Hi all, I've very recently been asked to teach a non-vocational evening class on family history at our local college. I've been approached many times in the past unofficially, but as I've been approached directly I've decided its time to bite the bullet and go for it. However, although I have the experience and knowledge, I have never taught a class before. The course will be a ten week block of 2 hour sessions. As we are in Scotland I have the opportunity of covering both English and Scottish records - obviously the students will want to look locally as well as nationally for their ancestors. Can any of you given me advice as to what is usually covered in such a class. I've googled for sylabuses but come up with nothing. The IHGS sell tutorial packs but I am loathe to buy them all as this would cost me the wages I would be earning. I also need to think about homework as this is something I expect the students would want. Ideas are family records and how to build a tree, registration, census, non-conformist, probate etc. I am wondering what level of detail to go into - 2 hours seems a long time, but I dont want to drown them all in information. Any evening class teachers out there who could point me in the right direction? I'd appreciate any help or ideas folks, this is new territory for me (and just a little bit scary!) Regards, Sara Donaldson in Caithness (where the sun is peeping through the clouds)

Hi Sara I am an experienced evening class teacher who has recently started to also teach e-genealogy. I think the first thing to think about is what level are your students going to be. If beginners then your approach will be different to that needed to assist those who have been doing family history for years. If you don't know I would suggest starting at the basics and then adding in a few extra bits or references for those more advanced. It is surprising how many self taught people are missing bits of the basics. Often with this kind of course it is worth providing a basics course and then you may well find that later you will have enough students for a follow on course. One of the main things to remember is that 2 hours is not long - there will be admin. to do especially in the first and last sessions and most classes have a 10 minute break in the middle, not everyone comes on time and some may need to leave early. Try not to do too much in a session. Most students will not be keen to face a long lecture style session especially if they have been working all day. Try to have a variety of approach - e.g start with an overview of the topic for the evening, some Q&A to see what people may know, an introduction to the theory, practical exercise- maybe done individually, then group sharing of results from exercise, more theory, overview and summary. On the subject of homework getting students to reread handouts and any notes they have made in class, plus do some work on their family trees is often more than many have time for. If you want to e-mail me directly I would be happy to be of more assistance. Jill riginal Message ----- From: <SaraJayneD@aol.com> To: <SOG-UK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2006 10:40 AM Subject: [SoG] Re: advice needed for teaching evenng class > Hi all, > > I've very recently been asked to teach a non-vocational evening class on > family history at our local college. I've been approached many times in the past > unofficially, but as I've been approached directly I've decided its time to > bite the bullet and go for it. > > However, although I have the experience and knowledge, I have never taught a > class before. The course will be a ten week block of 2 hour sessions. As we > are in Scotland I have the opportunity of covering both English and Scottish > records - obviously the students will want to look locally as well as > nationally for their ancestors. > > Can any of you given me advice as to what is usually covered in such a > class. I've googled for sylabuses but come up with nothing. The IHGS sell tutorial > packs but I am loathe to buy them all as this would cost me the wages I > would be earning. I also need to think about homework as this is something I > expect the students would want. Ideas are family records and how to build a tree, > registration, census, non-conformist, probate etc. I am wondering what level > of detail to go into - 2 hours seems a long time, but I dont want to drown > them all in information. > > Any evening class teachers out there who could point me in the right > direction? > > I'd appreciate any help or ideas folks, this is new territory for me (and > just a little bit scary!) > > Regards, > > Sara Donaldson in Caithness (where the sun is peeping through the clouds) >

Sara The SoG Education committee has developed a similar course which has yet to be trialed. The idea is to sell it on to others. I'm sure that members of the Ed committee read this list so will be able to contact you on it - I've not been involved in its development However just one or two pointers directed at your concerns and bearing in mind your self declared inexperience at delivering courses :-) Have a subject for each session: Civil Registration; Census; Family Sources; etc Have plenty of practical. Example select a census page and have each person in the group read out one line; learning process is very rapid in learning from repetition, characteristic letters etc, and its fun. I've used this with Open University computing courses when considering issues relating to data and information Practicals can be discussion in groups drawing deductions from data. Several groups tackling the same problem and the distinct conclusions. Too many presenters talk too much - as a presenter you are not a talking textbook; some presenters see themselves as this. They give little - might as well read a textbook. The first session needs to be introductions. Why are you here? What do you know? You could have students sketch their tree as far as is known; you could ask them to bring it with them (this will depend on pre knowledge of course and your students). The first session can help you scope further sessions and, more importantly, tweak to specific student interests. Perhaps have students swap e-mail addresses/tel nos or collect to distribute (protect yourself from big brother fraternity - data protection chimeras) Engender continuity and participation by asking class to carry out task for next session. Eg if next session is civil registration bring in parents/grandparents certs (if they have them) and start with any problems they have with interpretation. Eg if next session is census bring in an 1881 or other census record of the student's family. Again so often beginners (and not beginners!) miss much. Depending on individuals take care not to isolate people who may not be able to do this I recently took part in a look at a University (on-line) course and it consisted of:- Intro Research Process Oral History for Family History Using the Internet for Family History Census parish Registers Civil Registration Wills and Probate records Monumental Inscriptions The family in C19 - issues and debates Genealogy, Family History and history of the family Where next As is evident from the titles (12 written lectures), it was fairly wide ranging. On another tack, check out the facilities you will have and sort out what you are comfortable with. Whiteboard, Overhead Projector, Data Projector. I often have to phaff around when I arrive at lecture room because the required facilities are not there (usually for me that's white board pens or duster (toilet paper works for the latter) or overhead projector). I'm almost at the stage of going to data projector as they are nearly as common as overhead projectors now! HTH Michael SOG-UK-L@rootsweb.com writes: >I've very recently been asked to teach a non-vocational evening class on >family history at our local college. I've been approached many times in >the past >unofficially, but as I've been approached directly I've decided its time >to >bite the bullet and go for it. > >However, although I have the experience and knowledge, I have never >taught a >class before. The course will be a ten week block of 2 hour sessions. As >we >are in Scotland I have the opportunity of covering both English and >Scottish >records - obviously the students will want to look locally as well as >nationally for their ancestors. > >Can any of you given me advice as to what is usually covered in such a >class. I've googled for sylabuses but come up with nothing. The IHGS >sell tutorial >packs but I am loathe to buy them all as this would cost me the wages I >would be earning. I also need to think about homework as this is >something I >expect the students would want. Ideas are family records and how to >build a tree, >registration, census, non-conformist, probate etc. I am wondering what >level >of detail to go into - 2 hours seems a long time, but I dont want to >drown >them all in information. > >Any evening class teachers out there who could point me in the right >direction? > >I'd appreciate any help or ideas folks, this is new territory for me >(and >just a little bit scary!)