The job of a facilitator is dynamic – we constantly play around with how we respond. We cannot respond in one way only because the situations are different, people are different and we are different!
One child was excited with the new blogging system at Aarohi
She was apprehensive and asked for help “I am excited for blogging but I don’t know anything, will you help me”.
I asked her to start
She started
Then she again asked for help “can you…”
I asked her to stay with it for few minutes, PLAY with it, click few buttons here and there, read around.
After a minute “now what next”.
I said “play for 15 minutes”.
She spent half an hour in exploring themes, help, support, logging…finally we sat together and understood working of the site! She began and spent two hours in writing her blog, rewriting, understanding what she needed to do (categories, tagging, posting etc). She didn’t come to me with “help me”. She came with more questions, she also helped others with their questions!
She wanted to do glass painting
She asked for glass paints.
Few glass paints were dried up…she used black paint and decalerd “paints are dried up, can’t do painting”.
Next day I asked what paints have you used till now ” poster, acrylic..”. I asked further “how are they different in their usage?”.
She said “I have never observed”.
I gave her different kinds of paints and asked “play with them…while playing with them be aware how are different paints behaving”.
She played, She tried few different paints, she spent time with paints and her creations…
One can say waste of time, one can also say exploration, we also say it “being with it by yourself”. We also call it path to empowerment “I’m POWER”. More I do, more I explore, more I get power inside me!
I didn’t feel the need to help the child, I felt to be a supporter than a doer for the child.