As someone who's spent the last 10 weeks learning at the data school, it was a nice (albeit challenging) change of pace to consolidate what I'd learned and have a go at teaching members of the public. In this blog I'll go over some of my biggest takeaways from the experience.
People learn at different paces
Seems obvious, I know, but it's something I found difficult to gauge during my session. Some people would get the hang of the concept really quickly, whilst others would take a little while. Trying to balance the pace of teaching so as to be not too slow to bore the faster people whilst being not too fast to leave people behind is really difficult. Here, having stretch tasks is your friend. This allows you to take your time helping those who need it and gives those who finish early something to do in the meantime.
Don't assume any prior knowledge
As the (relative) expert in the subject you're teaching, it's easy to take certain pieces of knowledge for granted. Be sure to be methodical, explain things from the ground up and check in with people as you go.
Be prepared for things to go wrong
Whether it's technical difficulties, little mistakes in the learning material or people not turning up with working laptops (yes, these all happened to me), things won't always go to plan. It's up to you to roll with the punches and be adaptable. For example, I forgot a cleaning step in the walkthrough I was doing and there were mismatches in the subsequent join step. Instead of panicking, I used this as an opportunity to ask the class if any of them could spot a problem. Luckily, someone noticed and I used it as a learning opportunity. Crisis Averted. Phew!
Be excited about what you have to teach
It's on the teacher to set the tone and bring the energy! Let the class know why they should be excited about what you've got to say.
On the whole, I really enjoyed the teaching experience. I learned a lot and I hope it's something I get another chance to do in the future.