THOUGHT FOR THE DAY (This story is a great basis for how leaders should be facilitating with girls, too.) The art of teaching is the art of assisting in discovery. ~Mark Van Doren Dont Give Away the Answers! The art of facilitation includes a variety of skills and talents. It takes courage, presence, stamina, inventiveness, and a sense of humor (to name a few!). It also takes the ability to know when to step in to help and when to let participants struggle. I love the quote at the start of this newsletter, The art of teaching is the art of assisting in discovery. by Mark Van Doren. As trainers and educators [and leaders], it is our role to assist the learner in finding the answers out for themselves. If we routinely give away the answers to difficult problems, it robs the participants of the opportunity to discover it on their own. It also creates a dependency on you to help solve their problems. One of the reasons I chose the name Training Wheels for my company, is that I love the metaphor of the training wheel. You usually only use a training wheel for a very short time when learning how to ride a bicycle. After that you take the training wheel off and you make it your own. I truly believe this is our role as facilitators as well. We are only there for a short period of time before it is up to our participants to take what they have learned in our programs and make it their own. So my challenge to you is to allow for some struggle in learning. Let your participants [and girls] work through the tough stuff and discover the answers for themselves. It will result in more resilient participants that will appreciate and retain the learning much longer. By Michelle Cummings Owner/Trainer/Big Wheel Training Wheels training-wheels
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 19:13:10 +0000
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