Leading a session - the main body

So we have covered the introduction, we have covered a summary to try and get our base for times, so now we are going to concentrate on the body part of the session plan. So this is our main teaching area, this is the main part of what we are here to do with our learners. We have introduced them to what we are going to be doing for the day, we know how we are going to end it and now this is the actual whole part of what we are going to... What we are there for, to stand up in front and teach something.

So the idea behind this is, in our instruction, we said we lookout for aim and outcomes and we are going to now put this into broken-up sections. Now, depending on what you are delivering on teaching, if you are delivering a theory-based session, then you want to make sure the session is going to have some multiple-choice questioning or a test towards the end of your session just to check that learning has taken place and it is an assessed part of the criteria for our education and training qualification.

So I am going to give you an example of a practically-taught session and I am going to cover, for first-aid purposes, it will be the recovery position. So my four learning outcomes would be based on what we want to achieve within the session, so the aim would be to place the unconscious breathing casualty in the recovery position and then my four outcomes would be complete the DRAB mnemonic to do our initial assessment, okay? So in this box here, this is where we will put learning outcome one, okay? So that would be, Intro DRAB to Learners. It just gives me that key point that I know what I need to teach so I am going to introduce DRAB to my learners.

So within this part, I could actually make this an activity because I could put up the letters D-R-A-B, which are Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing and so I could actually get the learners to actually have a go at identifying those points. So this could be, Participate for Learners in Activity. Okay, introduce learners plus activity. Okay. Now, this is an assessed part because we are going to be doing a practical demonstration. This will be observation at the end and the learner will be doing this from the initial assessment, which is part of Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing. So that is going to be an observed practice. So in the assessment part, I am going to put obs, which is an abbreviation for observation because I am going to observe the learner complete that when they do the full practical at the end. Okay.

It could be that this is covered on a slide. So now we are on to PowerPoint Six. So I am not going to write my time in yet because the main part of this is the practical part where learners will place themselves or roll a second person into the recovery position. Okay? Now that is going to be potentially my fourth learning outcome. So within this, we will do learning outcome two, which will be talking about, why do we place the person in the recovery position? So my outcome would be, by the end of the session learners will be able to understand why we would place a person in the recovery position.

So this will be Discuss. I will put RC for recovery position, recovery position, RP. And then what we are going to look at within that is the whole process, okay? We have done our danger, we have done our response, we have done our airway, we have done our breathing, so the person needs to be placed in the recovery position, safe place to leave someone. All those points that we would go through, so this would be then, What is the recovery position? Why are we putting the person into it? So in this part, I just want my learners to listen, take notes and Q&A, ask questions. Okay?

Now again, this will be a part of the observed practice because once they are doing the practical, they will be looking at the stuff we will be discussing, checking for other injuries. This person might be unconscious and breathing and they need to go in the recovery position so they would not choke and it stops the airway from being excluded. So we want to make sure that it is going to be completed again, so our assessment again is observation.

Okay. So I am actually going to stick in the learning outcome three now and this is going to be the practical part, so what I want learners to do is they want to imitate what I do, so I am going to demonstrate, explain and demonstrate at the same time, then I am going to get them to practice. Okay. So I am going to demonstrate recovery position just once and then the learners I want them to watch and practice. Okay? I can also put Q&A in there in case they want to ask questions. So that is going to be our third learning outcome.

Our fourth learning outcome is actually is considerations to make when placing someone in the recovery position. So it will be titled that, Considerations. Okay. So that stuff is what again I want the learners to do is I want them to listen and Q&A. So we have got these points now, our four learning outcomes are in the body of our session plan. So the idea is the demonstration which will also be me observing my learners, so that is another observation within there is, are they able to do this and how long is it going to take them for them to do it? So the idea is for me to demonstrate it and explain it and then for the learners to break up into pairs and then practice it. How long is that going to take?

So if I equated it to each person, if I explain it takes me two minutes with a demonstration, then the learners will take two minutes, so if they were in pairs and there are three sets of pairs so six people, it is going to take them two minutes per person so that will be two minutes, one in three of people are doing as they were rolling the person. Another two minutes for the person who is being rolled, now doing the second person, so that is four minutes. My explanation will be for two minutes. I am going to add an additional minute on there just for questioning within there, so that is three minutes. So three minutes, four minutes, this will take roughly seven minutes.

Now, if we are doing our maths as we go along, a fundamental part of the entry requirements for the any of our own education or student education or the diploma, we know our introduction was going to take 13 minutes. We know our summary was going to take two minutes so that is 15 minutes. So 15 minutes from 30 gives us 15 minutes. So our body is going to take about 15 minutes. So if we take seven off of 15, that gives me eight minutes. So I have got eight minutes to cover the other three outcomes.

Now, introducing DRAB, we will have an activity, I am going to make that three minutes. Okay, so that is 10, so I have got five minutes. I am going to talk about a discussion of the recovery position and the thing is these do not have to be split evenly. The first one can take one minute, the demonstration can take nine minutes. It totally depends on what you are teaching. So we have got 10 minutes, so we have got five minutes left. These two, I am going to say, I am going to split these in half, so this is going to be two min 30 seconds. Same thing for bottom one.

Now, I know how much time I have taken. This now is worked out. My whole session plan is complete. The body covers what needs to be covered. The introduction is there and the summary is there and it is a 30-minute session. Now, as I said, whether it is a 30-minute or a three-hour or six-hour session, we would be using the same type of principles as we are going through it. In a six-hour session, you might have 10 outcomes you need to get through, so it is about working out how long is it going to take to deliver, teach the sections or parts of your session. So as we go through, we just want to make sure all boxes are complete. We have got our timing in. We have got our learner outcomes in. We have got our four outcomes in here. We know what we want our learners to do. We know how it is going to be assessed. Now the bottom part, this might be Q&A. Okay? Not in a set written question and answer but informally because again we have seen the main part is the learner now can place someone in the recovery position.

So assumed questioning is just to check knowledge has been retained. It could be this is actually a slide or two up here. It could be that this is now PowerPoint slide seven and eight. The demonstration, do not need any PowerPoint and so that is not in there. And the last one, Considerations, maybe another two slides so PowerPoint nine and 10. Now, that gives me the link back to our summary which we will complete the last video. The last slides on here will be 10 and the end slide so I think 11. So I know that is crossing over into a video we have just previously seen but you can see how this is a fully completed session plan. The way you make sure it works is you time this. To try and wing this, you are going to say something different every time you do that so it is better to try and be scripted in some of the stuff you are going to say, bullet point, cues, key points.

And then, I always say to people, get a stopwatch or a timer, press start, deliver it as you were teaching looking at a mirror or some other way of doing this or a person you may be with and just run through it. As soon as you have done it all and in the time slot, press stop. If you have gone way over time, you have got to cut some information out. If you are way under time, you got to add more information in. Okay? So you must practice this because you cannot guesstimate these times, that does not work that way. It is about practising this, okay? So in conclusion then, we make sure our body is descriptive of what we need to do. We know what our learners are doing. We know what resources we need, we know how we are assessing it, we know how long a time it takes. So that is our body of our session plan.