I have just published my latest paper "Living the Journey: Mentoring in Masonry". I published it on my website and it is available to read online under "Papers", or download from my "Library". It is a lengthy (lengthier than intended) examination of the criticality of mentoring, who our mentors are, the type of training they need, and how a Worshipful Master can make mentoring an effective force in his lodge.
The topic of mentoring is a very personal topic for me. While I didn't understand it at the time, my first brush with masonic mentoring was in 1997 when I had to learn my degree proficiency work. My instructor was someone I had known for many years and I already looked upon him as my mentor. But, as I came to understand how the proficiency catechisms would work, I tried several times to tell him that I need to hear full sentences, and then I need to recite back full sentences. I asked that when he corrected me, please don't stop me in the middle of a sentence, let me finish and then tell me what the full sentence should be. He continued on, stopping me at every incorrect word to make me recite that word. Each session became almost unbearable and my mind was more focused on how much more he was going to make me try to learn rather than what it was I was learning and what it meant.
I made a point of explaining I cannot learn with that style of instruction. If I don't hear the words in the correct context, I quickly get confused and forget where I am in the text and what it is that the words and sentences mean. I took the full year to complete my EA proficiency and I hated every minute of it. I came to believe that there was some rule that said instructors must stop candidates and correct them at every instance of an incorrect word. As I proceeded through my FC and MM proficiency work, I had the same instructor, so there was no change in the style he used for instructing.
I was initiated in 1997 and wasn't raised until 1999 and came to detest the proficiency work. By the time I turned in my MM proficiency, I couldn't have told you what any of it meant, but I could tell you the order of the words. I was glad it was over and I hoped never to have to go through anything like that again.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the dominant instruction style for teaching not only catechisms, but lodge officers scripts and degree roles. I and experience the same problem almost every time I need to learn new work. It seems that no matter how many times I try to explain that I need to learn in full sentences, 99% of everyone that instructs me will use the same confusing style - teach two or three words at a time, and stop me at every incorrect word. To this day, I do not voluntarily seek out new roles to learn unless they are necessary for an office or in cases where I have to fill in on a degree team. The instruction style frustrates me, confuses me, and actively prevents me from learning the meaning and context of the work. Those watching me do memory work through either a degree or an officer role may be able to detect where a previous instructor "broke up" sentences to teach me in groups of words instead of full sentences. I am convinced that under today's system of instruction, I will never be able to learn the memory work and parts correctly, from start to finish because I will always hit a point in the script that confuses me because I've forgotten the context and what group of words comes next.
I tell you this as a personal example of how and where we may be falling short in our instruction and mentoring. We don't always serve our candidates well in our sharing of knowledge and information because we don't always take the time to find out important things about them - simple things like "how do you learn"? And we don't seem to invest our own time and effort into providing their instruction in the style they need to enable them to learn effectively and perhaps even easily.
We tend to brush off our candidates' preferred/needed learning style by telling them "this is difficult work because of the phrasing which is old and very different from the grammar we use today", and then proceed to try and teach them using a style that frustrates and, sometimes, confuses them. How many EA's do you think we may have lost along the way simply due to the fact they couldn't learn the work because of the style in which it was being provided?
Having lived with this personal experience and frustration for 21 years, it seems appropriate to use it now as an example to highlight our need in the fraternity to address how we teach and how we mentor. Our mentors and instructors are our front line, "first responders' for our candidates, not only providing them instruction and educational material, but learning about them and how we might help them absorb the fire hose of information we need to provide.
To mentors and instructors, I beg you to take some time with your candidate before you even start teaching work and ask them how they learn. They may not be sure, so you can try various versions and see how they respond. Do they need to hear two or three words at a time? Do they need to hear full sentences? Do they need to hear a sentence in plain English first, followed by the same sentence in the form and style of our catechisms? Maybe they need to learn the questions and answers so the material flows and makes contextual sense.
If our instructors spend some time at the very beginning, it may prove to be a valuable investment that helps our candidates, degree teams, and officers absorb and apply the work that is necessary if we are to continue and maintain our unique traditions and protocols into the future.
We lose a lot of brothers between the time they are initiated and the time they should be raised. We often look (correctly) at whether we missed something in our investigation, or if we spent enough time with them before allowing them to petition. Yes, those are important aspects in advancing new masons, but let's not overlook at how we mentor, how we instruct and how our candidates are receiving and learning their material.
We owe our candidates and all future masons an experience - a unique experience that is distinct from all other social and professional organizations they have to choose from when they ponder knocking on our door. It is up to us to not only know what that experience should be, but to also be experts in how we provide it and how we instruct and explain it. I think if we can improve our mentoring and instruction techniques, we will also solve at least a portion of our retention problem.
Please go to my "Papers" to read "Living the Journey: Mentoring in Masonry", or go to my "Library" page to download it.
My brethren, I remain sincerely and fraternally yours!
Bro. Bill Boyd, Past Master
Valley-Hi Lodge No. 1407
San Antonio, Texas
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