AT Training Guidelines for Educators

“Train-the-trainers” (TTT) is one of the most common methods used to scale up improvement & change capability across organisations, yet we often fail to set it up for success. A recent article, drawing on teacher professional development & transfer-of-training research, argues TTT should always be based on an “offer-and-use” model: OFFER: what the programme provides—facilitator expertise, session design, practice opportunities, feedback, follow-up support & evaluation. USE: what participants do with those opportunities—what they notice, how they make sense of it, how much they engage, what they learn, & whether they apply it in real work. How to design TTT that works & sticks: 1. Design for real-world use: Clarify the practical outcome - what trainers should do differently in their next sessions & what that should improve for the organisation. Plan beyond the classroom with post-course support so people can apply learning. Space learning over time rather than delivering it in one intensive block, because spacing & follow-ups support sustained use. 2. Use strong facilitators: Select facilitators who know the topic & how adults learn, how groups work & how to give useful feedback. Ensure they teach “how to make this stick at work” (apply & sustain practices), not only “how to deliver a session.” 3. Make practice central: Build the programme around realistic rehearsal: deliver, get feedback, & practise again until skills become automatic. Use participants’ real scenarios (especially change situations) to strengthen transfer. Include safe practice for difficult moments (challenge, unexpected questions) & treat mistakes as learning. Build peer learning so participants learn with & from each other, not just the facilitator. 4. Prepare participants to succeed: Assess what participants already know & can do, then tailor the learning. Build confidence to use skills at work (confidence predicts application). Help each person create a simple, specific plan for when & how they will use the approaches in their next training sessions. 5. Ensure workplace transfer support: Enable quick application (opportunities to deliver training soon after the course), plus time & resources to do it well. Provide ongoing support (feedback, coaching, & encouragement) from leaders, peers &/or the wider organisation. 6. Evaluate what matters: Go beyond satisfaction scores - assess whether trainers changed their practice & whether this improved outcomes for learners & the organisation. Use findings to improve the next iteration as a continuous improvement cycle, not a one-off event. https://lnkd.in/eJ-Xrxwm. By Prof. Dr. Susanne Wisshak & colleagues, sourced via John Whitfield MBA

Most schools get curriculum training wrong. Here's how to fix it: Schools spend thousands on new curriculum, but here’s what usually happens: Teachers sit through a one-day training before school starts. They get a thick teacher’s guide that no one has time to read. By October, most are picking and choosing what to use. By January, the curriculum is barely recognizable. This isn’t a teacher problem. It’s a training problem. If you want a new curriculum to actually improve student outcomes, here’s how to do it right: 1. Teach the Why First If teachers don’t understand why this curriculum is better, they won’t commit to it. Start by making the case: - What research is behind it? - What student gaps will it help close? - How will it make their job easier, not harder? 2. Focus on Execution, Not Just Exposure A single sit-and-get PD won’t cut it. Training should be: - Ongoing: Built into PLCs, coaching, and planning time. - Practice-Based: Teachers should practice lessons and get feedback. - Modeled: Leaders and coaches should show what strong instruction looks like in execution and planning. 3. Build a Playbook for Intellectual Prep Great execution starts with great preparation. Schools should: - Create unit and lesson planning protocols. - Set clear expectations for lesson internalization. - Provide exemplars of strong student work so teachers know what success looks like. 4. Protect Time for Teachers to Collaborate No teacher should be figuring out a new curriculum alone. Schools should: - Schedule regular co-planning time. - Pair teachers up to internalize lessons together, including video review of how the curriculum looks in execution. - Ensure strong modeling from lead teachers and coaches. Choosing the right curriculum is only half the battle. How you train teachers to use it determines whether it actually improves student learning.

A Complete AI Resource Pack for Teachers and Educators! Over the last few months, I’ve shared a wide range of practical resources to help teachers and educators integrate AI in ways that are ethical, responsible, and actually useful in real classrooms. I’ve explored frameworks like the SAMR model for AI, outlined AI teaching skills, offered practical prompting strategies, shared AI tools and Chrome extensions, and even discussed how to craft a classroom AI policy that centers student learning and transparency. I’ve now compiled most of these resources into a single document, available for FREE. This guide brings together frameworks, checklists, integration strategies, and policy tips that you can use in your own teaching, professional development sessions, workshops, or training programs. Every page is designed to be actionable and immediately relevant for K-12 and higher education. You can download it below and share it with colleagues. #AIinEducation #TeachingWithAI #AIResources #EdTech #ChatGPTforTeachers #EducatorsTechnology #medkharbach #TeacherPD #ProfessionalDevelopment #ClassroomAI #AIEthicsInEducation

