"This is the dilemma that every game designer, form creator, and teacher faces.
Writing an instruction manual, doing a survey, creating a map–they’re all difficult tasks because of the translation that’s required: the person doing the work already knows what they’re trying to teach. But the person interacting with the manual doesn’t.”
Sometimes when I’m teaching a new skill, I take it for granted that my students will know the things I didn’t say but should have said. When I know how to do something, it becomes easy and routine, so I forget all the little steps it also takes to do something.
So, before I teach a new skill, I write down all of the steps it takes to learn this new skill. Then I number them in the correct sequence. After doing this, I try the sequence out to see if ends up completing the goal that I want to achieve. Once I think it is right, I find a willing victim (I mean helper) to practice it on and I ask them to do only what I say to do and don’t do anything extra. This is where I find out all the little steps that I have forgotten and even though it may seem silly or frustrating, it really helps clarify what I want to teach.
For example, when I wanted to teach how to write a check and log it into the checkbook register, I found out there were a lot of little steps that I didn’t include. When I tried out the lesson with my husband, the lesson didn’t end up like I wanted it to. First, I didn’t name the parts of the checkbook, so he didn’t realize what the checkbook register was. I didn’t show examples so he didn’t write it in the register like I thought it should be done. With a few corrections and additions, the next practice lesson went much better,
When I’m writing an article that I want to share with others, I must think about the audience. If I want to share something about education to a person who is not in education, I ask someone not in education to read my article. I ask them to let me know if there is something they don’t understand. Sometimes when someone is in education for a long time, they take it for granted that others reading certain material will understand all the jargon or background that is included. If someone not familiar with the field of education reads this, it might not make any sense to them. This review helps me make my writing clearer.
When I ask my graduate students, who take my practicum class, to write a newsletter home to parents each week, I ask them to not use abbreviations or education jargon. I look over the letters to explain why parents might not understand what they are trying to say. I don’t want my teachers to talk down to parents but I want them to communicate in a way that anyone is able to understand.
How do you make sure that the message you are trying to send makes sense to your audience? Please share.
Photo by Antenna on Unsplash
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