Is it really just a 1- or 2-day course?

What’s the ideal class size?

No “IT Training Room” setup required!

Many or most of these points, we discussed:

> Whilst I normally recommend a 2-day training intervention for ‘in house courses’, we did not discuss this. I had got the impression from Julie Hester at Taylor Mason that 1-day was the max you could envisage people taking ‘away from the day job’. And you and I discussed the difficulty of needing to ‘man the desks’ while some people trained.

> so we discussed groups of max class size 8. And I’m assuming it’ll be one day events.

> the workshops will therefore be very full-on, and ideally quite full days. 9am to 5.30 if possible.

> however the training programme does not just involved the tuition workshops. Participants will have to commit to practise in the days and weeks after Day 2 – and ideally commit to keeping in touch with me as trainer/coach, to ensure I can support them in their all-important implementation of what they’ve learnt! This post-course support phase does not cover a set time-frame. It depends on individuals and the intensity of their practice ‘regime’.

> the cost of the programme includes follow-up emails to the group from me, online resources and reminders, and a web-based practice tool which submits people’s results to me, so I can analyse them and send individual feedback. This individual “email coaching” is on offer for as long as it’s of help and requested by each individual trainee. No cut-off date.

> Surprisingly we don’t need an IT training setup. You don’t need to supply computers. I bring wireless keyboards with me. And the ideal room is spacious, secluded/not overlooked, with flexible furniture, a projector/screen, and a flipchart (and permission to stick paper and labels up on walls/windows/cupboards)

> Trainees will learn above all to be 100% accurate (or very close) with their new skill. Which means they’ll be trained to be SLOW (at first), only building speed through post-training practice (not during the learning events!)

> Consequently they’ll be permitted (in fact: instructed!) to continue using their old skill for a while longer, to get work done, whilst finding time to practise the new skill when the pressure’s off. I described this to you with an Old House / New House analogy. The day for ‘moving in’ to the new property will be a few weeks later for most people (and different for everyone). But it *could* be as little as 10-20 days after the training.

> One of the biggest surprises is that surprisingly little of the training day is spent at the keyboards. Control over eyes, posture, arms and hands can be trained away from keyboards. And it’s easier and better to train people away from the thing that (for the past X years) has been DEMANDING their attention. I train them first and foremost to pay attention to themselves and take control of themselves without looking down. > And this initial training is just that: training. Not teaching or telling. They’ll actually be better at not looking down by lunchtime than they were at 9am. And their ability to sit in the right position and (later) put their fingers in the right position on the keys will be very THOROUGHLY trained into them. So that they won’t forget or half-remember, or get it ‘sort of’ right. We’ll aim for 100% accuracy in the body control. > we’ll also train finger dexterity on the keys SEPARATELY from any typing of letters. Most typing courses have people learn to use their little fingers and ring fingers WHILST trying to type (and remember how to type) letters. This confuses the brain/body as it’s too much new stuff all at once. Finger dexterity as a separate physical component of typing is best trained and developed separately from thinking about letters/typing!

> Even when I train them for the actual typing activity… I *still* won’t do it with reference to or use of the keyboards. Instead, by doing some very surprising but extremely engaging, active, interactive and actually quite entertaining activities, I manage to train their physiological connections from brain to fingers, so that they can VERY ACCURATELY choose the correct finger and make the correct movement for any letter of the alphabet and main punctuation. I’m training their body to ‘know’ which finger and which movement, rather than teaching their brain to remember the keyboard layout and work backwards from there, inferring or guessing which finger’s responsible…

*******************

Susie, there may have been more we spoke about. Please let me know if there’s anything specific you think I’ve left out.

And I’m always aware that *talking* about this strange unexpected approach can often seem clearer than trying to write it / read it.

So if the colleagues you want to confer with, to help decide about pressing ahead would like to chat with me, I’m more than willing to help any way I can to communicate and convince as needed!

Many or most of these points, we discussed:

> Whilst I normally recommend a 2-day training intervention for ‘in house courses’, we did not discuss this. I had got the impression from Julie Hester at Taylor Mason that 1-day was the max you could envisage people taking ‘away from the day job’. And you and I discussed the difficulty of needing to ‘man the desks’ while some people trained.

> so we discussed groups of max class size 8. And I’m assuming it’ll be one day events.

> the workshops will therefore be very full-on, and ideally quite full days. 9am to 5.30 if possible.

