How I’m sharing practice: Simon Glenister, Noise Solution

This month in ‘How I’m sharing practice’, Simon Glenister of Noise Solution, talks about blogging to celebrate, share, and extend your impact.

Previously a youth offending team worker and Connexions personal advisor, Simon now works with young people in the most challenging circumstances through music. Although not a Musical Inclusion grant holder, he’s a great example of someone who has built social media into his practice.

It’s helped him to share young people’s journeys with family, peers, friends and the professional network around the young person - creating “affirmation loops that build” – and to collect evaluation material.

He also shares his own practice – on subjects including blogging, using technology (sequencers, games technology), social enterprise and outcomes frameworks – through his own blog [link] and his Youth Music network blog.

Why did you start using blogs?

When I set up Noise Solution, I wanted to take the lessons I’d learned as a youth worker and a professional musician, to help those young people to become good at something quickly, to build their confidence, and then – this is where social media comes in - to celebrate and share that success.

So I started blogging – using Google blogger – that was three years go. It became apparent that once you blogged on a weekly basis, the people working around that person who was ‘failing’ suddenly saw them being successful ie the foster carer, YOT … and you start to the road block [between you and them]. And it’s like doing a case study live with them, capturing all the soft successes

So it’s ‘practice showing’ as much as practice sharing. How do you build time to do it?

We work with 20-25 people at any one time and they all have a blog.

I build it into the planning of each session and the cost - roughly two hours contact and one hour reporting, liaising, blog writing.

And it gets easier. You run the session with the young person, write the blog with them and upload any materials straight away, zap! I tend to do three or four photos, a video reflection, and a copy of a track in mp3 format.  

Can you give us some examples?

http://karlsbronzeaward.tumblr.com/archive http://robsblogns.tumblr.com/ http://sophiewheelerblog.tumblr.com/archive

Can you give us a step-by-step of how you organise the blogging part of your work?

1.    When I start working with a young person, I collect email addresses of all the relevant contacts working with a young person.

2.    I run the first session, and towards the end either write a quick blog with them and/or record (audio or video) their answers to some questions I ask them to help them reflect on the session and their progress.

3.    With video, there’s no need for fancy equipment – just use your phone.

4.    Straight after the session, I’ll finish the blog, post it, and send out an email with a link, encouraging people to comment by email. When they do, I post the comments back on the blog.  

5.    I also do a professional report for those funding or working around the young person, picking up things they need to know, things that work/don’t work – there’s a proforma on Substance Views that we use, so myself and any of the tutors can fill it in straight after the session, it’ll convert the answers into a pdf report, and we email that to the appropriate professionals.

What about sharing your own practice, reflections etc, how important is that for you?

It’s really important to us as an organisation, and I guess it boils down to two reasons.

Firstly, altruistic, and with a sense of community. People who’ve been open and shared have enabled me to get where I am today – but it’s not always practical to meet people face to face, and then why reserve practice sharing to one-to-one when it could really build our practice in a bigger way?

Secondly, for our own development and success as a business. I want to show that we’re successful in our work with young people, reflective about what we do, and inclusive not just in our practice with young people but in our relationships with our peers.

What would be your top 3 tips for someone only just beginning to share practice online?

1.    Don’t make it be a big thing, just do it: if you think it’s interesting someone else will, or if it’s puzzling you, it will have puzzled someone else – so share it, and see what response you get.

2.    Don’t be scared about writing about what’s not working, or to share when you get things wrong – that’s invaluable!

3.    Just start.

more about Simon’s use of blogging:

Blogging - capturing those hard and soft outcomes and so much  more

To see Simon’s other blogs on the Network, search under Simon Glenister or Noise Solution.