"Colour it in, rather than Sketch it"

I was recently listening to a podcast interview featuring the ex England cricket captain, Michael Vaughan. While not being a very big cricket fan, just someone who takes an interest in scores, I found this interview compelling as much of what Michael spoke about in terms of his cricket journey resonates so closely to what we often experience as educators.

The title of this post was a comment made to Micheal by a coach, as he was identified early in his youth as a prodigious talent, yet there were also many other young men of his age displaying talent also.

So what set him apart from the rest?

This particular coach could see that Michael was able to do what so many others could do, but realised that he had so much more untapped potential. He was using his batting results as an analogy to this statement, in that most players were going out and completing a fairly good innings. They were 'sketching' so to speak.

The coach was asking Michael to focus on the deeper value of his innings for the team, to move beyond 'sketching' and to actually 'colour it in'. He was also, in his eventual role as captain, to take this concept further and use it to build a culture of excellence among not just his team mates, but the entire organisation.

It is no secret that Michael dominated a Summer tour of Australia, competing against an Australian team that contained some of the best cricketers we have produced throughout our rich cricketing history.

So I hear you thinking, what has this got to do with us as educators?

This comment really struck a chord with me as I am passionate about building the capacity of teachers and students to become more invested, engaged and motivated about their work at school, and in themselves as learners.

Not always, but it is often the case that what we are asking our students to do is just 'sketching', or superficial learning that does not resonate with them enough. Where do we encourage and promote that deeper learning that gets our students and teachers more engaged and prepared to take that extra step to explore further?

At what point are we giving them the opportunity to actually 'colour in'?

My own experience has been that I too have been guilty of just going with the flow, because that's easy to do. Going deeper with our own learning takes commitment and encourages us to search for links and ideas that make us want to be more, learn more and to develop skills that are totally transferable to all situations.

Learning in context, using our own passions and interests and those of the students is one way that I can support you in being able to 'Colour it in, rather than Sketch it'.

I'd love to hear your thoughts...