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The Trainer's Corner


Provide rich learning experiences for
the people you train.


Training Tips and Techniques



ADelivering the Class

Here are some tips for delivering classes using The Family History Guide:

  • Expectations—Tell the learners what you will be accomplishing in the class.
  • Balance—For in-person classes, balance your talking points with activities and discussions.
  • Q and A—If possible, leave a few minutes at the end for Q and A or extra hands-on time.
  • Slower and faster students—During hands-on exercises, help slower students catch up. You can assign faster students extra material during exercises.



BInvolving the Learners


The following ideas can be useful for getting learners actively involved in your training sessions. Select the ideas carefully for the needs of your class, and get a variety from session to session.


Discussion Points

  • In the articles or videos linked from The Family History Guide, there are often key paragraphs or sentences that are good teaching points, or that can generate questions and discussion in your class.

  • When you find a key point in an article or video that you want to emphasize, make a note of it and plan to show it on your projection screen for discussion.

  • Tips: Acknowledge learner input; use a learner contribution to trigger an additional thought or question; and keep the discussion focused and relatively brief.

Questions that Engage

  • "What are the challenges with [this approach]?"

    This type of question helps learners to see and discuss the pros and cons, or strengths and weaknesses, of a particular strategy or practice. Example: "What are the challenges of finding new ancestors as you go back in the family tree?"

  • "What are the similarities or differences between [A and B]?"

    This can be a good way to compare and analyze related learning topics. Example: "What are the differences between the 1840 U.S. Census and the 1850 U.S. Census, in the types of information gathered?"

  • Avoid yes/no questions, and questions for which there are obvious answers. "Why" questions can be especially effective in getting discussions started.

  • For more information and examples of engaging questions, see Effective Questions for Leading Discussions.

Visual Aids

  • Pictures—The right picture can be worth 1,000 words, displayed on your projection system. Be sure to respect copyrights for online photos or illustrations.

  • Whiteboard or flipchart—These methods help you draw or write simple concepts in real time, for smaller groups.

  • Objects that illustrate a point—Heirlooms can be powerful visual models for recreating history or telling a story. Photos of heirlooms can be circulated around the class.

  • For more information and examples of visual aids for learning, see Using visual aids during a presentation or training session.

  • For free graphic images, see Pixabay.com and the Smithsonian Libraries Image Gallery.

Exercises, Stories, and Games

  • Exercises—The Family History Guide has exercises built in to many of the Choices. You can use or adapt these, or design your own. Look for opportunities to help and answer questions during the exercises.

  • Stories—Spend some time thinking about your own experiences in family history, or those of someone you know, to see how they might be used as teaching examples. Learners may enjoy sharing their own stories or experiences relating to the topic.

  • Games—Keep them simple, with little preparation needed. Examples might be Bingo, Twenty Questions, Hangman or other word puzzles, etc.

  • For more examples, see Interactive Teaching Activities.




C30 Instructor Tips


We've collected 30 handy training tips for instructors, from our Trainers and Consultants Facebook Group. You can use these to enhnace your family history training and mentoring.

Click here to display the 30 Instructor Tips.




DCourse Evaluation Form


To assess your training classes, you can download and print this Course Evaluation form.




EThe 5 "In's" of Instruction


Here are some additional insights into the instruction and learning process. Hopefully they will be of value to you as you engage with learners in your training programs.

Inspiration
Learning about our ancestors expands our horizons and inspires us, no matter our background or faith. Inspiration can ignite passion, and our family history journey is underway.

Information
The Family History Guide layers training information, from general to specific. Projects lead to Goals and then to Choices, with detailed steps coming last. Resources are also layered, with essential articles and videos linked from the main pages, and supporting material in the Vault. Likewise, teaching incrementally and sequentially is a proven, effective approach.

Initiation
A key to learning is initiating hands-on experience. Practice, repetition, and teaching it to another makes all the difference. The Family History Guide involves all these elements. Don't just lecture; your students need to get their hands on their own family history.

Interaction
The student needs a coach or mentor who can provide individual help. The training strategies in this guide emphasize interaction in the learning process wherever possible. The Family History Guide also encourages working together with accountability, by means of the Project Tracker sheets.

Interdependency
Unity among teaching staff members is also important. As they learn together and share with each other what they know and what we they don't know, everyone becomes better informed and more valuable to the students. Using the Family History Guide as a fundamental training tool can create that unity. Using an organized approach like this helps students realize that they can count on any training staff member to help them learn in a logical, sequential way.
(Adapted from material by Bonnie Mattson, Trainer at the Oakland California FamilySearch Library)