Every firefighter who walks into your class already has a full life behind them. They have families, second jobs, years on the job or years somewhere else before it. If you teach them like a room full of kids waiting to be told what to think, you will lose them before the first break.

They want to know why before they care about how

Adults don’t learn just because somebody stood at the front of the room and said it was important. They learn when they can see what it has to do with them. The first question in every firefighter’s head is some version of “When am I going to use this?” If you don’t answer it, they’ll answer it for themselves, and the answer is usually “never.”

So answer it up front. Before you teach a skill, tell them where it shows up on the fireground and what happens when it goes wrong. Don’t make them wait until the end of the block to find out why they sat through it.

I’ve been in this service a long time, and the classes I remember weren’t the ones with the best slides. They were the ones where the instructor made it obvious, early, why the material mattered to the job I was actually doing.

Use the experience in the room

The mistake I see most is an instructor who treats every student like they showed up empty. Some of the people in your class have seen more fires than you have. Some came from the trades, the military or EMS and bring skills that fit right into what you’re teaching. That experience is a resource. Use it.

Ask questions before you give answers. Let a senior firefighter walk the group through how their crew handles a problem. Let the newer people hear it from somebody besides the instructor. You’re still running the class, but you don’t have to be the only one teaching it.

This also keeps you honest. When you invite the room in, you find out fast what they already know, what they think they know, and where the gaps really are. That’s worth more than any pre-test.

Get their hands on it

Adults learn by doing. They remember what they felt, not what they heard. A lecture on forcible entry is fine. Twenty minutes on a door prop is better.

Here’s how I try to balance a block of instruction:

• Talk just long enough to set up the skill and the reason for it
• Demonstrate it the right way, slowly, once
• Get every student doing it as soon as it’s safe
• Correct in the moment, then let them do it again
• Close by tying it back to the fireground

Keep the talking short and the repetitions high. If students spend more time listening than working, the class is built backward.

Respect their time and their pride

Adult learners will forgive a lot, but they won’t forgive having their time wasted. Start on time. End on time. If something in your outline doesn’t serve the objective, cut it. They gave up a shift, a day off or time with their family to be there. Act like it.

Pride matters too. Nobody wants to look foolish in front of their peers, especially experienced firefighters learning something new. Correct people firmly but without embarrassing them. Make it normal to struggle with a new skill. The firefighter who’s afraid of looking bad will hang back, and the one who hangs back doesn’t get the reps.

That doesn’t mean lowering the standard. It means creating a room where people are willing to work hard enough to meet it.

The bottom line

Adults learn when they understand why it matters, when their experience is respected, and when they get their hands on the work. Give them a reason, use what they bring, keep them moving and don’t waste their time. Do that, and you won’t have to fight for their attention. They’ll give it to you.

Stay safe, and train like it matters.

Eric Makowski