For a long time I have found that the best way of learning is teaching. It is a bit of a double-edge sword of course (you need to know a minimum to be able to teach) but the preparation and the performance of the course really nail the knowledge down. And the questions and challenges from the students do help light up some obscure corners as well.
Roland Barth, a specialist of school learning, is quoted to say: “The most powerful form of learning, the most sophisticated form of staff development, comes not from listening to the good words of others but from sharing what we know with others. Learning comes more from giving than from receiving. By reflecting on what we do, by giving it coherence, and by sharing and articulating our craft, knowledge, we make meaning, we learn.”
I love that sentence: Learning comes more from giving than from receiving.
This statement is actually potentially much more far-reaching than just the issue of teaching. It applies throughout our life: we can’t learn without some exchange. We can’t learn without giving. And it is those lessons that matter.
Quote extracted from the book ‘Optimizing the Power of Action Learning‘ by Michael Marquardt
