According to Trenfor (2021, p.1), “The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.” Throughout my life and career, the most impactful lessons I have ever learned came not in the moment of hearing a teacher’s words, but in the moments of self-discovery and application that followed. When reflecting upon my educational experiences, the greatest gifts I received came in the form of succeeding in a task or a shift in my approach based on drawing my own conclusions from the teachings I was exposed to. As I think of my own values and what I anchor to in my facilitation, I am reminded of the following excerpt, “Adults are autonomous and self-directed. They need to be free to direct themselves... They have to be sure to act as facilitators, guiding participants to their own knowledge rather than supplying them with facts” (Lieb, 1991, p. 2). I define my personal success for each class by my ability to provide tools to enhance individual effectiveness in society, regardless of the lesson.

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Each student that steps into my classroom will be coming with their own paradigm of set preconceptions of how they see the world (Kuhn, 1962). I always liken it to staring at a palm tree while having colored sunglasses. Some have a hue of blue while others another color, but regardless the image of the palm tree remains the same, however customized based on their experience. Whatever tint their sunglasses have will influence how and what they are looking to gain from my class. Whether it’s philosophical growth or best practices, I’m responsible for providing content with opportunities for individual development. My use of scenario driven curricula is aimed to allow for growth in problem solving capabilities that my students can use both in my classroom and beyond. My aim is not to provide answers, but to allow students to leverage their individual experiences and work together to identify useful solutions and frameworks they can apply with future endeavors.

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I believe learning is most successful when students can share and examine the personal experiences of their peers and facilitator as key elements in learning. It is my responsibility to allow for space in creating a bond between myself and my students as well as empowering them to build relationships with each other, and the content (Sisco, 1991). Mutual trust, respect and credibility are pillars for establishing a healthy learning environment. These are areas I seek to build on throughout each lesson by the embodiment of congruence. I hold myself accountable to be explicit in my commitments and assess myself on my consistency. Learning is a commitment that myself and my learners must fully invest in for learning transaction to occur. In an educational environment, it is vital that myself and my learners anchor to the same values and expectations.

Credibility is established with my students by sharing my professional experiences, both successes and failures candidly. The transparency of my story is aimed to spark conversation in learning from trial and error and examining professional situations from all angles. I aim to facilitate these conversations in a way that fosters trust for students to feel comfortable sharing their experiences, fears, and best practices to allow for a group of individual people to become partners in learning.

As a facilitator, it is not my job to change how my students see the world or tell them what they need to be looking at. Rather it is how I can build an environment that allows each of us to share in our experiences, so we are better equipped to learn from each other and progress our individual skillsets as problem solvers in the future. My greatest burden and opportunity remain the same, to find a way to challenge my students in learning more about the subject matter through their lens and gain skills that create a foundation for lifelong learning.

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