I showed up at Trader Joe’s yesterday desperate for a good idea. A dear friend was coming over for dinner in a mere two hours, and I needed something yummy to make. But I’m not a very creative or intuitive cook.
Suddenly I remembered an old trick from my post-college days. I looked for a recipe written on the back of one of the boxes. My reasoning: the corporations really want to sell their products! So of course they are going to put the yummiest recipe on their boxes.
The Red Quinoa called me, and voilà: I found a recipe for Black Bean, Roasted Corn & Avocado Salad on a Bed of Red Quinoa.
I made it. It was delicious. My guests were impressed. And I’m now armed with a fabulous recipe for the next time I’m invited to a dreaded potluck!
If you are wondering what Red Quinoa salads have to do with academic coaching or Interplay: nothing whatsoever. I just thought my plate looked pretty and I felt proud of my new recipe. I wanted to share.
Actually, I think this has a lot to do with your own learning process. Not exactly “academic” but definitely “coaching” (yourself).
Isn’t this similar to the process of guessing the answer to a test question from contextual clues built into the question itself?
Well, it’s so true Mihai that I learn best by doing…and in context (like most of my teenage clients, I dare say). Nothing like being in a grocery store to get a person inspired to figure out what to cook.
Another way of looking at this is Problem-Based Learning. I had a problem (I need to have a yummy home cooked meal in two hours, but I have no idea what to make and no recipes on hand), and I sure learned a lot as I worked to solve it.
Another stroke of brilliance from Gretchen Wegner! Good job!