During the 12FALL semester, I had the opportunity to attend the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) and as someone with no formal experience, I was apprehensive about taking a course on teaching. The idea of delivering three 10-minute lessons (to my peers) filled me with such trepidation that I almost bowed out. Thankfully I did not, as this turned out to be one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I`ve ever had.
So what is the ISW all about?
The workshop is built on the BOPPPS model and was conducted over a four day period.
Founded in 1978/79, the workshop required participants to prepare and teach three, 10-minute mini lessons spanning the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. Following each lesson, participants were given positive and constructive feedback in both verbal and written formats. Each teaching session was also videotaped, so participants could later review their instructional techniques and make adjustments or improvements where necessary.
The BOPPPS model utilises five steps when formatting a lesson plan:
Bridge-in: Used to gain the learner’s attention and can serve as an introduction to the lesson
Objectives: States what the learner should know by the end of the session
Pre Assessment: Surveys what the learner already knows about the topic
Participatory Learning: Learners have the opportunity to get actively involved in the learning process and this forms the lesson body
Post Assessment: Survey to assess the learner’s knowledge and understanding of the information delivered
Summary: Period of reflection, closure of the learning cycle
I have always been interested in teaching/presenting, facilitating workshops etc, but I just did not know where to start and how to build a lesson. Well thanks to the ISW training, that is no longer a problem. The workshop manual contained easy to follow guidelines, useful information and this was supplemented by real life experiences from fellow participants and instructors.
You might be wondering, what can this course teach someone who already has years of teaching experience. Well, nine of the 11 participants in this workshop were experienced instructors and based on their feedback, these seasoned instructors commented that they took with them a model that would assist in planning and delivering more effective lessons.
In addition, the model provided a guide to help them to remain focused from the preparation stage to delivery. Also, as a result of improved organisation there was increased confidence and thus improved effectiveness of the content that was delivered. Over the four day period, it was clear to see growth and development in all the participants as we explored, utilised and adapted the BOPPPS model to suit the different domains.
Of all the great features of this workshop, I found the main advantage of the model was the clear direction it provided for developing an objective and thus building the lesson plan to achieve it. Using the model helped me to stay on topic and even when questions or suggestions were raised, because my objective was at the forefront of my mind, there was little danger of going ‘off script’.
I would encourage anyone interested in developing their teaching skills to attend this workshop with an open mind. There are so many nuggets of information available; you may only need one or two applicable ideas to compliment or improve the way you work.
Why not give it a try?
Happy Teaching….
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