Designing a ladder selection lesson. There's a LOT of content (this is related to yesterdays' post). TL:DR, there are 4 categories of ladder variables to consider... Type (e.g., extension, step, platform), Material (wood, fiberglass, aluminum), Size (4', 8', 12' etc.) and Rating (Grade 1, 1A, 1AA).
This information can be spread over 10 pages, yet.. there are only a few things that MUST be known to make a safe choice. As I go through information and make notes, I make pages of notes. I organize and visualize. I think of "If I were a labourer sitting in this class, how could I GET this? How could I take workable information from this course?"
Then I re-organize. Then I look for duplication. I look for patterns. Three discoveries:
- Ladder selection comes down to asking questions.
- The 4 variables are Type, Material, Size, Rating.
Type Material Size Rating Those four words shown above don't form an easy-to-remember initialism. however, the words shown below do create an easy-to-remember initialism... Size Material Rating Type
S.m.r.t.
Any Simpsons fan will immediately get the reference. Now, we have
- A set of 6 questions
- A set of 4 variables
Ladder section comes down to two things: Asking good questions Making good choices Questions... 6 things Choices... 3 things Information on those 1. Questions, and 2. Choices will be further nested into those categories. If I can keep every topic to 5 or less items, it makes understanding and recall easier.
Long story short: Ladder Safety can be make simple. It's just a complex process. hahaha NOTE: I could take an hour to make this post as clean as the final lesson will be... but I have a meeting to go to, and 8,000 other things to do today. I LOVE designing learning experiences <3