08 Aug Everyone has Something to Teach. Everyone has Something to Learn.
Let’s Learn! is is a year-old educational project that doesn’t just pay lip service to the idea of life-long learning. Or life–long teaching also, for that matter. It practices it. A project of Lloyd International Honors College of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro in collaboration with the East Side Institute, Let’s Learn! is a global teaching/learning project offering free, Zoom-enabled classes, workshops and conversations for anyone, anywhere.
I love this experiment in developmental learning, where people from a dozen countries or more, with different backgrounds, get together for an hour or so and learn the basic of Chinese medicine or see street art from around the world or have the opportunity to “Ask a Scientist.” No prerequisites. No grades. No risks. What fun!
I ran an experimental school for grades pre-K-8 years ago. The kids and learning directors (that’s what we called “teachers) performed school—literally. Want to read? We set the stage for reading performances and anyone who wanted to participate could do so (even—or especially—if you were 3 years old and didn’t know how). It was a wonderful wonderful place but way too ahead of its time to succeed. (Read my books Schools for Growth or Vygotsky at Work and Play to find out more.) Kids flourished and we are proud of that.
Let’s Learn! is implicitly based in a performatory pedagogy. Many, but not all, classes have explicitly performance elements, and along with internationally acclaimed academics and professional artists, quite a few class facilitators are not trained teachers. All perform as teachers, although very improvisational and conversational teachers. They share their knowledge, skills, experience and love for the joy of sharing. And the people who participate in courses, workshops and other events aren’t looking for a grade (there are none) but come out of curiosity and a desire to have fun and expand their horizons.
Let’s Learn! is free. Let’s Learn! is voluntary. Let’s Learn! is truly a “school for growth” in which people flourish.
Check it out for yourself and your family and friends. Click here for the Fall 2022 semester lineup.
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