... when facilitator B is reading hir email or texting while facilitator A talks
... when facilitator A goes over a short essay we were asked to read for more than an hour
... when the facilitators don't look around at the audience politely trying not to scream and figure out that things aren't going really well
... when I'm becoming familiar with the ring tones of my colleagues, none of whom seem to have turned off their phones or whatever. (Including me, but no one calls me much.)
I don't think this is just me, but maybe it is. Maybe I suck at being a student. I know I suck at having to sit still for hours at a time to listen to people tell me about what I've read.
This sounds just dreadful. Maybe the workshop facilitators need to go to a week-long workshop to improve their workshop facilitation skills!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, that really sounds like it sucks. I doubt it's because you're bad at being a student.
ReplyDeleteYou are very patient. Is this a mandatory workshop? If not, I'd have walked out when Facilitator began checking hir email.
ReplyDeletePlease send me your phone number so I can call you a lot and tell you about the status of my hair, fingernail, and toenail growth throughout the day.
ReplyDeleteB.
It's a paid workshop.
ReplyDeleteAnd Bethany, I'm going to totally crack up tomorrow when I hear a phone ring thinking of your hair, fingernail, and toenail growth over the day. :)
The one thing I get out of workshops like that is to remember what it's like being a student - I take a whole set of notes to myself about what works from the student's perspective and what doesn't. It's sad to learn from someone else doing it wrong, but it really helps me to remember what it's like to sit in a chair for hours having to listen to other people talk at you, and to think what I can do to make that a lot more painless and interesting.
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