid or directly in front of it. Use a pointer and talk to your students, explaining the teaching aid and what they should learn from it.

Talking to Your Class

You must know and apply good public speaking techniques:

• Say only what you need to say. Don't waste time.


• Understand what you're teaching. Don't teach what you don't know.


• Be enthusiastic about teaching. Have fun.


• Act confident, relax.


• Be dynamic with your voice and body. Don't just stand and drone, move and talk!


• Make sure everyone can see and hear you!

• Stupid jokes and bad language. Don't clown around and don't swear!


• Big words. Even intelligent people find small words easier to swallow.


• Don't memorize or read from a script.


• Don't bore your class with your exploits unless they apply.

The Period Of Instruction

The basic concept of instruction is this: Tell what you"re going to teach them, teach them, and then tell them what you taught them.

Introduce yourself and your topic. "Good morning Cadets. I am Capt Stanford, the Deputy Commander for Cadets. Today"s period of instruction will cover Effective Counseling Techniques."

Tell them what they are expected to learn. "Today you will learn the basics of effective counseling. When to counsel, how to prepare for counseling, what to say while counseling, how to close out a counseling session, the steps of a counseling session, pointers and things to avoid. When this period of instruction is complete you will be expected to have a basic understanding of the counseling process and be able to perform this process with little or no supervision."

Teach them. Use the techniques discussed here and teach them to the best of your ability. Keep the goals of the instruction in mind.

Tell them what they learned. "Today you learned the basics of effective counseling. We discussed when to counsel, how to prepare for counseling, what to say while counseling, how to close out a counseling session, the steps of a counseling session, pointers and things to avoid." You don"t have to repeat your introduction, say anything you need to say in order to remind them what they learned.

Thank them for their time. "I thank you for your time and participation, and I"m looking forward to my next opportunity to instruct you."