Have teachers forgotten meaning of ‘workshops’?

Morris Mtisi
HAVE teachers really forgotten the difference between a workshop and a meeting? My suspicion is that most of them know what must happen in a workshop but pretend the words “workshop” and “meeting” are synonyms, for the latter is far easier to conduct than the former. I am, however, also tempted to think too many of them (teachers) genuinely have no idea what the difference is and seriously believe listening to a lecturing speaker asking a few silly questions and inviting the audience’s suggestions on how to go about doing something is a workshop.

Of course not forgetting to enjoy a scrumptious hot meal and refreshments before receiving bus-fare reimbursements and going back home!
Perhaps it is time now to call for teachers to deepen their understanding and knowledge of what a workshop is and what must happen during work-shopping.
It is certainly not listening to a lecture delivered by a lecturer called a facilitator.

Facilitating what?
If nothing is really happening at a meeting except listening and learning, what exactly is the speaker often called facilitator, facilitating?
Let me give two simple examples: If a well known author is addressing aspiring authors on how to write selling novels, is it a workshop? Or addressing aspiring investigative journalists on investigative journalism, is it a workshop?

The next question is, “If a teacher or teachers are sharing ideas about how to teach composition writing, summary or practical criticism in Literature, are they in a workshop? The answer is emphatic Nooo!
What happens or must happen in a workshop?

There must be illustrations, real examples, demonstrations, models and exhibitions, displaying worked out results by the attendees of the workshop.
There must be work involved in work-shopping, work leading to building up tangible or realisable results of effect — producing items.
There must be active or practical involvement of teachers role-playing learners or pupils assimilating certain skills as targeted by the workshop.

For example these teachers must produce demonstrative or sample paragraphs, descriptions, dramatic effect in story writing, flash-back composition beginnings, weather/atmosphere description beginnings, model articles written for a newspaper, letters to best friends, business letters, setting register situations and sampling correct responses. The list can go on forever.
Then discuss these, evaluate them and finally compile them into a work hand book.

That is a workshop, hypothetically.
Perfect hands-on-workshop! There was work done and something produced.
A forty minute or one hour lecture or talk-show, spiced by a few questions from the speaker or selected speakers and answers from attendees is not a workshop. It is a meeting, a talk-show in real effect.

A workshop is not a newsroom of gossip exchange of achievements and failures of teachers or schools, problems and challenges or simply a relay exchange of ideas.
It is a hive of activities and ultimate exhibition of produced items on how to solve those problems or challenges tabled before the workshop.
But is it only teachers who have the problem of not knowing the difference between meetings and workshops? Certainly not!

I have experienced quite a few of these ordeals, not by teachers or officials of the education sector, but where I have had to endure long lectures by motivation sort-of speakers but really stand-off comedians obsessed by what they call “energisers”, most of it sheer sick dirty humour unfit for professional meetings or workshops.
Food for thought. Teachers ought to know better.