What do practitioners need to know?

Jack Phelan

I was conferring with a faculty colleague and she was struggling with a fairly young seminar group that did not seem ready yet to work with some of the CYC concepts that she was trying to present. I have recently been doing workshops with CYC supervisors and had a similar, although qualitatively different experience. Henry Maier once advised CYC teachers that we have to be more aware of what people need to learn, and less enthusiastic about what we want to teach. Henry always put things so clearly.

I have learned to be more patient over my teaching career, although I still prefer experienced practitioner students to new, even though very bright, students. When I get excited about a concept that I think is very important, or interesting, I want to teach this to students, whether they really are ready to hear it or not. Unfortunately, I have learned that my intention and my results are often far apart when I do this, since people will learn what they need, not what I think they should need.

The interesting part of this awareness is that we do the same thing with youth and families if we are not careful. When I think about supporting people to be more capable and hopeful, I realize that a useful way to do this is to let them lead the way, and change whatever is important to them, not what is on my list of things I think they need to do better. Actually the same is true for spouses, we all have a list for the other person, which they tactfully avoid paying attention to.

Learners can be in a college classroom, or a Rec Centre, or around a kitchen table, and the dynamic is the same, they will learn what they need to learn if it is presented well. I guess that I can continue to work on presenting things well, but more importantly, I can get better at listening to people describe what they need to learn.

Thank you again Henry.