Dads and Virtual Learning: How Coffee & Education Relate

October 4 2010 by Jake Frodsham in School Section |No Comments

Technically, there is an art to making a great cup of coffee.

By that I mean there is much more to it than just simply “putting the coffee on to brew.” In my office, I have a magnet from Starbucks that describes The Four Fundamentals: How to make a great cup of coffee. And, what is funny is that in a lot of ways, it also relates to making education great. How? Join me on the adventure of the next few paragraphs and let’s explore this concept together. At the end of today’s story, hopefully, we will have found the ingredients to make our educational journey great (or at least better). If not, at least we will have the knowledge to make a great cup of coffee.

According to Starbucks, the Four Fundamentals of making a great cup of coffee are…

FRESHNESS

Coffee: To maintain flavor, store beans at room temperature in an opaque, airtight container.

Education: To keep your journey fresh, maintain structure yet allow room for flexibility. Chart your course toward a determined destination, yet allow room for exploration along the way. Understand too that each child will arrive at the destination having taken their own course. Some will take the route most direct, others will wander along paths to the point you may even think they are lost. Take time to travel those paths with them — and for those that wander, before you decide they are lost, see if they are merely charting a more scenic route.

Give them a voice in what that charted course should look like. The journey itself is just as important as the destination. Too many times people remain focused on where they are going rather than taking time to appreciate where they are and remember where they have been.

For coffee, freshness pertains to proper storage. For education, freshness pertains to unleashing.

GRIND

Coffee: Grind beans just before brewing. The proper grind depends on your brewing method.

Education: The proper grind in education depends not on your brewing method, but on their brewing method. We need to throw away our ideas and perceptions of what education should look like and stay more in tune with how our children learn best. This goes far beyond kinestic, auditory, etc. This goes to their passions, dreams, desires and hopes. No doubt we must help guide them, but we do not necessarily have to direct them. Do more asking than telling. Dig deep to learn the whys behind the whats. Look at the journey from their perspective and brew the education in the method best for them.

For coffee, “grind” pertains to our brewing method. For education, grind pertains to their brewing method.

PROPORTION

Coffee: We recommend 2 Tbsp ground coffee for every 6 fl oz water.

Education: Youth is more than books or lessons, even online lessons. Let’s commit to giving our children the time to be kids. Adulthood will come quickly enough, why rush it? So, as we undertake this journey with our children, let’s make sure we are spending adequate time playing with them. Let’s allow them time to play, to grow, to experience, to fail, to enjoy childhood. In doing so, it will help us maintain a proper proportion between the learning that needs to take place and the learning that takes place anyway.

For coffee, proportion pertains to coffee and water. For education, proportion pertains to structured learning and experiential learning.

WATER

Coffee: The water you use in your coffee should be clean, fresh and free of impurities.

Education: Now, it would be too easy here to talk about the K¹² curriculum and how it relates to the quality of the water you use for coffee, but I want to transcend that and talk more about the quality of the time you spend with your children during this journey. And, in my opinion, it all starts with attitude. A favorite author of mine, Chuck Swindoll, described the importance of attitude in his book, Strengthening Your Grip:

“Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.

I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitude is right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.”

To me, the quality of the attitude we bring to each day will determine the quality of our journey. Let’s keep our attitude each day clean, fresh and free of impurities.

For coffee, it is the water that counts. For education, it is our attitude that counts.

Thanks for joining me on this adventure. My hope is that it assists you in some way towards making your educational journey a better one.

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