6 Tips on Performing a Stellar Teaching Demo

If you’ve ever made it past the thorough due diligence that comes with applying to be a college professor, you’ve likely done a teaching demonstration. If you did not get hired, you probably maintained your position as an adjunct or part-time educator of some sort. Although you’re likely excellent at teaching, your demonstration skills are probably lukewarm at best. The problem for you is, even though there is a ton of information about teaching demonstrations, none of that information truly answers the question “How?” Teaching demonstrations have a format, and it might be right in your face. The following gives you 6 tips to performing a stellar teaching demo.

The Awkwardness of Teaching Demonstrations

Teaching demonstrations seem directly opposed to higher education in that they require the demonstrator to operate within a false reality of made-up students, even if it is for a demonstration. Educators demand their students produce evidence to support their claims. They encourage their students to see reality for what it is. But for them, the educator, the first step to addressing students in a classroom is successfully creating an imaginary room of students.

Every instructor teaches a bit differently.

Furthermore, teaching demonstrations are awkward for that very reason, especially considering the “students” are usually a committee of department heads, HR administrators and tenured faculty. These are the people deciding if the educator will be hired on. This heavy reality does nothing great for the demonstrator. It singularly creates an environment where the instructor might be distracted by the actual reality in which they are: in a room being judged by a hiring committee.

Understanding the Format of Teaching Demonstrations

Like a well-written essay, teaching demonstrations have a format, if not specifically, at least in a general sense. Every instructor teaches a bit differently, deciding which information to emphasize and which to simply explore briefly. The content, depending on the subject or course, might be arranged differently or pulled from different sources. However, even with all of those differences, there is a format to teaching demonstrations that you’ve likely been following already as an educator.

A teaching demonstration is a small part of your syllabus in action.

If you’ve ever taught a course, you’ve likely designed a syllabus, and this, in part, is what a teaching demonstration is. A teaching demonstration is a small part of your syllabus in action. When preparing for a teaching demonstration, you might struggle with when to present certain information or concepts. Your syllabus already has this information in a specific order. Looking at your syllabus, you could pick a particular week and present that information in part during your teaching demonstration. However, there is an order to do all of this. Here is a good order in which to demonstrate:

1. Welcome the class.
2. Remind the students of what was covered last week or last class.
3. Ask them if they have any follow-up questions about last week or last class.
4. Give them an overview of what they will be covering today, what they will learn (Student Learning Objectives) and why it is important. Instruct them on when and how you will take questions (i.e. only after the lecture, during the lecture or a mixture of both by hand raise or other indication of a question).
5. Cover your content. (Teaching demonstrations can range from fifteen minutes to fifty minutes, and this depends on time allotted or the complexity of the subject. You can use PowerPoint or another program for presenting. You can also forego this entirely or use a projector in combination with a program.).
6. Close the lesson by doing a short conclusion of the information you covered. Tell them what you will cover next week or next class. Ask them if they have any questions. Maybe give a short quiz based on the information you presented. Wish them a goodbye, and you’re done.

*As a note, this also assumes you will practice at least a couple of times beforehand, as you should. Furthermore, teaching demonstrations may be done in person or virtually. Be sure you know the medium and are prepared.

You’re Hired

By following the steps mentioned above, you increase your chances of retaining that full-time position as a professor or lecturer you’ve been desiring. Even so, to successfully land the career, you also have to overcome that feeling of awkwardness during teaching demonstrations. As one critic of the Arts once put it when reflecting on how best to enjoy a play, you must suspend disbelief. That is, you must pretend not to notice that the required teaching demonstration is based on the antithetical idea that it somehow gauges the capacity of the educator to educate. The hiring committee is willing to play this game, and so are some of your competitors. For everything you want, there is a sacrifice to be made. How prepared are you, and how much do you really desire it? You got this.

This article was written by Jermaine Reed, MFA, the Editor-in-Chief of The Reeders Block. He also works an Adjunct College Professor. Join the email list to get notifications on new blog posts and books. This article is 100% human-written. And remember, if you see an error, that’s what makes us human. Subscribe and share.