How To Teach a Construction Class:  
10 Easy Tips to Success

This is for those experienced construction craft workers and supervisors who have been called upon to teach their expert skills to other construction workers.  

Teaching is a very rewarding experience.  There is nothing as exciting as seeing a group of your coworkers leaving  your classroom equipped with new skills they will use on the jobsite the next day at work.  

Follow these 10 tips and you will have a great time teaching. 

1.  First, remember that it is the learning the students are doing that is important, not your teaching.  If they are not learning, it does not matter how well you are teaching.  Everything the teacher does should be focused on creating a situation where students will learn something.

2.  In the classroom, the students are more important than the teacher.  This is an attitude adjustment the potential teacher must make.  It is not correct for you treat your students like subordinates in the classroom.  In the classroom, your students are your clients and they should be treated as such.  This is important because you want to foster an atmosphere where students are willing to make mistakes and learn from them.  Mistakes are discouraged in the work environment but encouraged in a learning environment.

3.  Adult learners are different than young learners.  Don't try to teach your adult students using the same methods your teachers used in high school.  Adult learners will evaluate everything you try to teach them so spend some time explaining why something is important to learn.  

4.  Provide more breaks.  Adult learners cannot sit in the same place as long as kids can.  This is especially true of construction people who are accustomed to being very active.  I like to schedule at least a 10 minute break every hour.

5.  Accept your learners as they come to you and expect improvement.  Never tell a student they should already know something.  A statement like "You are a journeyman, you should already know that!"  is very discouraging to a student and will only encourage them to hide what they don't know.

6.  Create activities that allow them to use newly learned skills in real life situations.  Rather than just practicing a new craft skill, create a jobsite situation and allow the students to solve typical job site problems in the classroom.  

7.  Tell stories about real life situations to illustrate learning points.  Be sure that students will learn something from every story.  Be careful not to tell too many stories or stories that do not provide a learning point.

8.  Preparation is the key to success.  Here are a few tips to help you prepare for your teaching assignment:

• Know exactly what you want to teach.   Make a list of learning goals that are active statements.  An example of an active statement is:  At the end of this class the student will be able to (insert newly learned skill).
• Know how you will determine if the students actually learned what you wanted them to learn.  
• Know how long you will spend on each individual topic.  
• Practice your oral presentations. 
• Write out any activities you will ask your students to attempt.
• Try to make it fun to learn.

9.  Try to avoid written tests to assess student learning.  Most adults are intimidated by tests and do poorly simply because they get nervous about the test.  Create situations where students can use their newly learned skills in real life situations and observe how they handle the situations.

10.  Keep things moving and stay on schedule.  Students will get bored if you allow too many questions on a given topic, especially if the questions are coming from one student.  Ask the student with questions to see you at break time then move the class on to the next topic.

The Benefits of Teaching

You will get more out of the teaching experience than will your students.  You will gain respect among your coworkers.  You will sharpen your own skills because the teacher always learns more than the students.

You will know that you have helped others to achieve something in their careers.  Teaching will leave you with a good feeling about yourself.  It is worth the effort to do a good job of it. 

Good luck and have fun!