How Do I Teach and Learn at the Same Time? 7 Practical Ways

I am a teacher and I am hungry to learn more! Although I have 15 years in the teaching profession under my belt, I always feel the impact of continuous learning. I feel the spirit of continued education. 

How do I teach and learn at the same time?

For me, teaching is learning! My curiosity about things helps me unearth answers.

As a teacher, I love to learn new concepts, unlearn certain items, and relearn complex avenues! Hence, I’d like to reflect on my practical view about learning and share my bits here of how do I teach and learn at the same time.

I love the thoughts shared by the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship:  teaching is a learnable skill. Practically, we can teach while we learn, and while we practice. Teaching and learning can be simultaneous and this article will dish out my practical ways of how do I teach and learn at the same time.

teaching while learning

“In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.”
― Phil Collins

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Teaching for me is a vocation and a mission that always opens new opportunities for learning.  In my goals to promote learning and to engage my students, I always discover new concepts and learn best practices. Certainly, that’s learning for me.

I always set positive expectations for myself. Hence, I love to share ideas, collaborate with my fellows, and adapt to new teaching schemes which I find helpful in increasing the engagement of my students. Each brand new day is an opportunity to teach and to learn.

When you teach, you learn

Personally, I learn while I teach. Honestly, there were concepts introduced in my college days that were made clear to me when I started teaching them. My hands-on experiences helped a lot.

Also, as I delved deeper, the comprehension beams came to light that sometimes made me jaw-dropped and exclaimed “Oh I see!”.

When I earned my degree and passed the board examination for teachers, I aimed to get a permanent teaching position. Finally, the right time came and so I started teaching.

But, in my heart and mind, it’s not the end of my learning opportunities. In fact, for me, it’s high time for me to equip myself with teaching strategies and methodologies so I can give my students meaningful learning experiences.

How do I teach well? It signifies in-depth learning.

my best teaching experiences

Teaching well means learning better. You can’t teach what you do not know. Moreover, you can’t make your students productive if you are knowledgeable of good teaching practices, behavior management ideas, and teaching pedagogies.

Of course, you learn them well before they are embedded in your teaching styles.

In my considerable pursuit to teach effectively and efficiently, I never stop learning. Otherwise, my teaching methods will get outdated and my students will be deeply affected. An obvious effect is having dim personal and professional growth.

How do I teach and learn at the same time? 7 Practical Ways

#1 Make Action Research

One of the best strategies to investigate educational concerns like student behavioral problems, student poor performance, and many other related issues is through conducting action research. It’s challenging and rewarding.  I believe that teachers are also researchers.

In the process of researching, we teachers are to analyze a given situation and conduct a thorough study to get imperative details to arrive at possible solutions to address the problems.

Eventually, when we are doing it, we are learning and we discover new things. Conducting action research allows us to go deep into a certain situation and bring about something helpful to our students and for everyone in the educational setting. Hence, I consider this on top of my list because researching is very important in teaching. You will not know the reasons for things if you do not get deep into the issues.

Doing action research is also an additional score for your professional growth. Other than using it in your promotion for you will be studying things for the betterment of education, you have a great opportunity of sharing your skills and expertise with others.

Have you made a deep original study about things and occurrences in your classroom? Then, you must be learning!

#2 Pursue Post-Graduate Courses

As you aim to grow in the teaching profession, you should enroll in post-graduate studies and go deeper into your teaching perspectives. Boost your teaching career.

So what if you’re already working? Your graduate studies will build up your expertise. Therefore, a postgraduate degree while working is possible. Also, this is to underprop learning!

After completing my bachelor’s degree in education, I ventured out another challenging route of postgraduate studies.

However, my enrollment in a postgraduate degree didn’t deter my application for a teaching job. Hence, I study while at the same time teaching. It doesn’t in any way affect my performance as a teacher. It just calls for my time management skills.

Acquiring knowledge in a higher degree strengthens my teaching skills and offers me the necessary upgrade I need for my field of work. It means an investment of time, money, and effort which is really worth it.

#3 Attend Seminars and In-service Training

Honestly, I am one of those teachers who takes advantage of teacher training because I deem it very necessary for the progression of my teaching skills and for a clear understanding of why my students perform differently.

Apparently, another way to gain additional knowledge and skills to progress in your existing role is by attending seminars and in-service training. These are helpful ways to intensify learning while you are teaching aside from acquiring short courses related to education.

If you are looking for updates and improvements to your teaching styles, attend education seminars. It’s common for teachers to attend such because it’s a requirement in every school to send teachers to seminars.

