Friday, February 08, 2002

Jeff's lesson of the day is entitled "Vary Your Shtick"

Anyone who teaches any kind of class to adults has a repertoire of jokes and anecdotes to keep the subject interesting. I've been teaching my foster-care-slash-adoption class for seven years now and I have my own material to add a bit of spice to the dry curriculum. We all do this (except for those people who bore you out of your skull). Shtick consists of little observations, truisms, bromides, and opinions. Anyone who's done any substantial amount of training will have a mental rolodex of these tidbits to pull out when needed.

"Why are you telling us this, Jeff?"

Today, just down the hall from my office, a lady was presenting the same material that she presented yesterday. I was in yesterday's class, so I caught all of her shtick already. Today, I could hear her presentation echoing down the hall, and her shtick is identical to yesterday's. Even the smallest, most "spontaneous" flourishes were being repeated right on cue, just as she did yesterday and probably every time she's given this material. And there's so much of it! She's one of those trainers who uses a lot of gimmickry and props (not my style, but it can work well). How on earth does she keep it all in order and scripted?

So next time you teach a class, don't use all of your material every time. It's just not good form. (I should add "in my opinion," but since this is my website, that's a given.)

another hasty insight by Jeff on 2/08/2002

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