http://blogs.fullhyderabad.com/showblog.php?blogId=447 This blog is about easy and simple steps to maintain health and develop Yourself. Introduction: Do you want to know about a technique which can help you in learning things faster and better? You can use the " teaching technique " in order to learn better. When you read something, or whenever you are trying to learn about any topic or subject, you can get a better grasp of the subject by teaching it to somebody . The Technique: Whatever you have read and understood, try teaching it to somebody, that will help to make the subject more clear in your own mind. For example - you have been reading a chapter in physics, after reading for half an hour, you can close down the book and then teach what you have learnt to somebody else which will make the subject more clear in your own mind. Now lets say that you are in the middle of reading some important topic, and you want the topic to be firmly driven in your brain by teaching it to somebody, but the problem is that there is nobody interested to whom you can teach the subject. What would you do in such a scenario - would you go out on the street and catch hold of somebody and force him or her to listen to you?? Well.. I certainly do not recommend that, but you can add a little twist to this technique. If there is no one present who is willing to listen to your lecture then instead of teaching to humans you can try  teaching to your pet cat, or teach to the door, the curtains, the wall, the book in front of you, try teaching to your computer screen. Speak out loud on the subject, make gestures as if you are really teaching. You can also imagine that you are a teacher and teaching to a large group of interested students. Does this all sound very silly to you? Remember that the important thing is not whom you are teaching to, the important thing is to go through the motions of teaching. Keep doing it even though you may find it silly in the beginning. Advantages of the technique:  What happens when you go through the motions of teaching? Here are the benefits of using this "teaching technique": 1. You repeat what you have just learnt which helps in remembering the information. 2. You try to put the information in your own words which will help in clearing up any confusions that you might have on the subject, the subject matter will become more firmly etched in your mind. 3. You may also notice that there are some points which you did not understand as perfectly as you thought you did. You can note down which points you did not fully understand, then re-read about those points to get better understanding. 4. You will be organising the information you just studied in your head. 5. While teaching you may get new thoughts and ideas on the subject. If that happens stop the teaching for a few moments and note down the ideas that have come to you. So you see, it does not matter whom you are teaching to - whether it is to humans, animals or to the walls of your house - just going through the motions of teaching, trying to explain the subject as clearly as possible in your own words - will help you in grasping the information more firmly and also helps in remembering it. Alternatives:  If you feel silly or embarrassed doing this technique, you may try the following alternatives : 1. Instead of actually getting up and teaching, just imagine doing it in your mind. 2. Instead of teaching, you can also try and write down what you have learnt in an organized manner as if you are trying to write a chapter on the subject which you have just studied.   Hope all readers of this blog find the technique useful, and get max benefit out of it. I started this blog with the intention of writing only health tips, but now I am adding other useful tips which can help all of us to improve in any area of our daily life like education, social life, confidence, intelligence etc. In my next post, I will write tips on how to become interested in any subject as it is a common complaint among students that they are not interested in subjects which they have to study. http://blogs.fullhyderabad.com/showblog.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2715&blogId=447 Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:32:12 +0000