Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/motivating-staff-to-use-resources/5007135/
Whether it's due to stress and busy lives or lack of motivation, teachers rarely read the books or handouts I enthusiastically give them as resources to improve their work. To address this dilemma, my colleague, Deb Curtis, and I have established monthly brainstorming sessions.We begin by each identifying a training topic we want to work on: learning environments, programming for toddlers, language and literacy development, NAEYC accreditation criteria, developmentally appropriate practice, and so on. We then identify resources that we feel are particularly important and zero in on particular concepts from them that we would like to convey.
Next we ask ourselves, "What experiences could we provide that would give them a taste of this approach and a desire to learn more?" To get our creative juices flowing, we talk about what influenced our own understandings and development in this area and then try to shape an exercise or game to recreate that. Sometimes we consult specific training resource books, a current favorite being Julius Eitington's The Winning Trainer (Gulf Publishing Company, second edition, 1989).
Here are some examples of training activities that repeatedly have met our objective of getting teachers enthusiastic ...