We love cooking up new resources for the L&D field. We get excited when people download them. But we don’t often know how they’re being used. I had the opportunity to talk to two early childhood leaders, Glenna Gamble and Sharon Norris, and learn about how they integrated Endurance Learning’s Activity Cookbook into their early childhood training session.
Brian: I am here with two early care and education regional training coaches from Kentucky, Glenna Gamble and Sharon Norris. Thank you ladies for joining us today. How are you?
Glenna: I’m great.
Sharon: We are good. Thank you for having us.
Six Word Biography
Brian: Excellent! Well, thank you so much for giving me some time. I want to get into this topic of using the Learning Activity Cookbook. But before I do that, I want to let our audience get to know you a little bit through introducing yourself. So in our tradition that we have here, if you could introduce yourself using exactly six words. What would that introduction be? I think we’ll start with Sharon.
Sharon: So my introduction in six words is training, supporter, percolating, lasting, learning, transfer.
Brian: You know, there seemed to be alliteration in there. It had rhyme, had meter. Thank you so much, I love it. How about you, Glenna? How would you introduce yourself in six words?
Glenna: My six words are supporter of trainers, training the future.
Brian: And your title is Regional Training Coach, so I imagine that you have an opportunity to interact with lots of different people throughout the state of Kentucky who then go on to shape and mold the minds of the youngest among us.
What is the Activity Cookbook?
This whole idea for a podcast started when somebody sent me a photograph of a training session that you were both in and people were wearing chef’s hats and that was along the theme of the Endurance Learning Activity Cookbook. There are 63 different activities in this cookbook and before we get into this photo and in the session itself, can you explain to the people who are listening a little bit about where you were first exposed to this Endurance Learning Activity Cookbook?
Glenna: Well, Brian, you probably remember last year when we were planning for the Trainers Institute for 2024, that is when I was first introduced when we were meeting with you to prepare.
Sharon: And I actually saw it earlier last summer. I think in June of 2023, Brian, you sent an email from Endurance Learning and it offered a free download of the cookbook. And so I downloaded it and I loved it and distributed it to our team. And then that really led to us connecting with you and you came and presented at our Trainers Institute, as Glenna mentioned. You led a session on the cookbook and it was very well received.
Brian: Okay. So you’ve explored this cookbook and shameless plug. If people want their own free copy of this, they can certainly go to the Endurance Learning website in the resources section. Why would somebody even crack the cookbook open? Why would somebody be interested in it? What is it about this cookbook that you found most useful? Is there anything specific that you can cite? Is there a specific activity? Is it the way it’s organized? What is it about this kind of metaphoric training activity cookbook that you found most useful?
Actionable Activities for Subject Matter Experts
Sharon: Well, what I really liked it because both Glenna and I are credential trainers and a big part of our role is to support and teach the credential trainers in Kentucky and most of them start as subject matter experts. As did we. So we spend a lot of time supporting them on adult learning and how to write a training plan and things like that.
What I loved about the cookbook is that it has simple and actionable content, and it really relates to the instructional design process that we teach our credentialed trainers. In particular, I like the four different activity sections that you had and the suggestions for using each. Those four activities really encompass the different parts of a training plan that we know are important to support transfer of learning, and we know that it’s much more than just content and information.
Brian: Yeah. And so it’s one of those things where, and I love that you kind of mentioned the way that it’s organized. So people can Google training activities. And you can get hundreds, thousands of different activities that you can find on the internet. And the way that we tried to organize this was to give it some rhyme and reason. You start with an anchor sort of activity and then move into the content and then application, then future use. This is the formula that we use when we were putting together training programs so that the different activities can build on each other.
Glenna, did you have anything that you found most useful about the cookbook?
A Guide for New Early Childhood Trainers
Glenna: I found the instructions were so easy to understand and step by step, you know, a trainer would be able to grab that and go with it. New trainers will be able to develop a training based on activities in the book, and it supports trainers, either new to the field or those who have had years of experience. So it works for everybody.
