T-TAP Competencies – Foundations Course Outline
Slide / Topic/Time / Description/Activity / Materials/HO
Slide 1 / Agenda: have this on screen when participants are coming in
Slide 2
/ Welcome
5 min / Housekeeping (bathrooms, folder/handouts, booklets)
Slide 3 / 2 min / Explain the zentangle and mandala images on the tables. These are provided for those who are fidgeters in the group, or need to keep their hands busy to learn best. / HO #1
Colored pencils
Slide 4
/ Welcome
10 min / Welcome everyone.
Allow participants to introduce themselves. Introductions can be done with the whole group or in small groups, depending upon the size of the group. Note the amount of time allotted for this.
Also have participants talk about why they are here. Encourage participants to get beyond ‘because I have to’. Why the T-TAP profession? Why EC?
Facilitator note:this piece is intended to bring everyone into the room, fully, with their whole self.It’s also the start of building relationships (trainer to participant; peer to peer). / Small group sharing.
Slide 5
/ Guidelines
3 min / Guidelines for Adults Learning in a Group: Be Here Now (in this room, fully present, set aside distractions, remind participants this material has been developed to support them in the work they do) much like we want teachers to be fully present in their classrooms.
Expectations are that participants engage with materials, ideas, etc.
[click] additional guidelines on slide
Slide 6
/ Mindfulness Activity
2 min / Wait until all participants are quiet.
Directions: Stand up, take a deep breath and as a collective group hum for as long as you can. When you are out of breath, sit down and listen.
This is a mindfulness activity meant to slow down the mind and to be present.
Facilitator note: mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience.
Research has shown that offering a mindful activity with a group has the potential to increase the level of synchronicity within the group.
Slide 7
/ Share your passion/purpose
3 min / Introducing our day in a new way
Why am I here? Share your story, your passion, your purpose for being part of T-TAP for EC; why is this work important to you?
Facilitator note: just like we want participants to bring their passion to their work, we also need to role model that. Part of the debriefing later can be around the effects on the participants when the T or TA do or do not show their passion.
Slide 8
/ Overview of the day
2 min / Go over the agenda for the day.
This provides a sense of direction which decreases stress/anxiety for some participants. We do the same for children by providing a daily schedule.
Note that breaks can be offered whenever is necessary. It is important that you read your audience’s cues.
Slide 9
Slide 10 / The biggest picture
5 min / Learning Objective: To familiarize participants to the background of the T-TAP Competencies.
The Biggest picture – start with how reviewing the cross-sector agencies that worked together to create the competencies and this training. This training was developed in collaboration with …(see slide)
Facilitator note: Be sure you have reviewed these 4 pages prior to the training. Explain that this training is meant to model best practices in adult education. We will be doing hands-on, minds-on interactive learning. We expect participants to be engaged using their prior knowledge and experience as their context. In some activities we will explicitly tell you what you are doing, in others the learning will be implicit where you will discover the messages behind the activities as you do them. This variety will keep all learners engaged throughout the training and make the learning more meaningful.
The activities will be seen and experienced differently based on your current role as a trainer, consultant, etc.
Q&A / T-TAP Competencies booklet
Slide 11
/ Purpose
2 min
Anchor slide / Pg. 1Have participants highlight /underline the Goal of WI PDI (to strengthen and align cross-sector training and technical assistance for the early childhood and related professionals workforce).
Next, have participants highlight/underline what T-TAP means (Training and technical assistance Professionals)
Discuss (small or whole group): What are some of the specific knowledge, skills and dispositions you believe should be required for T-TAPs (as mentioned in the rest of that statement)?
Slide 12
/ Description and Uses
2 min / Pg. 2Have participants highlight/circle the 7 competencies listed near the top of the page.
Next, have them highlight/underline the 3 uses (Framework, Guidance, Resource)
Discuss (small or whole group): Which uses apply to you in your current role?
Slide 13
/ Definitions
2 min / Pg. 3Have participants highlight/underline the definition title that fits your current role/s (Training, Technical Assistance)
-Notice there are 2 sub-categories under Training
-Notice there are 5 sub-categories under Technical Assistance
Slide 14
/ Background and Organization
2 min / Pg. 4 Have participants highlight/underline the 3 state agencies that are part of Collaborating Partners (DPI, DCF, DHS). Next highlight/underline the vision for WECCP (to work together as a system of high quality comprehensive early childhood services for all children and families.
