TEACH-Present

Teach (Not-Present) Guidelines  

Every conversation is potentially an act of persuasion. To teach the intellectual community (your audience) is hence to persuade them of the explorations and findings of your (or your team’s) chosen issue/theme/topic. This final act of sharing your research with a concrete audience (your classmates; assume I am not there) is your moment to teach them on a subject that they will have little familiarity with:  

• BEST PRACTICES: You have been on the receiving end of teaching for a lo…ng time. Do what your good teachers do well, and avoid what they don’t. (Don’t repeat their mistakes; imitate what they do well.)  

• BE PREPARED: Intellectual preparation and doing the intellectual homework has no substitute.

• CREATIVITY & RIGOR (BOTH): Do not lose intellectual rigor for the sake of being fun and entertaining. The good old academic adage “show not tell” is almost always relevant. Employ images, audio/video etc. for your teaching of the topic. Use the whiteboard if it’s useful for clarifying complicated points.

• WHY OVERWHELM?: Time limit on the one hand, and human ability to absorb only so much are constraints that must guide what must be included (or not);  

• TIME LIMIT: Recognize the constraints. Leave some time for Q & A.  

• CONCLUDING INSIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS: Leave the intellectual community with one, two OR three concrete Insights.  

• The Speaking Center could be a resource.