There is a quip, “He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.” Balderdash! I prefer Aristotle’s “Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.” Some of the most naturally gifted people make terrible teachers. They have a hard time explaining what they do intuitively. A teacher, in contrast, is able to do and explain.
At ClickerExpo our faculty members both do and teach. In fact, it is a hallmark of the program! When faculty members talk specifically about teaching others, it’s worth listening. This year we have more than a dozen courses that address the challenges of teaching others. These courses provide the kind of insight and breakthroughs that you can only get at ClickerExpo.
- Turn Me On
- You Ain’t Got No Skills, (Yet).
- The Phrase that Pays
- Stick the Learning
- Triple Secret
- Build the Candle at Both Ends
Most of us feel like teachers all the time. As ambassadors for effective positive reinforcement training, we are challenged with how to turn people on so that they find their own positive way. Some learners are enthusiastic, some are open, some skeptical, some silently hostile, and some openly opposed. The stakes are high. When we get it right, the light bulb goes off. When we get it wrong, there is the risk that we turn someone off forever, and we may feel as if we have failed.
Turn Me On... (or Not): Inspiring Others to Choose Positive Reinforcement Training
Michele Pouliot has seen it all. She has been remarkably successful, and remarkably open about the journey. An expert now on motivating and assisting programs and individuals in change, she shares freely what she has learned over her now 16-year journey as a changemaker. This Session with Michele will help you look deeply at the process of change for yourself, for your own organization, and/or with others in your life.
Seriously. The skills needed to be an effective teacher are often different than those needed to be an effective trainer. People skills, observational skills, and organizational skills are essential both for finding solutions and for creating solutions. Here are three Expo courses that provide distinct yet complementary lenses through which to view teaching.
Wanted: Training Consultant (Those Good with Animals Need Not Apply!)
Sometimes the most important skills needed to solve behavioral problems are not animal-training skills at all. That’s Ken Ramirez’s lead-in to his course on becoming an effective behavior consultant. Learn what you need to add to your animal behavior smarts if you are consulting with others.
Practice Makes Perfect - with Locum! and Look Away from the Dog
The road from a “new” teacher to an “experienced” teacher will be riddled with potholes. At least that’s the conventional thinking. How about something less conventional? Theresa McKeon offers a smooth, paved, side road that more people ought to try.
Teaching is not easy because effective teaching requires far more than subject matter expertise. True teaching also needs to engage. Choosing the right phrase, word, or analogy can make the difference between forgotten and memorable lessons.
What a Pithy: Making Classes Memorable
If you’ve experienced Kathy Sdao’s teaching at ClickerExpo, you’ve experienced expertise-based teaching that engages. Let Kathy teach you how to help your students learn. You’ll walk away with classroom-ready teaching tools for the concepts and skills you work on with students every day. Join in! It’s going to be a real pithy party!
Words Matter: The Impact of Language Choice
Lindsay Wood focuses on how to be more effective using words that aren’t themselves filled with bias. As part of the group of teachers at Expo that represents the Millennial generation, Lindsay embodies a fresh and inspired wave of teaching that is tuned in so your clients won’t tune out.
Gamification: Engaging Training Games for Groups (Session) +
Gamification: In Action (Learning Lab)
A hot concept in interactive learning is “gamification,” a fancy of way of describing the process of making learning (or any “work”) as much like a game as possible. The idea is that when learning is fun, learning “sticks” and learners become more enthusiastic students. Are your people having as much fun as the dogs? Join experienced and highly successful teacher Terry Ryan to learn to “gamify” your class, simplify your teaching, and garner broad smiles to go along with those wagging tails.
Triple Planning: Enhance Your Teaching
The concept is as powerful as it is simple: Effective classroom plans require a plan for the instructor, a plan for the owner, and a plan for the dog. Traditional instruction often focuses on the dog, with little attention paid to what the handler or instructor should be doing. This simple change in perspective has powerful consequences for your teaching. Hannah Branigan and Laurie Luck share their secret to turning this concept into a reliable process that’s actionable in your class. (‘Til then, shhhh.)
Registration Open:
ClickerExpo Portland
ClickerExpo Stamford
Two qualities that most teachers have in abundance are energy and creativity. Both need nourishment to avoid the feeling of being dragged down and burnt out.
When Nothing is Working: Lateral Thinking for Dog Trainers
Terry Ryan brings you through exercises designed to harness your creative brain for solution-building in her course on “lateral thinking.”
Keep Your Candle Burning: Avoiding Professional Burnout
Kathy Sdao identifies the signs of burnout and practices that help you retain your empathy, and keep your candle burning bright.
To see all of the Expo courses focused on teaching, refer to the TEACHING OTHERS track label on the conference schedule. See you at ClickerExpo! Register Now.
Aaron Clayton is President of Karen Pryor Clicker Training and TAGteach International, and a member of the ClickerExpo Faculty.
