Adding complexity: build from a foundation

Many teachers are eager to add dimensions to their teaching, or are asked to by their institutions. Whether this means interdisciplinary sessions, integrated levels of trainees, expanding workshop size, or team teaching, these additions add complexity to your teaching.  At Vitaltalk, we learned that the same foundational tools of teaching will serve you well in these diverse contexts. So try these on!

• Stay learner-centered: meet your learners where they are
• Balance your attention--between the learner and the group
• Prioritize practice: resist filling the time with lecture or discussion
• Finish with take-home points: what really stuck with your learners?

Are you ready to advance to a more complex teaching environment?  Ask yourself: do I feel confident in my foundational facilitation skills?  When you have built your foundation, you are ready to stretch and expand how those skills are applied.  My inspiration for this rule comes from yoga practice.  In certain standing poses, like standing-head-to-knee pose, the yogini does not move on to the next step (straightening the leg in the air) until her foundational leg, core, and breath is stable and calm.  Achieving this solid foundation is different for all of us, and for some (myself included), it can take years.  This is ok – you are working your own learning edge with your teaching.  When you are ready to grow and push yourself further, you will know.  

--Kelly Edwards