Teaching | Peaches Prattlings

{February 7, 2024} Am I a jinx? I sure hope not!

No, I’m not a jinx! I know that, it just made me think…

I was up a little early this morning and I decided to jump online and start my workday a little early. One of the things we have to do as trainers, not just at this new job, but anywhere you are a trainer or facilitator, is to do a teach back.

Now…you may be wondering what a teach back is, and I’m going to tell you! A teach back, like it may sound, is where I learn a product or software application and then I teach it back to someone, could be the person who taught it to me, could be someone else, but the idea is to teach back what I learned. The purpose is for the person observing is to see 1. If you know the product/materials to be presented to the end user. 2. To see how you present the material, not just reading from a script or a powerpoint. 3. How do you handle questions. Do you say “I think….” or do you say “Great question, I don’t know the answer, let’s put that on the parking lot”. 4. How do you handle the participants, your audience.

Anywhere I have been on a project I have done at least one teachback, if not more. I fully expect to do a teach back, I want you to see I know my stuff! I’ve been on projects where people thought they were too good to do a teach back, I’ve had trainers on my team who thought it was beneath them, well… yeah, about that… You’re never above doing a teach back.

For me, with a teachback, sometimes you learn something, maybe someone asks a question you don’t have the answer to and neither do they! So you might start talking through things and go down a rabbit hold and you both learn something! Go figure!

Anyway…my current contract, I’ve taught a few different systems and over the past few weeks, we were in Train-the-Trainer sessions, some people call it TTT, I’ve always called it T3. These T3 sessions were to learn additional systems to the ones we’ve taught and sitting in on sessions for things we have already taught, we gained some new insight.

When the T3s were done, we were instructed to set up teach backs for the new content we learned. Well…I spent part pf last week and this week working on some materials for teach backs. I finished one, I was in the middle of another when I logged on this morning and got the dreaded 404 error! Noooooo!

I reached out to the help desk, it was about 730a, they tried their hardest to help me get back into the system I needed, no luck. Somewehre around 8a, I posted to a Teams chat asking if anyone else was having the same issue. They were, so the technician I was working with put the ticket in as a multi-customer issue. Ok, no worries, I’ll work on another one.

Nope, that was not to be! What? Now I’m getting the 502 Bad Gateway error. I checked with the team and other folks were having the same issue, so I took one for the team and called the help desk, again. After 40 minutes, they could not resolve my issue, so another multi-customer issue ticket. Two down, do I dare try another? Am I a jinx?

No! Whew! Another application opened, I’m good now!

Next step…finish my trainer guide, schedule the teach back, and practice!

G’night!

{February 3, 2021} Are you kidding?! Rude much?!

Thanks, you ruined my chi, my flow. I have enough time with the relaxing/meditation part of yoga, but tonight, you made it more so because you were flat out, wow. Ok, sorry, this is a slight rant, if you haven’t figured that out.

I got to yoga about 15 minutes before class started, chatted with the girl at the desk and the yoga instructor, then went into the studio to set up my yoga mat. There was one other person in the studio on the far side, by the windows. I decided to set myself up on the opposite wall, near the door, towards the back. The only other mat was the instructor’s at the front of the room and a camera on a tripod, which was probably there from the last livestream class.

After I got my mat situated, I started stretching to get ready for class. Then another person came in, set up next to the other woman in the room, and then another woman came in and set up in the very back of the room, not too far away from where I was. So, now…there are four of us, waiting on the instructor. In comes the last student and guess where she sets up…literally IN FRONT OF ME. Seriously? I know the studio isn’t huge, but with only 4 of us, there was plenty of room to set up.

