Luiz Fernando Costa e Silva

An instructor should impact the student's life in a positive way. It's not about the specific lecture or content. It's how the learning happens and how the student absorbs the content. The same class can be taught by 2 different instructors and a student may learn really well from an instructor and simply reject the other one. The instructor has to be creative and, in many situations, think "outside the box". Real-life examples, breaking down content into smaller portions in a creative way are things that instructors can bring to the classroom and transform the way students learn.

In my opinion, those are the "out-of-the-box" strategies that we, as instructions, should consider when teaching. Using intuition, for example, we can read the room and detect many things that are not part of the traditional way of running a class. We can easily pick up difficulties from a student, by simply reading the body language. Creating strategies to lead students to learn through questioning is way more effective than simply talking non-stop for over 2 hours. We have ways of bringing the students closer to our reality, reducing the distance between instructor and student. At the end of the… >>>

Teaching with care and passion is key. First, we have to treat students in the same way we'd liked to be treated by someone else. In terms of learning, caring about the student's outcomes and supporting them with kind words rather than reacting in a harsh manner is always the most important thing. If we're passioned about our craft and knowledge, we have to bring all that passion into the classroom. There's no teaching if the instructor doesn't show enthusiasm about the topic or course he or she is teaching. I always try to bring this approach to my classes, because… >>>

I believe that we as instructors have to prepare ourselves for each day of class, even though we've been teaching the same content for a long time. Knowing the content doesn't necessarily mean that we're ready to approach the teaching in the best possible way. Interacting with students like walking around is something that I like to do to bring dynamics to the class. Being patient with students, answering messages and emails always with appropriate language is crucial to keep good connection with students. Finally, giving the students a good reason why we're studying that content and not simply showing… >>>

As an instructor, it's important to understand if the student has intrinsic motivation for the course you're teaching. Maybe they a major goal that doesn't line up specific with the class you're teaching, so most likely they'll be missing some internal motivation for that specific course. Extrinsic motivation comes in handy, so we can try to provide this student with something to fulfill that need. Positive and encouraging feedbacks is one of the things I've been using lately and it's very effective. I noticed many students connecting outside the scope of the course because that creates a deeper connection with… >>>

I've been noticing how important autonomy-driven courses are. Out of the courses I've been teaching lately, most of them provide students with assignments where they're able to choose different assets or strategies to complete. One of the courses has a collaborative activity where students also have to make the decisions themselves, which I believe is really important to bring them real learning.

Providing security to the students is very important as this affects their learning process. Setting up a good environment for the class, creating a friendly and welcoming atmosphere is very important, and always try this approach with my students. Setting up clear goals for the day and for the course helps to bring stability to students as well. I always like to summarize the class content at the end and this is also very important to make students feel more secure.

As an instructor, understanding that adult learners have clear goals and personal challenges, finding ways to connect with them to facilitate that learning process is key. If the instructions don't have clear goals that align with their personal goals, it becomes harder to motivate them. I always like connecting to students on a personal level, understanding what their careers goals are. This helps me to envelop the content and individual feedbacks in such a way that I can create some motivation.