Next, highlight/underline WECC-PDI (Wisconsin Early Childhood Cross-Sector Professional Development Initiative)
Ask participants why they believe it is important they know these facts?
Slide 15-16
/ The bigger picture
5 min / Handout (T-TAP System Description): allow time for participants to look this over and ask any clarifying questions.
Registry PDAS chart: allow time for participants to look this over and ask any clarifying questions.
System Description: Point out the 3 courses and how they target different aspects of T-TAP.
Registry chart: Encourage participants to determine where they are currently on the chart.
Note the change from Master Trainer to Tiers 1, 2, 3. Now a Tier 2 trainer can offer Tier 1 or Tier 2 trainings. / HO #2 TTAP System Description
HO #3 T-TAP Requirements
Trainer Chart and Career Levels – 1 set per table. Found in the Resource folder
Slide 17
/ WI Core Competencies booklet – walk participants through pages 3-5
WI Core Competencies: explain that this booklet outlines the competencies for early childhood practitioners who work with young children.
Facilitators Note: as trainers, we must have a sense of which of the competencies we are experts in and which we are not. We will be looking closer at this booklet later in this training and in both the Training and Technical Assistance courses. / WI Core Competencies booklet
Slide 18
/ Today’s picture
2 min / Review the objectives for the Foundations Training today
Foundations course focuses primarily on first 4 competency areas of the T-TAP competencies, while the follow up courses focus primarily on the final 3 areas separately through the lens of trainer or technical assistant.
Slide 19
/ Comp IV
5 min / Have participants read through Competency Area IV: Adult Learning Principles pg. 8. Encourage them to watch throughout the day for these knowledge/skills and dispositions. Suggest participants keep track on handout. / Adult Learning Principles (1 per table);
T-TAP Competencies booklet
Slide 20
/ Comp I
Laying the groundwork for relationship building
5 min / “Leaders are those who understand the art before the science. They win hearts before minds.” Simon Sinek
Facilitator note: offer participants a bit of time to simply reflect on and discuss this quote. Explain to participants that this is meant, in part, to allow them an opportunity to begin building relationships with each other. Later during debriefing you can revisit these opportunities through the lens of the competencies. As facilitator, you can share your comfort level and/or experience with both the art and the science of T-TAP.
Encourage participants to share ways in which they build relationships with their audience/mentee.
The mind knows, the heart understands. / Pair/Share
Slide 21
/ 5 min / Competence quote, it is our role to show confidence and competence, while also showing others their competence and confidence.
Let’s start with a ‘Competence’ model that will help throughout our work today and beyond.
Read the quote on the slide.
Slide 22
/ Ladder of Competence
45 min for this whole section (slides 20-32)
(anchor slide) / Facilitator note: We’ll go up the ladder twice, once from the perspective of a learner, once as a T-TAP. Share own story at each step; occasionally elicit ideas from audience;
“Beware: Don’t stand on this step” – the very top step, where are the dangers in our work?
How do you support people at each step? What do they need from you?
Recognize the opportunity at each step and the pitfall at each step
During the next 45 minutes, we will look at
•Description of the Model
•First, we’ll walk through each of the 5 steps from your perspective as a learner. Be thinking of examples from your own life as we go step by step up the Ladder of Competence.
•Next walk through each step from your perspective of someone who is supporting another (when you are the trainer or technical assistance person).
Facilitator Note: To Understand the Model: Noel Burch, developed the Conscious Competence Ladder in the 1970s, and it has recently been expanded to include the 5th step.
This model helps us understand our thoughts and emotions during the learning process.
The model highlights two factors that affect our thinking as we learn a new skill:
Consciousness (awareness) and skill level (competence).
According to the model, we move through the following levels as we build competence in a new skill:
Unconsciously unskilled – we don't know that we don't have this skill, or that we need to learn it.
Consciously unskilled – we know that we don't have this skill.
Consciously skilled– we know that we have this skill.
Unconsciously skilled – we don't know that we have this skill (it just seems easy).
Mindfully skilled – we are very intentional and we are very skilled.
Let’s talk about two ways the Conscious Competence Ladder might be used.
1. First, you can use it to understand the emotions you'll experience during the learning process. This helps you stay motivated when times get tough; and it helps you manage your expectations of success, so that you don't try to achieve too much, too soon.
