Homeschooling Principles in Corporate Learning, Part 4
- lreyle
- May 7, 2023
- 5 min read
Overcoming Resistance: Creating Space to Reflect, Part 2
“The question is not – how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education – but, how much does he care?”[i] — Charlotte Mason
Reading time: 5 minutes
In the last article, I explored freewriting as a means of facilitating reflection and jumpstarting the assimilation and accommodation process for corporate learners. In this article, I will discuss another strategy: narration.
Before we jump in, let’s do a quick review. Reflection is just as important as learning content. If content is a feast, then reflection is digestion. You gain no nutritional value from a feast unless you digest the food. Similarly, you will get nothing out of consuming content unless you allow it to change your brain through assimilation, accommodation, and reflection. Check out my last article to learn more.
STRATEGY 3: Create space to reflect: Narration
Narration is putting what you learned into your own words orally or in writing. Narration may seem too simple or childish to be a workable solution for adults in corporate contexts, but stick with me.
In one research study, people who explained an idea to themselves learned three times more than those who didn’t.
Another study published at Princeton indicates that explaining in a variety of contexts enhances learning, but noted that there may be other factors at play too. There is also the age-old adage that says if you want to learn something really well, try teaching it (which conflicts another less flattering idea that “those who can’t do, teach,” but I won’t get into that now).
When you explain an idea to yourself or to others, you slow down enough to find the holes in your understanding and connect new knowledge to pre-existing knowledge (remember assimilation?). Charlotte Mason, the British education reformer, was a big fan of narration, calling it the “Act of Knowing” and considering it a cornerstone of successful education. One scholar of Charlotte Mason’s work describes narration this way:
“After the information comes into your mind, you must interact with it if you really want to know it. Considering what you read, pondering how it applies to other ideas you’ve gained, putting it into order, recalling details, mixing it with your opinion, and then forming those thoughts into coherent sentences and telling them to someone else is when real learning takes place.”[ii]
In a Charlotte Mason setting, the teacher would ask each child to narrate back to them some portion of a lesson in the form of an oral or written explanation, drama, drawing, etc. As much as I would love to see a bunch of stuffy adults drawing pictures of their learning content at work, I’m not sure it’s a scalable solution or one that would be most appropriate in a corporate setting. Let’s take a look at a few ideas to get your brain going as you think about your corporate audience and needs.
Role Play
Role playing is a classic leadership learning technique, and it has elements of narration built into it already. We can enhance the narrative aspect of role play by asking employees to explain their reasoning for their responses after the role play concludes. For example, in a role play between a manager and employee for a training on building trust, the person role playing the manager might explain how they applied the model throughout the conversation.
You could also set up a role play where the role players each explain their responses as they are giving them. For example, the person role playing the manager might say, “I would start this 1:1 conversation trying to make the employee feel comfortable and connected because Connection is the first stage of our Trust model, so I’m going to say, ‘Hi, I’m so glad we’re able to connect today. It’s been a crazy week. What are you up to this weekend?’” As each person responds and provides their reasoning, they translate what they learned to the current situation, recalling details, adding their personality and opinions, and then exporting all that brain work into coherent sentences. It’s narration!
Small Group Narration
There are other ways to narrate as group, even if your content doesn’t lend itself to role play. Consider setting up small group discussions with prompts that facilitate a narration-like experience of reflection without the awkwardness of going around the table (or conference call) sharing what you learned. Consider using “I notice,” “I wonder,” and “it reminds me of” prompts to begin the conversation. These prompts are classic exploration questions used by scientists, academics, and learners everywhere.
I noticed… This is a great first prompt because it forces learners to articulate what was interesting, new, or different in what they learned. It’s an easy way to start narrating because the learner doesn’t have to describe everything they learned. They can simply share a few ideas or details that stood out to them. It’s also helpful for individuals to hear others describe what they noticed because it draws attention to different parts of the learning content.
I wonder… This prompt is all about asking questions. Learners must examine their knowledge for holes, gaps, or fuzzy spots where they need to dig deeper or get clarity. It helps develop a mindset of curiosity and personal examination.
It reminds me of… This prompts learners to connect their new knowledge with existing knowledge and life experiences. It pulls learning out of small mental silos and connects it across the brain, making it more likely to “stick” and to be used in a variety of situations.
Personal Narration
Narration doesn’t have to happen in the workplace. We can prompt learners to integrate their learning into their non-work lives. For example, we can ask learners in a leadership program to explain empathy to a child or teenager in their lives. The adult must synthesize what they learned and simplify it to the understanding level of their audience. This mental gymnastics is narration! You can use this technique for industry-specific learning too. Ask your learners to explain an industry topic to someone who isn’t in the field, adult or child. The learner engages the learning in the same way but without the pressure of feeling like they are performing in front of their peers.
Personal narration can also be written. A learner could use “I notice,” “I wonder,” and “it reminds me of” to prompt their written reflections. This may be more helpful for some people because they have plenty of time to figure out what they want to write, but others prefer the pressure of having a live audience to excite their brains into making connections. It’s all a matter of personality. Consider offering different narration options in your learning experience or using different strategies throughout the learning experience so that no one is bored or stuck doing something they hate again and again.
Explore with curiosity and compassion:
What is your gut reaction to the idea of narration? Why?
Is narration safe to try with your audience?
Where are strategic places you could include narration in your next learning experience?
[i] Mason, C. (2012). The Original Home Schooling Series (p. 10176). Start Publishing LLC.
[ii] 5 Steps to Successful Narration - Simply Charlotte Mason. (2013, January 16). Simplycharlottemason.com. https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/5-steps-to-successful-narration/
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