💡 Part 2: So what do we do instead? If what’s visible in the classroom is just the tip of the iceberg… Then our trainings must go deeper too. Last week, I shared what teacher training often misses—nervous system awareness, trauma responses, emotional safety. So today, I want to offer 7 practical shifts we can make in teacher PD to create classrooms where safety and learning coexist. 1. 🧠 Include Nervous System Literacy Train teachers to understand: Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses in children. How dysregulation looks in the classroom. That “bad behavior” is often a stress response. 📌 Simple activity: Map behaviors to nervous system states using real-life classroom scenarios. 2. 💬 Teach Co-Regulation, Not Just Behavior Management Shift from controlling behavior to co-regulating emotions. Breathing exercises. Self-anchoring tools for teachers. Scripts for co-regulating language (e.g., “You’re safe. I’m here.”) 📌 Practice: Teacher pairs practice co-regulation dialogues. 3. 🫀 Model Emotional Safety in the Training Itself The way we conduct training is how teachers will conduct classrooms. Start sessions with emotional check-ins. Celebrate vulnerability. Avoid shame-based correction. 📌 Create: A 'Safe Words Agreement' to model in classroom management. 4. 🎨 Use Real-Life Case Studies Over Hypotheticals Discuss complex emotional cases, not just academic dilemmas: A child who zones out. A child who keeps interrupting. A child who always wants to go home. 📌 Tool: “What’s beneath this behavior?” template. 5. 🪞 Train Teachers to Reflect, Not Just React Add structured reflection time post-lessons: What did I feel when the child yelled back? What was my body doing in that moment? What might that child be experiencing at home? 📌 Introduce: Weekly regulation + reflection journals. 6. 🌿 Make Space for Teacher Healing Teachers carry their own trauma. Unless we address it, it spills into classrooms. Offer space for emotional processing. Build peer-support circles. Normalize therapy and self-work. 📌 Activity: “My triggers, my anchors” journaling and group share. 7. 🛠 Give Teachers a Regulation Toolkit Practical tools they can use the very next day: Visuals for classroom routines. Regulation corner guide. Scripts for emotional moments. 📌 Bonus: Include a physical or digital “Teacher Anchor Kit.” Because here’s the truth: 📌 We can’t expect teachers to create emotionally safe classrooms… if our training isn’t emotionally safe itself. ✨ Training should not just inform. It should transform. What’s one thing you wish teacher training had included? Let’s rethink PD—together. #TeacherTraining #SchoolLeadership #HealingClassrooms Gangothri SG Murali S Chandrika Ramakanth Supriya Prakash Parikshith Hegde Meena Kumari Usha Iyer Madhusudhan Ramesh Poornima Kattula Annapoorna Shetty Dr Simran Randhawa Anuradha Ganesan Sheerali Biju Uttama Singh Nupur Roy Bhowmiick Kuheli Sengupta Sumit Mandhwani Ritu Chopra Dr. Keerti Sharma

As teachers, it is our responsibility to ensure that our lesson objectives are not vague, hard to assess or disconnected from how our students actually learn. This is why, for my Teacher Training pseudo-project, I created a job aid that helps teachers develop objectives that progress through Bloom's cognitive stages and enable students to achieve real mastery of a particular topic. Learning is not a single-step event. To master a topic, students usually need to: ✔️ Remember key facts (store & retrieve relevant knowledge), ✔️ Understand what those facts mean, ✔️ Apply what they understand in real situations, ✔️ Analyse the material to see parts and relationships, ✔️ Evaluate and make reasoned judgments using evidence, ✔️ Create something original that combines and extends what they learned. When objectives are written to reflect and scaffold these stages, teaching becomes more student-centred and the assessments become more meaningful. With a job aid, that is based on Bloom's Taxonomy that teachers can pull up while planning, teachers can be able to follow these steps: ☑️ Pick the terminal learning outcome from the approved curriculum. ☑️ Break it into staged objectives (Remember → Understand → Apply → Analyse → Evaluate → Create) ☑️Use measurable verbs from the job aid to write SMART objectives for each lesson or learning activity. ☑️ Design quick formative assessments (exit tickets, quizzes, demos) that map those verbs. ☑️ Design the summative assessments that match the SMART objectives. This simple routine makes lesson planning faster and assessment easier. #BloomTaxonomy #InstructionalDesign #TeacherTraining #SMARTobjectives #LessonPlanning #Education

AI can accelerate learning but risks “deskilling” unless educators actively supervise its use with a structured, evidence-first approach that builds adaptive clinical reasoning. 1️⃣ Learners may lose skills, fail to develop them, or reinforce wrong habits if they rely on AI without critical thinking. 2️⃣ Educators may know less about AI than trainees, so supervision should be framed as shared learning within a team. 3️⃣ The DEFT-AI framework gives a simple structure for guiding learners. It means talking through what they asked the AI and why (Diagnosis/Discussion), checking the output against guidelines or data (Evidence), giving feedback on their approach (Feedback), teaching either clinical or AI skills (Teaching), and ending with advice on how to use AI next time (Action/Recommendation). 4️⃣ Learners should practice switching between two modes. The centaur mode means delegating tasks to AI but carefully checking the results. The cyborg mode means working closely with AI on low-risk or validated tasks. 5️⃣ Verification always comes before trust. AI outputs must be checked against guidelines, research, and clinical judgment, since explanations and confidence levels do not prove correctness. 6️⃣ Educators should separate two appraisals: whether the AI tool itself has been shown to be accurate and safe, and whether a specific output is valid for a specific patient problem. 7️⃣ Prompts must be precise and contextual. Asking AI to explain its reasoning and refining the prompts can expose gaps and improve output. 8️⃣ Learners should also present case analyses without AI input. This helps educators spot overreliance and ensures independent reasoning skills are not lost. 9️⃣ Curricula should embed DEFT-AI steps into supervision, treat prompt use and output validation as teachable skills, and make learner–AI interactions part of assessment. 🔟 In clinical practice today, AI can be used for brainstorming or drafting, but decisions about diagnosis and management must be verified and anchored in clinician judgment. ✍🏻 Raja-Elie Abdulnour, Brian Gin, Christy Boscardin. Educational Strategies for Clinical Supervision of Artificial Intelligence Use. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2025. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra2503232