After Tiger Woods won the Master’s the first time he felt he could still improve his game. Tiger went back to the fundamentals of the game; he worked on his swing.
Tiger is not the only professional athlete practicing the fundamentals of his game. Each year major-league baseball teams begin spring training where they discipline themselves in the fundamentals of baseball. They’re doing pretty much what those kids in little league are doing – practicing the basics.
How often do professionals, other than athletes, revisit the fundamentals of their profession? Teachers are taught how students learn. This enables them to pass on the essentials of a subject in a way that their students understand them. To do this a teacher must know their subject extremely well. I stumbled upon the genuine benefits of being plunged back into the nuts and bolts of photography when I started teaching what I do to college students.
In the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure teaching
others the basics of lighting and business practices for photography. At the Art Institute of Atlanta I worked with those pursuing photography as a profession. Later, teaching in Kona, Hawaii at the University of Nations Photography Program, I taught students from all over the world who were learning to communicate visually. In Fort Worth, at The Southwestern Photojournalism Conference, I spoke to a group of my peers about business practices in photography. I was the one who learned the most in these places. Teaching your profession requires a lot of thought about how you do what you do. In every profession there are those who know enough to “get by” and in their jobs. Some of these folks probably don’t know why certain things work - just know they do. Odds are they’ve never tried to teach anyone what they do (and let’s hope they don’t).
I received my masters in communications from a school where program was in the education department. We communications majors were required to take classes in teaching. We studied how people learn at different ages. They helped us learn how to package information so that it communicated to a particular audience. In 1985, while working with a missionary organization, I was assigned to teach missionaries how to take better pictures and put together interesting slide shows. I have taught in colleges, to camera clubs and other groups ever since those early days. Over the years I have had to find effective ways to present the fundamentals and help people improve their skills with their cameras.
I believe teaching is one of the best ways to improve in this, and probably any other, profession. It’s up-close and personal. If you spot a puzzled expression in the class you know you didn’t get some point across to that person.
If, as a professional communicator, you see that puzzled expression in meetings with clients or in committee meetings and you think you might be seeing it too often, maybe it’s time to teach.
Learning how to teach the basics of communication can’t help but improve your professional skills and it just might help you get that important point across to your client or that significant committee.
(Photo credit top Dennis Fahringer, middle Morris Abernathy, bottom Dennis Fahringer)
Tiger is not the only professional athlete practicing the fundamentals of his game. Each year major-league baseball teams begin spring training where they discipline themselves in the fundamentals of baseball. They’re doing pretty much what those kids in little league are doing – practicing the basics.
How often do professionals, other than athletes, revisit the fundamentals of their profession? Teachers are taught how students learn. This enables them to pass on the essentials of a subject in a way that their students understand them. To do this a teacher must know their subject extremely well. I stumbled upon the genuine benefits of being plunged back into the nuts and bolts of photography when I started teaching what I do to college students.
In the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure teaching
others the basics of lighting and business practices for photography. At the Art Institute of Atlanta I worked with those pursuing photography as a profession. Later, teaching in Kona, Hawaii at the University of Nations Photography Program, I taught students from all over the world who were learning to communicate visually. In Fort Worth, at The Southwestern Photojournalism Conference, I spoke to a group of my peers about business practices in photography. I was the one who learned the most in these places. Teaching your profession requires a lot of thought about how you do what you do. In every profession there are those who know enough to “get by” and in their jobs. Some of these folks probably don’t know why certain things work - just know they do. Odds are they’ve never tried to teach anyone what they do (and let’s hope they don’t).
I received my masters in communications from a school where program was in the education department. We communications majors were required to take classes in teaching. We studied how people learn at different ages. They helped us learn how to package information so that it communicated to a particular audience. In 1985, while working with a missionary organization, I was assigned to teach missionaries how to take better pictures and put together interesting slide shows. I have taught in colleges, to camera clubs and other groups ever since those early days. Over the years I have had to find effective ways to present the fundamentals and help people improve their skills with their cameras.I believe teaching is one of the best ways to improve in this, and probably any other, profession. It’s up-close and personal. If you spot a puzzled expression in the class you know you didn’t get some point across to that person.
If, as a professional communicator, you see that puzzled expression in meetings with clients or in committee meetings and you think you might be seeing it too often, maybe it’s time to teach.
Learning how to teach the basics of communication can’t help but improve your professional skills and it just might help you get that important point across to your client or that significant committee.
(Photo credit top Dennis Fahringer, middle Morris Abernathy, bottom Dennis Fahringer)
1 comment:
Wow! This was a really helpful and ENCOURAGING post, mate.
I've been weighing up whether or not to teach, having long believed that EXPERIENCE will make me professional and knowledgeable of my subject (Music). Although this is true, I guess that I hadn't joined the dots to see that Music teaching will itself give me much experience in order to learn and improve.
There are some areas of my skill and knowledge that will not be gained simply by teaching, but rather, APPLICATION (and practice!) needs to occur. As long as I can make time to do this as well, I'm sure that I will learn a vast amount about my subject, ESPECIALLY the basics, as you have pointed out.
Thanks again!!
Guy from Australia.
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