Resources for Educators

Teaching Tip

From the Teacher’s Aide Newsletter

2017 March

Virtual Guest Speakers

Do you invite local experts to your classroom to share real-life information and experiences with your students? Why limit yourself to your local community? With live video conferencing tools like Skype or Zoom, you can bring in guest speakers from anywhere around the globe. Here are a few ways you can connect your classroom to the larger world of wellness education:

• Interview textbook authors, modality developers, treatment innovators, association presidents, publishers, editors, veteran practitioners, etc.
• Exchange a learning objective or two with a colleague you know and respect, who happens to teach at a different school. You could be each others guest speaker.
• Have a modality expert perform a demonstration and answer questions.
• Invite two experts who have differing views on a particular subject or issue. Have them present their different perspectives (not necessarily a debate) and let students question and share their own perspectives.

As with any guest speaker, ask your students to prepare ahead of time with relevant material to generate questions for the guest. And, since you will be using technology, remember to do a practice run!

While I agree, students really need to know what works and doesn’t work in their own communities, hearing from experts in other states (or countries!) can extend their learning experiences and help them develop a broad understanding of the field they are about to enter.