14th Edition: Crypto Cheetahs, Role Play & Teaching Trends

Thanks for being here

Hey everyone, hope you’re having a wonder-full week. :)

I just joined a course called Crypto Cheetahs.

No one’s more shocked than me. Had someone told me last year I’d be diving into the world of Crypto, I would’ve laughed.

But my curiosity has peaked.

Between what I’ve seen on Twitter and the courses being built at Maven, I can’t ignore the space any longer. So I decided Lucija Matic’s intro course for women is the best place to start.

Source: https://twitter.com/lucija_matic

I’m always hesitant about “women only” initiatives but when it comes to cohort-based courses, it’s undeniable women speak up less than men. And given crypto is extremely male dominated, I’m keen to support Lucija on her mission to help women use crypto to build generational wealth.

Bring on the girl power.💥

Another reason I decided to venture into crypto is to improve my thinking. And by thinking, I mean writing.

Piecing a topic together from ground zero is the best way to learn. So my goal is to write about what I’m learning, in hopes of making this “daunting” industry more accessible—especially to women.

🔥 Join the course if you’re a woman curious about how crypto can help you secure your financial future. Or reach out to me in Feb to ask about my experience.

Now, here are three gems I want to share with you:

An experience to inspire: Maven’s accelerator course

Last week ended on a high.

As Head TA for Maven’s 4th cohort of How to build a cohort-based course, I got to lead a refresher training for this incredible group.

Not only did I get coaching and feedback on how to design the session for maximum impact, the Maven team also dished out incredible feedback during the session—which was largely focused on role playing common scenarios (like 1:1 coaching and group facilitation).

It was incredible to have so many brilliant people in one room. We had a blast while learning about course building in terms of marketing, operations, getting instructors through blocks, and more.

We’re now onboarding instructors, so stay tuned for more updates.

💥 Challenge: next time you’re planning a session, think about how you can frontload info on operations and logistics. That way you can spend the bulk of your session doing activities with students and providing feedback.

A resource to consider: the 4 identities of a teacher

We’ve long understood that in today’s world, everyone has become a lifelong learner. What I think is less appreciated is that many of us therefore have to become lifelong teachers.

—Tiago Forte

Tiago Forte published a great article on a teaching trend in the creator space. Building off Brendon Burchard’s framework, he outlines four identities we move through—reporter, expert, mentor, and role model.

Forte’s breakdown is accurate based on what I’ve seen.

Source: Jonathan Moyle via gov.uk

But I don’t see the four identities as necessarily linear.

They’re like the five modes of Design Thinking—you can circle back to previous identities in response to disruption or new interests.

For example, Maven instructor Shaan Puri has achieved role model teaching status with over 250K Twitter followers, a hit podcast, etc. But he shared in a newsletter a few months back that he was clearing his schedule to learn about crypto. And he planned to share his learnings in a new newsletter.

In other words, he circled back to a reporter identity for his new interest.

Another distinction I would make about the reporter identity is you’re not limited to being a curator or synthesizer of other people’s work. In Puri’s case, he started creating and experimenting from the start. He explains why in this screenshot from his newsletter below:

Source: Shaan Puri’s 5 Tweet Tuesday newsletter (Sept 14, 2021)

It’s safe to say Puri will eventually be a role model in the space if he sticks with it (hell, he might be one by now). But nonetheless he circled back to work through those earlier teaching identities first (with his bias to action as an accelerator). Meanwhile, he maintains role model status as a teacher in his current domain.

That’s my take anyway. I’d be curious to hear yours.

📖 Read the full article here. What are your thoughts on this trend? Hit reply to share whether or not Forte’s observations resonate with you.

A question to ponder: here v. there

Think about where you are in your teaching journey versus where you aspire to be. Draw on takeaways from Forte’s article or from Puri’s newsletter to help you visualize your desired end state.

💭 Ask yourself, what 1-2 steps can I take to begin to bridge the gap? Remember, you don’t have to build the whole bridge now.

Thanks for reading my *fourteenth* newsletter

My goal is to prompt reflection within this vibrant community of ours, so I’d love your feedback on how I can make future editions beneficial.

Got an idea or burning question I could address? Hit reply and we’re off to the races!

Have a wonder-full week,

Alexandra