Anyone in a civilization has been exposed to someone with more experience and understanding at some point. Great human civilizations have been build with the power of that knowledge. Those who knew something that others didn’t, shared it for the greater good of their community.

The learning process depends in a lot of factors. Some factors are in the student, some are in the teacher, some are in the communication, some are in the society.

If you find yourself teaching and you really want to share what you know, there are some things you need to keep in mind:

  • The audience needs to be willing to learn.
  • It is not enough to have the understanding, you have to be able to explain it in a way that is easy for others to understand.
  • To explain the main concept, you may need to provide the missing gaps in the audience’s knowledge, and that implies being able to identify them as soon as they appear.

If you have those in mind you are in the right track. Although it can be better: you can use a bit of psychology.

We are humans. We are social-driven species. Your interactions with your students are an essential part in the success of your teaching. Have you ever wondered why so many kids think a teacher holds animosity toward them? even if that is not true? (Are you sure it isn’t?)

If you think the students are the only ones responsible for that, think again: Do you really care of the success of your students? Yo may be creating animosity towards your students.

In some places, the reputation of a teacher is measured by the amount of students that have successfully learnt from him/her. The core concept is true. Although, it can be easily distorted if the rewards are related to that measure.

Even if you have a good relationship with your students, there is a mistake that can destroy all the previous motivation. I still find myself making it sometimes. But when I notice it, I try to fix it asap. That mistake is in how the feedback is given. And I see it quite frequently in the way other people give feedback.

If you are a person with an always-improve mentality you may be making the same mistake. It may be related with the self-critical mental process: When I do something, I look for things that I can improve and then try to do it. That leaves me in a never-ending process. If I want to finish what I’m doing, I have to decide when it is good enough for the time being.

So, when I made the mistake in giving feedback, I followed the same process: I was looking for things to improve. I omitted the things that are good. And I did not consider if it was good enough. I assumed that the needed information were only the things that can be improved.

If you mention only the things that can be improved, the main idea is: you have things that are wrong and you better change them.

If you make explicit that it may be good enough or is his decision to improve it and provide suggestions on how to face it, the idea is: it is not bad, but it can be improved and you will have my support

And if you add on top of that the good things, the idea is: it is good, and we can make it much better

I think you can see the motivation outcome that is going to be from each one.

Healthy feedback is as important as anything else.