The Power of Post It Notes...

As part of my work as a an Adult Education teacher for the County Council, I have to prove that learners in my classes have achieved soft and hard outcomes...

It sounds incredibly dodgy I know, but soft outcomes are things like increased confidence, better social skills.... Hard outcomes are measurable skills like learning new sewing skills, making an item of clothing...

The outcomes for a course are set by the funding body, and in the case of the Council are mostly centred around soft outcomes. In lesson planning I have to show how the action of learning sewing increases self confidence..

At first, I won't lie, it was a nightmare that kept me up at night and I had schemes of work returned 3/4 times... I think I have it now...

As part of the process of assessing the learners, I have to keep logs on the learners. It is a two way process that involves me observing the learners and setting them targets, they then have to assess how they are progressing.. Sounds complicate right?

It was until I went to training on Monday and discovered that I don't have to working within the confines of the paperwork provided - I can log the learners progress in anyway I want to!

This gave me the idea of working like I used to with children under 5 - did I mention I have an NVQ Level 3 in Childcare?

In my former married life I was a childminder and I used to use post it notes to note when a child achieved a developmental milestone or managed something new so I would be able to tell their parents.

Well I found out I can use post it note to track the learners progress  - notes I make and notes they make combined to chart their progress...

You see many of the learners find reading and writing hard. Talking to people can be tough for them.. a post it note is much less scary than a huge form for them...

Post It Notes hold a lot of power!