The eighth step in the comprehensive nine step LESSON PLANning Process is:
STEP 8. LIST THE NECESSARY TRAINING RESOURCES.
- Identify the necessary participant exercises and reference materials.
- Identify the necessary audiovisual aids and props.
- Determine the most appropriate room arrangement to accommodate the instructional methods.
This is really the step where we plan out everything we will need to make the training a success. In the seventh step, we identified the training methods. At this eighth step, we flesh out our ideas. For example, we will use a questionnaire. Okay, then we will need a questionnaire worksheet as well as reference materials to support the answers to the questions. We will also need an answer key.
With regard to our audiovisual aids, here we decide whether we want to use a prepared flip chart, so that the answers can be posted and placed around the room as a constant peripheral reinforcement for the content. Perhaps we want to use Power Point slides to provide a brief visual of each question, and another slide to provide the answer after the participants have reported what they consider to be the answer. Perhaps we’ll use a simple cartoon to introduce the exercise with bullet points of the answers as a closing slide for the exercise.
If we have chosen a metaphor for our training, then there will be props to support it. Suppose our topic is coaching. Our metaphor may be that coaching is like gardening. The seed has all the capabilities, but the gardener must prepare the soil, tend to the emerging plant’s needs with water, fertilizer, etc. Our prop might be a packet of seeds. I’ve even used tomato seedlings when they were available!
Additional props might include peripherals of growing plants or posters with quotes about nurturing or coaching. You might want to use watering cans for the participants’ water at their tables or colorful children’s plastic rakes and trowels as decorations on the tables. I’m sure that you’re getting the picture. If we chose a metaphor, we want to mine all of its richness as we decorate the room.
As for the most appropriate room arrangement, what we desire may be very different than what we can accomplish. However, assuming ideal circumstances with sufficient room and resources- perhaps we need at least five per table, with extra chairs available for times when we will need six or seven at a table for an exercise. Do we need a flat surface so that the participants can write or work on a hands on project? Do we need tables and chairs at all, or is the exercise something they can do with masking tape on the floor?
Clearly, this is where the true fun begins!
