How to use teaching as a learning tool

These are the slides from a talk given at WordCamp Atlanta 2017.

Ok, so you’re a kickass WordPress developer. You’re always looking to learn new things. You read every technical blog post that you come across. You try your best to apply them in your WordPress project. Things are going well, but you’re not sure if there’s more that you could do to hone your skills.

Why yes there is! You could also teach. But you might be wondering, “Seriously, how can teaching make me a better developer?” That’s a good question! And that’s what I’ll share with you in this talk.

I’ve dedicated a significant amount of time to teaching. I write a lot on my personal site and sometimes on other WordPress educational sites. I also speak at WordCamps and local meetups. These teaching opportunities have been essential in helping me grow as a developer.

The good news is that you too can use teaching as a powerful learning tool! This talk will show you how. You’ll learn how to use teaching to build your development chops. You’ll also see how to do it so that what you give back benefits the WordPress community.

You can read the companion article at: https://carlalexander.ca/use-teaching-learning-tool/

Transcript

1. HOW TO USE TEACHING AS A LEARNING TOOL
2. Hello, My name is Carl Alexander
3. Hello, My name is Carl Alexander @twigpress
4. Hello, My name is Carl Alexander @twigpress carlalexander.ca
5. We're always looking to improve our skills
6. We read blog posts
7. We watch screencasts
8. We listen to talks
9. All great ways to learn new things
10. What about teaching?
11. Teaching is another great learning tool!
12. Shouldn't you know it before you teach it?
13. It feels like it shouldn't work
14. HOW CAN TEACHING IMPROVE YOUR PROGRAMMING SKILLS?
15. How can this work?
16. I had my doubts too
17. It all changed when I started teaching
18. "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." - Albert Einstein?
19. It's all about this quote
20. THE GREAT DECEPTION
21. Standard Learning by doing
22. Do something until it works
23. Learn something in the process
24. But what did you learn?
25. Can you explain it?
26. "Well, I did it this way and it worked." - Carl Alexander
27. Learned where to find the solution
28. Not any closer to answering why
29. Theory and concepts still elude us
30. TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
31. Next level Learning by teaching
32. Still have to get your hands dirty
33. But working solution isn't enough anymore
34. You're accountable to your students now
35. Need to be able to explain what you did
36. Changes the dynamic around learning
37. Not just for yourself
38. Learning to teach back
39. Forces you to master what you want to teach
40. Need to be able to answer questions
41. MAKING THINGS SIMPLE
43. Teaching is also about communication
44. Keep things simple
45. Or students won't understand
46. But simplifying is hard
47. Need to find the essence of a topic
48. Requires more effective learning strategies
49. Wouldn't have used otherwise
50. Results in a better understanding
51. Truth behind the quote
52. Questions?
53. WHEN DO YOU KNOW ENOUGH TO TEACH?
54. The catch-22
55. Fact You might never feel like you know enough
56. Good ol' impostor syndrome
57. More to teaching than what you know
58. COMMUNICATION ABOVE ALL
59. The best teachers communicate well
60. More important that they understand you
61. No PhD required
62. You need empathy
63. YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW ANYTHING AT FIRST
64. This is how it works in class
65. Teacher splits students in groups
66. Each student gets a topic to learn
67. Then teach back
68. Forces them to use effective learning skills
69. Have to be able to answer questions
70. Discussion helps crystalize everything
71. Better results than listening to a teacher
72. You can do this too!
73. Pick a topic you want to learn and teach it
74. THIS DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU WON'T BE WRONG
75. There are also limits
76. You're not always right
77. It's ok to be wrong
78. Do your homework and research the topic well
79. You shouldn't do any serious mistakes
80. Whole point of learning by teaching
81. But where's the limit?
82. Think about the impact of being wrong
83. What do we mean?
84. Example Cryptography
85. Example Mental health
86. Potential for harm outweighs benefits
87. Not a lot of topics like those
88. Questions?
89. WHERE CAN YOU TEACH?
90. Finding the right medium to teach on
91. WRITE ON YOUR PERSONAL WEBSITE
92. Easiest and most popular way to teach
93. We all know how to set up a WordPress blog
94. 1. Pick a topic 2. Write about it 3. Press "Publish"
95. Nothing more to it!
96. Unless you want to promote your blog post
97. Major hurdle with this medium
98. For some, just publishing online can be scary
99. Promoting it puts you out there even more
100. For others, getting the word out is hard
101. Lots out there on how to promote a blog post
102. DO A PRESENTATION
103. Plenty of options in the WordPress community
104. The are local meetups
105. Most major cities have local meetup groups
106. Some events are social
107. Other times someone gives a talk
108. That could be you!
109. Great way to start public speaking
110. Prepares you for speaking at WordCamps!
111. Lots of opportunities to learn and teach
112. Might require travel (Hello!)
113. Public speaking is scary for most of us
114. It's not for everyone
115. But anyone can overcome it with time
116. Wasn't easy for me
117. But you won't find a better community
118. GIVE A WORKSHOP
119. Combines a presentation with practical exercises
120. Workshops are popular with developers
121. But new to the WordPress community
122. A lot of WordCamps have workshops now
123. You can offer paid workshops too!
124. Requires more work
125. Different level of expectation
126. Closer to organizing your own conference
127. BY TEACHING, WE LEARN
128. Then Popular latin proverb
129. Now Fringe new idea
130. Doesn't mean that idea doesn't have merit
131. Constant pressure to learn new things
132. Why effective learning technique are important
133. One way that we can use to achieve that
134. Questions?
135. Thank you!