Seven year old Seth is teaching me how to catch with a glove; something I've never done before. He is an excellent trainer (he has me starting with a softball, after which we will go to a hardball). Seth has explained the stages of expertise to me and what it takes to get to each level. The levels for softball are: beginning, basic, difficult, expert and, if you want to, trainer. Once you are an expert in softball , you can then go to hardball. In hardball, you go back to beginner and then go through the same levels. You can become a hardball trainer and once you are a good trainer in BOTH softball and hardball, you can become a trainer of trainers. Today I made it through beginner and part of the way though basic. Tomorrow hey maybe I'll get to difficult.

Seth is very clear about what I need to know to pass each level and even more clear that I can't become a trainer until I have mastered all the levels. He also says I can't be a trainer of trainers until not only have I proved i can do it; I have to show that I can train others to do it.

The concept of trainer of trainers has been with us in education and in STEM outreach for a long time. In some instances it has been successful; in many more it hasn't. If more people adopted Seth's structures of what it takes to be a trainer of trainers, I'm figuring there would be a lot more success.