GUIDE FOR TRAINING


CIS Fast Track co-ordinator Cheryl Hayden enlisted the support of community resource people to provide the training in her 1997-98 program.

Please note: This is a guide for training community coordinators who will be working in schools implementing the whole-school model. The guide itself is modelled on the 1997/98 CIS Newfoundland experience and reflects an ideal training experience. It may not be possible (or even desirable) for other CIS programs to attempt to implement the entire guide.

CIS training to date has focused on skill development and program
development. Training has included:

1. Foundations of Team Building

a) Six key factors of Teamwork: Commitment, Trust, Purpose,
Communication, Involvement and Process Orientation.

b) Developing a team identity and mission

c) Four stages of team development and basic teamwork skills: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing

d) The importance of communication, including, levels of
communication, and guidelines for communication

e) Roles/behaviors/task expectations

f) Working agreements and decision making

2. Facilitating for Results

This training provided individuals with the skills needed to facilitate
effective meetings - regardless of their purpose, audience, or degree of formality. Individuals learned how to:

a) prepare ahead to ensure results

b) communicate with participants before the meeting to let them know the purpose and their role

c) involve participants and ensure that all opinions are heard

d) keep the discussion clearly focused on a results-oriented desired
outcome

e) provide direction to keep group members aware of their progress and the impact of their decisions

f) gain group members commitment to follow through on clearly defined action items

3. Conflict Resolution - Resolving Community Conflict

4. Expressing Yourself - Presenting Your Thoughts and Ideas

5. Electronic Labour Exchange

6. Building Better Career Futures

7. Program Development Training


8. Participatory Evaluation


Preparation: Workshop Handouts (Participatory Evaluation guide); paper, pens, computers, camera, mic, lights, headset, tape, tripod.

1. Introduction to the Participatory Evaluation; what it's all about; why it's different than an ordinary evaluation; why it's important, and why it belongs to everybody involved.

2. Quantitative evaluation (Allison).

3. Qualitative evaluation.

4. Sharing Our Voices - Part One - User-Friendly Video. Refer to the video section of the guide.

5. Sharing Our Voices - Part Two - Telling Our Stories. On paper.

6. Divide group into teams of two. Different communities?

7. Task One - Interview and be interviewed. Answer the question by relating your personal experience. Use the video camera setup.

8. Task Two. On paper (half page to a full page) or on computer describe your experience. Answer the question.

9. Play back and discuss the tape.

10. How do we proceed with the process of working together to improve this program? Encourage everybody associated with the program - yourselves, the students, parents, school staff - to tell their stories, either answering questions on video or writing a memo.



9. Learning Guides


Preparation: Workshop Handouts (School, Community and Coordinator assessments) ; CIS Learning Guides; CD-ROM; Computer with CD-ROM and browser, paper, pens.

1. Introduction to the workshop modules.

2. Introduction to the Learning Guides.

3. CD-ROM demo.

4. Divide group into teams - Ramea/Burgeo; Stephenville/St. Georges, and Port au Port.

5. Describe community, school and coordinator assessments.

6. Work together at a table to discuss assessments; take notes and prepare a brief (half-page to a page report) description. People working together in a community can prepare one report; people working together in a school can prepare one report; each coordinator prepares a report. Either use the computer or write by hand.

7. Are there any categories missing? On-going discussion/keep it in mind.

8. Deliver reports to the group.

9. Any comments?

10. Next module focuses on raising community awareness about CIS - either through the mainstream media or creating your own. Think about ways to make it happen.



10. Community Communications


Preparation: Workshop Handouts (Community Communications Needs, Skills and Resources Assessments); paper, pens, computers.

1. Introduction to the Community Communcations Needs, Skills and Resources assessments.

2. Accessing the mainstream media. Do's and don'ts.

3. Do-it-ourselves media.

4. Divide group into teams - Ramea/Burgeo; Stephenville/St. Georges, and Port au Port.

6. Work together at a table to discuss assessments; fill out assessments; take notes and prepare a brief (half-page to a page report) description. People working together in a community can prepare one report. Either use the computer or write by hand.

7. Are there any categories missing? On-going discussion/keep it in mind.

8. Deliver reports to the group.

9. Any comments?

10. Next module focuses on the participatory evaluation. Evaluation is a loaded term. But the purpose of the participatory evaluation is to improve the CIS process. We do this by thinking about the personal experience of everyone involved. Think about your experience in the youth corps.


Training 1998/1999

by Allison Rice-Roberts

First Training Session

-Tracy Snow facilitated a Communities In Schools Orientation which involved a brief history about CIS, what CIS is, its philosophy, objectives and goals and what CIS means to the community.

-Communication / Listening Skills workshop facilitated by the project coordinator. This workshop looked at the communication process, for example, what is communication, the barriers of communication, using your behavior to influence communication the power of visual and verbal behavior and how to control it. Also, the workshop included a session on active listening (empathic listening) and the counselling process. The workshop ended with some role plays, practicing the active listening skills.

-Team Building and Group Communication, facilitated by the project coordinator. The team building workshop involved looking at what makes a team effective, the team atmosphere, characteristics of teams, individual and team commitment, team membership, identifying team roles, identifying and clarifying expectations. Also, the importance of group communication. This workshop included two activities; one about what does it feel like to be a valued team member and a team building creative brainstorming activity.



Second Training Session


-A one-day workshop on public-speaking called Expressing Yourself : Presenting your Thoughts and Ideas, facilitated by Sheldon Brown from the College of the North Atlantic (CONA). This workshop looked at fundamental elements of presenting ideas, how to understand the listenersŐ needs and how to deliver the message effectively to ensure the best possible results.
-A two-day workshop on Developing Mentoring Skills (facilitated by Sheldon Brown - CONA). This workshop looked at developing the knowledge, skills and attitude that is necessary to enter into a mentoring relationship.
-A workshop on Attitudes and Values, facilitated by the project coordinator. This workshop looked at what attitude is, positive and negative and its effects on self-esteem and how attitude plays an important role in job effectiveness. The workshop also involved looking at what values are, where do they come from, do they change and activities on assessing our value system.


Third Training Session


-A two day workshop called the Fundamental Concepts of Addictions / Youth and Drugs presented by Sean Hillier from Addictions Services. This workshop looked at the nature of drug problems, the importance of attitudes and addictions and the family. The youth component involved looking at why kids use drugs, the range of involvement, communicating with teens, drug use, their symptoms (physical and behavioral), what to look for and their dangers. Adolescent development, where to go for help and the 1998 Student Drug Use Survey was also discussed.


Training Session 2 and 3

-Also involved a workshop on career development facilitated by the project coordinator. The career development curriculum being presented is from the program called Building Better Career Futures. This program was developed by the Canadian Career Development Foundation (1998). The purpose of the program is to provide an opportunity for youth to develop skills and attitudes that will prepare them to be managers of the career development process. The main components of the program include:
-Understanding Career Development

-Opportunities in the Labour Market

-Opportunities for Me

-Taking Charge





INDEX