'Teach it wrong, the correct way.'

The only relevance this has to do with anything I’ve written here is as a reminder that every second of life is filled with the potential to take a different turn than what you plan on or expect, and maybe that fact should make us laugh a little more frequently.

Sometimes, you’re gonna be boring.

It’s a fact. One that my children would concur with quickly. No matter how exciting the subject, no matter how talented or enthusiastic you are about teaching something, you will get dull at some point.

Here’s one of life’s greatest hacks for Teaching and Parenting. It has to be done correctly. Here it is:

Teach it wrong.

You have to teach it wrong the right way.

What this means is that you a) have to find just the right amount to get wrong, b) coupled with the right tone.

If you teach something wrong and it’s not clear that you’re wrong - in other words, you’re not caught being wrong, then you have failed.

You have to be caught. It has to be subtle enough, depending on age, that they don’t feel like they’re being played.

Here’s the absolute fantastic part: it works at any age. I don’t consider it manipulation, or rather, I consider it a form of gamification. Learning into an interactive game, rather than a one-sided monologue - something I can do rapidly and frequently.

If you mess up though, it draws attention to something that isn’t right. It gives others the opportunity to correct you, to set the record straight, to show the correct way…

…to take over the teaching.

To teach the teacher.

And at some point, we get back to full-circle engaged learning.

But it requires one other thing besides finding the right balance of error, timing, and tone.

it requires a sense of humility. A relinquishing of ego. Because you want to look good in front of your kids and students (and anyone else who might be around).

You want be the Master,
the Sensei,
the Maestro,
the Guide and Professor and Wise Person on High,

and to do something that’s going to get you censure, criticism, judgment, mockery, laughter?

That’s why clowns are so mentally tough, strong and resilient. There’s a lot we can learn from them.