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HOW TO USE TEACHING
AS A LEARNING TOOL
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Hello,
My name is
Carl Alexander
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Hello,
My name is
Carl Alexander
@twigpress
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Hello,
My name is
Carl Alexander
@twigpress
carlalexander.ca
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We're always looking to
improve our skills
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We read blog posts
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We watch screencasts
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We listen to talks
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All great ways
to learn new things
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What about teaching?
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Teaching is another
great learning tool!
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Shouldn't you know it
before you teach it?
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It feels like
it shouldn't work
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HOW CAN TEACHING IMPROVE
YOUR PROGRAMMING SKILLS?
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How can this work?
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I had my doubts too
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It all changed when
I started teaching
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"If you can't explain it simply, you
don't understand it well enough."
- Albert Einstein?
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It's all about this quote
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THE GREAT DECEPTION
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Standard
Learning by doing
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Do something
until it works
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Learn something
in the process
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But what did you learn?
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Can you explain it?
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"Well, I did it this way and it worked."
- Carl Alexander
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Learned where to find
the solution
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Not any closer to
answering why
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Theory and concepts
still elude us
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TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
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Next level
Learning by teaching
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Still have to get
your hands dirty
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But working solution
isn't enough anymore
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You're accountable to
your students now
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Need to be able to
explain what you did
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Changes the dynamic
around learning
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Not just for yourself
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Learning to teach back
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Forces you to master
what you want to teach
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Need to be able to
answer questions
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MAKING THINGS SIMPLE
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No content
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Teaching is also
about communication
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Keep things simple
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Or students won't
understand
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But simplifying is hard
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Need to find
the essence of a topic
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Requires more effective
learning strategies
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Wouldn't have used
otherwise
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Results in a better
understanding
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Truth behind the quote
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Questions?
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WHEN DO YOU KNOW
ENOUGH TO TEACH?
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The catch-22
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Fact
You might never feel
like you know enough
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Good ol'
impostor syndrome
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More to teaching
than what you know
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COMMUNICATION ABOVE ALL
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The best teachers
communicate well
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More important that
they understand you
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No PhD required
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You need empathy
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YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW
ANYTHING AT FIRST
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This is how
it works in class
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Teacher splits
students in groups
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Each student
gets a topic to learn
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Then teach back
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Forces them to use
effective learning skills
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Have to be able to
answer questions
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Discussion helps
crystalize everything
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Better results than
listening to a teacher
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You can do this too!
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Pick a topic you want to
learn and teach it
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THIS DOESN'T MEAN THAT
YOU WON'T BE WRONG
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There are also limits
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You're not always right
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It's ok to be wrong
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Do your homework and
research the topic well
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You shouldn't do
any serious mistakes
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Whole point of
learning by teaching
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But where's the limit?
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Think about the impact
of being wrong
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What do we mean?
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Example
Cryptography
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Example
Mental health
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Potential for harm
outweighs benefits
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Not a lot of topics
like those
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Questions?
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WHERE CAN YOU TEACH?
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Finding the right medium
to teach on
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WRITE ON YOUR
PERSONAL WEBSITE
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Easiest and most
popular way to teach
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We all know how to set
up a WordPress blog
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1. Pick a topic
2. Write about it
3. Press "Publish"
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Nothing more to it!
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Unless you want to
promote your blog post
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Major hurdle
with this medium
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For some, just publishing
online can be scary
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Promoting it puts you
out there even more
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For others, getting the
word out is hard
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Lots out there on how
to promote a blog post
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DO A PRESENTATION
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Plenty of options in the
WordPress community
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The are local meetups
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Most major cities have
local meetup groups
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Some events are social
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Other times
someone gives a talk
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That could be you!
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Great way to start
public speaking
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Prepares you for
speaking at WordCamps!
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Lots of opportunities to
learn and teach
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Might require travel
(Hello!)
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Public speaking is scary
for most of us
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It's not for everyone
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But anyone can
overcome it with time
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Wasn't easy for me
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But you won't find a
better community
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GIVE A WORKSHOP
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Combines a presentation
with practical exercises
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Workshops are popular
with developers
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But new to the
WordPress community
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A lot of WordCamps
have workshops now
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You can offer paid
workshops too!
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Requires more work
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Different level of
expectation
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Closer to organizing
your own conference
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BY TEACHING, WE LEARN
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Then
Popular latin proverb
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Now
Fringe new idea
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Doesn't mean that idea
doesn't have merit
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Constant pressure
to learn new things
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Why effective learning
technique are important
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One way that we can use
to achieve that
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Questions?
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Thank you!