On becoming a permaculture teacher

Output 5.  My Process of Becoming a Permaculture Teacher

 

Output Specification

This output is about my process of becoming a permaculture teacher.  I am writing it in order to analyze this process, evaluate my progress, and give some insight for others who would like to become permaculture teachers.  If you take a look at my new and improved mind map of my projects in the appendix, you will see that teaching is one of the avenues Matt and I would like to pursue in diversifying our business, Red Edge Design.  We see the dissemination of valuable information and skills as key in our rapidly changing world.  Matt is largely tied up with the 'homes" portion of our business, and I am focusing on learning the teaching part.  

In this process I am finding that one key to being a good teacher is being a good designer.  It is about being crystal clear about the message you are trying to convey, and designing a plan that will make that happen.  Although I wrote my output #3 on designing my projects, I realize I am still a neophyte designer, making slow and steady progress in discovering the process within myself.  

I am also learning that being a good teacher is about facilitating the learning process in other people.  It isn't so much about telling them what I know, but letting them discover their own truths.  This realization has helped me see my own learning in a different way, emphasizing the process instead of the result.  It has helped me to be more open to asking for and accepting help, and allowing myself to be imperfect.  In this way it also builds on my last output which was about my zone 0, or my internal processes.

 

Report

 

Introduction 

In this report I will share my process of becoming a permaculture teacher.  I will take you through my journey so far, step-by-step, explaining what I did, why, and what I learned from it.  You will see that although I have made a lot of progress toward my goal, I am still a beginner.  This process is neither easy nor fast.  Like a tree in a forest garden, it takes years to grow and mature, making all the beneficial connections with its neighbors and reaching its full potential.  I am still a seedling, reaching for the sky.

With my previous outputs, I found I needed to spend more time designing my output before I start writing.  Although my first output was on design, I am realizing that it takes a lot of practice, and I am still learning to be an effective designer.  

For this output I began with setting goals.  I wanted to write this output on my process of becoming a permaculture teacher because I thought analyzing it would be helpful not only for myself but also for others. My goals for Output #5:

•    My output clarifies and improves my process of becoming a permaculture teacher.

•    My output is a useful tool for others who aspire to teach permaculture.

With my goals clearly articulated for my output, I first made several different mind maps and then used that to make several different outlines.  From those I made a final outline, which I also modified several times.  Although my design for becoming a teacher was not necessarily conscious from the start, I organized my sections into a design framework for the purpose of this report.  This helps me understand and relay my process more effectively.  

I filled in points that I wanted to touch on in each section, and then began filling in the sections, starting with the specification.  In college I learned to write my specification last for my scientific papers, because it is in essence a summary of the paper, but I found that by having a crystal clear vision of what I wanted to cover in my output, it was no problem to write the specification first.

I also chose to use a story-telling style in this output instead of a more technical style because I felt like I was sharing my story of the process.  I wanted to make it more entertaining so that it might be read and enjoyed by more people.  This also made it much easier to write.

 

Step 1: Decide you want to become a permaculture teacher. (Articulate your goals)

I never set out to become a teacher.  When all my friends were doing substitute teaching to make ends meet after college, I steered clear.  The thought of standing up in front of students and being the "expert" is frightening.  I began my journey from my meta-level goal of having a diverse and successful business that makes a positive difference in my community.  When Matt and I first started our business we put "permaculture" on our business cards as one of the things our company did, but nobody seemed to know what permaculture was.  I realized that a part of being at the forefront of any movement is educating people about that movement.  There were no permaculture leaders or teachers here in Anchorage, or even in all of Alaska.  If I wanted people to know about it and learn about it, then I was going to have to get over my fear of staring into expectant faces and start teaching.

I'm not sure when I actually admitted to myself that I wanted to become a permaculture teacher.  I had visions and plans to hold workshops long before I set the goal of becoming a teacher.  I think it was in a conversation with my advisor, Jennifer, that I finally realized that was what I had to do.  When I finally set that goal, I set in motion the rest of the process.

 

Step 2:  Evaluate your needs and resources.  (Analysis and assessment)

I moved into the analysis and assessment phase by doing some research about my community.  Who else was doing permaculture in Anchorage?  No one.  The nearest permaculture teachers or designers were in Washington.  This meant the field was wide open but there were no local mentors for me.  I did find, however, that there were a lot of people interested in permaculture and eager to learn more.  

I also researched what the requirements are for becoming a permaculture teacher.  This is not cut and dry, and depends very much on who you ask and what you want to do.  Bill Mollison himself encouraged all graduates of PDC courses to go out and start teaching right away, and yet Tagari, the organization that grew directly out of his work, states that you need a diploma of permaculture design and to be on their teacher register in order to be considered a bona-fide teacher. Apparently it has become a divisive subject among the lead permaculturists between those that want to regulate it and those that want to keep it open.  In the US it has remained more open, and although there aren't formal hoops you have to jump through, you still have to build your teaching ability and your credibility by learning from experienced teachers.   It makes sense that new PDC graduates are not teaching new PDC courses by themselves, but there is a lot of grey area in between.  There is no established pathway, or a moment when you are deemed a teacher.  I suppose this is more realistic because everyone is different, learns at different rates, and comes to permaculture with different skills and experiences.  Some people have more drive to learn on their own or better access to a mentor.

