Full disclosure: I started writing this post quite a while ago. a) It’s got old content and b) It’s not quite finished.  Still, it’s worth a read.

I wandered onto Facebook today… not sure why exactly. Sometimes I use it to break up the day and see what people from my past are doing. I don’t really use it to engage with people in my present and that’s mostly because Facebook is a bit of a self-validation site.  As a participant, there’s a strange sense of obligation tied to joining in.

What’s ironic is that today, while I was on Facebook, I came across a commercial site called MasterClass. Christina Aguilera is on there as is James Paterson and for a mere pittance ($90.00) you too can sign up to be taught by these two OR other legends in their fields. Talk about validation…

I wouldn’t mind learning from either of these masters. Trust me, I’ll never be a singer – my singing coach gave me my money back. But Christina Aguilera is incredible. Her power and pitch and range defy what’s humanly possible. I can’t tell you that I love her music. I have a few of her songs, especially her blues numbers, and therefore I’m self-limited, but I do love her voice.  So maybe a great master could help me become sufferable and I could yank my guitar back out of its case and see if I could hum some Dave Matthews or something. Being able to sing somehow ties to my desire to play.

Writing though… that is something I could bite into and learn deeply. I have always enjoyed writing. Letting the letters that have been snapped onto the screen in front of me create rivers of meaning that flow through pathways of each readers’ mind to form images tied to their own contexts. It’s always been very fun to weave a story compelling enough that the reader continues following long after the sentence should have. James Paterson is listed as one of the best-selling authors of all time. I’m guessing I could learn from him as well.

What is probably even more extraordinary is the number of people that are providing Masters classes for free.  Calum Graham is one of those incredibly talented, humble, gifted people. Maybe I’m a little biased as he is a local kid that went through our school system. He’s self-taught and shares his skills frequently. Take a listen and you’ll understand why I celebrate his creativity.

In the last number of days participants were posting in the Twitterverse about #blendEDAB. during a 3-day Symposium focused on flexible learning strategies. At the heart of the dialogue was the ongoing theme that kids need access to a variety of ways of learning. Evidence surrounds us that every moment is a learning opportunity.

This post is unfinished, mostly because I have a lot more thoughts and not a lot of time. At the heart of it is the message that all of us should always be learning.