Expertise Archives - Page 5 of 6

Thoughts on Athletic Expertise

In discussing Expertise, practice, and the myth of talent it is inevitable that someone asks if they could be the next Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan. Is it possible, at their age, to drop everything and learn to be as good or greater than two of the most iconic players of our age. And they groan when I tell them yes. They stomp their feet and they clench their fists–that would explain the typographical errors. The disparity seems so distant when they compare their (self-assessed) non-existent skills with those of phenoms.

Why is it that these names are legendary?

Are they indeed Experts?!

HOW DID THEY GET THAT WAY?!

They are freaks of nature. NO. They are unnatural.

You see, if we attribute their skills to pedestrian ideas like

interest, practice, and coaching

then what you are saying is that anyone can do it.

Well, guess what?

You can.

Unfortunately, you cannot do it the way that you read about in newspaper articles and in books written by newspaper journalists.
You have to work at it. If you want to be like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods or any of other wonderful male or female athletes in the world, you need to possess (or decide to possess) the one thing that put the needle on the record for these individuals. You need to have interest.

Interest is a key component to developing a level of Expertise in a field. It is the thing that sustains you through mistakes and failures. It is also the thing, strangely enough, that goofs up the retelling of that early story of more and more practice. Why? Because when you have interest, practice does not always feel like practice. Other activities that contribute to your skills seem less of a chore when you know that you will get to enjoy the object of your affection shortly thereafter.

Interest pays off, too. You see, when you are interested and the practice seems like fun and the supporting activities and decisions do not seem so bad and all the exercises come together in the moment of performance…

…bang goes the dynamite–you have gotten better and that feels really gooooooooood…

and the next time you practice, which is probably that night or early the next morning–assuming you are not practicing in your mental space while lying in bed–you cannot wait to get better again.

What will be the next great thing that appears?

When someone tells me that they’ve tried basketball or golf or singing or martial arts or visual arts or writing or whatever…
and they stink at it
and they “don’t mind admitting it”

my first thought is that they are not really interested. And my advice is to find your interest and pursue it.

Find that thing that feels like nothing at all and do that…

…do that really well.

And often.

Top 5 ways to Convey Competence–according to students

In discussions with high school students, I was eager to find out what teachers do that conveys competence in their eyes. What are the behaviors that teachers demonstrate that allow the students to view them as possible Experts in their field? You are being watched. Evaluated.

These “Expert” teaching behaviors do not represent perceptions of all students. Some of these may resonate with you and your population while some may make no sense whatsoever. My challenge to you is that you consider the perception of your students in your classroom and consider whether incorporating these behaviors into your teaching scheme may improve their perception of your competence.

5. Controls class through teaching: We are talking about the whole deal here. I have told countless students the same story with the same scenario many times and it is true. As soon as the first student asks to go to the bathroom, you are done for. This is your sign from above: You have lost them. You do not have to believe me. But know that it is true. How, you may ask, do you control bladders? Plan. Maintain interest. Make the content relevant (I did not say teach relevant content–that is another discussion). Use teaching to control all aspects of the class. Know your students, their temperaments, and develop your methods for the content in ways that keep everything under ‘control.’ The opposite of this would be threats, begging, disciplinary action, and yelling.

4. Control the pace of learning: Sounds simple enough, right? There are many components to this item and that is (another) discussion for another day. Keep it as quick as you can without losing minds or interest. Keep it slow enough to stick. Cycle back to firm up details–not with the same notes, discussion points, and examples but with new approaches. Your students should not feel as if you simply repeat things to improve their memorization.

3.Explains their subject clearly and effectively: Repeated attempts to explain material tend to gum up the works. You have probably seen this scenario: the material is covered ‘according to plan.’ There are a few questions that get answered and then you begin to investigate the depth of understanding. Additional explanation creates more questions and dissolves prior understanding so that the information has lost consistency and dribbles to mush on the floor. You can almost touch it. Refine, refine, refine. And do not mistake student questions for a depth of understanding.

2.Has all information memorized: Yes. Sorry. You may not like that one. You can go one for a few days talking about how memorization is so basic and how it does not prove anything and how it is pointless and how you have open note tests and how you do not think that anyone anywhere should ever have to memorize anything ever because this is the information age and we are surrounded by information and haven’t you ever heard of Google or the internet or the kid who delivered a baby with a Bic Biro and YouTube?

