When It's Boring, No One's Learning.

I can pinpoint the exact moment that I knew I wanted to pursue a field in education and learning.

I was 16 years old, and was sitting in my American Studies class, in my awkward wooden desk, taking notes as my teacher talked on and on about some US historical topic (see how much I remembered!)

Most of the time, I really appreciated this particular teacher, but on this day, all I could think was: "This could be done so much better."

It's been more than 30 years since that day, and luckily some K-12 school-systems have shifted their learning practices completely.

In the old days, we would learn the skills or ideas in the classroom from a teacher, and then were sent home with the exercises to practice. Yet too often, once home, we didn't have the resources to get help when we needed it.

With the advent of video support, specifically in math with Khan Academy, and the like, some school systems have flipped the script.

Student homework is to watch the video lessons to learn the skills and ideas, and then they come to the classroom to practice alongside their peers and with the support of the teacher.

In a way, it's not so unlike my book circles.

The content, idea, and skills are within the chosen book, which the participants read outside our time together, then once they arrive in our virtual space, we work on the implementation together.

There are no slide decks, and no boring teacher moments.

We engage with the content together, grappling with the ideas we consumed solo. The act of reading turns from a solo endeavor into a social one.

If you'd like to try out a new way of "training" with your team or organization, I would love to share how I work with global teams in a way the creates deep learning and connection, leading to stronger performance both individually and collectively.

Originally posted on LinkedIn with comments.

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