In our previous post How to be an Above Average Student, three characteristics were discussed that will make you stand out from the academic crowd. As each point was only covered briefly, we thought it a good idea to give each characteristic its own dedicated post; starting with this week’s menu Being Teachable. In which the characteristic of teachability will be served up and dissected into its more practical components.
Let’s start with the following quote from last week’s post: “Intellect is wasted on a person who is not teachable. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how quickly you learn, if you are not teachable your mental capabilities might as well be on par with a goldfish.”
By definition, being teachable is the ability to learn through being taught. The ability to be taught has nothing to do with IQ, nothing to do with how quickly or slowly a new concept is learned, and it has nothing to do with any natural talent or lack thereof. What does play a role is your attitude and how you think.
So here are a few practical things that will make you more teachable over time:
1. Accept that you do not know everything.
One of the great hindrances to learning new things is the belief that you already know enough. If you believe that you already know everything that you need to know, then there is no point in even trying to learn something new, is there?
Students with this mindset rarely go so far as to listen in class and some don’t even go through the class notes at all.
So, if you want to be a teachable student, enter the university environment with the knowledge that there is always something to learn. Even if you end up only learning the minutiae of the Oxford Comma, at least you walk away having learned something new. Isn’t that the whole point?
2. Dare to ask questions - even stupid ones.
You only have to ask a stupid question once, and if you learned something from said stupid question, it would most definitely have been worth it. So be brave and rejoice in potentially humiliating yourself in the name of new knowledge!
You can find our post 3 Reasons to Ask Dumb Questions here.
3. Do the basics.
Most students want to work through past papers in preparation for their exams, and under the right circumstances past papers are fantastic tools to test one’s understanding. But the problem with this is that most students want to work through past papers before they have studied their notes well enough. You have to start at the beginning.
Seeing how the questions are asked will help nothing if you haven’t done the basics first. So go through all the coursework and class notes, and make sure you’ve covered your bases
Being teachable is a constant effort, but the more you practise these three tips, the more naturally you will be able to learn, and you’ll get closer to becoming an above average student.
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