This week at Training2012 conference, one of the best sessions I attended was ‘Creating Learning Experiences that Connect, Inspire, and ENGAGE’. The session was conducted by Dr. Vicki Halsey who is absolutely inspiring and full of positive energy. The way she engaged the attendees in the session proved that her formula of engaging the students definitely works 🙂
Here are some gems from her session:
Make your students feel brilliant: Bring out the best in your students through learning and make them feel brilliant. It’s our job as a teacher/trainer to figure out how to make them brilliant and set them up for success. So the next time your students log out from your class, they should leave feeling brilliant!
70/30 shift: We spend 70% of our preparation time in thinking what we are going to teach and only about 30% of the time in how are we going to teach it. We need to flip that equation around and spend 30% time thinking about what we are going to tell students and what we want them to know and do, etc. and 70% of our time to picture the learners and try to answer some of these questions: Who are these learners? What are they doing in this session? What are they hoping to have happen? What’s going on in their life? Then make the learning experience relevant for their success.
The ENGAGE Model:
- Energize and focus your learners early and throughout the session.
- Navigate content to have them personally experience some aspect of what you are trying to teach.
- Generate meaning by asking them what they’ve learned and how does it make a difference in their lives.
- Apply what they have learned in the real world by allowing them to practice it.
- Gauge and celebrate all they’ve learned to move it from short-term to long-term memory.
- Extend learning to action by helping your students act on their intentions.
Don’t confuse telling with teaching: Don’t tell your students how to do a task, teach them how to do it and give them enough time to practice it and you’ll surely set them up for success.
Practice self-care: Make self-care a priority. To make your students feel good, you should first feel good about yourself. So take out some time from your busy schedule and take care of yourself. Make yourself feel special!
After attending the session, I was hungry to learn more so picked up this amazing book authored by her. It’s known as Brilliance by Design.
Thanks Vicki. I’m glad I got an opportunity to learn from you! 🙂
