TROPIC in Tasmania

The TROPIC training session in Launceston was an interesting and challenging experience. The biggest learning for me: always consult thoroughly before running a workshop, and never assume anything! The assumption I made was that all of the participants would be teachers - instead there was a mix of senior managers, counsellors, learning support and teachers. A great mix in terms of initiating a program like TROPIC and moving it forward. But a big challenge in terms of running the sessions, especially when I wasn't expecting it. I'm hopeful though that the time spent was worthwhile and that some positive effects will come from it. I will certainly be interested to see what develops there.

Some other learnings and reflections, in random order:

• TAFE Tasmania is very different from TAFE Queensland - it's more compact and cohesive as a system, and there appear to be some great initiatives around teaching and learning, which I'd like to find out more about.
• The role plays for observation and feedback worked well - will definitely make use of them again, and time it so the "teachers" have time to plan ahead.
• Timing is still an issue - feedback indicated some participants felt aspects were rushed, while others felt the time taken was too long. Having better videos will help (and suitable technology for viewing!)
• Need a graphic representation of the micro-skills as hierarchical (ie make it very clear up front that give choice, follow through are done as a last resort).
• Some food for thought in terms of our goals and aims - there was a lot of discussion about how to ensure positive change occurs as a result of the observation and feedback process. I guess the way Mark Davidson has approached this in schools, is to work towards everyone in the school having awareness of the strategies and the language used to describe them (even the dreaded 'cueing with parallel acknowledgment'!). That is where the data collection comes in - within a school, or across similar schools, you can see patterns and track changes over time, and that can be quite powerful in terms of bringing about change.

I look forward to meeting with the Queensland cohort at the end of this month to talk through these and other learnings and their implications for us. It will be great to catch up with everyone again, and we've got a lot of planning to do.

Other than that - it was great to have the opportunity to visit Launceston. A very pretty town with a great variety of restaurants and cafes, and the beautiful Cataract Gorge right on the edge of the CBD.