by Todd Hicks

Created on: September 17, 2007   Last Updated: December 18, 2010

Do you want your children to have an excellent life? Are you interested in helping other people reach their full potential? You will learn how to achieve your goal of helping others by instilling your knowledge.

Teach your kids as many things as you can. Have you heard of "the birds and the bees"? It is very important that you start being a parental teacher in the early years of your kids' lives.

You should read with your toddler and teach him or her reading and language skills. You should also teach him or her discipline, the laws, financial skills and critical thinking skills. Teach him or her to obey the rules and laws, respect authority, treat everyone with respect, control his or her anger at all times, refrain from violence, solve all problems through peace and logic and avoid a fight at all times. Teach your child everything you know.

Teach other people your skills. If you know how to do something well, teach someone how to do it. A few years ago, I was a member of the St. Louis Chapter of The Association of Black Journalists. From January 2003 to April 2003, I helped the association conduct a writing workshop called The Minority Journalism Workshop.

The workshop was sponsored by The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and held at The University of Missouri at St. Louis. A few people who work at The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KSDK Channel 5 shared their knowledge of journalism. The purpose of the workshop was to help local minority high school seniors learn to become journalists and earn a journalism scholarship to The University of Missouri at St. Louis. As students worked on their assignments, I walked around the classroom and checked to see how they were doing. I helped them correct spelling and grammatical errors and I made sure that they were following the instructions from the teachers.

I have also taught a few people how to play tennis. Tennis players should always have their knees bent; react to an oncoming ball by turning to the side with the front foot pointing to the north and the back foot pointing to the east; and hit the tennis ball in a clockwise motion. 

Teach new hires or applicants. If you are an experienced employee at your job, you should teach a new co-worker how to succeed with the company. If you are a hiring manager, you should be willing to hire and train a skilled, educated applicant who does not have as much experience as you might like. After all, how can someone get the experience if you will not let him or her get it?

If you have a desire to mold young minds, you should study to become a teacher, teacher assistant or substitute teacher. I was a substitute teacher in St. Louis, Missouri for five years. My most fulfilling substitute teaching experience came over a year ago when I taught a computer keyboarding class at Hoech Middle School. The students used computer typing games to work on their assignments.

I walked around the classroom to monitor their progress. I taught some of them the fingers you must use to hit certain keys. For example, you must use the fifth finger on your left hand to type a Z, an A and a Q. You must use the fifth finger on your right hand to type a P. I also explained to the students that you must use your left hand to type the letters that are on the left side of the keyboard and you must use your right hand to type the letters that are on the right side of the keyboard.

Follow these steps to instill your knowledge and make a difference!

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