Know Your Weaknesses, Choose Your Path

When it comes to having a position in the education field, there are obviously many different types of positions. Being a teacher of students is the most common, but not always the first choice for someone with a teaching degree. As I mentioned in my post last week, one of the traits of a good teacher is good communication skills. You must be able to speak in such a manner as to be understood to a multitude of people with a multitude of cultural backgrounds. One of the other traits to consider is, aside from actually annunciating to be understood, is if your presentation skills are conducive to public speaking?

Most all of us have experienced, heard stories or seen in movies, examples of bad teachers. Like college professors who barely move, and just spew out facts and figures to their students. Boring and dry speakers that do not captivate the students, and thus learning is made much more difficult for them.

Not too long ago, I attended a conference where some very well learned men spoke. All but one of them had what it took to make their public speech captivating and engaging. They presented PowerPoint slides that contained outlines and charts that were referenced in their speech, and they spoke in a lively manner. The one who did not, basically got up to the podium, and posted his speech on the overhead projector, and began reading it to the audience. The tone of his voice was fairly monotone, and his presentation was very lifeless. His engaging points, his funny quips, and his dramatic pauses, all seemed in slow motion and fell dead on the audience. Now, this speaker has written books, and has been well known and very knowledgeable in his field for close to thirty years, but his public presentations are just dead. In comparison to the other charismatic and engaging speaker, he was a real dud of the weekend. I felt bad when listening to the other attendees who were basically ridiculing him, not based on his content, but his presentation.

It is important to know your weaknesses and either work to fix them, or seek another avenue for your career. If you are very knowledgeable, very well read, very advanced in your field, but know you are a lousy presenter or teacher, then maybe it is best that you seek a position where you are not teaching the public, but are actually in research or writing books or curriculum. Use your strengths where they are best used, and consider your weaknesses before seeking a position.

Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, mail order book store manager, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Education Jobsite blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.