Search
Close this search box.
Search
Close this search box.
Search
Close this search box.

Getting into a teaching mindset

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
WhatsApp

Being mindful of the teaching mindset

I wear many hats at AgileSparks – what you might call a T-Shaped sparkie… Every week I can find myself wearing the consultant hat, the marketer hat, the thought leader hat, the trainer hat, the conference speaker hat, the head of business in the United States hat, and probably a few more that I’m forgetting. Switching hats requires a context switch which we know is tough but also requires a mindset switch.

Specifically, what I found over the years is that going into a teaching mindset is something I need to pay some extra attention to. This goes beyond making sure I’m comfortable with the materials I’m going to deliver, reviewing the facilitator’s guide, etc.

Patience Patience Patience

What do I mean by a teaching mindset? For me personally, patience is the most challenging aspect. I’m considered impatient even among-st us fast-moving impatient interrupter Israelis. I frequently get where a student is going with a question way before they even finish asking it. I have to be mindful of that and patiently wait for the end of the question/statement before I attempt to answer. Since starting to force myself to wait I found that something like 90% of the time I guessed correctly about where the student was going with his question. Not a bad statistic but worth it to wait even for that 10% where I learned more by being patient.

More importantly, people from many cultures struggle with these interruptions. Since starting to force me to wait I also noticed other phenomena. Some people actually EXPECT to be interrupted at some point and if you just patiently listen they sort of keep going on and on reiterating their point as if waiting for you to get it and start answering rather than finishing and risking a white space…

Smile Smile Smile

In many cases when delivering a class you’re teaching people you haven’t met before. They don’t know all your shticks. They don’t always know when you’re joking or serious. Give them some other cues! My personal approach to trying to be funny is very dry. I got the feedback that I’m hard to read. So when going into a teaching mindset I try to add some cues like smiling when I’m trying to make a comment aimed at being funny.

Awareness

Teaching requires you to both deliver materials effectively as well as be the facilitator for the class. Monitoring the energy level in the class and adjusting pace, tone, and activity type, all while focusing on delivering and answering questions. I love the technique of asking the participants to help out. Whether it is by assigning “Rat hole”, “Sold”, or “Park it” flags that everybody is encouraged to use, or whether it is by asking for feedback about the pace frequently – at a minimum after every lesson/module/break. Combining a short discussion of pace (e.g. thumbs up for too fast, sideways for just right, down for too slow) with a review of where we are from an agenda/objectives perspective is even better – as it gives everybody all the information so we can all try to adjust if needed.

What are YOU doing to get into a teaching mindset?

I’d love to hear from you – the reader. Do you have a teaching mindset checklist? Is it similar? What else do you try to be mindful of? Let me know in the comments!

Subscribe for Email Updates:

Categories:

Tags:

Continuous Planning
Agile and DevOps Journey
Lean Agile Leadership
ART Success
Agile Basics
Lean-Agile Budgeting
Agility
Lean Budgeting
Continuous Integration
RSA
RTE
Development Value Streams
Confluence
Agile Product Development
Spotify
Limiting Work in Progress
Agile India
Agile Product Ownership
Pomodoro Technique
Agile Israel
Planning
Agile Marketing
Sprint Retrospectives
Atlassian
Scrum Master
Slides
Software Development
Tools
Continuous Improvement
Lean Startup
Jira Cloud
Rapid RTC
Kanban Kickstart Example
SPC
Applying Agile Methodology
Coaching Agile Teams
Manage Budget Creation
NIT
ATDD
PI Objectives
Agile Israel Events
Built-In Quality
Agile Project Management
Continuous Deployment
Sprint Planning
Test Driven Development
Hybrid Work
Games and Exercises
ScrumMaster Tales
TDD
Presentation
SA
Lean-Agile Software Development
Retrospectives
Software Development Estimation
lean agile change management
System Team
GanttBan
Agile Techniques
Risk Management in Kanban
Effective Agile Retrospectives
Managing Projects
Scrum Master Role
SAFe DevOps
Team Flow
Agile Mindset
ALM Tools
Nexus and Kanban
Agile Release Planning
Nexus vs SAFe
Program Increment
speed at scale
Change Management
Story Slicing
Releases Using Lean
Lean and Agile Principles and Practices
QA
LPM
Agile Risk Management
RTE Role
Agile
Nexus
Portfolio for Jira
Jira admin
BDD
Webinar
Certified SAFe
SAFe Release Planning
Managing Risk on Agile Projects
Value Streams
SAFe
Jira Plans
agileisrael
Perfection Game
chatgpt
Covid19
Agile Outsourcing
Kanban
Agile Release Management
Introduction to Test Driven Development
Tips
Advanced Roadmaps
Certification
The Agile Coach
Keith Sawyer
WIP
Code
Scrum Guide
Kanban 101
Scrum Values
predictability
Agile for Embedded Systems
Scrum and XP
PI Planning
Scrum.org
Acceptance Test-Driven Development
Agile Assembly Architecture
Systems Thinking
ATDD vs. BDD
Agile Development
Agile Games and Exercises
Elastic Leadership
Risk-aware Product Development
User stories
AI Artificial Intelligence
AI
transformation
Self-organization
Frameworks
Engineering Practices
Scrum With Kanban
Nexus and SAFe
Artificial Intelligence
Legacy Enterprise
Agile Program
Agile in the Enterprise
Business Agility
Process Improvement
ARTs
Kaizen
Release Train Engineer
System Integration Environments
Professional Scrum Master
Entrepreneurial Operating System®
Agile Delivery
LAB
System Archetypes
EOS®
The Kanban Method
Achieve Business Agility
Jira
Amdocs
Professional Scrum Product Owner
Professional Scrum with Kanban
Daily Scrum
POPM
Reading List
Scrum
Scaled Agile Framework
IT Operations
Scrum Primer
Atlaassian
A Kanban System for Software Engineering
Rovo
Agile Contracts Best Practices
An Appreciative Retrospective
Iterative Incremental Development
Kanban Basics
speed @ scale
Implementation of Lean and Agile
LeSS
AgileSparks
Continuous Delivery
Accelerate Value Delivery At Scale
Lean Agile Organization
Agile Testing Practices
Kanban Game
Agile Project
Product Management
DevOps
Operational Value Stream
What Is Kanban
Principles of Lean-Agile Leadership
Large Scale Scrum
Lean Agile Basics
Enterprise DevOps
Risk Management on Agile Projects
Agile Exercises
Agile Games
Lean Agile
Legacy Code
Lean Software Development
Product Ownership
Agile Community
Lean Agile Management
Introduction to ATDD
Lean and Agile Techniques
Kaizen Workshop
Lean Risk Management
Video
Quality Assurance
Implementing SAFe
ROI
Nexus Integration Team
AgileSparks
Logo
Enable registration in settings - general

Contact Us

Request for additional information and prices

AgileSparks Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter, and stay updated on the latest Agile news and events

This website uses Cookies to provide a better experience
Shopping cart