This Useful Process Helps You Teach with Your Writing


If you do any amount of training or facilitating work with customers, you may already be familiar with adult learning models. Teachers use them to prepare insightful learning experiences.

The one I'm familiar with is Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle but there are others equally useful:


Learning can start at any stage in the cycle:
  • Concrete experience - encounter a new experience or reinterpret an existing experience
  • Reflective observation - reflect on an experience from a personal perspective
  • Abstract conceptualization - form new ideas (or revise existing ideas) based on reflection
  • Active experimentation - apply new ideas to surroundings, test for changes in the next experience

The next time you sit down to write an article intended to teach, consider following this process. Pick the most obvious stage at which to start for the topic you have in mind. Work your way through the cycle, perhaps having a paragraph or two for each stage. Your writing will flow smoothly from one point to the next.

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