Developing your training skills: The art of classroom management (Part 1)

-


Input from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept03/vol61/num01/The-Key-to-Classroom-Management
Whether in school or workplace, we all have to manage people and that’s all classroom management is all about. Maybe it is often associated with primary and secondary education but it is equally important in workplace trainings. I think the word "lead" will be better.How do we manage the training classroom environment with different personalities?

There are certain points for effective trainer-participant relationships; in the field of education we will say teacher-student relationship but since I’m referring to workplace learning, I will use the trainer-participant relationship throughout  this article.

Be professional in your interactions: It is absolutely perfect to be nice but you need to ensure that you don’t compromise the trainer-participant relationship by being unprofessional either in your behaviour, mannerisms and attitude. It will affect their perception of you as a trainer.

Establish clear expectations and consequences: We need to set boundaries so that there is orderliness. If clear expectations and consequences are not set, it leads to chaos and eventually you will be blamed for poor management of the training programme.

Establish clear learning goals: Be very clear and concise about what they will learn during the training. State it at the beginning and don’t attempt to deviate from it unless absolutely necessary. Always refer to the goals through the training. You can do the same for each topic during the training. Writing the goals on a flip chart and showing progress can be very helpful.

Exhibit assertive behaviour: Your body language is important. Trainers are more like actors and newscasters. You have to look your best even if you have had a bad night.
§  Be sure to maintain an erect posture
§  Maintain appropriate distance especially body contacts; however remain very approachable.
§  Use an appropriate tone of voice and avoid display of too much emotions. If you must show emotion, raise your pitch slightly but not greatly
§  Don’t ignore an inappropriate behaviour


Appropriate levels of cooperation through flexible learning goals, personal interest in the participant, 
equitable and positive classroom behaviours and awareness of high-needs  participants. Watch out 
for Part 2. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Using your internal talent as trainers

-
Image
Every year organizations spend money on consultants for a whole lot of things and training is not left out.   We go through rigorous processes to select the best. I will like to see things from another perspective and that is developing trainers within the organization. You will spend but trust me not as much when using external consultants in the long run. Let me be frank with you; THE BEST RESOURCES ARE WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION . They understand the system, people and culture within the organization. What we see is that a lot of organization shy away from this wealth of resource and continue on a ride with too many consultants. Tips for using internal talent as trainers 1. Determine the competencies required for each job role. Nothing complex. 2. Categorize the training offerings that will address the required competencies. Those trainings that can be facilitated by internal talents and external consultants. 3. Design a simple framework for utilizing internal tal...
Read more

Developing training skills: tips you have never been told Part 1

-
Image
We are all trainers in one way or the other and no one was born with a special skill to train. We develop it and those who are good at it; keep at it while learning everyday. In my years of conducting training, I have come to learn certain lessons which I want to share with everyone that desires to become a trainer or a better one. 1.  You need to have passion : Passion to train others; passion to see improvement in the system; passion to save lives; passion to see people become better at what they do. I moved from a banking career to international development job specifically in health. While I understood training as a whole, the subject matter was strange but I did something: I looked within to find a connection and I realized that the people I train will be responsible for saving other people's lives. That is where I found my passion. 2.  People are key in training:  Content without the people to train is no training so we need to have and show genuine inter...
Read more

Mistakes/errors can be a learning tool for improvement

-
Show me that person who has never made a mistake or error and I will show you someone who hasn't been adventurous or tried anything new. We all make mistakes and errors. Mistakes and errors can be a very good opportunity to learn; however the fear of not making mistakes has crippled innovation in many organizations. Nobody makes a conscious effort to make errors; it is in the process of doing or creating something that we make mistakes.  How can we turn mistakes or errors to a learning opportunity? 1. Separate personality from the error. Who goes about breaking plates? 2. Have a discussion about what was the reason for the error. 3. Ask what could have been done better. It gives room for improvement. 4. The fear of mistakes and errors can cripple a team or company; create room to try new things even if it is not the norm. 5. Avoid the scenario of sidetracking the individual because they have made an error. Challenge them the more. The mere thought of th...
Read more