"A great teacher distills knowledge." Great teacher simplifies a subject he or she teaches. I love the quote that says,
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." – Albert Einstein
And another quote:
"If there's one thing I've learned as a developer, it's this: complexity happens; simplicity, you have to consistently strive for. Nowhere is this truer than in education. Our role as teachers, by definition, is to simplify subjects so that they can be easily understood. A good teacher dispels trepidation with anecdote, abstraction with analogy, superstition and magic with knowledge. Simplicity, however, is not easily attained. In order to simplify, you must first gain an encompassing understanding of the complex. It is a rare person who can simultaneously exist in both the simple and complex planes of a problem domain and communicate effectively at both levels. It is, however, these rare people who make the best teachers." – Aral Galkan, 2 Jan 2006 Famagusta, Cyprus
I told my students one day in class, "The more you learn, the more you MAY earn." I barely got this statement out when one of my students responded by saying, "And the more you make, the more they take."
"When you tutor others, you learn how much you don't know yourself." You typically don't know how much you know unless you are questioned about what you do know.
As a college student, "I always stayed AHEAD of my class so if I ever fell BEHIND I would still be in line." For example, I would study chapters ahead of what the class was covering so that if I went on an interview and came back, I was still in line with the rest of the class.
"It is better to STUDY HARD than to WORK HARD." It is better to STUDY HARD for four years while you are in high school or college so that you may not have to WORK HARD for the rest of your life. I see too many students regret that they should have done better in school so that they could have a better paying job.
"Some things are best expressed, not through EXPLANATION but through DEMONSTRATION." When teaching, I have discovered that some technical concepts are best conveyed through giving demonstrations of the concepts not talking about them.
"Many books are more FLUFF than STUFF." If a technique is similar for a given set of tasks, many books would repeat those steps in each chapter. It is best to say what is common and highlight the differences. This concept reminds me of a quote from my oldest son who said, "I love it when I can buy a bag of air, and they are kind enough to throw in a few chips." This holds true for many books that I have read.
I often tell my students, "Don't expect to pass if you don't come to class." It is hard to pass if you don't make an effort to come to class.
"If you don't read, you don't lead. If you don't read, you don't succeed." These statements are what we often told our two sons when they were growing up. People that read typically do better than those who don't.
"You need to market yourself." While talking to a group of students encouraging them to do well in their respective fields of study, I would often say "You should sell yourself." Well, that did not go well with the females in my class, so I changed the phrase to say, "You need to market yourself."
"It is better to know the WHYS more often than the HOW TOs." If you know the whys, you can figure out the "HOW TOs."
"Forecast before you broadcast." When learning new material, guess (forecast) the answer before you look it up and learn it (broadcast).
"A great teacher when writing on a subject matter ANTICIPATES the readers 'whys' and 'fills in the gaps' in advance of the student asking."
"When writing instructions, separate the HOW TO DO something from WHY that something is being done." Too often I see instruction manuals mix processes/steps with why to do the process.
"TRYING is an unsuccessful attempt at nothing." I often paint a word picture with students about this phrase by having someone hold up a small object (e.g., pen) and then tell him or her to TRY to drop it (but don't drop it). Then, I would say, "Drop it." Afterward, I explain that trying is an unsuccessful attempt at nothing like trying to drop that pen. Stop trying and began doing.
"BOB – Box of Books." I would often tell my students that I keep BOB in the back of my truck. I would then noticed that I would get some strange looks from them. Then, I would explain to them that BOB is my Box Of Books that I used to pull from when I need a book for class.
"You have to move from the FRUSTRATION Zone to the FUN Zone." Many technical programs are typically frustrating when you are first learning them. However, once you become proficient, you move to the fun zone where it is exciting and rewarding.
"I learn quickly, and I adapt readily." When interviewing, you need to tell the interviewer that you may not know something, but you can say that you learn quickly and adapt readily to new concepts. No one knows everything.
"I only know what I know." You may have noticed that some people can be well versed in one subject matter and totally clueless in another.
"Learn from what you already know." There are times when I may forget how to do a formula for something. So what I do is think of something that I know works. For example, if one wants to know what is 15% of 200, first take 10 % at 20, then half of 20 yielding 30 as the answer.
"Some things you learn are not APPARENT (capable of being easily perceived or understood) at first but becomes TRANSPARENT (obvious) later." Have you ever noticed how a subject matter was hard when you first learned it but became comfortable once you got proficient at it?
"Creative but misplaced." I have seen far too often many talented people, but their thought process flawed. For example, have you ever seen a beautiful graffiti painting and then thought, “Why do so such talent go to waste."
"You should consistently be improving yourself." Someone once said, "Some people like it GOOD, others like it BETTER, but my BEST is only good IMPROVED."
"Sometimes you have to DEVIATE in order to ILLUSTRATE." While I don't like to deviate from the topic I am talking about; sometimes it is necessary in order to illustrate something that is related to the topic at hand. For example, while teaching on what a mask in Photoshop is, I have to deviate to explain what ANY kind of mask can do. Any mask (e.g., face mask, masking tape, costume mask) can show/hide or protect what is under it. The same is true for any mask in Photoshop. It can show/hide or protect the pixels underneath it.
"While it is important to be “lifelong learners,” it is just as important to be “lifelong earners.” More often than not we get caught in the cycle of constant learning but our earning stays the same or sometimes even goes down.