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Teach
________________
you know
everything
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Carl Alexander
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@twigpress
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carlalexander.ca
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Who you _______
online?
trust
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What do
they have in
____________?
common
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They ________!
teach
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They _______ on
their blog
write
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They _________ at
WordCamps
speak
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They ________
their code
share
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That’s ______ you
trust them
why
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You want to
_________________________
buy their products
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You want to
_________________________
use their projects
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You want to
______________
hire them
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Just some of
the _____________
of _____________
benefits
teaching
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And you ______
do it too!
can
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But it’s not
without its
_______________
obstacles
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Fear in a
teacher’s world
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Teaching is
scary at first
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We’re scared of
sooo many things
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Each of them
affects us in
different ways
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Impostor
Syndrome
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What is it?
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Fear of being
exposed as a fraud
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Common among
developers
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I’m living it as
we speak right now
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"Who are you to teach this
to other developers!?”
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"I've only spoken at four
WordCamps.”
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"If this was important,
someone else would have
done it already."
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It’s hard to
outrun these
thoughts
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But it's often
the best time
to teach
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Why?
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You’re in the
trenches
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It makes you
authentic and
relevant
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They want to know
what you learned
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It gets harder the
longer you wait
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No content
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That’s why I’m doing
this talk now
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Judgement
everywhere
Judgment,
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I’m scared of
pressing "Post" on
Facebook
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Publishing on your
site is easy
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You're like Frodo
who’s carrying
the one ring
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No one suspects
you have it!
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Posting online
changes that
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It’s like putting it
on in Mordor
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No content
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The evil of the
internet can
see you now
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That's how I feel
each time anyhow
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I’m scared of being
misunderstood
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I’m scared of being
called out
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I’m scared of being
hated
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Impostor syndrome
feeds on these fears
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Public speaking
magnifies them
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People are judging
you in real time
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You can’t run away
once you started
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Mastering
your
fears
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Can you
master your
fears?
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Fear is
like love
and hate
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We learn to
manage it
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How?
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You face
them over
and over
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Until the
feeling is
familiar
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Easier said
than done
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Example:
Public
speaking
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Speak at
WordCamps
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Speak at
meetups
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Speak at
your office
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First time
is the
scariest
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Next time
is a bit
better
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Keep the
ball rolling
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Forget the
magic bullet
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It's about
taking
small steps
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Questions?
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Building
teaching habits
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Let’s look at your
favorite teacher
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They produce
content regularly
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They create
blog posts
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They create
YouTube videos
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They create
podcast episodes
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What they produce
isn’t important
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It’s that they
produce it regularly
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They never end the
week with nothing
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But
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One does not simply
start a new habit
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So what can you
do about it?
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Start small
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My first writing goal:
1000 words a day
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That was a
horrible goal!
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I didn’t like
writing that much
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We always think
we can handle more
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Break things down
into tiny habits
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New writing goal:
100 words a day
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Large enough that
I had something
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Small enough that
I could finish easily
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Small enough that
I could do more
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Small enough that
I could grow the habit
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Train your
willpower
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Willpower is often
seen as well
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We imagine a
resource that we
can get more of
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Willpower is closer
to a muscle
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It fatigues as you
use it during the day
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We do worse when
it doesn't recover
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Start small to
tax it less
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Repeat every day to
increase its strength
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Practice until
no willpower needed
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Let’s you add
new habits without
losing the old ones
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Learning
to pick
yourself
back up
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Things won’t go
well all the time
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We have off days
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The idea of
all-or-nothing is a
recipe for disaster
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You need a
plan for
the off days
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Example:
Writing every day
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What happens when
you go on vacation?
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Please don’t stop
going on vacation!
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Plan for
these situations
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You could write in
the morning
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Avoid taking
more than a day off
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It goes downhill
after that
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Questions?
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Knowing
your students
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Teacher help
their students
be successful
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Who do you
want to teach to?
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Always a good
question to ask
yourself
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Do you want to help
your ideal clients
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Do you want to help
theme designers
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Do you want to help
BuddyPress users
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It's tempting to
teach to everyone
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It often leads to
the worse results
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Your teaching
becomes generic
and unmemorable
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It applies to
everyone but
doesn't help anyone
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Finding
your audience
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You need a specific
audience that
you can help
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There’s no right way
to pick an audience
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Pick an audience
based on your goals
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It’s ok to
not know either
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There’s no
“right” audience
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Start teaching and see
where it leads you
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Know where
they hang out
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This is where
knowing your
audience helps
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Where do
they hang out?
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It could be in a
Facebook group
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It could be in a
subreddit
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It could be in a
Slack channel
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It could be in a
forum
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Invaluable sources
teaching material
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Listen to
their problems
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Teach them
how to solve them
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You even know
where to share it!
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Staying
in touch
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Knowing our audience
often isn’t enough
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You need to build a
bond with them
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Potential students
come from anywhere
on the internet
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They come once and
often never return
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Email is the
best way to fix that
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But no one gives
out their email
just like that
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It’s why you see
exit popups asking
for your email
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Websites hope
they taught you
something valuable
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So you’re willing
to giving them
your email
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You should ask
your students
for their emails
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Getting it means
that they care
about your teaching
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But don't ask for
their email and
never email back
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Your students
will forget
that you exist
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Try to keep in
touch every
few weeks
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Ignore
most of
this
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I wanted to teach a
topic that no one
talked about
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I was passionate
about teaching it
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But I had no
potential students
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But I had no
hang out spots
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But I had no
questions to answer
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I decided to pitch
my tent anyways
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This goes against
everything mentioned
to you so far
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It's possible to do it
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It's just a lot harder
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Staying in touch is
even more important
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Closing
__________
thoughts
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This takes a
lot of ______
work
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Every _________
was a __________
at some point
teacher
beginner
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The ____________ is
they ________
started
difference
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There’s no _____
time to ______
start
right
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It’s your _______
speaking
fears
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That _________
doesn’t ______
moment
exist
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You’ll have to
______ the ______
make jump
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Thank you!
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Any ______________?
questions