> however the training programme does not just involved the tuition workshops. Participants will have to commit to practise in the days and weeks after Day 2 – and ideally commit to keeping in touch with me as trainer/coach, to ensure I can support them in their all-important implementation of what they’ve learnt! This post-course support phase does not cover a set time-frame. It depends on individuals and the intensity of their practice ‘regime’.

> the cost of the programme includes follow-up emails to the group from me, online resources and reminders, and a web-based practice tool which submits people’s results to me, so I can analyse them and send individual feedback. This individual “email coaching” is on offer for as long as it’s of help and requested by each individual trainee. No cut-off date.

> Surprisingly we don’t need an IT training setup. You don’t need to supply computers. I bring wireless keyboards with me. And the ideal room is spacious, secluded/not overlooked, with flexible furniture, a projector/screen, and a flipchart (and permission to stick paper and labels up on walls/windows/cupboards)

> Trainees will learn above all to be 100% accurate (or very close) with their new skill. Which means they’ll be trained to be SLOW (at first), only building speed through post-training practice (not during the learning events!)

> Consequently they’ll be permitted (in fact: instructed!) to continue using their old skill for a while longer, to get work done, whilst finding time to practise the new skill when the pressure’s off. I described this to you with an Old House / New House analogy. The day for ‘moving in’ to the new property will be a few weeks later for most people (and different for everyone). But it *could* be as little as 10-20 days after the training.

> One of the biggest surprises is that surprisingly little of the training day is spent at the keyboards. Control over eyes, posture, arms and hands can be trained away from keyboards. And it’s easier and better to train people away from the thing that (for the past X years) has been DEMANDING their attention. I train them first and foremost to pay attention to themselves and take control of themselves without looking down. > And this initial training is just that: training. Not teaching or telling. They’ll actually be better at not looking down by lunchtime than they were at 9am. And their ability to sit in the right position and (later) put their fingers in the right position on the keys will be very THOROUGHLY trained into them. So that they won’t forget or half-remember, or get it ‘sort of’ right. We’ll aim for 100% accuracy in the body control. > we’ll also train finger dexterity on the keys SEPARATELY from any typing of letters. Most typing courses have people learn to use their little fingers and ring fingers WHILST trying to type (and remember how to type) letters. This confuses the brain/body as it’s too much new stuff all at once. Finger dexterity as a separate physical component of typing is best trained and developed separately from thinking about letters/typing!

> Even when I train them for the actual typing activity… I *still* won’t do it with reference to or use of the keyboards. Instead, by doing some very surprising but extremely engaging, active, interactive and actually quite entertaining activities, I manage to train their physiological connections from brain to fingers, so that they can VERY ACCURATELY choose the correct finger and make the correct movement for any letter of the alphabet and main punctuation. I’m training their body to ‘know’ which finger and which movement, rather than teaching their brain to remember the keyboard layout and work backwards from there, inferring or guessing which finger’s responsible…

*******************

Susie, there may have been more we spoke about. Please let me know if there’s anything specific you think I’ve left out.

And I’m always aware that *talking* about this strange unexpected approach can often seem clearer than trying to write it / read it.

So if the colleagues you want to confer with, to help decide about pressing ahead would like to chat with me, I’m more than willing to help any way I can to communicate and convince as needed!

Using the Online Practice App

Read through these instructions carefully before you click the link below to use the online practice app…

Jump to how to use the Top Half of the Mountain – Stages 5-8

Stage 1 – Story Performing

The “Memory Doodles” technique (working title)

• This is a P-creative thing. (Someone once told me there’s “P-creativity” where you think up something you’ve never thought of before, even if others have thought of it for themselves elsewhere at other times… and “H-creative” where you think up something no-one’s has ever thought of before). I don’t think I’ve seen this sort of approach elsewhere, which doesn’t mean to say it doesn’t exist… but I’m quite excited about the idea as it’s building in me!

• For the time being I’m calling it a “Memory Doodles” technique.

• The idea is that it links writing/drawing up with other sensory focusing on something that needs to be remembered. Thus what you do with a pen on paper joins up with speaking aloud (ideally in a varied and ‘interesting’ way), and thinking about any other aspects of the ‘content’ that you can (letters/spelling, sounds, etc)…

The challenge is to write/draw something memorably UNIQUE or at least unusual and distinguishable. So… more of a ‘design’ than just writing