The difference between teaching and facilitating

To join or not to join the breakout room? That was the question.

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On Day 2 of our social entrepreneurship Expedition this past weekend, we ran into a dilemma.

The students had self-organized around social impact problems that mattered to them. We had created breakout rooms for them to discuss why they had chosen that problem, and what about it made them curious.

In past Expeditions, an adult --ie, professional educator--would join each breakout room to facilitate the discussion. But this time, one of my teammates, Marielys Garcia, posed a challenge:

“I’m wondering whether we need to be in these breakout rooms. Maybe, as Clyde learned, we are getting in the way. I know that we adults like to feel important--at least I do. But if this experience is just going to be ‘school’ on Zoom, isn’t that a lost opportunity?”

So we let the students talk without us.

For fifteen long minutes, we facilitators wondered: What were the students talking about? What would happen if things got silent and awkward? Did they miss us?

When the breakout rooms closed, Marielys asked the students, “How was that experience without the facilitators?”

As a matter of fact, they were happy to talk about the problems that matter to them without worrying what the adults would say.

“Thank you for that candor,” Marielys told them. “‘Facilitator’ shouldn’t just be a cute way to say ‘teacher’.”

Which got me wondering: What is the difference?

When we teach, we act upon the students. They are objects.

When we facilitate, we create conditions for the students to act. They are subjects.

It’s much easier to act in the moment, to talk in the moment, to do in the moment.

It takes a lot more forethought, effort, and humility to create conditions.

Big difference.

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