"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery" - Mark Van Doren
Fa-cil-i-ta-tor: (n) One who makes things easy or less difficult.
Gwen stared at the image displayed by the overhead projector and wondered. Am I a facilitator? The workshop had seemed monotonous until this issue was introduced. And now Gwen was really wondering about herself. She taught advanced classes, and her students always seemed to be struggling.
She thought back over her teaching style. Overheads, lecture formats, not taking for students, use of textbooks and other resource materials - all of it was standard issue in teaching. But did it all "make things easy or less difficult" for her students? Gwen doubted it.
For some reason, she couldn't go back to business as usual at school. This workshop had really gotten under her skin. Finally, out of desperation and hoping for some peace of mind, she did what any good teacher would do. She looked the word up: Facilitate.
She learned that it means to accelerate, advance, enable, promote, and serve. It doesn't mean to complicate, discourage, hinder, or obstruct.
Gwen's shoulders slumped, and her head fell. She had wanted to challenge her students, but she realized at that moment that she hadn't been giving them the tools they needed to meet the challenge. That was the day Gwen became a facilitator.
Are you a facilitator?
Prompt: What teachers did God provide in my own life who facilitated me? How can I further facilitate my own students' learning?
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