“Flexibility,” the “Agenda,” and the “Teachable Moment”
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‘’’Back to the Facilitator Qualities Bulleted Summary:’’’ http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/FacilitatorQualitiesSummary
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“Flexibility,” the “Agenda,” and the “Teachable Moment”
- “…Either sticking to a script, or throwing the script out the window were not highly acclaimed facilitator behaviors for the participants in the [NCSALL Professional Development] study. This [being adaptable] takes some experience as a facilitator, some snap decisions, listening to the participants' excitement or reading the irritation and boredom on their faces; it means not being so wedded to a workshop design that small adjustments would throw you off as a facilitator. In other words, I think a quality facilitator learns how to make small adjustments to the participants' reaction to the activities in the design, but doesn't completely overhaul and throw out the design midstream, especially if that overhaul is being driven by the needs of one of the participants.” [Cristine Smith, NIFL-AALPD:679]
- The most important thing is to always remain flexible and don't expect things to go the way they planned and have the ability to turn anything into a "teachable moment". This means that any discussion can be ultimately related in some way to a specific learning goal. Also, teachers need to be aware of the cognitive needs of the students, and adapt the information to those cognitive needs. [Andres Muro, NIFL-AALPD:669]
- I differ from a previous listserv poster, about the adult brain's natural tendency to want to logically categorize....at least that this is a primary need. Instead -- basing this view on 25 years in adult ed/literacy including my work and book on contextual literacy with Tom Sticht in the '90s, and my work and book on literacy for empowerment with Paulo Freire in the '80's -- I believe that good facilitation helps adult learners in their natural want and need to:
- (1) Connect what is being learned to what is deeply motivating (helps to remember...more from heart/energy than head/logic, helps to want to learn/apply it...Freire's "generative themes" is all about this),
- (2) Tap into prior knowledge (this helps them to remember best, and does help them to "categorize" the new as it follows previously formed neurochemical pathways leading to prior knowledge, thus better enabling long term memory of this new learning),
- (3) Critically reflect on what is presented rather than passively be told to remember it, or that it is right (learners internal wisdom being ultimately respected). Ponder this: education is a political act -- power defined here as: who has / who doesn't, who knows / who doesn't, who decides / for whom? While of course all is a continuum, one can still examine what is at the deepest root. What beliefs are underneath a facilitator/trainer/training sponsor's beginning assumptions about a training, the structuring/decisions about the training, and in tiniest choices or methods of the facilitator/trainer? Education either indoctrinates or education enables new creative thinking -- and in so doing, education either rests power and respect in the training sponsor/facilitator, or in the learners/trainees.
- (4) Soon apply what is learned (which again taps back into motivation for retention, new knowledge or skill is best retained when it is applied or facilitated with others, and puts in action what was learned (in learners' own context) which makes whatever-it-is better one hopes!) [Alden Lancaster, NIFL-AALPD:676]
- "Some of the most powerful learning happens when things do not go as planned. Sometimes the mark of a good facilitator is not that she counters the unexpected, but that she helps people take advantage of the learning opportunities offered by surprises." [Eileen Eckert, NIFL-AALPD: 668]
- Some teachers may not be able to take up the call of the “teachable moment” because of the administrative, scheduling, and time pressures in their classes, inherently limiting the very nature of teaching in adult education. This limits the teacher from being able to do what is necessary in order to do her job well. [Catherine King, NIFL-AALPD:670]
