HOW TO BUILD YOUR SELF-CONFIDENCE
A major challenge in teaching online is…managing yourself. The need to control everything will make you nervous and will, eventually, make you dislike what you are doing. It is good to prepare in advance, but once the session starts the focus should be on the needs of students and on the lesson goals. And once you get disconnected from the group, they will feel it and become disengaged as well.
However, you just got through this whole Module and, if you are still feeling stressed when thinking about online teaching, this section is for you.
You cannot control everything, but you already know this… it is easier said than done, right?
Let’s see how we can approach this in a way that brings more self-confidence…
“Do you feel as if you are building a boat while sailing? Figuratively speaking, many of us are doing just that.
As you know, presence is simply being in attendance. Compassion is showing kindness and consideration—it’s the human quality of understanding.
Students need instructors to demonstrate presence and compassion, not only in face-to-face classes but especially in online spaces.”
”7 Ways to Show Presence and Compassion in Online Spaces” - Essie Childers (16)
There are a few things to keep in mind when attempting to build your self-confidence:
- You can plan everything perfectly, but you will also have to improvise. Be authentic, tell students when something goes wrong, learn from it. We learn much more from mistakes and things that didn’t work out as planned than from any perfect lesson. In the beginning, you will be building the boat while sailing, anyway.
- Remember that students’ attention span is low. Prepare varied activities or change your teaching method once in 15-20 minutes. This will also help students with different learning styles to be engaged.
- Exercise being ok with silence. Waiting for answers for 5-10 seconds, and not less, increases the number and quality of responses(17). Give them clear ways to respond (e.g. in the chat, or by raising a hand), and insist in a friendly way.
- Recognize your emotions and manage your energy. Silence and technology are 2 scary things and we have to admit this.
- Show vulnerability. Some students know more about technology than you, anyway. Ask students what they would do if they were in charge. Get one of them to be a co-teacher, once in a while.
- Keep in mind that IT IS CHALLENGING and you are doing the best you can. As Trainers’ Toolbox nicely says: “Lack of visual cues and less physical presence lead to disengagement. Maintaining attention is more difficult as the brain is less stimulated, multitasking and distractions are more likely, participants can hide more easily and experiential (active) learning is more difficult to build”. However, sometimes lessons can be just great.
And, more than anything, work with yourself. Be mindful, take care of your wellbeing, be attentive of your needs.
Good luck!
