The Person Behind the Lesson

During my conversation with Paul Meunier on The Generation Youth Podcast, I found myself thinking about a teacher whose influence had followed me long after I left his classroom. He had recently passed away, close to ninety, and I had attended his memorial service. Listening to Paul talk about relationships helped me put words to something that teacher had lived.

At one point, a dozen agriculture teachers had been his students. I called it his teaching tree. He was the root, and so many of us had become teachers because of him.

What We Remember

Paul leads the Youth Intervention Programs Association and wrote Relationships Are Everything: What Youth Workers Teach Us About Leadership. His work has convinced him that lasting change in young people depends on the relationships they have with the adults serving them.

As he spoke, I thought about the people who had influenced me growing up. I knew where they stood. Their lessons carried weight because I trusted the people delivering them, and their example made me want to become better.

That teacher had certainly taught us things we needed to know. But his influence kept moving through classrooms he would never enter, reaching students he would never meet. A lesson plan can travel only so far on its own. Someone has to care enough to carry it.

I think that is easy to forget when we are searching for something new to try. We can spend an evening scrolling for a technique while giving very little thought to the person who will be using it.

Checking the Foundation

Paul challenged us to examine our own lives before asking young people to examine theirs. We need to understand what has shaped us and what we believe. That requires honesty, especially when the answers are less flattering than the version we usually introduce at a meeting.

I told Paul that this echoed something we teach in our coach training: adults have to invest in themselves before they can effectively invest in youth. The work continues long after a course ends.

His comments also brought a house to mind. You can build something beautiful above ground, but a weak foundation will eventually make itself known. A fresh coat of paint will keep everybody happy for a while. It does very little for the crack underneath.

I thought back to my own teacher training. We spent time learning how to teach, yet I could not recall much attention being given to understanding who we were and what we brought into a classroom. Paul’s question reaches beneath our skills to the adult using them.

For me, it also reaches into parenting. If I ask a teenager to take responsibility, I need to be willing to examine my own reactions. Having more birthdays does not excuse me from the homework.

Helping the Helpers Grow

Paul offered a challenge to organizational leaders that deserves attention: make the growth of the people serving youth a central measure of success. Give them the kind of support we expect them to offer young people.

I put it fairly plainly when we talked about training camp staff: a jerk who knows how to run a climbing wall safely is still a jerk. Safety matters. So does the person teaching it.

He described leaders meeting regularly with staff, helping them understand their strengths and pursue goals. He also spoke about giving people grace when they arrive at work having a difficult day. Adults need somewhere they can belong while they are still growing.

That stays with me as the leader of Generation Youth. I want the people we equip to leave with practical skills and to keep developing the character that gives those skills weight.

I keep thinking about my teacher and all those classrooms connected to his. His influence grew through people who had known him well enough to trust him and wanted to pass along what they had received. When I consider what I hope to leave behind, that seems a good place to begin.

Watch my conversation with Paul Meunier on The Generation Youth Podcast.