AI - no, not artificial intelligence

As we're getting towards the end of the course we've pretty much covered all the content we need to. To keep the learners engaged over the next couple of weeks, I'm running some workshops on subjects which are additional to what's required but still relevant to the subject area.

So, this week I ran a workshop on appreciative enquiry. This is quite a difficult concept to explain so I ran it with them as I would in a real situation. Appreciative enquiry is a way of using delegates' existing experience as a firm base for future learning, action and improvements in performance and is typically a 4 stage process:

1. World cafe - group based sharing of experiences

2. Positive core - distilling those experiences down to a handful of behaviours

3. Image of the future - building a clear picture of what the future should look like

4. Making it happen - putting in place actions which use existing behaviours to make the image of the future a reality.

The content of the session seemed to go down very well as it is something that the learners hadn't experienced before and which they could apply to their own training practice.

It's the final countdown

This evening's class was the forth and final one which was observed and for this session I tried something out which I'd seen someone else running as part of their teaching. The other week I carried out an observation on one of the other lecturers at the College and they used some case studies as a learning method. This seemed to be particularly effective so I thought I'd have a go at writing some to run with my group.

The week before we'd covered the levels of Kirkpatrick's evaluation model so I wrote four case studies which required the learners to create evaluation strategies which could be used in the different situations. The learners were then required to present these back to the larger group.

I think this went really well and it enabled me to engage the learners in some of Blooms higher learning objectives as they were required to analyse and evaluate.

Snowball anyone?

My class is coming towards the end of the course now so I'm trying to keep the momentum going by including lots of activities.

This week we started to look at the subject of evaluating training and I applied a snowballing technique to the first activity. I started by asking the learners to work independently to think of and write down what they felt was the purpose and benefits of evaluating training. When they had done this, I asked them to discuss their thoughts in pairs, then in fours. The aim of the task was for each group to come up with a definitive list.

This technique seemed to work well as it allowed all learners to form their own opinions before discussing them with others (in either pairs or fours). This is particularly beneficial for the quieter learners who may struggle to make the opinions heard in a large group. It also led to well formed responses rather than random ones, which are quite often the result of brainstorming.

Workshops, workshops, workshops

This week's class was the second I ran in a workshop format - this time focusing on the management report. I would usually avoid a repetition in format like this (especially considering previous feedback); this report is due in in a couple of weeks' time so the repetition was justified.

I applied a structure to the workshop and started with an information exchange exercise which was probably the most effective part of the lesson. Here learners started by working independently and thinking about where they have gaps in terms of information/data/research for their reports. They then discussed these with the other learners on their table and then with the full group. A type of snowballing I suppose. The objective of this, which I feel was achieved quite well, was to exchange sources of information and to provide support. It's the first time I'd run this and it resulted in most learners having either identified sources to fill their information gaps or direct contact with other learners who will send them what they need.

I followed this with a trigger DVD on report writing and a run through on the format of the management report itself.

I finished the input element of the class 30 minutes early to allow individuals to stay behind and ask specific questions about their reports - a sort of mini tutorial.

Assessment feaver

The learners in my class are coming towards the end of the course so the focus of my teaching has changed from input to having an output focus. In a few weeks' time they'll be handing in their management reports so the first couple of classes after the break will be workshops. I like the less structured format of workshops although I think the challenge is to apply some structure to them, otherwise they run all over the place and no real progress is made.

This Saturday is also the assessment day for the delivering and evaluating training module which involves learners delivering a 15 minute training session to their peers. To make sure they are ready for this, I included time in the workshop (about an hour) to spend time with each of them. Although this amounted to 5 minutes each, it reassured me that what they had prepared was going to meet the criteria (with a few amendments) and reassured the learners (who were a little nervous).

Easter break

It's about halfway into the Easter break and I've been using the time away from College to catch up on some teaching and PGCE stuff - Happy Easter!

And action!

This week I put into action some changes to how I teach my class.

The evaluation exercise which I carried out for one of the PGCE assignments (see last blog) highlighted that learners found some of the exercises repetitive in format. Following this, I created a new exercise for the learners to complete on the subject of facilitation and group dynamics. The session started with some knowledge input from me. I then allocated roles to the learners - 2 were facilitators, 8 as group members and the rest as observers. I gave the facilitators the task of running a group discussion whereby they had to discuss how to make roleplays effective. I gave each group member a brief which outlined how they should behave and the observers had observation sheets to fill in while the activity was running.

