A Boomer’s Guide to Teaching and Working with Millenials
My parents were traditionalists. I’m a boomer. I work with a lot of Gen-Xers. I teach a lot of millennials. We are all trying to understand each other and adapt to how we teach and learn.
Some teachers have to deal with helicopter parents more than the kids.
Since we are all, mostly, products of our environment and the cyclical events of history, we all look at the world through that lens and, unless you have the right optician, you can have a hard time seeing what’s in front of you. Plus, we all change as we get older so, in many ways, generational stereotyping is stupid.
Here is how I have changed my lens prescription:
- Make it personal. Link learning to experience.
- Embrace technologies, but don’t let technologies get in the way of learning. Hey! Stop checking your cell phone while you are reading this. You will learn more if you take notes Here are some more tips:
Teaching to learn requires learning to teach. Unfortunately, most of us think it is easy, everyone can do it and we should not pay for it. It’s time to get our hearing and seeing prescriptions checked.
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs at www.sopenet.org
