Am I unconsciously competent? Let's hope so!

Just one other quick shout out about The Ultimate Training Workshop Handbook readings for this week. Another thing that jumped out at me in these readings was an idea that I have heard of before  - The Stairway to Proficiency.

I remember I first heard of this idea in my Comm 221 Interpersonal Communication class back when I was in my undergraduate days. Something must have struck me about the idea though because it stayed with me all this time in the back of my mind until I read it again in this book earlier this evening. The idea is simple and includes four steps:

1. Unconscious incompetence - You don't know it, but you are not doing something well.
2. Conscious incompetence - You become aware that you are not doing well.
3. Conscious competence - You become aware that you are doing better.
4. Unconscious competence - You become so good that you are unaware of trying to be good.

I think the reason this resonates with me is that it can apply to pretty much everything that we do or learn. I think about it a lot when I am striving to improve a skill and am usually in the conscious competence stage. I never really pay attention when I get to the final stage but I suppose that is the point really.

One area I have worked to improve and am now consciously competent in is giving positive feedback to my students. It's a tip I picked up from Train Smart earlier in the semester and I have been trying to positively acknowledge every student who does something in one of my classes - answers a question, gives feedback etc. At first I suppose I was unconsciously incompetent since I didn't give that feedback as often and I didn't know that was a problem. Then after reading the tip in Train Smart I decided to incorporate it and kept realizing that I had forgotten to give the feedback. Now I notice that I am getting better and giving the positive feedback more instinctively. I won't really pinpoint when I move into that final stage but when I stop thinking about it and it becomes a good teaching habit then I will be unconsciously competent.

Build trust and rapport

This week we've jumped into "The Ultimate Training Workshop Handbook" by Bruce Klatt which gives tons of instructions and advice on how to run the best possible workshop. Right now in class we're beginning to plan for our own workshops so the information all seems pertinent.

One specific section that jumped out for me in Chapter One was the section on trust and how to build it as an instructor. This is something I can see myself applying in my Comm 101 classes as, thinking back to great teachers I've had in the past, trust is a key issue in being an effective instructor.

First, Klatt outlines how important it is to keep any trust you gain - once lost, it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to gain back. To give your students an aura of trust about you, you must also trust them in return and be genuinely interested in them as students. Another important element  - and something that resounds with me as I try hard to live this in my daily life - is understanding that you are not perfect as an instructor and admitting when you are wrong or don't know, instead of just BSing. Taking responsibility for yourself as the instructor will hopefully garner respect from your participants and they are more likely to trust what you say because they know you will own up if you don't know something.

Another element of trust is openness and working to be a 'real person' as well as an instructor, which is an element of my teaching philosophy (currently under development). I think in most circumstances, this can lead to more trust and respect since participants come to understand that you are being truthful and up front about the topic and not trying to skirt around issues. Along with openness comes being congruent, reliable and supportive, all very important elements in trust.

Another element to go along with trust is rapport. Klatt gives an example of good rapport as the class having an inside joke, possibly even laughing at you as the instructor, but in a good humored way. I think this is a great way to connect with a class and again ties back to being a real person who is relatable. Inevitably that will lead the class to trust you more.

I teach two sections of Comm 101 and I can tell that I have a much better rapport with one class than the other, and I haven't yet been able to pinpoint exactly why. In my morning class that I teach twice a week the students are often difficult to engage and don't seem interested a lot of the time. However, when I do the same exercises with my night class, they quickly engage. That is the class that I can tell I have a better rapport with. I put it down partly to the time of day - for example, if I show a funny video clip to illustrate a point, the morning class will sit there in silence while my night class will crack up - so it's not all me! But in the night class it seems the students are much more apt to joke around with me; a standing joke in the class is making fun of me biking to campus in my high heels :) I never thought much about the joking as a specific way to build rapport, it just comes more naturally later in the day I think, but now I plan to try and implement a few more jokes into my morning class to see if it builds a better rapport with those students.

Who am I to teach? Finding my courage.

I talked in my last post about the book I'm reading for class "Teaching Interpersonal Communication" by Elizabeth Nattale. We jumped into the middle of the book to look at interpersonal theories but now I'm taking a step back to look at myself as a teacher.

Natalle questions the reader as to why he or she became a teacher and when they decided to do that. I guess for me, as I reflected on that question, I thought back to my days in primary school. I had always wanted to be a teacher but the idea of teaching at the university or college level had never even crossed my mind. It was a choice between a history teacher in secondary school or a primary school teacher. Although it was a given throughout my childhood that I would always come to college, I definitely didn't have the most concrete background as far as parental examples - not only am I a first generation college student but my parents didn't even finish our British equivalent of high school. So maybe that is why the idea of teaching at this level never even occurred to me.

Anyway, I took a year out after I graduated and worked as a teacher's assistant in a primary school. While I really loved the experience and valued the fun time I had, I saw the work of the teachers around me as something I did not want to do.

Then I came out to Boise State, a history major for my first year, thinking about becoming a history teacher. But through my studies I realized another career choice (it had always been between these two) and decided to switch my major to Mass Communication/Journalism to become a journalist. That gave me my first experience with Communication as a field and I began to love so many aspects of it, especially interpersonal. That lead to me coming back to study my master's degree after working as a reporter for a few years; while I loved the work, I felt that teaching at the university level suddenly became an option for me and I didn't want to put it off any longer.

Natalle also questions the reader as to what their strengths and challenges are as a teacher so I'll take a shot at figuring out some of mine.

