Make it your Own – 5 Ways to Improve your Teaching

There’s a group in my area that organizes 5k runs. Their organization is called “Run Your Race”—a great reminder that your race is yours, not anyone else’s. This advice also applies to the police training world. The best and most effective trainers and educators are the ones who find and hone their own teaching style. They master their material and don’t teach by rote. Here are five things that the best trainers I’ve ever known have in common:

1. They avoid “death by PowerPoint”

Most of us, at one time or another, are tasked with doing a PowerPoint presentation. Most of the time, someone else created it and you must deliver it. But in my experience, presentations are best when created or refined by the person doing the presenting. So, when you’re the one at the front of the room, look at each slide and ask yourself what you want to say about the content. Don’t just read the slide and click to the next one; add your own comments, whether by modifying the PowerPoint (if able), or as an in-person enhancement to what’s on the screen. Use your knowledge to deliver the best experience and value to your audience.

2. They master time management

If you have thirty minutes to deliver a presentation, use that entire time—not a minute less or a minute more. If you rush through it, you’re short-changing your audience. If you run long, you might lose their attention or create schedule conflicts for others. Exercise time discipline and show mastery of your topic and teaching ability by nailing your presentation in the time allotted.

3. They learn from others

Your style of presenting may be different from your colleagues’, but that doesn’t make your way wrong. What matters is that you covered the material in the time allotted, provided the students with the information and experience they came for (especially if there is a written test to follow), and kept the class engaged. If you did all those things, keep doing what you’re doing and don’t worry about how other people teach.

4. They know their audience and environment

We have all been there, sitting in a 100 degree room with a speaker just going off the cuff for an hour. The presenter thinks he or she is killing it, but the audience is getting crushed and can’t remember a single thing, if they’re even listening at all. Knowing your audience also applies to the use of humor and language. Even among thick-skinned, dark humor-loving cops, dropping constant F-bombs and crude jokes in a training environment doesn’t make for a good or professional presentation, no matter the topic. It can even get you in trouble in this day and age.

5. They dial-in their physical demos

Clear, concise, easy to follow instruction is as critical to physical demonstrations as it is to classroom work. If you don’t “own the material,” practice as much as you need to before you teach. A student can always tell who is making stuff up on the fly and who is solid in their skills. Some key points to remember when training physical skills:

·      Did you explain the main principles behind each technique?

·      Did you perform a believable full-speed/full-power demonstration?

·      Were you efficient in your explanations and use of time?

·      Did you have to bring the class back in and re explain the tactic multiple times before they “got it”?

The ultimate test of your effectiveness as an instructor is how the students perform. If they are on track, don’t derail it by thinking you have to add more to the training.

There was a time at my old department when we would teach use of force to clergy, politicians and some selected civilians. I was tasked with being the lead for this since the regular officer who did was unavailable. The coworker I subbed in for had a presentation that our Sergeant loved, but I couldn’t replicate the way he did it, especially for this audience. So I reworked it by keeping the information but presenting it differently, making it more “mine.” The delivery was still engaging, the time management was to the second, the humor was well- timed and clean. I owned the material—just in a different way than my colleague owned it—and the response was great.

Some people are visual learners, some learn by listening, others physically. Some a little of each. Effective educating—especially in law enforcement—reaches all of them seamlessly. Find your own way to becoming the most holistic, efficient trainer you can be.

As always, keep training and be safe.