I remember when I used to teach Social Studies, specifically while I was student teaching, a student would come up to me and ask me a question to which I had no idea what the answer was. If this happened in front of the whole class, this could be a source of embarrassment. If it was in front of the class and the principal (who dropped by to observe you) heard you fumbling for the answer…LOOK OUT!

Now, that being said, management of the classroom involves several tricks. Ask any teacher and they’ll tell you that you have to know your content, but also have excellent “stage presence”. Stay on your toes and be prepared for anything.

When a student came up to me and politely asked, “Mr. L, how did the Versailles Treaty affect Germany after WWI?” I paused for about two seconds and just fired out….

“I don’t know Jaime, you tell me…”

Another great moment is “Mr. L, how did American Patriots use the writings of Voltaire and Locke to influence the growing tide of anti-British sentiments and thoughts of independence?” My reply was not by the writing of treatises, colonial legislatures and town hall meetings; my answer was to the class as a whole…

“Who knows the answer to Tabitha’s question?”

What happened here? Well, students will surprise you with how much they do know, and Jamie answered the question himself. Another student answered Tabitha’s question and essentially taught the lesson for me.

“Well, that is pretty lackadaisical on your behalf, Laurenzi! What kind of teacher are you anyway?”

My purpose for bringing this anecdote to life is simply to ask if you as a principal and stakeholder at your company are satisfied with the results of on-going training you expect your employees to implement and execute for the betterment of the company. Does the thought of listening to me lecture you on something I know a lot about horrify you? It horrifies me to stand up there for 45 minutes talking until I’m blue in the face, too.

Have you ever seen this?

That’s right. Studies show that the retention of new material increases beyond the archaic lecture. Here at IPCS and VoIP Supply, associates are encouraged and rewarded for “presenting a lesson” to their peers. Teaching others.

This does not guarantee that the learner will retain what the associate taught. But it will bear another fruit. By having an associate assume the role of instructor, you will now have a master of a certain subject at your disposal. This associate will now become the go-to, de facto, uber-source of information, data and resources on a given subject.

For those of you categorized as a VAR in our economy, why not challenge your associates to read-up on PBXs, switches, routers, IP cameras or WI-FI and have them demonstrate skills and subject mastery by having them instruct their peers? I think you may be surprised by the results and the acquisition of a product specialist.

For more on the effects of the learning pyramid at any level of instruction, click here:

http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2008/03/descending-learning-pyramid.html

If you have any questions on lesson planning, “tricks of the educator,” or want to talk about the direction of corporate instruction at your company and what has been successful and what has not, please write me a e-mail at [email protected].