Overall, I feel that the activity worked really well and that the learning outcomes were met. The exercise itself took flipping ages to put together but I think it was worth it. And this brings me on to the second change of the evening - managing the learning environment more tightly.

The previously mentioned evaluation exercise also highlighted the need to manage some of the stronger personalities in the group more tightly. Over the weekend I'd thought about how best to do this and decided to use the group discussion activity. I chose a couple of the quieter learners to facilitate the discussion. I felt that it was important for there to be two of them for mutual support. I asked the three strong personalities to be the observers, so they would need to be quite and watch what was going on. The remaining learners where the participants in the group discussion.

This seemed to work in terms of managing the stronger personalities and the quieter ones had the opportunity to contribute to the classes learning.

Pandora's box

Hello reader,

What a strange week it's been. Just as things are starting to improve with the new job, the teaching gig goes all weird.

As part of an assignment for the PGCE, I had to ask my students to complete an evaluation form on my teaching methods and strategies. I duly put together a suitable form which asked for feedback on areas such as their enjoyment of the classes, how engaging, challenging and stretching the material is, how prepared I am, how useful feedback from assignments is and whether they make use of the College library. In completing the form, the students needed to tick a box which most represented how they felt about the statement. There was also some space at the bottom of the form for them to feedback the aspects of the lessons they liked most and their suggested areas for improvement.

Overall, the feedback was really good with most learners giving positive responses to the statements and lots of comments in the box about what they liked. The comments in the areas for improvement box were a real mixed bag. Some learners took the opportunity to feedback about the amount of work they had to do for the last assessment and some gave quite specific comments about particular aspects of the lesson. What was a common theme was the number of remarks about some learners dominating the rest of the group with their contribution.

Well, once you open Pandora's box and release what's inside, you can't get it back in now can you! At least it will give me plenty of fodder for the next assignment - dealing with classroom behaviour.

Observation - part deux

This week's class saw Margaret observing for the second time.

Overall, I feel that the session went well. I'd had a hard day at work so things could only get better really!

For this evening's session I tried to apply a couple of the learning points from the first observation in January. First of all I tried to control the learning environment more by getting into the room early and moving the furniture around so that learners would be sat in groups of 4 - which would facilitate the exercises later on. I also asked the two learners from each group to move so they had the opportunity to work with other people.

Second, I included a method for assessing learning. This took for the form of an initial assessment method which required learners to rate themselves against a set of skills they had come up with. This worked well and gave me an idea of where their strengths lay and areas for improvement/development.

Later in the session I also used a group exercise technique which I'd learnt in the PGCE class. The learners worked in small groups to form an answer which I then took and compared to those from other groups and finally revealed the real answer. This enabled learners to share their thoughts and perceptions on the question and to form a group answer.

Time for some more?

After last week's early finish blip, tonight's session went well. I had a good range of activities and the learners really got a lot out of the visualisation exercise. I'd learnt this on a course I attended years ago whilst working for another company. Put simply, you are asked to close your eyes and picture someone who's excellent at doing something - in this case delivering training. The facilitation (me) then gives you a range of prompts to get you to reflect on certain aspects of their behaviour, such as their body language, how they interact with the delegates and the words they use to deliver messages. When the learners open their eyes, they need to record quickly their observations, share these in small groups and try to pick out common themes.

This works well because the learners are basing their thoughts on real people rather than the usual 'write down what you think'. It also encourages role model behaviour and for learners to construct how they want to use this information to inform their personal training style.

This evening I also tried to control the learning environment more. I arrived early and moved the tables so they were in 3 large groups - to facilitate the exercises. I then had 3 tutorials to do and can you guess what had happened when I went back into the room? Yes, the learners had moved the table back to the usual position. My learning point is to tell them or, if no one if there to tell, to leave a note. They only had to move them back again.

Next week, observation number two...

Caught short

This was the first week back from half-term and the holiday is definitely over! Not only did I start back at College two nights a week but I also started a new job on Wednesday - I will keep applying for things...

I have a bit of a learning point from Tuesday's teaching practice, it's a big one actually. As usual, I'd planned the evening out beforehand with a range of activities. The objectives were to finish off the designing learning and assessment module and to introduce the next one - training delivery and evaluation. Nothing unusual there except that by 8.30pm we'd gotten through all the material and I there was nothing else to do but send the students home early.

