Electronic resources

As we go into another summer it is possible to consider that we are indeed experiencing a revolution in the ways that people now communicate...

Facebook, twitter, sms, email...

In my own practice, I have used my blog (http://ryanwse.blogspot.com/) as a reflective journal and my student website (http://sites.google.com/site/ryansclasses/) as a tool for teaching. Google.docs (https://docs.google.com/) for moderating assessing (also in my job role as Coordinator of Internal Verification), and now I have been using these tools as research methods, which I have found most useful

I look forward to trying out new methods in Future years.

Best Wishes for the summer

L'Oreal Hair demo / show (last night)

Here's what the Evolution team were showcasing last night: The 'tavel journal' collection...

Personal Leadership training (19 - 1 - 10)

An excellent training day where we learnt lots of great techniques for dealing with problems within out practice. We were given opportunities to discuss practice and we learnt some really useful relaxation techniques. Our teacher and Author for the day was Patricia Clegborn, who has lots of experience and training within this field.

Great, can't wait till part 2 in March

Salon International 2009

Here are some sensible pictures from salon international 2009 on Monday some less sensible ones can be found on my student website along with the photos of my 30th Birthday!! http://sites.google.com/site/ryansclasses/

Cross College Training

Today as part of the cross college training day I did a presentation on setting up a blog and using it as a reflective journal for teaching experiments. I explained to those who attended the great benefits of creating a blog and a google account. I made them aware of the resources I had created and used through google and some where quite impressed with the multiple choice forms on Google docs. I love google docs especially the summaries you get from the forms. We also discussed using a blog as a 'best methods manual' for recording successful supported experiments. Thanks to all who came the P.P. presentation can be found on the link below.

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dfrq6b44_103c6g8hbdw

The rest of the day was very enjoyable too, some colleagues took us back through the 'reflect on actions and act on reflections' group activity where a problem is picked from the group and discussed in an open forum. In another session we looked at the benefits of peer assessments and where shown examples of these and finally to wrap up we looked at the future of our experiments and how we would go on from here.

All in all a very good day!

Update

It has been really busy all over the college this week with lots of students beginning that final push. In hair and beauty we have been getting the students through their final exams and practical observations. We had our last Younger Learner training session on Monday with Bob,where we reflected over the techniques we had learnt / practiced throughout the 14 sessions, whilst enjoying some food, wine, coffee etc courtesy of taste restaurant and Bob.

I have had some really nice emails about my teaching blog / student website and helped one colleague to set one up earlier in the week and have 3 more people who would like to learn!!! I have to say that's its all thanks to the help of Wendy and Martin. This week I went to Wendy's drop in training for Reflect and have created my own online CPD. Its very good, but I'm afraid its not as easy as setting up a blog. Still it's going to be compulsory soon for all FE teachers, so I would really recommend going to see Wendy next Wednesday.

For my essays at Uni, I have been doing a little research using google.doc. One survey was emailed to 44 colleagues in 22 different areas to find out about the effectiveness of the 'Supported experiments' the results were quite interesting and can be viewed via the link below. The other survey was for a my research proposal for my MEd, this investigated the effectiveness of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) in Education. The survey was emailed to my colleagues who were on the NLP course with me earlier this year. The results can also be viewed below.

For SE Survey click here


For NLP Survey click here

Many Thanks to all who took part

14-19 Diploma training (yesterday)

Yesterday we had a great training afternoon, where we looked at the units in the new qualification and came up with ways of delivering the content. We also discussed schemes of work and lesson planning.

Most of the hair and beauty team were surprised at their level of practical work involved in the new diploma (2:1 ratio in favour of theory). Some felt this was too much theory and some felt it wasn't enough.

All in all a productive afternoon.

College's Young apprentice of the year competition 2009 (3-4-09)

This years competition was a major success. With many colleges visiting a voting for the favourite it went very well. You can see all the pictures by clicking here.

Video to be added...

Google docs unleashes a world of possibilities; Evaluation of online standardisation activity

The possibilities of google docs is endless, particularly with teaching, learning and even verifying.

Naturally an activity is purely experimental at this stage but I would certainly like to evaluate this in our next team meeting. After creating the 'questionnaire' the information is automatically recorded in the grid in the top left hand corner of the screen print on the left and charts such as the pie charts depicted can easily be accessed. This can be used with informal assessment too with little mini quizzes for our students and we can also monitor these.

All you need is a google account. With is quick easy and free to set up.

More videos from the perming workshop

Here are more (censored) videos from the perming workshop.

My own personal verdict on the USB camera has be that it's great for this sort of thing. Uploading to blogs couldn't be simpler, but it has to be said that the picture quality is quite poor and I certainly wouldn't want to film my holidays with it!

Afro hair demo

Fridays classes are great days for CPD, as my colleague here demonstrates weaving, plaiting and hair extensions, all in one go. 

