A New Normal? Some Things in Education Never Change

The 8 “C”s of Teaching

COVID-19 has been with us for more than a year. The term, New Normal, has been used over and over to tell us that we have entered a new era in which we have to adopt a new mindset (think online learning) as the old ways no longer work (say congregating together for a practical session in a packed laboratory). However, the more “New Normal” plays like an overused jingle in various media, the more I ponder on the things that do not change, especially in the field of education. These are the principles that endure the test of time, notwithstanding the technologies of time and place.

I first came across The 8 “C”s from my mentor when I started out as an educator. These 8 “C”s serve as guidelines for an educator to structure his lesson. Obviously, they are not meant to be the one and only truth for teaching. Neither are all of them to be incorporated into each and every lesson since this will make the lesson unwieldy and overly mechanical. To me, they are a handy checklist to tweak our lesson plan organically to ever sharpen its edge of effectiveness in teaching our students.

In no particular order, the 8 “C”s are:

• Chilling stories
• Current content relevant to Singapore
• Cyberspace for the Internet
• Comical events or cartoons
• Commerce in terms of business
• Connection to real life
• Clarity
• Commitment

1. Chilling Stories

This is a staple of a good presentation. Shock the audience. Use chilling footage if possible. A lesson in genetics can easily involve discussing the use of DNA to solve a gruesome murder. Severed head and limbs in a crime of passion or greed make a good case study. (Educators, please use your judgement to moderate your content based on the maturity of your audience.)

2. Current content relevant to Singapore

A lesson backed with current news, local if possible, is invaluable to gaining the audience’ attention. I still remember my mentor photocopying newspaper cuttings on to transparencies to spice up his lessons with the latest news. (Yes, those were the days before PowerPoint.)

Presently, COVID-19 is very much in the news, perhaps too much to be capable of eliciting enough response from the audience. Talk about a news overdose! On the other hand, citing an incident in which an innocent passer-by was attacked by a wild boar can bring home the message in an environmental class that nature and development can indeed come into conflict in land scarce Singapore.

3. Cyberspace for the Internet

Keep in mind that these 8 “C”s were first used when internet usage by the public was still nascent. Essentially, this “C” for cyberspace advises the educator to link his lesson to online resources. Given the current integration of the internet into our everyday lives, this “C” has become a de facto requirement for any lesson.

4. Comical events or cartoons

Jokes, a witty punchline or even actual comics and cartoons can defuse the tension in the lesson, especially if rapport has yet to be established between the teacher and his students. Even better, make a connection between the funny material and the subject matter.

Though not the aim of this article, the use of the 8 “C”s actually helps to reinforce the lesson in the students. Without going into specifics, making connections between the subject matter and something else, preferably shocking or funny, actually improves retention of the said subject matter. Case in point, I will always remember this punchline from a presenter, “Go where you are celebrated, not where you are tolerated” because it sounds witty yet contains much truth. He said it to encourage us to head overseas to certain countries where the locals are hungry for our services to help them improve their quality of life.

5. Commerce in terms of business

Let’s face it – who isn’t interested to earn more money? Giving examples and tips to monetise the subject matter you are teaching goes a long way in catching the attention of the audience. This is why books and courses teaching people to get rich always have a large base of potential clients, regardless of whether the advice works or not. The catchphrase “Want to earn more by doing less?” is hard to resist when this is close of the heart for most of us.

6. Connection to real life

This is valuable to the audience when real life applications based on the subject matter can be brought into the classroom. Few people like to deal with abstract concepts with zero application to daily life. Whether in the form of examples, case studies, experiments or full-blown field trips, such activities build a connection important for the audience to relate to the world around them. Humans are not designed to work solely in the realm of pure mathematics and theories.

7. Clarity

This is perhaps the most important “C”. The other “C”s become meaningless without this one. Above all, your lessons must be clear to the audience. Do not attempt to “smoke” them out or beat around the bush. This tactic is painfully obvious unless your audience are young kids. Doubtlessly, we do not know everything. The simple solution is to admit our lack of knowledge to the class and promise them that you will find out more about it.

8. Commitment

Perhaps second in importance only to clarity, a teacher should be committed to delivering his lesson well. This commitment includes adequate preparation and thoughtful organization for maximum learning benefiting the audience. Do your homework and research for your lesson. A poorly executed lesson will stay much longer in the audience’ minds than a good one. At the end of the day, if you do not bother to do a good job, you should not even be in this line.

Summing up

I hope the 8 “C”s above are helpful to the educators/trainers/teachers out there. Perhaps some of you already know them intuitively over years of teaching. If that is the case, you can treat the above as a checklist whenever you need to prepare for a lesson. I do that all the time and still find it useful despite the rise and fall of different educational technologies over the years and certainly despite the coming of the New Normal.