Today I was asked what my favourite quote or saying is and I found myself scratching my head. If you had asked me this question a year ago then I would have been quick to respond that I didn’t hold much stock by quotes, but on my coaching learning journey there have been some quotes that have resonated with me.
I wanted to settle on a short quote that linked to learning and not having time to trawl through all my books I decided to search the internet.
I chose
“Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Let me do and I understand.” Confucius
It is still not quite right, but now that I am on the lookout for my favourite quote, I am sure it will present itself to me sooner or later.
However I did Google “Let me do and I understand” and came across an interesting perspective on classroom based learning in a 3 minute video by John Abbott here. John says at the end that the approach he describes is an “absolute challenge to the pedagogy that is currently used in schools.” but I do not agree. High quality teachers understand the importance of encouraging their students to learn on the job and although this practice is not universal, it is certainly far from being an absolute challenge for all.
I do know that the majority of adults I have trained learn more ‘on the job‘ than in a training room and that teachers who apply the same awareness to their own personal learning and self development benefit greatly.
Let us get away from accepting training that consists of information delivered by a voice at the front of the room and instead spend training budgets on learning that:
- Aligns with the strategic goals of a school
- Recognises and supports the personal goals of the individuals who work so hard within a school
- Actively seeks to embed long-term learning throughout the school
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This is interesting because it ties in directly with how your brain and memory works. If you get someone to close their eyes and then say the word ‘apple’. They will either; taste, smell, hear, feel or in most cases see an apple. The association of the word and the what we know of an apple is likely to be an image, picture or visualization.
So for people to learn and remember what they have learnt, then we need an image to help recall. Showing someone how to do something is the best way of learning.
Ask someone directions when you are out in the car and they usually wave their arms around, gesticulating the directions. They are showing you how to get there!
Visualising a task is really really important.