The new year has begun... and our 'businesses' resumed... oh, what I mean is workshops.
Yes, it's an exciting business, as we see different people in different workshops... indeed, for someone who's very socialable and good at networking (unfortunately I still lack that), it provides good opportunities!
A colleauge once put it across in a reserved manner... look out for the behaviour of participants, where they are from - Primary or Secondary Schools... that's a difference... Oh yes, there is!Observations somehow made us wonder... is it the environment the participants immersed in shaped their behaviour? Some are more nurturing ones while there are also the more independent ones...
On the other hand, in a recent workshop, another 'breed' caught my attention. The more aloof ones! I'm not referring to the participants from the elite schools or JCs... but some of the fresh graduates from NIE! Of course, I'm also weary that it never applies to all, but only a handful.
It's similar to the classroom scenario - where in a class of 40, that 2 to 3 are enough to make a difference to the learning environment, the teacher's perception to the class, and of course, the shot to the teachers' blood pressure!
Back to the workshop... this could be avoided, isn't it? Since participants sign up the workshop because they see the need to attend! Of course, there are only occasions when they are arrowed to attend... however, as an adult, as a professional, one should be know how to conduct onself in a professional manner even if one gets bored or is bogged down by other things such as markings.
Hm... of course, a question to myself is, am I 'treating' the participants as 'pupils in the class' where I hope to see complicance - ie. when a teacher is talking or teaching, one should display the most basic courtesy - to listen.
This happened in one of the workshops when my co-presenter was presenting some kind of teaching approach while a couple of participants (from the same school), fresh from NIE were engaged in 'NT' behaviours - changing the wallpaper of the PC to their personal photographs, going to online albums, marking assignments... and required a 'deterrant' to park behind them before they stop these businesses. It was obvious that they could not deliver the learning activity using the new approach discussed in the workshop as they did not pay attention to it. I guess, up to the point they left the workshop, they still had not realise what has gone wrong... probably will go back to share that there's nothing new to the approach taught in the workshop...
No doubt the teachers are equipped with the necessary ICT skills, that complements when designing tasks, it was a pity that they failed to see the key is the pedagogy behind the learning task...
So, what's the point of attending a workshop when one think is good enough and need not to pay attention? ...
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