During the last few weeks of my IF course, I have been struggling to understand just how well students are developing discussion and facilitation skills. Even though students have engaged in several weeks of discussion, some members dominate the conversation more than others, sometimes they talk over one another, some facilitators stick to their outline of questions when they should go with the flow, and many students find it difficult to build on and link member comments. But, as messy as the process is, student facilitation/discussion/communication skills are definitely improving. I have been providing group feedback to all groups after every session – mainly urging students to do some things better or differently or more. I have also been reading facilitators’ reflection papers; some respondents approach this task with minimal effort while others pore out their heart about all they learned from the experience and the value of learning how to facilitate well.
It all sort of came to a head at our last session when I just spent some time talking with the entire group about how I felt I was being too hard on them concerning their development of group communication skills, and that I was going to give them more responsibility for assessing their individual and group communication skills. In turn, students commented that they felt they were learning a lot but that learning communication skills to have deep and meaningful discussions was HARD. Students said they enjoyed the challenges of listening to different perspectives, accommodating different discussion styles, asking good questions, and considering ideas and interventions in a considered fashion. But, they said, they had had few opportunities to engage in this type or level of discussion, so it was taking them some time to get good at this. It was a good discussion, affirming for them that they were engaged in a difficult but highly enjoyable communication process, and confirming for me that communication/discussion/facilitation skill development is taking place among most students – for some at a very high level.
My experience teaching this course has shown me that students hunger for experiences where they get to practice good facilitation and rhetorical skills. What makes the development of these skills so meaningful for them, however, is that rather than practicing them in a vacuum, they are developing communication skills to engage in public deliberation of issues they care about. This, I think, is in large part why the process is hard but satisfying for them. A few weeks ago, I had lost sight of this connection, but then the students helped me see this.
4 Comments
Thanks Debra for these insights. It is helpful, I think, to be reminded that our journeys aren’t always smooth, uniform, or even assured of a good outcome. Rather, they are often messy, scary, uncertain, and most especially hard. They take real and sustained effort, and the trick (as you note) is to try our best to align our passions/interests so we’re fortified to forge through the underbrush.
Ok, I’ve mixed too many metaphors in what sounds frighteningly like the treacle you’d expect from some noxious self-help guru. So forgive the vapid, overwrought rhetoric and just accept the thanks for sharing your experience.
Debra, I’m glad to hear that your students found the work on these skills to be satisfying as well as hard. Any skill development is going to take practice, and so will prove challenging and frustrating at times. To hear that they feel that the challenge is worth it is welcome news indeed. –Jeff
I suspect students long for much more hard work than they tend to get in the Standards and Poor approach to schooling that is creeping from K-12 into the academy. They don’t mind the hard work when they see results (they do mind busy work). I actually think students think much more of their toughest courses where they felt they learned a lot than they do about any of their other courses (busy work/learn little or no work/no learn).
How awesome that your students are the ones to bring you back to this place of connecting passion and meaning to the skills they are learning. Sounds like you are doing great work.