“Initially I thought that the best teachers were able to create success stories out of any student, but it really does take two to tango,” says Iain Lampert when recounting one of his own personal a-ha moments as a teacher. “I initially was hurt when a student would transfer out of my class, because I took it personally. And the challenge was realizing how sensitive I was … and to stop taking it so personally.”

Fast Facts about Iain

1. Full name: Iain Gabriel Lampert
2. Current city: Van Nuys, CA
3. Years teaching: 7, including coaching Speech and Debate since 2010 and teaching speech classes since 2014
4. Grades taught: 6th-12th
5. Favorite books:
   • Professional: Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
   • Personal: The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
6. Why teach? If we don’t, who will?
7. Some of Iain’s favorite resources:
   • Say It Like So: An app that improves our public speaking skills
   • Speech and Debate: The National Speech and Debate Association website
   • Coaching Speech: A website of speech coaching resources
   • Kahoot: A fun way to design classroom games

Noteworthy Outtakes from Iain’s Chat with Teachers

Listen in as Iain takes us on a journey through his time as a child who had no desire to become a teacher, to a High School student who found his voice and passion for speech through various theater and debate classes. And, finally to a dedicated teacher to a future generation of confident communicators.

Iain shares his love for speech and debate and how he  uses his passion to teach children to use the skills they learn in his class in all parts of their lives that include communications – whether interviewing for a job or communicating with a partner.

Some valuable tips he also shares for any new teachers in the field, regardless of grade or content area, is the value of self-reflection. As a lover of all things speech and theater related, Iain talks about teaching being a stage for educating children. He has a deep recognition of all the roles a teacher plays: teacher, friend, counselor and more – many roles that a  teaching program simply cannot prepare you for. But be that as it may, Iain encourages new teachers to never walk into a classroom for the first time without first recording yourself and playing the recording back twice.

First to listen to the audio only. By isolating your voice, says Iain, you are able to hear whether or not there are any problematic things in your voice, such as verbal flubs. Second, Iain suggests watching yourself with the video portion of the recording only to see if you have any awkward hand gestures or if you move in any unstructured or unfocused way that may be distracting your students.