I am always interested in watching afro demos as I only trained with european hair back in Norwich in 1996.

Perm workshop (24-3-09)

The perming workshop was a great oppitunity for technical CPD. Although I get involved in lots of CPD City and Guilds require hairdressing lecturers (and probably subjects) to do 30 hours a year of hairdressing related CPD.

Its was a good time in the course for a demo to my Diploma students as they are now about the start on their perming unit. It also gave us a chance to test drive the USB camera and record some of the demo to upload to my new student support website that I am working on for the Diploma students and the Young Apprenctices.

If you want to have a peek, please do at http://sites.google.com/site/ryansclasses/ but do remember its 'working progress' at the moment!

Heres a clip from yesterdays workshop. I actually have 22 clips that the students have recorded, but I think I need to watch them first before I put them on the blog or the new site (incase there is anything offensive from my little horrors!!!!)

Younger Learner Training with ICT (9-3-09)

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Had another excellent lesson where I learnt to use podcasts for teaching.

Did you know you can record them on an audio recorder or by making a phone call?
Go to http://www.gcast.com for more info.

Also curtisy of Martin I am working on a student support website which I will link as soon as its a bit more finished!

Finally Wendy has put a link on her blog to this article by Marc Prensky. Makes for interesting reading.

Younger Learner session (yesterday)

Learnt some great new ways to use ICT in teaching, ever thought of using Ebay?

Check out www.mindmeister.com and choose the basic free option, it’s a great way of creating and sharing your mind maps with your students, which they can add too.

Will defiantly be trying to incorporate more ICT into my classes, a colleague suggested getting students to photograph the board with their phones. Also…you can send texts from a PC to remind your students of deadlines or add videos to a blog for revision / catch up.

NLP Experiments

Here is a copy of my NLP project

Matrix Essential Training Alliance Ltd
Practitioner project: Enhanced classroom management by improving state and building rapport

Context and Rationale
As part of my work as a Lecturer in Hairdressing at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College, I teach a large group of 16 – 19 year old girls. There are 18 students in the class and, in my opinion; many of the students have behavioural issues. More than half of the class also have problems with attendance and punctuality. With constant disruption from late students and bad behaviour it has become more and more difficult to teach the group.

After the NLP practitioner course the main issue that I needed to address was the management of my class. I became aware in our first NLP weekend that every time I described my 'naughty' group I screwed up my face and felt miserable. Yet when I described working with my 'good' group I would smile, have open body language and generally feel happier. So I decided that day that my main NLP experiment would be to walk into the bad lesson as I would for the good one.

My understanding was that I was probably adding to the bad atmosphere by entering the class in a very negative state.

The Focus of my project
My aim was to alter my state prior to entering the classroom. To be positive, smile and use open body language to help shift the bad atmosphere and build a much better rapport with my students. I was not sure if this alone would impact enough to change the punctuality and attendance issues that hung over the class, so I took Kate’s suggestion of planning all the exciting activities at the start of the lesson, to encourage latecomers to feel as if they were ‘missing out’. To really add to this it was important not to say anything to latecomers. My final aim was to carryout one to one sessions with each student to discuss and try to focus the student on her own ‘Well Formed Outcomes’ (WFO). I remembered Kate saying that the positives needed to be bigger than the negatives.

My own WFO was simple, to get away from the dreaded anarchy of the usual lessons and forward to a brighter learning environment.

The elements of NLP used
· Changing state: Switching my negative state to a positive state, by altering my verbal and non-verbal language.
· ‘Fake it till you make it’: Pretending to be in a positive state even when really I wanted to climb the walls.
· WFO and What’s in it for me? (WIIFM):Creating positive outcomes that were much greater than the negative ones.

Strategies
By improving my own state I was able to alter the state of the class. An infectious smile, open body language and effective use of words really helped turn the class around. I tried harder to be supportive and build rapport with individuals through little chats and positive statements. I also gave the class little pep talks to spur them on. My best example was a ‘practical workshop’ where I planned a seven-minute video to demonstrate a haircut and then set the class to work on their tuition heads with step-by-step handouts. I briefed the whole class before we started, taking care to ignore latecomers and bad behaviour, then I walked around the class continuously chatting on a one to one basis with each student. I kept very positive and it really worked.

The students all had a go at what we were doing, which sounds reasonably normal, but sadly it is not always the case with this class. The students were chirpy and afterwards we discussed the ups and downs of the haircut. I told them that I was sure that they could all achieve a competent assessment by their third attempt…and they did!

Changing my own state was much harder than I thought, however, my best technique seemed to be the ‘fake it till you make it technique’. As I worked as a hairdresser for ten years, where you have to be polite and positive towards the clients at all times, even when you are miserable, I found the fake it technique much easier. Once the more friendly rapport was in place with the students I no longer needed to fake it, as it came naturally.