I evaluated my own skills and learning needs.  On the positive side, I was good at and liked working with people.  I had some experience leading groups and public speaking.  I had been learning about permaculture for about 8 years, and had gotten my PDC certification 5 years previously.  On the flip side, I did not have a lot of practical hands-on experience with permaculture.  And I had a fear of teaching.  I wasn't even sure what I needed to know to become a good teacher.  I mean, people get college-level degrees in that.  Could I teach myself to become a teacher?  How does one even learn that?  And is a permaculture teacher different than any other kind of teacher?  

 

Step 3: Find a teacher that can help you meet those needs. (Design)

The one thing I kept running into on the web during my research was that it was highly recommended for aspiring teachers to take a permaculture teacher training course.  In fact, it was recommended to me personally that I take the teacher training being offered in February in upstate New York by Dave Jacke and Ethan Roland.  I knew Ethan from my Gaia University orientation and I really wanted to go, but it wasn't adding up in my head.  Between the costs of the course, airfare, transportation, and lost wages, the course was going to cost something like $8,000. How many workshops would I have to teach before I earned that back?  I would be an indentured servant to permaculture.  Permaculture isn't about laying out a ton of money.  You can't buy your spot as a teacher.  Permaculture teaches us to use small and slow solutions.  

Meanwhile there was a discussion on the Gaia University forum about that model of education, of action learning in your own community.  There was also a group of people who practiced a certain method called the Art of Mentoring and wanted to integrate this into the Gaia toolbox.  I'm not even sure what the Art of Mentoring is, but it got me thinking that if I was basing my entire masters degree on long-distance mentoring, that certainly I should be able to find someone who could mentor me to be a permaculture teacher long-distance.

It seemed like a logical solution to ask Ethan to be my mentor since I already knew him and he was already teaching other teachers.  I was very lucky that he said "yes," even though I was still not very clear about what I wanted or needed to get from him.  In the future I would be certain that both the mentor and the mentoree was clear about their roles.  In our situation it worked out, but I can see where that would not always be the case.

Ethan was very excited about pioneering this model of teacher training and had the idea that we should document this process for replication.  This is one of the reasons why I felt it was important to write this output.  Additionally, we have also created a working document on Google Docs, which allows us to edit the document simultaneously while we are talking on the phone or through Skype.  This document has become a record of everything we have done, and I have included it in the appendix of this output.

We agreed to meet every few weeks for an hour, and that I would pay him for his time.  Instead of being collaborators and working toward a common goal, he was helping me to achieve my goal.  At first it was a bit like enrolling in a class.  He asked me to buy a textbook (Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke) and gave me some simple assignments with tangible deadlines.  I was comforted by the structure and familiar learning style.  I have always been good at textbook learning.  Read, regurgitate.  I felt this sense of relief, he was there to help me and I didn't have to figure everything out for myself.  He would just teach me what I needed to know and then I would become a permaculture teacher.  

 

Step 4:  Design a teaching event (Design)

Ethan guided me through the design process to work out what I wanted to teach and when.  Then we went through the design process for the workshops.  Then we went through the design process for the workshops again.  I thought I already knew how to design, it seems like such a simple thing, and I have been working really hard on it with all my outputs so far.  I was a neophyte.  I would watch Ethan do a bit of the design, and it seemed forthright, and then I would try to do it and get stuck. 

My first big learning was that it is ok to be a beginner.  It takes a lot of practice to be a good designer.  I have never done this before, and making mistakes is how I learn.  This realization opened me up to accept the guidance that Ethan was offering.

I set some dates for my workshops and made up some fliers, and there was no turning back.  I set clear and concise goals, I analyzed and assessed, I designed and re-designed my outline.  I started to make a power-point but my laptop went in the shop and I couldn't find a projector so I made a hand-out instead.  I blatantly disregarded Ethan's advice to have visuals and to practice before hand.  

Despite all this, I felt reasonably prepared for my Introduction to Permaculture Workshop. I had spent a lot of time thinking about and designing this workshop.  I spent all day writing out what I was going to say.  I had a few activities planned to help the time go by faster.  It was only 90 minutes long, what could go wrong?

 

Step 5: Teach something (Implementation)

When I stood up in front of my white board and looked out into the sea of faces (all seven of them), my words got all tangled up.  I jumped ahead in my speech and lost my place.  It was like telling the punch-line in a joke first and then trying to fill in the first part.  With only seven people the activities went way to fast.  I had no choice but to end early.  Luckily, I told people about the other hands-on workshops I was offering, which began a bit of a discussion about sheet mulching and extended it a bit longer.  I don't think anyone was disappointed, but I felt a bit disappointed in myself that all my preparation did not show through.  