For example, during the consciously unskilled phase, you can reassure yourself that, while learning this skill is difficult and frustrating right now, things will improve in the future. And, when you're unconsciously skilled, the model reminds you to value the skills that you've gained, and not to be too impatient with people who have yet to gain them.
2. It's also useful in training and technical assistance situations, because it allows you to be in touch with what your people are thinking and feeling. You can then help them understand their emotions as they learn new skills, and encourage them when they're feeling discouraged or disillusioned.
Source: / HO #5 Ladder of Competence
Slide 23
/ Level 1 – Unconsciously Unskilled
At this level, you are blissfully ignorant: you have a complete lack of knowledge and skills in a specific area and you're unaware of this. Your confidence therefore far exceeds your abilities.
To move out of level 1, use tools like personal Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats Analysis or an Inventory of Practice to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and to understand which skills you need to learn. As part of this, ask other people for their input, so that you can uncover weaknesses and skill needs that you might otherwise miss.
Also, make sure that you understand your learning objectives – there's no point learning skills in areas that don't align with your personal or work goals.
EXAMPLE: Can you remember an early job that you’ve held? Can you think of a time when ‘you didn’t know what you didn’t know’? What comes to mind for me is my freshman year in college in Western Montana. Growing up in Wisconsin did not prepare me to be in Montana and even consider taking a job I was interested in: Driving cadaver donations from anywhere in Montana back to the university for the medical team. I should have looked up the word cadaver. I should have considered the range of weather in Montana—that and the mountain ranges! I really didn’t know what I didn’t know. Thankfully, I didn’t even get that job.
Facilitator note: share your own story similar to this one.
Slide 24
/ Level 2 – Consciously Unskilled
By this stage, you've discovered that you need to learn new skills. You realize that others are much more competent than you are, and that they can easily do things that you are struggling with.
This level can be demoralizing, causing people to lose confidenceor even give up on their learning efforts altogether. Therefore, it's important to stay positiveat this stage.
EXAMPLE: Can you think of a time when you were aware of what you didn’t know and you knew that you didn’t have the skills to perform what was being asked of you? Is there someone willing to share an example?
What helped you to keep going and learn what you needed to know?
Use tools like affirmations and treasure mapsto combat negative thinking and to refocus your energy on days when you feel down. Remember, learning might be uncomfortable in the short term, but these skills will help you reach your goals and build a better life.
Slide 25
/ Level 3 – Consciously Skilled
At this level, you know that you have acquired the skills and knowledge you need. You put your learning into practice regularly, and you gain even more confidence as you use your new skills.
You still need to concentrate when you perform these activities, but, as you get more practice and experience, these activities become increasingly automatic.
EXAMPLE: Maybe you are feeling some level of being consciously skilled in some part of your current work. Take a minute to reflect on what that might be. Is there someone who is willing to share an example of this aspect?
To move successfully through Level 3, look for opportunities to use your skills as often as you can. For example, you could volunteer for projects that require your new skills, orlook for ways to use these skills more often in your current role. EX: learning a new language, designing PowerPoint, etc.
Slide 26
/ Level 4 – Unconsciously Skilled
At this level, you use your new skills effortlessly, and you perform tasks without conscious effort. You are completely confident of success.
Once you master one set of skills, it's important to learn more if you want to continue to grow.
A good way to do this is to teach these new skills to others in your organization. This will keep information fresh in your mind, deepen your understanding of the material, and give you a rewarding way to pass this knowledge on to others.
Also, bear in mind that you may go backwards down the ladder if you don't use your new skills regularly.
Another caution is that you may become overly confident and ‘drift’ from the original information and training, especially if the work is specific and set to a specific evidence base. such as performing a specific assessment. You have to be sure that you are adhering to the standard for delivering the assessment, for example.
Example: How might you describe this step related to using the WI Model Early Learning Standards (Developmental continuum? What are the cautions?
Slide 27
/ There is another consideration for conscious competence, and another rung or level has been recently been added. It occurs when you use your skills with a high level of mastery and awareness to the original intent (FIDELITY), and you are working very intentionally. You are at the level of mindful competence. In this state you are fully awake and aware in the present moment, conscious not only of everything they do and how but open and alert to new information and different possibilities. You are sensitive to shifts in environment and context – data that can support subtle adjustments in practice and more effective approaches to the activities and challenges of leadership.
Mindfulness is a skill that can be cultivated – through practice and perseverance.