Page 260 - Making Instruction Work

chap 20 3/11/97 5:17 PM Page 246

246 making instruction work

you are standing in front of a classroom, you will need to mod-
ify your gestures; sweeping gestures are fine when you are lec-
turing but inappropriate when working with individuals. You
don’t want to run the risk of knocking their glasses off or giv-
ing them a bloody nose while you’re explaining a concept.
For the same reason, you will want to make sure you don’t
create other obstacles to learning as would be the case, for
example, if you had bad breath. (We can’t use course managers
in our own workshops who are smokers, for example, even
though they don’t smoke in the classroom; that’s because
almost all of our participant non-smokers try to avoid sitting
close to those who smell of stale tobacco.)

How to Do It

When you are ready to conduct a performance-controlled
course in a self-paced manner, here are the steps to follow.
1. Begin with an orientation session. Explain to students
what the course will be about, and hand out a copy of the
objectives. Answer questions so that everyone knows
what they will be expected to be able to do to be consid-
ered competent.

2. Hand out a copy of the course procedures and make sure
everyone understands the rules by which you will be
operating. They won’t believe you at first no matter what
you tell them, so you will have to repeat this information
from time to time, and you will have to be sure to follow
the procedures yourself.

3. Make sure students know where to locate all the
resources, and explain the items uppermost in their
minds at this time (i.e., what the hours are, where the
bathroom is, and information about lunch).