The explainer guys are at it again (actually this is from 2007, but it never hurts to be prepared):

I observed a training session yesterday. It was a little odd coming into the room as I was only observing one day of a five day training and I’d missed the first day. I’d also read the curriculum and adopted some of it to create an introductory course. It also didn’t help that some of my colleagues had participated in an earlier session of the course and were less than impressed. I had also participated in a one day session with this trainer on a slightly different subject and nearly fell asleep in the classroom. So it wasn’t your typical observation.

Most often when I observe a course, I’m observing a pilot or an existing course and my role as observer is to make notes on what works well or what should be tweaked. Yesterday’s observation was only to hear content. Observing in this way is especially hard for me because I have to sit for 6 hours and make the occasional note about what I may be able to use, but since this content isn’t really something I can use in my intro course, it was a lot of sitting and listening. It made for a very passive work day.

And, yet, I was pleasantly surprised and pleased at what I saw. Even though the specific subject matter for this course isn’t what I needed to augment my introductory course, I was glad to be able to see what I’d read in the original curriculum come to life. The trainer was “on” yesterday and so my original opinion of him as not being interesting was put aside. The participants were engaged and had evidently had a good first day as they referred back to some of the earlier concepts and teased the trainer about some personal information he had shared.

I probably took more notes on who was in the room and the instructional strategies the trainer used than I did on content. Both of those pieces of information are quite valuable. It may sound weird that I made notes on who was in the room, but this information will be quite handy as my organization pilots other courses in this series and now we know who has had this outside training. They may be able to answer questions about what they’ve been able to apply to their work sites (new SMEs).

I’m always on the look-out for instructional strategies and so it was nice to see the ways the trainer made the content flow. I didn’t see anything totally new but some of the ways he tweaked the usual options (small groups, ranking items on a handout, etc.) were interesting. Ranking the same information twice but under different circumstances was a new one for me and seeing that some of the tried and true strategies still hold up well, no matter the audience, helped me feel like I’m still up-to-date on techniques. It was also nice to see the trainer act as both a trainer and a facilitator depending on the subject. He has skill at both–I really think at some point he was ready to blurt out some ideas from “Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!”, but then I realized that was probably just me projecting Weisbord into the room.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but sometimes I really miss being the trainer/facilitator.

This video is great because the lyrics quote Dune by Frank Herbert and Christopher Walken dances:

I was going to post this on Friday but then realized posting this on Friday would tell the interwebs that my house was empty for the weekend. Probably not a good idea. Thank goodness for scheduled posting.

We’ve seen Alejandro Escovedo perform this song (in Charlottesville at the Gravity Lounge). Now I can say I’ve stayed at the hotel. The hotel is filled with art in the hallways, residents down the hall and ghosts of the past. I’m glad we stayed there.

We were at the state fair a week ago and a band was playing. It was late and chilly so they didn’t have much of an audience. As we were walking by they started playing this song. You always, it’s a rule, have to stop when you hear the first strains of a Johnny Cash song. We stopped, listened and moved on.

I listened to the Jane Lynch story on NPR yesterday. And something in that interview has gnawed at me since hearing it. Lynch made reference to the character she plays on “Glee” and in that reference said that character has no inner doubt and therefore has no reflection. (You can read or listen to the interview by selecting the above link.)

This blog started as a way to reflect on my experience in the Adult Learning program at VCU. It has devolved since I graduated, certainly. But, does that mean that I’m not still reflecting? Heavens no. But, do I reflect because I have inner doubt? Are those two things tied together?

If you search, as I just did, for inner doubt on Google, you get quite a few responses that makes me think they may be tied together. Inner doubt is also related, on Google, to having an inner critic. If inner critic means I’m critical in the sense of trying to figure out a way to be a more consistently good person then I suppose that’s true. I’m not completely convinced that by reflecting on my thoughts and deeds that I’m filled with inner doubt.

I think instead of being filled with inner doubt that I’m conditioned to self-reflect. It’s something I’ve done for practically my whole life. Which leads me to wonder if my comfort in reflection stems from my introverted sensibility. I’ve been internally processing what I see, hear, feel and experience for so long that I’m not sure I could stop. So I don’t think it’s doubt that drives my reflection. I think it’s the way I’m wired.

I wonder if it’s different for other people. Are some people motivated to self-reflect because they have doubts or is there something else that drives that introspection? What are those motivators? And, what do those strange beasts known as extroverts do? Say it out loud?

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The extrovert comment was clearly a joke so don’t send the hate my way. I spent all day Monday only speaking to one other person at work. It was bliss, but that’s probably really weird for some people to understand.

I used the phrase “skin in the game” in that course I referenced a few posts ago. It was tagged more than once by my review team. They had no idea what it meant. A similar thing happened several years ago when we were in a training class and the trainer, who was used to training corporate audiences, used the term ROI. I was the only one in the room who knew what that meant.

I’m amused that while I’ve learned their lingo, my other life still intrudes after all this time.

We’re headed to a wedding in SC. I thought this was an appropriate song for the day.