ConverStations: Engagement. Creativity Trumps Clever Every Time

My friend Ryan is a bit disengaged and disheartened with his daytime gig. The powers-that-be seem to think he's disengaged. I think he's just bored, but he's not in a position to move on just yet.

In hopes to boost his spirits, I invited him to join in our Fantasy Football league. The draft was last night, and Ryan did a bang up job. Focused, engaged, funny ... in fact, he was a trend-setter in a couple of spots.

He used his meta-cognitive skills all night long. Critically thinking, reacting and responding to changes to his plan based on selections of the other league members. Aware of the numbers on paper and the behaviors at the table, he created a great team (and drew both frowns and smiles on the faces of other owners -- including me sometimes).

I so wish his daytime authorities could see what I witnessed. I so wish he could do something else, but...Ryan is 13. And he's a bit stuck. And it's not his fault.

His school is trying to use clever to engage him. Math Bingo. Posterizing Books. Training him to simply pass the tests (we've got standards, y'know). Ryan relies on his creative juices outside of school because the school is too busy cooking clever soup. Want students engaged? Ask them to help create an engagement process (why not?) Give them a sense of ownership.

We hear this all the time in marketing. Engage the customer. Give them a sense of ownership. Why not in schools? If the answer is, "The students aren't ready to help in that sort of planning," they should've seen my friend at work last night.

I'm honored to have Ryan as a friend and a peer. He is one of the smartest guys I know.