teaching

Activities For The Civic Geek: Teaching And Workshops

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Chances are any geek has a pretty valuable skillset others would like to learn from or use – so why not get educational and teach people.

If you’re a geek you’re enthused about something, and quite likely you do something with it.  From fanfic to coding games, from cosplaying to running cons, from historical enthusiasms to your extensive film library you have developed quite a set of skills.

Of course you may also be good at stuff that may not seem particularly geeky that’s still valuable.  Your writing skills that forge both fanfic and video game reviews may also be useful for your technical writing career.  You might be well organized which is why you run your club and game clan.  Maybe you just have skills you share in a geeky setting (such as the way I talk job skills in geekdom).

You and your crew are smart and skilled in things both geeky and not. Start sharing it.

  • Teach geeky skills to people who don’t have them – how many folks would like to be a bit better at computers, use your cosplay knowledge to sew better, or enjoy learning about Japanese cooking (that you learned due to your love of anime).
  • Teach geeky skills to your fellow geeks.  I mean, we all have to start somewhere.
  • Teach skills that your fellow geeks need.  Sure there’s many budding authors and artists, but your work in PR could be what they need to know how to sell themselves.

You also have plenty of venues to do this in:

  • You could take your skills to any community center, school, or what have you.  This is great for all those geek skills others may need.
  • You can hold events at conventions or other geek events.  They’re always looking for panels and features.
  • You can do workshops and get people hands-on.  After all hands-on is one of the best ways to learn.

Best of all when you do these things, alone or as part of a team, you learn how to teach and instruct.  As you do more of it, you get better at it.  This can open up new options in lives and careers, just be useful overall – or be something you eventually do panels and training on for others . . .

  • Steve

 

 

 

Geek As Citizen: To Teach

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Last week I discussed how we Geeks should work to archive, organize, republish, and propagate our works – and really to encourage people to do something with what they write (or at least the good stuff). Now back to my speculations on the Geek role as a Citizen (and eventually back to this more specific speculation).

And related to publishing? I think a major role of Citizen Geeks is to teach.

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Link Roundup 10/3/2013

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Slow day today, possibly because the U.S. government is busy melting down so we’re all distracted.

  • Twitter files for IPO.  We knew it was coming, so here we go – and is it just me or is the reaction kind of “meh?”  I’d watch this since the politics in the US are probably eclipsing it.
  • In teaching or thinking of going into it?  A look at teacher status around the world, and a look at the US.
  • If you’re in a robot controlled fund you’ve probably lost money.  Just so you know.
  • Political blog ThinkProgress takes a break from the shutdown for a fascinating discussion of Mary-Sueism and literature involving the Bone Season.  A lot to think about here since I do think Mary-Sueism creates roadblocks to literary development – and is way too common to not be limiting (and I count Gary-Stuism in this).

– Steven “Shutdown” Savage