Sometimes with students the long-term goal of completing the course is not enough to motivate learners. I tend to find that younger learners do not want to appear too eager as they fear their peers will deem them ‘un cool’. However, constantly chatting about how after the next few weeks they would be able to cut the hair into this or that style, they automatically linked their new abilities to their social circle, “I can cut my mate’s hair” and even better when they hear that they can do it “for money”.

The impact
It became very clear early on in that first lesson with the video and the handouts that the techniques had worked. I had never shown the class a video before, as I always prefer to do my own demonstrations so that I can teach my own styles, rather than alternative techniques. It worked well as it was a varied teaching tool. By the next session I had A3 step-by-step guides printed and laminated and I placed these on the wall. Which is great as learners can investigate areas they are unsure of without my help.

Before the experiments I had been the bad guy in every lesson, but as the new rapport set in I developed a much more productive relationship with my students. They started to tell me stories of their families and friends hair disasters and asked questions in a relaxed manner which I had never witnessed before.

In the short term these experiments have really improved the state of the class and even punctuality. I am particularly glad that I am not so stressed all the time as it makes my job a lot more pleasant. The real test will be at the end of the year when I see how many have achieved, but for now they are back on track and making well needed progress.

Achieving excellence through Learner First

Cross College Meeting at NOVOTEL, Hammersmith

An excellent morning with presentations and discussions about achieving excellence. The new Principal gave a motivating speach about achieving 'Learner Success' and reviewed progress so far.

Encouraging staff not to rest on their laurels and to keep continuing to achieve. She spoke of changes in funding and possibly to the College's name (this get my vote, EHWLC is too much of a mouthful).

We all discussed the new 'shared College vision' and my group came up with three main shared beliefs:

• Respect for staff and students
• Cohesion and collaboration
• Communication

The others speakers were great too, each provided a presentation and the director of HWLC set us another task, where myself and my colleagues discussed the important roles of teachers, for which we came up with support, tutoring and training; but many more where listed.

We had a look at the new college website and the future for education via a slide show very similar to the presentation mentioned in my last blog about China and India and all the new directions that learning is progressing. Particularly in terms of 'digital knowledge'

Inside the Diploma (11-2-09)

Preparing Practitioners

An interesting incite into the new 14-19 Diploma. We watched the 'Hedley Beare' slide show about the new gifted learners in India and China and discussed ways that Education and Learners' needs are changing.

We also looked at the new units of the Diploma and tried to plan how we could teach the broad aims of the units. Looking at several of the units in depth we were able to discuss how we could build links with schools and local employers to educate the students.

We also viewed a presentation about how the new Diploma linked to the Leitch Review and Every Child Matters.

Finally we discussed the possible progression route from and to the Diploma (Foundation, higher and advanced + relation to exsisting qualifications)

Practictioner in NLP: Part 2 (16th Jan - 19th Jan)

Really enjoyed the second half of the course (apart from having to work the weekend!!)

Discussed a lot more useful techniques; such as developing / changing the state of the class and building rapport. The course has really given me so much more confidence in the classroom.

We have been set experiements in NLP as a project. Once I have completed mine I shall upload it in the mean time why not check out the Durham Project, where other newly qualified practictioner did some NLP in Education experiments.

Download (PDF) for free at http://www.meta4education.co.uk/durham.htm

Practitioner Certificate in Neuro-Lingustic Programming (NLP) Part 1 (12th – 15th Dec inc.)

What a week! Twelve days straight – including teaching, Internal Verifier (IV) training, helping to organize the External Verifier (EV) visit for my IV award, the Young learner workshop, lessons for my MA and the four-day NLP weekend (PART 1)!!!

It was a hugely intense weekend, which turned out to be far more active than I had anticipated. We were constantly directed to work in groups with people we had not worked with before; we were certainly kept on our toes.

It was another first for EHWLC, as Kate Benson, whose background is also FE, informed us that whilst her company “Meta 4 Education” (member of the society of NLP) has trained schools and university staff, we are the first FE College to train their staff.

Kate is a talented NLP practitioner and a great teacher. She really kept all 25+ teachers and college staff motivated. With her roots so deeply set in education she showed us many ways to adapt our resources and our own language to encourage students to absorb information and stimulate creativity. I learnt a great strategy to improve my terrible spelling.

We covered information on the use of the Meta and Milton Models, well-formed outcomes, submodalities and the way we filter information. Information on these NLP concepts can be found on Wikipedia or Google searches, however, to gain the understanding on how to use these as a strategy for teaching, business, sales or personal motivation, I’m afraid you have to book one of Kate’s Courses!

Further information can also be found at Meta for Education website and books and other products can be purchased at the NLP store.

Graduation, Barbican, London EC2 (1-12-08)

A really great day put together by the University of Westminster.