Brian: Okay. So you recently facilitated a training workshop in which the cookbook was distributed and the participants were asked to really get into the cooking spirit by donning chef’s hats, right? So there were props for this workshop. How did dressing the part add to that learning experience? When I use the cookbook in a Train-the-Trainer, I just kind of distribute it, but you had people put on hats. What was the impact on the learning experience?
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Using Props Effectively in a Training Session
Glenna: Well, during that training, I was debriefing each activity. The trainers, all credentialed trainers in the training, but during the day, they were all participants, they were taking the training in, rather than presenting. So I wanted something visual that they could say, okay, as they put their hat on, I am now looking at it differently through the eyes of a trainer.
So I got the hats that went along with the cookbook. I thought, I like that too, and I gave them out that day. And every time I would get up to debrief a different activity, you would see them reaching for their hats to put them on. Nobody didn’t participate or even grumble about it. So I think they enjoyed it and I let them take their hats home with them. So hopefully that will be a reminder to them when they’re taking training in the future.
Brian: Yeah, I think that is such a clever idea and I know having worked from home for a number of years, a lot of times my uniform going to the office is a t-shirt or a hoodie. However, if I’m going to deliver a session, like a virtual session, I will put on a button down shirt and sometimes I put on a sport coat or a tie or whatever it might be and I just feel different. I love that you tapped into this idea of physically giving your learners a prop that kind of changed the lens through which they were being asked to participate in it. Such a clever idea!
Sharon, did you have anything that you wanted to add to that one?
Benefits of Using a Prop in Early Childhood Training
Sharon: I was just going to add, it was also really fun and playful. And we know that play helps adults learn. It encourages innovative thinking. It lessens cognitive load. And just watching the trainers put on the hats, it really got them moving and increased their energy, as well.
Brian: So it wasn’t just kind of a fun activity, certainly fun as part of it, but there was a purpose to it. Also, it wasn’t just kind of a random prop that you’re asking people to use. That makes it so much more clever in terms of, we’re asking people to do something, but there’s a reason for it. Because I’ve seen some facilitators have people put boxes on their heads or other things like that, and there’s really no reason for it other than it’s kind of a fun thing, I guess.
But when there’s more rhyme and reason behind it, that can really impact the learning experience. I think that makes it so much more powerful. Now, you mentioned that you work with subject matter experts, you work with people who do some other things.
Using the Cookbook as a Brand New Trainer
So having spent some time using the cookbook. What are some specific ways that you felt that it could be helpful, maybe to somebody who’s brand new to the world of training and training design? Why don’t we start with the brand new and then I’ll ask a second part to the question.
Sharon: So, I think for brand new trainers, there were a couple aspects that are really helpful. As Glenna mentioned, each activity is well defined, and it has step by step instructions, which is really helpful. And it also includes suggestions on when you might use it. What type of objectives do you have where it would make sense to use it? Most of the activities are simple in terms of setup and material. So they’re not overwhelming to new trainers. The other thing that I loved that I think is especially beneficial for new trainers is where you give the examples of how to plan using all four types of activities, because that really encompasses the training plan.
And that aspect is really intimidating, often for new trainers and the way you laid it out just makes it seem very simple and doable.
Experienced Early Childhood Trainers
Brian: What about if we shift this question a little bit? And maybe this even applies to the 2 of you, So people who have been doing training. For a number of years, your experienced trainers, your coaches, how could this cookbook be helpful for somebody who’s been designing and delivering training for years?
Glenna: It’s a resource. We can never have too many resources. And you know, some of the activities could be adapted. They could add to already existing training. So I think it would be great. We tell them when we’re training them to develop a trainer toolbox. So this would be a great addition to your toolbox.
Brian: Yeah, thank you. So Sharon and Glenna, thank you both for just giving me a little bit of time just to talk a little bit about that experience you led. I’ve been using this resource for a little while now, but when I saw those photos, I was like, I have to have them on. Thank you so much for giving me some time and for joining and for everybody else who’s listening.
