What's next?

I don't know about you, but I have a habit of leaving this type of session motivated to do more, but by the time I get ready to use the materials, I've lost momentum. I thought we could "publically" commit to some thing we'll do with what we learned at ISW.
My commitment is two-fold:
-when I (re)design my next class-which will probably be when I change over to Angel, I will follow the process we learned in the training session
-I will commit to facilitating a session in December (per Mary Ann's comment) and will go back into the binder before then to better understand the theory behind the breakout sessions.

Anyone else care to commit to your next actions?

The ISW Experience at LSCS

Last week, we were introduced to Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) at LSC-Tomball.
Under the tutelage of Earl Bloor and Charles Miller, a group of 6 people from across the district (Kim Hubbard, Claire Phillips, Pam Husband, Jim Derakhshandeh, Carrie Johnson, and Juan Primo) dived into the the task of learning more about Instructional Skills and applications.

The week proved to be a handful of work as we put 40 hours of hard work and hands-on experience on the ISW process.

The ISW is a program is designed around a small group format to improve the teaching techniques of new and experienced professors and instructors.

The sessions are build around a teaching-feedback cycle in which a real 10 minute mini-lesson is presented to a group of peers (professors, instructors) followed by a feedback session that contains video, face-to-face verbal and written components from the participants related to the teaching practices of the presenter. The feedback is carried on with the help of a ISW trained facilitator (currently, Kim, Claire, Pam, Jim, Carrie, or Juan) and the results are noted and tracked.

The cycle is repeated two more times (for a total of 3 cycles) trying to incorporate the feedback from the previous sessions into the next one.

The ISW process is highly experiential and it allows the participants to reflect on his/her teaching practices with a focus on the learning process and not on the content of the session.

During the 5 days of training, I can say that I had a real chance to learn a great deal of new concepts that I will be implementing in my classes.

As value added, I had the opportunity to interact, get in touch and learn from Earl, Charles, Kim, Claire, Pam, Carrie and Jim, not only as co-participants but also as colleagues and members of our Lone Star College System Family.

To Earl and Charles: Thanks for your expertise, honesty, and more important, for caring.