How Accountability Affects Teamwork and Learning

"Know your audience" is the first rule of learning. When designing a learning experience, it's not only helpful to know something about learners' skills or backgrounds, but also their frame of mind. How invested are they in learning, especially if they need to work together? Do they seek solutions to challenges, or do they tend to take a more passive "wait and hope" approach?

 Recently I facilitated a workshop with a group of preschool educators. I chose the Ladder of Accountability metaphor to help guide our discussion about peer coaching and team-building.

We started with an activity in which the participants completed a simple task together. Although on the surface the exercise seemed easy to accomplish, it was actually deceptively difficult. They attempted to do the task several times together, only to discover that the result was exactly the opposite from what they expected.

The group was permitted to talk to each other to solve the challenge. It's amazing how differently people respond! Those who have not completely bought in to the experience will often make excuses, blame and complain, or just wait for someone else to figure it out. And those who are allies in the experience tend to own the situation. They seek solutions…they find constructive ways to make it happen.

So what do you do with the information you discover about people on the Ladder of Accountability? Knowing where your learners stand on the ladder will greatly inform the approach you take to build a meaningful curriculum or modify one to better suit the audience, no matter what type of learning experience you're creating.

Posing a challenging activity is a great way to find out how accountable your learners are. It's about awareness of where people are coming from. Obviously the ladder is there to be climbed. If you find yourself hanging around on a lower rung with others who make excuses or wait and hope for a solution to materialize, think about stepping up to a higher level to make more of a team effort.

I introduced a three-part process for giving peer feedback: Describe the situation, the behavior and the outcome. I was so impressed when one of the clients demonstrated her new coaching skill when she flew a paper airplane toward me. Inside it simply read "Great job Jillian." She then used the Situation, Behavior, Outcome model to tell me specifically what she liked about the training, and how she would be applying it in her job.

After the session, other participants reported that they felt emotionally engaged, that they enjoyed the physical activity as a complement to the more academic content we discussed, as well as the opportunity to practice solving a challenge together.

To me, this feedback supports an important phase in the IdeaLearning Group's process that we use to frame our curriculum: Think, Feel, Move. We believe in supporting a variety of learning approaches, from jumping right in to reading instructions first. We believe humor is an important part of the learning experience. And we understand the strong connection between movement and learning.

The Lily Pad

by Shannon McKenzie

Six frogs are sitting on a lily pad. One frog decides to jump off. How many frogs are left on the lily pad?

If you answered five, your logical, analytical brain is in tact... but you're wrong. That frog only DECIDED to jump off the lily pad. Did he really make the plunge?

The world we live in is full of fantastic, varied options. We are told from a young age that the world is ours for the taking; that we can literally do anything we want. We read stories about the "little guy" who makes it big, and we stare up into the sky and truly believe we can be an astronaut. How many of us actually take action on the things we decide to do?

Sometimes, action is doing really big things, like quitting your job out of nowhere, going back to school, and finding a new career. This type of action is the scariest type, and the rarest. However, "action" can be the smallest thing that sets you in an ever-so-slightly different direction.

Maybe today is the day you clean out your inbox.Maybe today is the day you walk to work instead of driving, like you have said you always COULD do, but never have. Maybe today is the day you spruce up your resume, or talk to your boss about what her job is like. Even if you never do a thing with that spruced-up resume, or if you don't lose 10 pounds from walking to work- the point is that you're moving things, changing your routine- taking ACTION. These little bits of action don't do much on their own, but they change your trajectory, and ultimately you'll land somewhere entirely different because of it.

Be the frog who just jumps off the pad. Stop thinking about doing things and DO them- even the little ones. 

Trust us, it'll feel awesome.

Long Term Learning: Music Makes Memories

by Shannon McKenzie

Emotional impact and repetition are two techniques for transferring short-term memories to long-term memories.

As I was driving today, I found myself singing out loud to the song on the radio. I knew every single word. I was feeling fantastic. As I sang, it dawned on me: I hadn’t heard this song since I was in high school – the year my best friend and I would ride the bus home from school field trips, listen to music, and sing at the top of our lungs. How did I possibly remember every single word to that song? I was emotionally engaged – to the lyrics, to the fun I was having, to my friend –when I learned it. And we sang that song over and over and over.

Not only do I remember those lyrics today, I can recall where I was sitting on the bus, how it smelled with the rain coming down, and how much I enjoyed singing with my best friend. My song?  The Cure – Just like Heaven – listen to it now

Brain-Based Learning: Of Mice and Memory

Brains learn and remember better if there's fun involved. This fact was reinforced for me recently while watching a Nova Science Now episode where mice were tasked to find an island within a pool of water. 

After finding it, some mice were taken to a getaway – a fun game and exercise filled mouse vacation; others were not. After two weeks away, guess which mice easily found their island again? Okay, we're talking about mice and not people, but the same principles apply – relaxation, fun, creativity, and exercise all enhance the brain’s ability to create memories and form positive associations. Fun and games are fun, but they also serve a purpose - even in the classroom, and even for those uptight participants who think it's a waste of time.