 

Step 6: Evaluate

After the workshop I took the evening off and socialized with some friends, but I woke up at five in the morning thinking of all the things I could have done better.  I should have put my talk back into outline form and used that instead of the whole written out talk.  Or better yet, a power point would have kept me on track AND kept everyone’s eyes off of me.  And of course I should have practiced…it just feels so silly when you are going through it, but it really would have helped.  And I would have seen that I had simplified my talk too much and would get through it too fast.

Right away I recognized that I did not give myself enough time between the two workshops to process and implement what I learned.   I underestimated how much I would learn in that first workshop and that it might be really useful in the day-long garden design workshop.  I had one day to get myself together, somewhere between watching the sun rise while reflecting in my learning journal and dinner with some friends that evening, I needed to redesign my workshop, get some handouts together, and make some food (I had promised a homemede lunch at my workshop.)

 

Step 7: Re-design your teaching event (Design)

I decided from what I learned in my first workshop that I needed a strong outline for the day... a really clear idea of what concepts I wanted to focus on, and what I wanted to have the participants do.  Ironically, the subject I had chosen for this six-hour workshop was "design."  I already had come to the realization that I didn't know how to design.  Even better, I had been trying to design my garden for two years, and somehow I thought we could do it as a group in one afternoon.  But the subject turned out to be a good thing, because as I was preparing my outline, I read in Edible Forest Gardens, "We cannot teach you how to design.  You have to discover your design process for yourself."  

I had read it before (when Ethan assigned me to read that chapter), but it had not struck me the way it did that morning, in my stressed out state, when I realized that it was not my job to teach people how to design, but to give them tools and guidance so that they could discover the process for themselves.  I was not to teach the way a professor does, imparting factual information to a sleepy auditorium.  I was to facilitate their learning process in the exact same way that Ethan was facilitating mine. In fact, I was so completely wrong when I felt like I was enrolling in a course.  It wasn't Ethan's job to teach me how to be a teacher, it was up to me to discover it within myself.  There is a Buddhist proverb that says, "It takes a finger to point to the moon, but woe to the person who mistakes the finger for the moon."  Ethan is pointing me in the right direction, but I have to see it for myself.

 

Step 8:  Teach something else (Implementation)

At 9:50am I returned from the copy shop with my handouts.  At 10am, the participants for the Garden Design workshop gathered in the driveway, chatting. Finally I went outside and decided to go ahead and give them a little site tour since they were all excited to see what I had going on.  They wanted to know about everything... what layers did I use in my sheet mulch, how did I make my cold frame, what trees did I plant... it was almost 11 by the time everyone got inside and sat down with their tea.  How could I be already an hour behind?  I passed out the handouts, took a deep breath, and started talking.  

I followed my outline, using examples and stories to illustrate my points.  People asked questions and I knew the answers... this was going much better!  Lunchtime came way too fast, but that was also a success.  People could hardly stop talking to eat, but they raved about the chili and pumpkin cookies I made.  After lunch we had some activities outside, and when we got back inside the energy was really high.  There was not enough time to finish everything we wanted to do, and the participants asked if we could resume another time.  They liked it!

 

Step 9: Evaluate

I journaled, I wrote pros and cons on my outline, and I wrote an e-mail to Ethan.  I had a lot more positive things to say this time, but I still saw a lot of room for improvement as well.  I would try to simplify my outline a little bit, try to concentrate on just a few things, and get my point across on those things.  Do more activities, and be more concise with the directions for the activities.  Allow time for questions and to follow people's interests, but also stay on topic.  Make note of hot topics for future workshops.

 

Step 10: Repeat Steps 7-9 indefinitely.

I have two more workshops scheduled one month from the first two, another introductory talk and then a day-long garden implementation.  I feel pretty confident that I can make them both better with what I have learned so far.  My laptop is coming out of the shop today and I will get to work on the power point, right after I re-design my outline.  I have some great ideas on handouts for the garden implementation. 

I also know my next workshops will still not be perfect and that I will need to keep improving my teaching and facilitation.  I am still a beginner and that is ok.  I don’t think the process of becoming a permaculture teacher is ever really finished. Just like a design is never finished because we can always increase the yield, we can always become better teachers.  

 

7. Conclusion

Looking back on this process has been very helpful to see the progress I have made.  Having survived my first two workshops, I am really looking forward to doing more.  I am becoming a better designer, little by little.  Even with writing this output, I spent more time designing it than writing it, and it has resulted in a much smoother, more coherent output with a lot less struggle.

Although each person aspiring to become a permaculture teacher will have to follow their own process and come to their own realizations, I hope that reading about my process will help them discover their own path.  Maybe even seeing the steps that I took and how they relate to the design cycle will help them design their own learning experience better.  Who knows, someday I might be the teacher’s teacher, guiding people down this very path.