Do you remember the show, MacGyver? Yes, that ultra cheesy, but kind of cool ’80s adventure show starring Richard Dean Anderson. If you’re younger than 30, you may not. Stay tuned. Instead of equipping himself with dozens of hidden tools to solve seemingly intractable problems (think James Bond), MacGyver utilized to great effect the most potent resource he possessed–his intellect. I never thought I’d say this, but let’s use MacGyver as a teaching model.

When we work with youth it is tempting to swing into a classroom Bond-style, outfitted with more information–in the form of videos, slides, books, demonstrations, and activities–than a single student could possibly process in a day, let alone a 50-minute session. Though we may derive comfort from doing so much, by mindfully doing less we:

1. Create room for students to effectively link what we introduce to what they already know, so they can truly own the information

2. Encourage students to engage

3. Free up more time for connection, a defining element of program effectiveness

The strength of this approach is corroborated by K.L. Ruhl’s1 study comparing participants’ responses to two distinct learning experiences: one based on information dissemination, and the other incorporating process. As we would expect, the group that processed the information in the form of discussion and dialogue learned more. In other words, through refining the content of the presentation, we can accomplish more by doing less. Consider the following “do less” techniques:

1. Imagine each section of your curriculum in the form of an outline instead of paragraphs.

2. Go through your curricula and determine which points are pillars, and therefore indispensable to the structure and coherence of your presentation.

3. Organize the topics from most to least important using the Roman Numeral system (I. A. a. 1) a))

Try to limit yourself to five or fewer major points (i.e., the upper case points) per 50-minute session. If you attempt any more students will disengage. If they want more from you they’ll ask.

Doing less is a good first step toward shifting the impact of your program. Once you’re positioned to do less you can strengthen the delivery of your message. That will be the subject of our next message.

It’s great to be working with you to create a positive change in the lives of young people.

Best,

Andrew

1Ruhl, K.L, Hughes, C.A., & Schloss, P.J. (1987). Using the pause procedure to enhance lecture recall. Teacher Education and Special Education, 10, 14-18.