Strengths:

• Personable - This helps me to relate to students.
• Positive - I can take most things and give them a positive spin.
• Passion - I really "get into" material, especially regarding communication, so I find I can sometimes pass this on to the students.
• Organized - As long as I have time to prepare, I can set myself a schedule and stick to it through the class.

Challenges:

• Soft voice - While I can be loud at times, I generally have a softer voice when teaching so I need to work on my vocals to project my voice effectively.
• Nervousness - Sometimes I can get flustered if we get off track or I lose my place in the outline so I need to practice being "off the cuff" to reduce this.

After that background, next I'll delve into my teaching philosophy.

Stages of coming together and apart - we can all relate

"Teaching Interpersonal Communication" by Elizabeth Natalle outlines the original text of some fundamental interpersonal theories. In class we divided up the theories and each used Train Smart ideas to teach the our classmates. I chose to teach Knapp's Stages of Coming Together and Coming Apart, mainly because this is one of the interpersonal ideas that best appeals to me. I consider it to be foundational and adaptable to all manner of relationships. It can also helpful within those relationships to understand the stage and the behavior generally associated with it.

In class I decided to begin by demonstrating to my classmates how adaptable this theory is, surveying them to find out who had been in a relationship, who had been in a relationship that ended and who was still in a relationship. Obviously they all raised their hands for all of them - that's because this theory is so adaptable to every relationship.

I varied the visual-field and overviewed the main points with a powerpoint, being sure to use a pretty design to make it worthwhile to look at. I also had my classmates reflect on each stage to identify specific relationships that characterized each stage. I had them pair up and act out a different stage to involve, not tell. This was fun and also had them thinking deeply about each stage.

Just as an overview, here are the stages outlined by Knapp:

• Initiating
• Experimenting
• Intensifying
• Integrating
• Bonding
• Differentiating
• Circumscribing
• Stagnating
• Avoiding
• Terminating

I can't draw it out here on the computer screen but I visualize these as a pyramid - moving up the stages of coming together all the way to bonding and then coming down the other side to terminating.

A few points to note: You can have characteristics of many stages but you are characterized by the most dominant behavior and also that there are no good and bad stages here - coming together can be bad just as coming apart can be good.

A few tips from Train Smart

As my previous post outlined, I've been reading "Train Smart" by Rich Allen in which he lists 25 key concepts for training smart. I'll just pick out a couple of my favorites to chat about here.

1. Acknowledgement - It seems like common sense but it's important to pay attention to each person and each response to create a positive atmosphere. While we can't let it seem like fake praise, just keeping everybody's efforts acknowledged can lead to a good learning environment.
2. Precise directions - Again, it sounds like common sense, give precise directions so people can know exactly what they need to do. It's a little more difficult to do however since sometimes we can give directions and not realize that they need to be more specific. For example, instead of asking a question, tell students to raise their hands if ... which gives them better direction (ties in with another tip, participant inquiry). Also keep directions concise and give them one at a time.
3. Teach it standing - I tried this in the Comm 101 classes I teach and it worked a treat! It's a simple concept, just get the students on their feet for a while so they are not falling asleep in their chairs. It's important not to use it during important times when students need to write things down or answer test questions.
4. Question/clarify/question - As a teacher when you open the class up to discuss a questions, adding in lots of details after the question can be confusing. This tip recommends the teacher first states the questions, gives the additional details and a specific example of what they are looking for, then restates the question at the end so it's fresh in the minds of students.
5. Managing disruptions - This tip outlines various ways to deal with disruptions which is an area I definitely want to get better at. It can be as simple as giving participants time to voice concerns or get out frustrations or can require the instructor to stop in to diffuse the situation. Any remarks that are offensive or hurt feelings need to be dealt with right away.
6. Positive language - I'm a pretty positive person so I'm surprised this one hasn't occurred to me before now but this just involves framing each thing you say as an instructor in a positive way instead of negatively.
7. Involve don't tell - This encompasses a lot of the Train Smart ideas and is quite self-explanatory. Students will learn best if they have to do something to learn it rather than just sit and listen. So come up with activities that allow the students to interact with others and the material.
8. Visual-field variations - Mix up where you have students looking as an instructor to keep the students attention focused. Have visuals such as a powerpoint for some content but then write other content on a board to mix up the visual-field, for example.

How can we train smart?

"Train Smart" by Rich Allen promises effective trainings every time. Now I haven't used it all that much yet so I can't speak to how true that promise is, but it sure seems like we could learn a lot from this book.

Although many of the ideas seem a little common sensical, judging from teachers and trainers I've experienced, not everyone  - in fact very few in my sphere - follow these guidelines.

The point is simple: Don't just stand up infront of a crowd, give a boring lecture and expect everyone to magically stay focused and absorb all the information. Most of us learn much better in a varied environment where we are doing rather than just listening.

Allen outlines what he calls the "bricks" of the Train Smart Model which include:

• Teach people, not content
• Awareness leads to choice
• Learning + enjoyment = retention
• Application is everything
• Stories work

While these have further explanation in the book, they are pretty self-explanatory and all lay the foundation for the different teaching tips the author lays out in the rest of the book. Allen also outlines the "Five Pillars" of the model:

1. Engage - 2-5 mins to engage participant's attention
2. Frame - less than 1 minute to establish a frame of reference
3. Explore - 5-30 mins to introduce the conceptual activity
4. Debrief - 5-15 mins to reinforce the learning
5. Reflect - 2-5 mins to reflect on the broader relationships through stories or parables

I'll later explain how I modeled a training using these five pillars but for now I'll leave it here to ponder the importance of that outline.