Training Tips

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Training Tips
The Rules
1.Be kind: all else is details.
2.Remember that you are not your learners…
3.…that most people would rather fail than change…
4.…and that ninety percent of magic consists of knowing one extra thing.
5.Never teach alone.
6.Never hesitate to sacrifice truth for clarity.
7.Make every mistake a lesson.
8.Remember that no lesson survives first contact with learners…
9.…that every lesson is too short for the teacher and too long for the learner…
10.…and that nobody will be more excited about the lesson than you are.
Hands-on! Coaching vs. teaching
During the workshop you'll work in a small group of 3 learners. This is a hands-on, experience-oriented workshop. You'll stand by on the sidelines, not in front of them.
Coaches need to be 100% focused on their learners and always be there when needed. Make sure their experience is positive and that they have fun. Do not judge, be helpful and appreciate their (in-)abilities.
Be Flexible & Accessible
For attendees who are hard of hearing or would otherwise benefit from forms of communication other than talking, be prepared to use a text-based form of communication. Give them your Google hangout or Skype name and encourage them to IM you when they need help. (And remember to bring a laptop so you can check your IMs!)
Attendees with low vision might want to increase the size of the text in their command lines, their text editors, and on web pages. They probably know how to enlarge text in their web browsers, but they might need help resizing text in other places. Don't assume anything about someone's vision; try to start the day with the statement, "And if you need help making the text size bigger or smaller when you start coding, let me know!"
Sometimes attendees can get overwhelmed. This is why breaks are built into the schedule! If you feel like an attendee is getting frustrated and would benefit from a break, let them know that it's okay to step away for a few minutes, take a sip of water, and come back. Sometimes just moving your body can help new concepts crystallize.
Words
At all times, you need to be super careful about the words you use.
No jargon
It's hard, but possible. Don't use words and technical terminology that kids wouldn't understand.
Don't say "it's easy" or "just..."
For your learners it may be the hardest thing they've ever done. Telling them that "it's easy" is not cool. Saying "just…" suggests that it's simple and they're failing if they find it hard to understand.
No feigning surprise
Don't act surprised when people say they don't know something. Not knowing something (technical or not) is totally acceptable at Code Your Future
Be prepared even for questions like: "What is a directory?" or "How do I create a file?".
No well-actually's
A well-actually happens when someone says something that's almost - but not entirely - correct, and you say, "well, actually…" and then give a minor correction. This is especially annoying when the correction has no bearing on the actual conversation.
No subtle-isms
Subtle-isms are small things that make others feel uncomfortable, things that we all sometimes do by mistake. For example, saying "It's so easy my grandmother could do it" is a subtle-ism. Like the other three social rules, this one is often accidentally broken. Like the other three, it's not a big deal to mess up – you just apologize and move on. The above two sections come from Hacker School User's Manual which is a highly recommended resource for teaching.
Learn from mistakes
As we already mentioned, we want our attendees to really understand what they're doing, so they're not only copy-pasting the code, but they're actually learning something. That's why we chose the "learn from mistakes" approach here.
Over the course of the tutorial you'll see that we're trying to first steer attendees into an error, bug or mistake. Make the attendee read the bug report and understand it. More importantly, we're trying to teach them that bugs aren't scary and that error pages are their friends. This approach will go a long way later on.
Learn that coding is fun
The ultimate goal is to show that code is fun. To get people excited. To show them that programming is not scary and that it is for everyone. To show them how powerful programming skills can be.
This excitement and passion will then drive them to spend endless hours trying to figure all of this out during and after the workshop. Atmosphere
Excitement is good, but stress is bad for learning. We really care about the atmosphere and giving our attendees a great first experience with coding.
Imagine this: You're trying to do something difficult. You're in a room full of strangers who know how to do it better than you. You don't know how to articulate your questions. You don't know the right names for everything.
For most people, this is a very uncomfortable and stressful situation. But it doesn't have to be! You're there to make it easier.
Here is what you can do:
Smile!
Make eye contact
Admit that you don't know everything
Tell them it's ok to make lots of mistakes
Tell them it's ok to get frustrated
Use normal language, not jargon!
Assume everyone you're coaching has zero knowledge but infinite intelligence
Go at their pace, not your pace.
Be friendly and kind
Use their name
Make sure they know they're awesome!
Ask them if they need help -- some people are afraid to ask
Emphasize that there is no such thing as a "dumb" question
Don't say "Any questions?" Say "What questions do you have?"
Talk sssssslllllloooooowwwwwwllllllyyyyyyyy
Wait much longer than you feel is comfortable for questions/comments
Removing the roadblocks
Fear
A big obstacle that we try to remove is fear. In most situations, but especially school and work, people are afraid of looking stupid. This fear frequently keeps us from asking important questions like "how does that work?" or even just "why?".
Fear of making mistakes also keeps people from making progress. I'm not used to work with Windows! Your group is using Windows but you're more a Mac or Linux user? Don't worry, you will do fine! Python installation got easier on Windows and there are other coaches to help you in case of a problem.
Impostor syndrome
Madeline Kunin's research: women self-filter more than men. The impostor syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments. Despite external evidence of their competence, they remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve the success they have achieved. Impostor syndrome is particularly common among women.
To fight impostor syndrome:
Don't accept any learner saying they are too 'whatever' to do it; assure them that they can do it.
Congratulate people on their achievements and take some time to let them show you what they've done.
Compliment their work.
Show them that they actually know things.
Answering questions
We do not roll our eyes or laugh at questions. We do not debate which programming language, methods or technologies are "better".
We always answer positively:
I’m glad you said that
Great question
Hm, I'm not sure... Let's look on the internet/ask someone else.
No back-seat driving
Imagine that their keyboard is made of lava. LAVA! You wouldn't touch it, right?
Whenever you take over their keyboard, learners are going to drift away. This can be offputting and even scary.
We're sure you can explain what needs to be done and instruct them with your words only (it's actually a cool exercise for you too!). If you absolutely, ultimately must type something on their computer — chances are you don't — ask whether that is okay with them and explain what are you doing.
Ask: "Do you mind if I type?" or "May I?".
Show them how they can teach themselves
Attendees will only spend 6 hours or so with you, but they will have to spend many many many more hours teaching themselves. Fortunately, you can make it easier for them!
Make them Google stuff
Do not give immediate answers just to make things go faster. It doesn't matter if you are going faster or slower -- what matters is whether they're going to fall in love with it or not.
Ask about their ideas
"How would you solve it?", "What do you think?". Make them figure it out on their own. You know they know it, right?