Another petit-post from moi to tell you all about my promotion to the rank of Supporting Tutor on the 'Cultivate' programme, with the Creative Learning team.
So hopefully you'll already know that I've been volunteering with the Creative Learning team for almost two years now. I started off as a participant on the pilot 'Cultivate' programme, which guides a team of volunteers through an SQA Award in Volunteering Skills, and then I went on to be involved in the Skirts & Tales project.
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| Team Cultivate the First, 2012 |
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| Cultivate 2012 |
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| Cultivate 2012 |
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| Skirts & Tales 2013 |
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| Skirts & Tales 2013 |
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| Skirts & Tales 2013 |
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| Me being sensible as usual, Skirts & Tales 2013 |
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| Skirts & Tales Grand Finale, July 2013 |
After all this, I was given the chance to support the main tutors on the next round of the Cultivate course by being an Admin Intern. I wrote a blog post introducing that a few months ago, and thoroughly enjoyed being able facilitate the sessions between September and December '13.
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| Cultivate '13 |
Now, I've taken the opportunity to move up a level and become a supporting tutor. For the Januuary - April '14 programme I'll still have all the same admin responsibilities, but I'll also be assisting with the delivery of the course. My main baby will be the Investigative Project module of the
programme, which I'm hoping to lead on as far as I can manage, and I will also be providing help for those with English as an
Additional Language or extra learning needs.
I'm really happy about all this. My first priority is to give the new batch of volunteers the same excellent experience I've had with the course, by becoming as efficient a tutor as my colleagues. It's also a real chance to improve my skills - I'll need to draw upon all my communication skills in order to build relationships of trust with the participants, especially if I'm to ensure that those with differing abilities feel included. I'm also going to need to be highly organised to make sure that all nine candidates have completed each outcome and all the relevant evidence is properly and accurately compiled, and even my public speaking skills will be tested. And these are only the obvious skills - who knows which other, unforeseen skills I'll need!
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| 'Teabag art' made during week 1 of the Jan -April '14 course |
I think this is also going to be one of those experiences which forces me to ask for help. Developing this ability is crucial to helping me achieve my new years' resolution, so it's something I'm glad I have the chance to work on here. And by glad, I mean terrified. I was able to test out my 'asking' skills a little on the last course, particularly when it came to gathering evaluation. Of all my responsibilities as admin intern, this was the one which I was least experienced in, and rather than ignoring this fact and persevering alone, I first attempted it for a few weeks, and then asked someone who actually knew what they were doing if I was getting it right. Turns out I wasn't quite hitting the mark, but we caught it early and it never became a problem. This time, there are a lot of aspects of being a supporting tutor I know nothing about, so it's proving to be quite testing. I HATE not knowing things - not because of any sense of arrogance or anything like that, but just because I don't want to be the weak link in the team. I want my colleagues to be able to give me tasks with confidence, knowing that I will be able to complete them and complete them well. I don't like that there are quite a number of elements of this job that I'm not so confident in, and can't really be left alone to do. However, like I said, my priority is making sure all the participants get an equally valuable experience on the course, so I will do whatever I can to ensure that I become a competent tutor, fast! This includes not worrying about things I can't control such as lack of experience, and also, ta da! Asking for help when I need it. So, while my usual blog posts open with compliments, talk for a while about all the things I've been up to, and then end with love, prepare for a few where I wallow in the misery of my incompetency, or try and cover up all my flaws :P
Not that I have any ;)
And there we have it, yet another flibberty-gibbit from me, which has turned out to be not quite so petit as I had predicted, but I'm not scrolling all the way back to the top of the page to change it, so I'll just leave it as it is.
Don't forget to connect with me on google+ if you are so inclined, or leave me comments below. I look forward to chatting with you, and even more forward to seeing you next time!
Wish you much failure (don't freak out! you'll learn loads!)
Love love love
Naomi
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