This week at NOPLAY was dedicated to staff training. We brought in two insightful workshop presenters who had been working as adult educators with native populations in Canada for over 30 years, and I think we all agreed that it was one of the most helpful and practical trainings that we'd ever attended.

The first day, we talked about our learners- our at-risk young adults- and we discussed the challenges and benefits of trying to serve each learner as a whole person instead of trying to simply flood his or her brain with subject knowledge. We came up with qualities that our most memorable teachers had demonstrated, and we were able to pinpoint all of the individual characteristics and actions that make an effective teacher (most of which boiled down to the teacher's attitude). We also took a look at a few case studies, where we were able to identify the necessary resources for each individual student and create an appropriate lesson plan (and life plan!).

The second day, we began to discuss learning differences and techniques for teaching reading. We participated in an activity where we were expected to learn to read a book consisting of completely foreign symbols, using a few sample translations as our guide. We were able to see first-hand the struggle that many of our beginning readers go through, and we were equipped with a few more tools to use in coming up with creative teaching solutions.

Although we undoubtedly gained some professional skills, perhaps the most memorable and significant aspect of the training was hearing from each other. The workshop presenters gave us plenty of information, but they also allowed us to talk about our own experiences and work with each other to figure out the best solutions for the learners in our program. This aspect was incredibly valuable because we are normally so focused on the learners that we don't have time for collaboration. I feel confident that our dedicated team at NOPLAY, employed teachers and Americorps members alike, will come out of this training with a stronger sense of unity and group understanding, not to mention some totally rad teaching tools.