For those that teach classes

[doulaamber]

I am in the process of writing my childbirth classes and I want to make them fun and interesting. The ones I have observed were soooo boring! Everyone looked like they would rather be some where else.

What do you do to make them fun?

[erad76]

I just returned from my Lamaze teacher training by Passion for Birth. Terri has an idea box that you can order from her website, that I am sure is full of great ideas.
One of the things that has been hard for me to get is that adults like a lot of the same stuff kids like. I guess it makes sense, but it has been hard for me to train myself to think that way. There are lots of ways that you can incorporate fun activities into you classes. You can have contests with prizes. Hands on activities that have students playing with baby dolls, mock uteri, rebozos, etc. Plus you can use silly visuals like tool belts filled with things you can use in labor.
It's hard for me to "be zaney", but as long as you come across as someone who knows what she is talking about, you can probably get away with some silliness.

[syncreo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by erad76 I just returned from my Lamaze teacher training by Passion for Birth. Terri has an idea box that you can order from her website, that I am sure is full of great ideas. One of the things that has been hard for me to get is that adults like a lot of the same stuff kids like. I guess it makes sense, but it has been hard for me to train myself to think that way. There are lots of ways that you can incorporate fun activities into you classes. You can have contests with prizes. Hands on activities that have students playing with baby dolls, mock uteri, rebozos, etc. Plus you can use silly visuals like tool belts filled with things you can use in labor. It's hard for me to "be zaney", but as long as you come across as someone who knows what she is talking about, you can probably get away with some silliness.

Hi,
I think of it as in the fact that we all liked to be entertained. Part of our role as teachers is to entertain. I don't think you have to be zaney - you just have to be yourself and figure out your own ways to be creative and entertaining. For some people that is being funny for others it is being creative in the props and tools they use. It is important to be authentic and to be who you are - this way your students can truly connect with you. If you are zaney, be zaney or if you want to be zaney be zaney, but if not then don't be zaney (can you tell I just like using the word zaney ? )

Teri's creative idea's box is great - lots of different ideas for the zaney and not so zaney childbirth educator :
http://www.passionforbirth.com/page.cfm?pageid=493

Cheers, Shawna

[AussieDoula]

I would really recommend checking out the Transition To Parenthood website. It's crammed full of resources for Childbirth Educators (which would also be helpful for some Doula work).

You'll find handouts, class activities, articles, charts, statistics, and even complete course outlines for you if you're just starting out.

Here's the best part: it's all free information.

[Stacie]

Whether we teach formally, we all teach. And whether we have 10 in a room or two, we can still use more entertaining ideas to teach a basic or complicated concept.

[Bree]

Have you ever attended a childbirth educator's training workshop?

I went to one this passed July (through ICEA - icea.org) and learned SOOO many different ideas & techniques. I strongly recommend attending a workshop!!!

[Gentlebirthmama]

Here is another site with some handouts/suggestions for CBEs that is pretty good:
http://www.growingfamily.com/cbe/

What organization did you get your CBE training through? Didn't you take a workshop? Usually the workshops are full of ways to teach.
Personally I liked the fact that I didn't have to write my own classes to start out with...otherwise I don't know if I would have lasted 14 years as a CBE!
Of course my classes have become my own over the years, but it was nice not to reinvent the wheel so to speak in the beginning.

[teachinmamaof4]

Quote:

Have you ever attended a childbirth educator's training workshop?

Yes, we did. It was a combo ld/cbe training. Mostly we went over making a class outline.

Quote:

Personally I liked the fact that I didn't have to write my own classes to start out with..

With CAPPA, you put your own classes together.

[doulaamber]

Heather was at the training with me, and I have to say, it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. I was hoping for more on how to write your cirriculum, etc. but we just heard a lot of birth stories from the trainer So, yea I'll read anything I can to help me figure this out.

[Matrescence]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gentlebirthmama Here is another site with some handouts/suggestions for CBEs that is pretty good: http://www.growingfamily.com/cbe/

Awesome resource, thank you! I'm writing my outline now and have been struggling with making it fit all of the learning styles... It won't be long and I'll be done with this certification

[truelife]

I took the workshop with Heather and Amber and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT RESOURCE!!!!!!!!

[MothertheMother]

A GREAT resource is the Educators Guide from the Family Way. The ladies that wrote it are LCCE's and it covers a lot of the same stuff that the LamazefB covered. It's a little pricey at $60 but worth every penny if you are starting out. It has example course outlines, fun things to do in the class, ice breakers, printable templates for a lot of things with rights to print them. If you could condense the Lamaze training into a binder this would be it. I am so glad I decided to purchase this! Some of the things in the book are the same as the Idea Box as well. I LOVE IT! Oh, and the fact that it is a binder and not a book is great since you can take stuff out to copy and put it back in. Also you can add pages if you have other ideas you want to add.

http://www.thefamilyway.com/edguide.html

Oh, here's the description from the site

The Educator's Guide
Section I – Getting Started
Contemplate your own philosophy of birth and then read the philosophy of CIMS (Coalition for Improving Maternity Services).
Consider various teaching strategies and learning styles.
Organize your classes, with the help of our topic outlines for weekly and weekend classes.
Devise your own “practice sheets” using our example.
Use our suggestions for letters to the class and information for instructors.
Copy sign-in and sign-up sheets.
Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses as a speaker by reviewing our chart of teaching styles and a “vaccine” for visual aids.
Review the purpose of Icebreakers and try some of the ones we suggest.
Section II – Teaching Page by Page
This section is filled with suggested teaching methods, learning activities, visual aids, references, and discussion questions that may be used for topics taught in most childbirth classes. We follow the topics covered in our handbook, Prepared Childbirth–The Family Way, but the suggestions are helpful to educators using any resources. We have included relaxation scripts, birth-ball safety tips, reproducible masters for visual aids, labor station ideas, role playing ideas, and international and national guidelines for care in normal birth. Hints for teaching about cesarean birth, unexpected outcomes and grieving, breastfeeding, and postpartum are also included in the 111 pages of ideas.

Section III
Here you will find numerous evaluation forms and surveys, with permission granted for you to reprint.

Section IV
The heart of this section contains outlines and activities for meeting the special needs of teen parents, parents of multiples, those in early pregnancy, or those who just need a refresher for a subsequent birth.

Section V
This is an extensive resource list, including approximate cost and where to get:

teaching aids
items for a labor bag
videotapes
slide sets
books
We include websites of childbirth-related organizations, bookstores, sources for teaching aids, and journals.

Appendix
There is still more we want to share with you here. We give you KEGEL stickers, informed consent cards, and beautiful color illustrations of the stages of labor which you may reproduce.

We have converted some pages from the guide to PDF format for your review.

[WelcomingBirth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MothertheMother A GREAT resource is the Educators Guide from the Family Way. http://www.thefamilyway.com/edguide.html

I 2nd this recommendation! I just started teaching in a hospital setting after years of teaching independently and this has given me some useful ideas for designing my class. I have collected a lot of ideas and activities all ready, but this guide offers suggestions for teaching folks that are planning on using medications or are on-the-fence, which is a different crowd than those I previously I taught. It has been worth the money. I also like the workbook that is available to give students and it is fairly inexpensive (~$5 a book).