As teachers, educators, leaders or facilitators who have been asked to present to an audience, this can be a daunting task. 

I remember being asked two days before the end of term to present to a staff of 80 resistant secondary school teachers.  Reports were due and the topic was one the teachers had voiced their opposition to all term. How do you find a way to distract them long enough so that it confronts their opposition head on, breaks the ice, offers a bit of humour, and then allows you to address the business at hand?

Here’s an idea you might consider next time, and have a bit of fun with at the same time! As long as you know your audience well, and feel that they’d enjoy something like this, go for it!

Sabotage by Subterfuge

Rules of engagement:

1. Know your audience well.
2. Timing is everything
3. Arm yourself with a hit list
4. Stand your ground at the frontline
5. Confront the behaviours head on

Game Plan

1. Share the sabotage list
2. Teachers to tick off their areas of expertise
3. Add any areas that may have been missed
4. Keep it for reflection at the end of the session

The Sabotage list:

[media-downloader media_id=”5783″ texts=”Download a copy”] (PDF, 79.6KB)

Notes:

1. you may modify the list to illustrate behaviours that are already thriving well.
2. the strategy can be adapted to a range of audiences e.g. Primary, Intermediate, Tertiary
3. a brave teacher might set the next classroom assignment – how to sabotage a classroom lesson?

Success or death by self-sabotage

You may be wondering if this strategy worked or was I shot down where I stood?  Thankfully there were lots of laughs, lots of ticking and additions I had never even thought of e.g. reading the best bet!

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Maria Tibble

Maria Tibble is a Regional Facilitator for Te Marautanga o Aotearoa (TMoA). Maria has worked in the education sector for over 25 years. She has worked extensively in both Māori and English medium education, and taught at both primary and secondary school levels. Maria spent much of her teaching career working in bilingual and Māori immersion settings, eventually moving from the classroom to a facilitator/support role as a RTLB (Resource Teacher Learning Behaviour) in 2001. This has given her opportunity for higher learning, and develop skills in facilitation and change management, mentoring, curriculum development, cultural responsiveness and identity. In this role she has developed a number of school-wide literacy, numeracy, learning and behaviour programmes some of which continue in schools today.

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