How to do it:

The first step is to figure out what you’re expert at, that other people might want to learn. It might be literally anything: gardening, crochet, doing taxes, fixing cars, or making great protest signs. Now think about how you learned to do that thing. Maybe you built the skill over years, or maybe someone helped you learn. Maybe you grew up gardening with your grandpa and never even thought about it. Think about it now: if you had a grandkid interested in learning this skill, how would you help them?

There are a couple of ways to approach teaching, and your choice will be influenced by the topic and also by your personality. Here are three basic approaches you could consider:

Mentoring:

A one-on-one approach is often easiest for people without prior teaching experience. You could get involved in a formal mentoring program, like a library tax-help day or Master Gardeners, but that takes commitment over time. Joining an online group for the activity and offering well-written supportive comments can be an intermediate step, or just offer on social media: “I’m knitting resistance caps. If any new knitters would like to learn, I’d be happy to show you some basics.” Meet somewhere basic with supplies (or give folks a supply list ahead of time—be specific!) and learn to teach.

Informal Gathering:

If there’s a lot of interest in the thing you know how to do, consider having a casual gathering to do it. Let’s say your resistance is making beautiful postcards to voters. You’ve got coloured pencils and the system down! A couple of friends have admired the pictures you posted and asked how you come up with your ideas. So throw an informal postcard party! Invite everyone to a coffee shop with big bench tables, or reserve a room at the library (usually free for events open to the public) and bring all the supplies. Ask for a $5 donation for supplies, if you want. (Venmo works well for small transactions.)

Formal classes:

Some tasks are more complex, have legal considerations, or simply might be intimidating for a new teacher. If you’d like someone to teach you to teach, look for an organization to support your efforts. From Master Gardeners to your local tool library, there are dozens of places you can volunteer to share knowledge. Start at your public library and look for free classes or help-nights, then get involved in the group hosting them. If you have teaching experience, you can also develop a syllabus and schedule time at the library for free, public classes, but that’s a fairly specialized level of skill.