I am just starting to teach computer science. It's just the basic level. I'm finding that I sometimes don't know how to approach topics in a way that lets students easily understand.

I've found that the best thing is to use analogies. A terrible one, that worked well, was presenting recursion by using the process of eating a burger. (You eat one bite, then you eat the rest). Interesting real world examples do wonders here.

I'd like to know the techniques you have used for teaching, or teachers you've had have used that proved particularly effective. I'd also like to know your best analogies and examples for topics in CS101, especially for those harder to grasp topics.

I'm teaching the class in Java (as required).