Catholic Teachers' Lounge Podcast
Sep 17, 2026 · 13 min · 10 segments
Jill and Colleen welcome guest Will Dennis into the lounge for a conversation on creating the best conditions for learning. Will’s insights, based on his time teaching Theology and teaching and…
Will DennisGuestColleenHostJillHost
Yeah, well, I think and it's interesting because I don't think it's completely disconnected to that conversation we just tabled as far as single sex education.
Yeah.
because that's really all about conditions and you can go one way or another with those conditions being conducive to learning.
But, you know, I first looked at this in, so my work has me do, uh, some work with clients in the corporate world and in leadership, as well as folks in the education space.
And this was really something that caught me too, is this notion, Linda Hill, who wrote Collective Genius, talking about the most innovative spaces, the most innovative teams that she was able to research.
It was about the folks who were able to create conditions for innovation to happen.
And then you take that, because I think the real answer is simpler than that, which is psychological safety, which Amy Edmondson has been leading the research on.
And it goes back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right? So like- Students, but also people, cannot learn, innovate, and excel in conditions where they feel unsafe or they feel that those basic needs are not being met.
So I think when I talk about conditions before content, I'm glad I said before instead of over because that would be a very different argument and conversation.
Yes.
But taking the time before we focus on, have I covered all the content? Have I moved through the chapter at the pace that I need to do that by the end of the year, all the content is covered? And then you get to the end of the year and a percentage of your students don't really retain any of it because you've been moving through to cover content.
Instead of creating the conditions where the students themselves can drive the learning so that it's learner focused, learner centered instead of the person in front of the room lecturing or spitting out the information and how those environments can create learning that is sustainable instead of snapshots of learning.
Yeah, well, I think and it's interesting because I don't think it's completely disconnected to that conversation we just tabled as far as single sex education.
Yeah.
because that's really all about conditions and you can go one way or another with those conditions being conducive to learning.
But, you know, I first looked at this in, so my work has me do, uh, some work with clients in the corporate world and in leadership, as well as folks in the education space.
And this was really something that caught me too, is this notion, Linda Hill, who wrote Collective Genius, talking about the most innovative spaces, the most innovative teams that she was able to research.
It was about the folks who were able to create conditions for innovation to happen.
And then you take that, because I think the real answer is simpler than that, which is psychological safety, which Amy Edmondson has been leading the research on.
And it goes back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right? So like- Students, but also people, cannot learn, innovate, and excel in conditions where they feel unsafe or they feel that those basic needs are not being met.
So I think when I talk about conditions before content, I'm glad I said before instead of over because that would be a very different argument and conversation.
Yes.
But taking the time before we focus on, have I covered all the content? Have I moved through the chapter at the pace that I need to do that by the end of the year, all the content is covered? And then you get to the end of the year and a percentage of your students don't really retain any of it because you've been moving through to cover content.
Instead of creating the conditions where the students themselves can drive the learning so that it's learner focused, learner centered instead of the person in front of the room lecturing or spitting out the information and how those environments can create learning that is sustainable instead of snapshots of learning.
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