How To Be an Effective Educator
Anyone can call themselves an educator, but what makes the effective educators with consistent student success results stand out from the rest? The 6 topics listed below are a great starting place for ensuring success for all of the students that you teach. Let’s dive in!
TEACH FOR MULTIPLE LEARNING STYLES
I am a firm believer that a student should not have to adapt to your style of teaching, rather, it is your job as their instructor to teach to your students’ strengths and adapt to their needs. This means that your course should be prepared with the seven learning styles implemented into everything that you do.
The seven learning styles include: visual, aural, kinaesthetic, social, solitary, verbal and logical. Because these different styles of learner all require different class elements to be present in order for them to learn to the best of their capabilities, you should include elements that benefit each style into your courses. For example, this could include having visuals to go along with the theory that you are describing, allowing students to work with their hands throughout the course or to work in groups to solve problems or complete course work and more! For a kinaesthetic learner, using their hands while learning theory can also aid them in retaining the information more easily. Or for a solitary learner, a private course will likely be more beneficial for them.
Keep in mind how these various learners will benefit most from your course. Incorporate more than just the visual/auditory elements into your course to keep your students engaged from the start to the very end.
INCLUDE VARIOUS FORMS OF HANDS ON TECHNIQUES
Learning to lash is super challenging, and requires A LOT of practice. But when a beginner lash artist is just starting out, there are a variety of skills they can develop independently from each other, prior to working on their first model. These main skills include: tweezer control (gripping lashes, adjusting lash direction, tweezer pressure), lash placement, and isolation. When planning your course you can use a different hands on task that will allow your students to develop each skill. You could have your students practice just picking up a single lash off of a strip. They could then practice placing those extensions on a sponge, which will also allow them to begin experimenting with adhesive and placement pressure. They could then try the “lashes on a log” method, where a single piece of hair is taped across the top of a cup. The student will then place lashes along the length of that hair to practice direction and get used to lashing on hair. Finally they could practice isolation on a lashing mannequin, and then bring all of those skills together by finally lashing a live model.
By using multiple hands on methods, students are able to learn the basic skills, prior to moving on to more challenging techniques. This could also be applied to volume and mega volume courses. Think about how you can develop one skill and build upon the students’ prior knowledge in order to ensure their success.
TEACH WITH A STUDENT-FOCUSED MENTALITY
Before even stepping into the classroom on the day of, you must first begin by planning your course. This should always be done with the student and their success in mind. The whole point of teaching is to spread your knowledge and experience on to someone who is either new to lashing or new to the technique that you are trying to pass on to them. Student-focused learning refers to teaching in a way that does not place your students in a passive learning role, but rather incorporates them into the lessons and allows them to engage with the material, their instructor, and their fellow classmates. This can be achieved by allowing your students to take some control of their own learning, work in groups to solve problems or delve into theory, and more! Instead of being a content dispenser, consider how you can be a content resource for your students.
Everything that you do is for your student(s), which means that course/lesson planning, accommodations and delivery of material should all be planned with student success at the forefront.
INCORPORATE BOTH FORMATIVE & SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
In case you are unfamiliar with these terms, I’ll break them down for you! Formative and summative are the two main forms of assessment.
Formative assessment refers to assessment that is done throughout a course to use as a guide or benchmark in your student’s progress. It’s purpose is to gauge where your student is at and allows you to determine which topics you may need to cover again or what area they are currently struggling with. For lashing, formative assessments could include mini quizzes, working on mannequins, or live models completed throughout the course. Formative assessment is very important for both you and your student to see how they are doing and how much of the required information is being retained and applied, and allows you to make adjustments if need be.
Summative assessment refers to assessment that is done at the end of a large section of a course, or at the end of a course to evaluate and measure student learning against a standard. In lash courses, the summative assessment is typically a written theory exam and a practical exam: lashing a live model. The purpose of this form of assessment when it comes to lash courses is to ensure that the student has retained the required information and skills to pass the class and receive their certification. Summative assessment is very important in a lash course because it allows you, the educator, to see that you have done your job in teaching your students the required material and skills, and allows the student, to demonstrate that knowledge.
We need to include both of these forms of assessment in our courses to aid us in becoming better educators, and so that we know that our students will be successful once they leave the course.
CONSIDER THE ADAPTIVE DIMENSION IN COURSE PLANNING
The adaptive dimension refers to the concept of making adjustments in the learning environment, instruction, assessment or resources of your course to benefit your students. It is used to maximize student independence and promote confidence & a willingness to be involved in learning. Consideration should be made for any/all of these variables in the planning stages of your course. If you plan ways that you could adjust your course in the planning stage, then the day of will be less stressful should accommodations be needed for any/all students. Some adjustments that you could consider in your planning could be:
Altering the pace of the lesson
Altering the method of instruction (teaching with/without a presentation, jigsaw group activity, adding video elements, etc)
Encouraging student participation throughout (implementing a group activity rather than continuous theory from instructor)
Altering the assessment (from written to aural for example)
Accommodations may need to be made at any time, by considering them in advance you will be more prepared should they be required during a course.
MAKE ACCOMMODATIONS FOR STUDENT SUCCESS
You may think that once you have planned for everything, your job is done when it comes to the adaptive dimension and accommodating for student success, however, that is not always the case. As an educator, it is important to recognize that no matter how much you plan, changes and accommodations may need to be made on the day of to further aid your students. This could be as little as playing music quietly, changing the temperature of your space or closing the blinds, to help students focus, or something more drastic such as changing elements of your course like delivery vehicles or additional handouts. Regardless of what the accommodation may be, it is important to think on the fly and be willing to adjust.
Whether you are a pro lash educator or just starting out, I highly recommend that you take a look at your course(s) and see if you have included all of the above components! Your students will thank you, and your course will go above and beyond the standard. Let’s create the best lash education in the industry!
