Connections

After reviewing printed versions of slides of previous workshops held at SOREM and comparing the information presented to the knowledge level of the staff with whom we were interacting, we decided to take a very practical approach to the workshop, heavy on examples.

The survey results are in and we’re excited to report that everyone loved it! One of the main concerns for people that we were able to address is the concern that we all have when presented with a formidable challenge: where do I even start? Behavior modification can be a challenging task that tests every fiber of your being. Modifying your own behavior is difficult enough, modifying someone else’s--obviously a much larger task. In order to help people learn where to start we broke everything down.  We presented examples in video, in situ, through case studies. Topics were checked for understanding before moving on and then reviewed again in a different way with a new case study, a new example, etc.

This visit to Chandigarh marks our third this year; this workshop was our first. Having attended and conducted workshops in the past, we knew that we needed to prime the teachers to help us present the material in order to get everyone on board for what can be a  very challenging task of behavior modification; this past week was spent doing just that. In daily three hour in-classroom training sessions and 1.5 hour teacher education workshops, we’ve been able to present and review a tremendous amount of skills for the teachers’ toolboxes!

The Saturday workshop was an amazing success and the workshops have been as well. That being said – we know the proof is in the pudding and to us the ‘pudding’ is the follow-up and data. As a professional organization devoted to this work full-time, we’re fortunate to have the resources to stay in touch with our colleagues here in India and be able to answer any questions as they arise during our weekly meetings. Things change fast when teaching students and in order to stay a step or two ahead of the student, you must be able to change quickly as well.

We’re very curious about how International work happened without the internet, or even phones-- we couldn’t do this work without Skype! We had a trial Skype call to make sure that everyone is able to sign on and talk without difficulty. Casey was on the call from the U.S.!  This was immediately following our call with our colleague in Kenya. That call included Casey in San Diego, Molly in  India and Pooja in Kenya – connecting across three continents and three different time zones was an incredible experience!