Page 127 - How To Sell Yourself

126 How to Sell Yourself
I know.
I’ve been there.
Don’t lose sight of the fact that teaching is your first priority, and teaching demands skillful communication techniques.
The teacher as communicator
Every dictionary synonym for teach suggests a receiver for the information being taught by the teacher—impart, instruct, inform, educate, inculcate, enlighten, indoctrinate, train.
The video operator for a California program I conducted put it this way: “The greatest teachers are the great storytellers.” I couldn’t agree more. Or to put it another way: Students are mem- bers of an audience.
A teacher is in the classroom for one primary reason: to give information. Give is the key word here. It isn’t enough to know your subject. It isn’t enough to be a great source of information.
The secret to really good teaching is good communication, the ability to get the information from your mind into the student’s mind. That takes dynamic delivery.
It requires the skills of the open face and the gesture.
It requires the ability to look and sound like the most impor- tant thing in your life at this particular moment is the communica- tion in your teaching.
I’m not saying you have to be a great entertainer. If you were, you’d be able to make huge bucks in show business. But selling yourself as a speaker is a performing art and is essential in front of a classroom.
Fresh material
Ironically, one of the pitfalls of teaching is familiarity with your subject. After a while, teaching can become as routine as small talk. But what may be tiresome to you after you’ve been over the same material dozens of times is still brand new to the student. This is the point you must never forget.
In theater, actors are told about the “illusion of the first time” and taught the techniques they need to achieve this freshness. This is