Inservice teacher training helps me refine my teaching skills and offers me multiple classroom strategies that I can easily deploy to my class.  In other words, my attendance in teacher seminars and in-service training is a sweet privilege to get student support.

#4 Share Best Teaching Practices

collaborate with other teachers

Teaching is collaborative in nature. 

Hence, sharing best teaching practices has a fundamental role in improving student learning and in making our journey in teaching enjoyable and fulfilling.

In an educational setting, we do need the support of our fellow teachers in order to grow in our profession. There are times in our teaching careers when we are low on inspiration and we need others to keep our teaching spirits soar high.

When the road gets bumpy, you shouldn’t get frustrated. Speak out and ask for support from your fellows and it will transform into compassion.

With my earnest desire to understand more about behavioral management, I ask seasoned teachers about their best practices in the field. These great teachers have tried and tested techniques that can inspire us to great detail in making learning meaningful.

How do I keep my students focused? Aside from my personal observations, I’d love to hear about other options too.

Simple dialogues and exchanges of ideas with my colleagues and superiors can help me maintain a strong connection with my learners. The best applications of the things I learned in collaborative sharing have an impact on my teaching perspectives.

The bottom line is you need to be open and never pretend that you know everything.  Be open to suggestions and welcome recommendations. As long as it’s for the improvement of your teaching skills, then go for it and it’s for the best.

Listen and learn from insights and enrich your teaching approach. 

#5 Read, Read, Read

For you to pick up new ideas and concepts, be a wide reader. Being involved in professional reading, you can instantaneously hack learning.  Practically, reading is the best way to learn! I love reading articles about teaching and educational issues. I find this act enriching.

Perhaps, reading is one of the best tools for learning. As I go over the latest teaching strategies and education research, I find the best resource for self-reflection. How have I been as a teacher? Do I have these practices? Am I using these excellent teaching aids?

As a teacher, I am to make many decisions in my classroom and for my students. The concepts and ideas I get from the articles and journals I read help me a lot. The teacher books I read offer me insights that gauge my personal and professional growth.

To suffice your professional reading, check our must-read books for teachers.

#6 Listen to Podcasts About Teaching

Here’s one of my proactive approaches for continued learning. I always grab the chance once it appears.

I use podcasts in my classroom and they do make sense to my students. These resources are a great help in improving my students’ language and literacy skills. 

If podcasts make the lesson more interesting and engaging, they can be incorporated into my life too, and learn as well from the winsome episodes which are worth spreading. On this note, I find listening to podcasts helpful.  

With podcasts, I get in close detail the best experiences and teaching practices of other teachers. It’s my way of extending my horizons in teaching. Listening to an array of teaching narratives helps build my confidence and get in touch with other teachers, especially those who are experts in the field. 

TedTalks  Education is a wonderful resource for information and insights from educators who are worth emulating. I couldn’t stop my excitement in listening to each episode. 

By keeping myself updated with the latest developments in teaching, I realize that I am what I’m listening to! As I know different teaching strategies, I consider podcasts as great resources for a teacher like me.

Narratives and tips boost my teaching confidence and inspire me to do more. For me, podcasts about teaching and learning are a great way to learn. Thus, I’m always inclined to learn and refresh my teaching practices through teaching podcasts. 

 #7  Learn from Your Teaching Experiences

best teaching experience

Learning is not only from books but its major impact comes from experience. Experience is the best teacher as they say. You can capitalize on your uniqueness as a teacher.

I admit that my learning experiences foster my confidence because I could see better results and the ing transformation of my students. Thus, I adore every moment I have with my students.

By making meaning from my teaching experiences, I understand clearly why I teach the way I do which brings me realization and inspiration.

Therefore, I confidently claim that I learn from my teaching experiences. As I interact with my students each teaching day, I always prove and discover things about teaching and nurturing the child.

By doing and reflecting, I learn from teaching experiences and they are genuine. With that said, I just proved Dewey’s theory of experience “proved useful in making meaning out of individual teaching experiences.”

Conclusion

With my innate passion to make a big difference in the lives of my students, I should not stop learning. Although I’m already on the throne of teaching, it doesn’t mean that I have to cease to venture out for answers and solutions.

Hence, teachers should never stop learning.

We need to refresh and redefine our teaching styles and strategies and cater to the needs of our students. Remember, there’s no one size fits all strategy. We need to capture what’s effective and what’s relevant.

Naturally, there’s always something out there that we need to learn about. So, never stop learning.

Let me know the paramount points of your teaching profession that encourages you to keep on learning. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Learning is so irresistible, right? Dig in a bit for more learning options and comment below!