Delivery Matters

I’ve been presenting at a series of educational workshops recently that focus on course content. Curriculum building, especially full blown curriculum redesign, is the buzzword these days.

Content, as they say, is King.

But we have to remember that delivery matters. All the great content in the world is useless if we can’t deliver it in a way that is meaningful and relevant. We are not operating in a vacuum, acting like talking heads sharing our brilliance where it may fall — we need to establish a rapport with our students that promotes a relationship — with the instructor, with the content, and with the potential that the content opens for the students.

It occurs to me that this paradigm is not some revolutionary educational construct. It’s about good communication. Period.

Because delivery matters.

it’s poetry time in class

I thought I’d switch it up a little this time. I usually play this Al Green and Queen Latifah duet, Simply Beautiful, but this time I’m going with something a little different, not in English, to see if my students respond to the sound and the imagery.

It still has that part where I present Emily Dickinson’s definition of poetry:

If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it.  Is there any other way?

I’ll share the lyrics with them after, but first, I’ll see how they react. I’m guessing, this group probably doesn’t listen to  Coldplay 🙂

To complicate things, the video isn’t the official Coldplay one, it’s a magnificent cover by the Piano Guys. It. Is. Gorgeous.

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I’m going to ask the class to think about their paradise…what’s yours?

I could rattle off a list of things I’d like…you know….things…and I’m ashamed that’s where my mind went first. But as I thought it through…paradise is what I want. Heaven. What a grand party we’ll all have, won’t we?

[Here’s some trivia about me: I thought of treating myself to piano lessons when I turn 50, but if you know me and my love of strings, maybe I should take up the cello. That should torment the dog. Seriously, aren’t the Piano Guys incredible? I could rock an electric cello, right?]

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