I get wanting to be in front of the mirror, well, not always, sometimes I just feel lumpy and don’t actually want to see myself, but…I do like to see my form while I’m doing the positions or attempting to get into a particular position. Is my back flat? How’s my Warrior 2? Things like that. Even when a class is full, we all seem to space ourselves juts far enough over that the person behind can see what they are doing, but not this woman, the only thing I could see was my hand, if it moved out of the way. Could you have moved maybe 3 or 4 inches to the left or right? Apparently not…

And, if you’re like me, sometimes when you can’t see the instructor you look to the other participants to see what they’re doing. I didn’t even want to do that, she was still there! Then, when it was time to focus on our breathing and just let everything go, I couldn’t, grrr…all I kept thinking was, well, you know what I was thinking! One thing I’m sure you didn’t know that I was thinking…one of my favorite lines from a movie. Buffy, played by Kristy Swanson, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is said to Merrick, her mentor, played by Donald Sutherland, “Excuse much! Rude or anything?”

And that led to me thinking about telling you all about it in tonight’s post. Thankfully, that movie makes me laugh, so now that I’ve told you about it, it’s in the universe and I’m over it, thanks for listening!

And…lastly…it’s February 3rd, Groundhog Day was yesterday, no “Babe, I Got You Babe” [bummer, I wish I had shared that link yesterday, glad I found it! enjoy!] and it’s tomorrow. Wa to the hoo!

{January 19, 2021} To Yoga or Not to Yoga….Teach that is…

I know I told you that PSM and I have been doing yoga together for about a month and I’m working on it. He is in hog heaven, so to speak. He’s centered, he’s sweating, he’s stretching, he’s moving, and best of all…he’s HAPPY! What more could a wife ask for?! I was out of town for a minute, he continued to go to in-person classes and I did a livestream class, that means from the comfort of my own living room, that’s another post for another day. It wasn’t bad.

Here’s something funny, not sure if it’s funny ha ha or what, but…I got an email from the yoga studio we go to. “Hi JJ, M from the CC Y6 Studio let me know you may be someone who would be interested in Yoga Teacher Training 🙂 I’ve attached some info here. Let me know if you have any questions or want to set up a time to chat about it!” Huh? I forwarded it to PSM ‘interesting’. I responded to A that I didn’t know who M was, but I appreciated her sending the information and if I have any questions, I will be sure to reach out.

The interesting thing about this is that, as you know, PSM is yoga all the way, I’m working on it, but… a few years ago, PSM asked me if I wanted to go to a yoga retreat to learn to become yoga instructors, I was on the fence, but I knew how passionate he was/is, so I was up for it! So…interesting that this opportunity came up, isn’t it? They have had it posted on their site and on the walls at the studio for a while, so it wasn’t a surprise when they started talking about it during classes. They weren’t hyping it up a lot, but at the beginning of class they always make studio announcements, social distancing, taking breaks if you need it, and now, YTT [Yoga Teacher Training], answers if you have questions.

I clicked on the attachment and it has the cost, which is not inexpensive, the total hours [200], different types of modules [In-Person and Virtual], 3-month unlimited membership to the Y6 studios, and a 3-month subscription to Y6 GO, which is their on demand sessions, and lastly, the schedule. The schedule isn’t horrible, there are classes on each day of the week, some classes in the evenings, from 5-9p, the rest are 9a-5:30p, two during the week and the rest on the weekends. There are days off in between here and there and two full weeks off during February, the entire program is three months. And…I just noticed the fine print: *In addition students are required to take, observe, or assist 32 yoga classes throughout the program.

It’s an interesting concept, as you know, or may not know, I’m still on the fence if I love yoga or not. Some of it I like, some of it is alright, still not a fan of hot yoga, but I’m getting better with the moves. I can do almost everything, just not to the full extent, like dancer, I can hold my foot and stretch out, but not all the way up!

There is a part of me that wouldn’t mind taking the Yoga Teacher Training, to get better at the moves and really understand why I’m moving the way I’m moving or the way I’m supposed to be moving and maybe I can get those breaths under control, who knows. Oh yeah, and smile while I’m doing them! HA HA!

So…To Teach Yoga or Not To Teach Yoga? That is the question…

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What was I thinking?