Now that may seem pretty harmless, and the students certainly weren't complaining, but I'd essentially taken 30 minutes off the class time and in a busy course that's a little foolish. So, I need to make sure that if we finish early again I have something prepared for us to do. This could be an extra activity or something from the following week. I did have something I could have done and I must have thought, because we'd done everything I'd planned, we should just finish.

I've got a lot planned for next week's session (including a visualisation exercise) so that shouldn't happen again. Oh, and I need to book in another observation.

Didn't that used to be called improv?

This evening I included a formative assessment method in the session. I agreed with Margaret as part of my feedback that I would work on my assessment methods so I thought I'd have a go.

I included a quiz whereby learners would individually select a number (from 1-22) which would relate to a question about what we've covered in the module so far. The questions included areas such as Kolb's experiential learning cycle, Honey and Mumford's learning styles and the principles of training design. Overall the learners did well and only struggled with two questions.

I'll definitely do another quiz later on in the course although I may change how I run it. Giving each learner a question each to answer did rather put them on the spot and didn't give much thinking time.

I also learnt a new bit of teaching terminology in the PGCE class - reflection in action. That appears to be the technical term for when you change (of the cuff) how you are teaching something based on how it's going. Didn't that used to be called improvisation?

Tools just for teachers?

For this week's class, I continued to try out different techniques and methods based on last week's feedback from Margaret.

Mixing learners up for group exercises was particularly interesting. Rather than pick which group people would be in, I asked the learners to get in a line in order by middle name and then sectioned them into 4/5s. In most cases, this resulted in nicely mixed groups who performed well in the task. There was one group however were two of the learners clearly had, how shall I put this, very different personalities. So, my learning point for next time is to be conscious of who's working with who.

The other method I tried out was to ask learners to record the results of the exercise on the interactive whiteboard themselves. This worked well for a number of reasons. Firstly, the learners were eager to try the whiteboard out. Secondly, this cut down on feedback time. Thirdly, the group couldn't then criticise my handwriting. Result!

Assessment - it's the future!

Yesterday evening Margaret came to College to give me feedback on the session she observed last week. I found it really useful because, of course, it was focused on my own individual performance and it was also good to have another opinion of my teaching methods. We discussed and highlighted a number of areas for improvement including controlling the learning environment more closely and using directed questions to include more learners. We completed our conversation by highlighting assessment as an area to focus on for my next observation.

Now you see, I'm the sort of person who only needs to be told something once... In the class that followed I started to put into practice a lot of what we'd discussed. For one of the group activities I mixed the groups up as students had become accustomed to working with the same people. When asking for feedback from the activities, I chose the people to feedback and purposely picked the students who usually prefer to let others do it. These couple of changes seemed to be successful and I felt a lot more in control.

So next time I will focus on assessment - it's the future!

SOWs and other animals

The focus on this week's class was on schemes of work (SOWs) and it highlighted the fact that I don't think there is one for the course I'm teaching. This is where I had a light bulb moment as SOWs seem to fill the gap on something I've been struggling with. I was given a course timetable at the beginning of the year and I've been using this as a way of structuring learning week by week. This is where I've struggled as, unlike last year's, the timetable has blocks of 6-8 weeks with just a module title. I've been using the CIPD professional standards (which outline the objectives which should be met) and I've been slotting the content into the weeks. I didn't think this was the best way to do it but in the absence of anything else...

Naturally, I was initially annoyed that I didn't have a SOW to work from. I decided to ask my boss at the College (quite innocently) if she could send me the SOW, and she did. Then I felt a bit daft for not asking for it in the first place. That was until I read it! It clearly hadn't been updated for some time and included topics which weren't even part of the professional standards.

So it looks like I'll be writing a new SOW for the assignment which is due in the week after half term - oink!

Observer, thy name is Margaret

Last night Margaret observed my session. I think it went pretty well although I'll have to wait 'til next week to receive her feedback.

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd considered changing what I planned to deliver in light of Margaret's attendance. In the end I kept the content the same but moved things around a little. For example, there was no point Margaret observing one of my regular features - exercise, game or activity of the week - as this is learner led. I'd warned my students that I was being observed and they were as good as gold - until Margaret left that is.

I found the process of putting my session plan into the recommended format, writing the rationale and creating a task management pack for the exercises, quite time consuming. It was useful though as it (well the rationale anyway) made me think about why I was doing something a certain way, rather than just doing it. It also highlighted some areas for development as I'm not that familiar with the domains of learning and my differentiation activities leave a lot to be desired.

