Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.

– John Dewey

School Days

I was always a very academic kid growing up. Once I got to high school, that drive turned up to eleven. I was a combination of Rory Gilmore and Paris Geller.

I guess you could say I was tightly wound.

Luckily, I relaxed significantly once I graduated from high school, and even more so once I graduated from college. At the time, I knew my formal education was ending. I also knew that I would never stop learning. But I did think that learning would take place in a more formal setting.  However, that was not the case.

While I do like learning in a classroom setting, a lot of the learning I’ve done in service of my career, has been done quite informally. Yes, I have attended many conferences and workshops. I have also Googled, YouTubed, and DIY’d my way through a good chunk of my professional development.  Learning by doing has been the best way for me to develop my skills.

This DIY, hands-on approach is also a reflection of where education is trending as a whole.  A few of our rockin’ clients reflect these trends.

Learning By Doing

Faith Family Academy emphasizes a MASTER program – Math, Art, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Research. They understand that there are different approaches to learning and that no one subject has cornered the market on how to solve problems  This holistic approach is needed if today’s students are to be tomorrow’s leaders and workers.

Another client of ours, Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains, also emphasizes learning by doing. They understand that the best way to learn leadership skills is through hands-on trial and error. Girls are expected to work their way through real-life problems that you can’t study your way out of.

What do you do when the volunteers you scheduled to help with a service project don’t show up? What if you disagree with your troop on how to spend troop Cookie funds? And speaking of Cookies, how do you keep your eyes on the prize when you are selling at a Cookie booth and its 20 degrees outside?

I recently attended a workshop hosted by another rockin’ client, Sandler Training of Fort Worth. The facilitator guided us through different scenarios in an interactive, small group setting. Attendees came away with real actionable next-steps they can take to land a new client.

We live in interesting times. Most information is at your fingertips. Which essentially means, information is cheap. What you do with it, that’s the key.