LESSON INTRODUCTIONS

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There is a saying, "First impressions are important." This is particularly so for the trainer - participant relationship during lesson introductions.

In the first minutes with the trainer, the participants check out a number of questions and assumptions, guesses and expectations including:

• Is the trainer prepared?
• Is the trainer going to be interesting?
• Is the trainer going to present material to me that is structured?
• What expectations does the trainer have of me?

Preparedness is indicated by the trainer’s control of the time, materials and equipment.

A prepared trainer:

i ) starts on time;

ii ) knows how many participants to expect;

iii ) may have a class list to refer to OR

iv) may have class ID’s ready;

v) has writing materials , boards and presentation equipment ready;

vi ) has checked out that power is available and equipment is working;

vi ) knows when he or she will use the equipment;

vii ) has developed and researched the lesson notes thoroughly;

vii ) has planned approximately the duration of each lesson step.

An interesting trainer is also an interested trainer. They are interested in the subject matter and in the relevant experiences that participants have had.

An interesting trainer:

i ) can be clearly heard without a microphone;

ii ) is not boring, dull, longwinded or repetitive;

iii ) doesn’t exhibit strange facial or bodily mannerisms, gestures or movement patterns;

iv ) writes legibly and uses the board in a logical progression;

v ) allows participants to ask questions and to indicate when the message is unclear or not understood;

vi ) uses a variety of ways to clarify a point e.g. telling a brief anecdote or joke, referring to a news item, a play, film, TV show or book, acting out a role, showing an object, photograph, chart, slide, film or video excerpt etc.

vii ) doesn’t allow lapses where nothing happens or when participants are wasting time;

viii ) provides opportunities for active participation.

The lesson introduction gives an insight into the structured approach of a trainer.

Let’s examine the introductory step of two types of lesson approaches, Explanation and Demonstration - Practice explained elsewhere at this site:

Explanation Lesson . Step 1, the Setting, will involve the arousal of interest in the topic, the reasons why it is important, the advantages of knowing about it, the linking of it to previous content, an outline of the session’s activities and the trainer’s expectations of what the participants should understand at the lesson’s end.

Demonstration - Practice Lesson. Step 1, Preparation for practice, may involve explaining the reasons why the skill is important, , the linking of it to previous skills and experience, an outline of the session’s activities and the trainer’s expectations of what the participants should be able to do and the level of performance expected at the lesson’s end. There may need to be a revision or recall of lesser skills which form the basis of the new skill to be learned.

An athlete would perform some warm up exercises at this stage. A musician would play scales to be flexible, speedy and to tune the instrument.

Notice there is an attempt in both cases to show the relevance of the material, to demonstrate reasons why the learner will benefit, to motivate the participant to give his or her full attention and interest to the topic and to understand where the lesson is going and what is expected of him or her.

Trainer expectations are reflected in the way the trainer takes responsibility for the behaviour and tone in the training room. A learning situation should be relaxed but not to the point of participants being comatose or asleep.

The trainer sets expectations for courtesy by being polite, learning and using names, listening to student answers and responding positively to answers given with sincere praise or encouragement.

The trainer also sets limits to what he or she expects. If a trainer ignores people talking, standing up, moving about or being rude during a presentation or when a participant is contributing, then the group will assume their lack of courtesy is acceptable and will continue doing it.

It’s a sensible habit to indicate, " I like to see your hands up when you have a question" and " I like people who speak loudly enough for all to hear " or even "I am not prepared to have / I will not tolerate people talking when groups are presenting their report."

A sound management technique to adopt is to give instructions for the procedures to be carried out, indicate a time limitation and then to check participants’ understanding by asking. " Now! What do you have to do?"