Are we preparing our learners, or just checking our own boxes?

Hi,

In my last update, I wrote about three girls who were working on a project about the Great Barrier Reef.

They wanted to speak to the biology teacher. That sounded logical, until we asked a different question: who actually knows a lot about the Great Barrier Reef?

That question changed the direction of their work.

They didn’t just start looking for information anymore. They started preparing to contact someone in Australia who truly knew the world they were trying to understand. And suddenly, the learning became much bigger than the original topic.

They needed English.
They needed writing skills.
They needed to formulate a clear request.
They needed to think about tone, structure, credibility, and respect.
They needed to prepare well enough to be taken seriously.

And this is exactly why I believe so strongly in the power of a product.

Not a product as in “something nice at the end.”
Not a product as in “make a poster because the chapter is finished.”
Not a product as in “prepare a quick presentation so we can give you a grade.”

I mean a product as something that forces learning to become real.

A letter to an expert.
A model that has to work.
A guide that someone else can use.
A debate that requires real preparation.
An event that has to be organised properly.
A prototype that needs testing.
A story, film, podcast, exhibition, performance, design, campaign, or solution that is worth sharing.

That is where learning starts to stick.

Because when learners create something, they cannot simply repeat what they have heard. They have to use it. They have to make choices. They have to decide what matters, what can be left out, what needs to be explained, what still isn’t clear, and what quality actually looks like.

A test often asks: do you remember this?

And if we are honest, the answer is often: yes... today I do.

A meaningful product asks something deeper:

Can you do something with what you now understand?

That is a very different question.

And it changes the role of the educator as well.

If the goal is a test, we often do most of the talking. We explain, model, repeat, and then check whether learners can reproduce our explanation.

But if the goal is a meaningful product, the product starts the conversation. It gives us something concrete to look at together.

So we can ask better questions:
Does this work?
Is this clear?
Who is this for?
What will they learn from it?
What still needs to improve?
What would make this worth sharing?

And when I ask questions like these, I often get much more honest and detailed answers from learners. Not because they suddenly know more, but because they have something in front of them. Something they can point at. Something they can improve. Something that makes the quality of their thinking visible.

That is more demanding than a test.

Because a good product exposes shallow understanding very quickly.

If you don’t understand the topic, your explanation becomes vague.
If you haven’t thought deeply enough, your model doesn’t hold.
If you haven’t practised enough, your performance falls apart.
If you haven’t considered your audience, your message doesn’t land.
If you haven’t reached quality, sharing your work becomes stressful instead of meaningful.

And that is where schools sometimes go too fast. Me included.

We often say: “Prepare your presentation at home.” Or: “Finish your project at home.”

But if this is the phase where learners discover what they still don’t understand, where they need feedback, where they revise, improve, test, practise, rethink, and sometimes start again, then this is not just homework to get out of the way.

This is exactly the phase we should guide most carefully.

With a test, we can often check our boxes.

We have explained it to the learners.
We have practised it with them.
We have tested it.
We have a result.

But with a product, we start checking boxes that actually belong to the learner.

Can I apply it?
Can I explain it?
Can I improve it?
Can I use it for something meaningful beyond this lesson?
Can others learn from me?

That difference matters.

So maybe this is enough to reflect on for now:

What could you do differently tomorrow to help learners check their boxes, not ours?

I’ll be back in two weeks,

Rob