Confusion guaranteed

I attended the first PGCE class tonight - the first for me anyway - and confusion was the order of the day. I learnt long ago that the first session on a new course is usually like this and, as Margaret says, the red mist will clear. What was clear is that there's a lot of work to do and a lot of associated paperwork to complete. Infact, as the proformas and booklets were handed out, I could hear in the background the reving of chainsaws and of trees being felled.

I also booked in a time for Margaret to observe me teaching (first of four). I've already planned out the session so now I have a dilema. Do I run the session as planned or do I make lots of changes in light of what we've covered in this first session? I think run it as planned although I will transfer the session plan into the suggested format.

Prologue

Well, that's not a word I'd normally use (in fact, I had to check the spelling) but it fits what I'm going to do in this post. I wanted to give a overview of the story so far not least as it might seem strange, due to the purpose of this blog, to start at the beginning of the calendar rather than the academic year.

I did originally start the PGCE back in September and attended the induction session. Because I'd previously done a Certificate in Training Practice, I didn't need to do the first term of the programme.

I did have to complete a bridging assignment which involved me observing two experienced qualified teachers and writing an essay on what I had learnt and how I would apply that learning to my teaching practice. I observed a fellow lecturer (Barry) at Stockport College and a friend who teaches holistic therapies at Trafford College (Davide). I learnt very different things from each of them and I have applied both aspects to my lessons. From Barry, I liked the way he used the interactive whiteboard to record responses from students and to illustrate points. I have now started using the whiteboard in my classroom (having avoided it for a whole year) and the students have responded well. It means the people at the back of the room can see rather than having to squint at the flip chart. From Davide, I liked his use of practical exercises and, although I haven't asked my students to strip off and rub each other with hot pebbles, I have included more exercises in my lessons.

The final thing I wanted to talk about in this post is to outline my teaching experience so far and why attending this programme is such good timing. I only started teaching in September 2008 - although I have been delivering training for the last 10 years. My first class was small (only 10 students) and I taught the CIPD Learning and Development elective, which is part of the professional development scheme. This was good group to start with and 9 of them passed the exam at the end of the year. I'm particularly proud of them as the exams are set at masters level and the national pass rate usually hovers at around 55%. This year's class is something quite different and involves 22 students, with a range of skills and abilities, completing a level 3 qualification, assessed primarily through coursework (and the marking that entails). And it's this class which makes the timing of the PGCE really good. It means that I can apply learning from the course which will really make a difference to my teaching.

Confessions and points to note

Well, I suppose I better start with some introductions.

I'm a student studying for a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at Stockport College. It's my second year as an hourly paid lecturer so I thought it would be a good time as any to do the course. As part of the PGCE I'm required to keep a professional diary and this is where it's a good time to tell you about my first confession.

Confession 1 - I'm not very good at reflecting on what I've done and (more importantly) what I've learnt from it. I tend to move onto the next thing so I'm hoping that the process of writing this blog (which is my first) will provide the rigour to make sure I do some reflecting. I had to do a similar exercise on a previous course (with the same tutor strangely enough - maybe she has a fetish!) and I must confess (that's another one) that I found the process a chore. It was a while ago and I don't think blogs existed back then - this is where my second confession comes in...

Confession 2 - I stole the idea of this blog from a fellow student! Now, theft might seem extreme but, when I saw he'd chosen to use a blog to record his learning rather than a paper diary, the idea just seemed to fit better with me. My hand writing is terrible and this way I at least have the opportunity to correct my spelling and have some kind of sentence structure. To make up for this grande theft, I should at least provide a link to the person who I actually give credit to for the original idea.

That's it for the confessions (for now anywho) so it just leaves me to explain the name of blog. One of the teachers I remember most clearly from school was an English teacher called Mr Hillditch. He was very much old school and seemed to specialise in fantastic catchphrases. One aspect of his lessons I used to dread was when you had to read out a passage from a book in front of the class. Of course, most people stuttered and mumbled and, in response, Mr H would bellow "loud and clear so all can hear" and "speak up (surname)". So, in memory of this most respected teacher, I have called this blog after the phrase that was often left ringing in my ears after one of his lessons - "speak up Wales".

Welcome

Dear reader,

Welcome to my professional diary for the PGCE qualification at Stockport College. I hope you find this diary an interesting reflection on my learning from the programme and teaching practice.

Andrew (speak up) Wales