1. Teachers are not reliant upon the textbook: Hate to break it to you, but your students do expect you to have all the answers. Before you run yourself through with a rusty steak knife let me remind you that this is likely limited to the information that was covered to-date. We would call it fluency with the material–it requires that you know the material you are teaching inside and out, that you are able to manipulate abstract ideas with the material, and that you have anticipated many of the questions that will arise. This is, after all, your content area. Is it not?

This is not a comprehensive list and it is definitely not a construct that boasts a one-size-fits-all approach. It is a springboard for renewal and experimentation. Reflection. Try a few of these on for size and see if it makes a difference. Perceptions of competence result in better outcomes for both the teacher and the student. Put plainly, if your students think you are competent they will change their level of effort to match that perception. Comments are welcome!

5 Big Teacher Misbehaviors that will Haunt you

When I sat down with high school students to find out what teachers do to demonstrate a lack of Expertise, I was impressed by the astute observations that were provided.

Drumroll…

5. Disorganized: Gone are the days of the disheveled genius; the offbeat, yet brilliant mind wearing yesterday’s suit and tomorrow’s socks. Einstein would not fare well in our current climate. That hair! Does he wear the same thing every day? Our students are not old enough to recognize this archetype. Get over yourself and get your act together. Wake up 20 minutes earlier, have your professional clothes professionally cleaned and pressed, shave, and give yourself the time you need to prepare.

4. Gullible: Students can pull the wool over your eyes and they know it. They fool you, they may even lie, and they get away with it. Maybe you know they are doing it–stop. Maybe you do not know–get some advice, get some assistance, get an informant–something. Better yet, know the material so that students cannot fake the funk. Set firm guidelines and deadlines. If you give students a break, make sure that it is fair and that it serves a purpose.

3. Maintains little control over the classroom: This is not a matter of chaos in the room as much as it is a matter of ownership of control. Students need to understand that they have a horse in this race. Their preparation, participation, and execution in your class is not an individual need. You need their input as a teacher as much as they need the input of one another. If your class is a place to dispense and receive information, they will check out and no one will benefit. The educational climate is about agency–check out Bandura and Bruner–ownership is shared. If you cannot control the scenario, do not take it out on the students with threats and pleading. The problem did not occur the moment that behavior is an issue, it happened a long time ago…sadly, it was probably your lack of preparation.

2. Immature: How far does it have to go? One focus-group member told of jokes regarding flatus. That’s right. Fart jokes. Some agreed that immaturity is difficult to define but that they would know it when they saw it. We have heard that before. Teachers like to blur lines. We’re progressive, right? This is the 21st century right? Adolescent need things to be a bit more black and white. They will laugh and joke with you. They will also categorize you and talk about your lack of boundaries. They will also take advantage of you and when it comes to blows, they will call you out as immature and you will be left without excuse. This one is personal, I know. You have to make the change.

1. Lacks knowledge: Teachers are no longer practitioners, let us be honest. Aside from music and art teachers, most teachers do not participate actively in their content outside of the classroom. Maybe it is time for you to change that. Have you had someone mention the word relevance in a critique of your domain? If you do not have immediate responses to the relevance to your domain other than the fact that it is a pre-requisite for other content, you are on your way to being outdated, redundant, and useless. My advice? consider an area of your content that you are going to master and do everything that masters in those domains do. Math teacher? Why not be a statitstician? Do some research consulting. Language arts? Write stories for submission or volunteer to edit for professional journals. Science? Join a research group. These are not the answers to everything, obviously.

What would you be willing to do in order for your students to have better outcomes? You would be surprised by how many people would not be willing to change these behaviors if they were addressed. We hate change, I get that. We are more likely to justify than to change; to rebel rather than acquiesce. Our careers, our students, and our colleagues are depending on us advancing the craft. Let us take the challenge.

Pedagogy. Andragogy. Adolgogy?

I have been banging the drum for some time and will continue to do so to the end of Reclaiming the Nomenclature. The first iteration of this phrase gets a rare nod and mostly puzzled looks. Well, sure, people do not use the term nomenclature much these days but I have always been fond of it since seeing Little Murders with Elliott Gould. Enjoy. It is right around 2’23”.

In my mind are a short list of terms that are overused and abused and through this type of use have lost their meaning entirely.

Genius.

Absolutely.

Pedagogy.

I could go on. Alright, I admit, it is a long list and I have a good memory so it continues to grow at a exponential rate. In this post, I will focus on the term pedagogy. <shudder>

Pedagogy is a term that we must all understand is both antiquated and misused for the most part. We understand the connotation when it comes up, but still cringe a bit when it is used. The etymology of the word tells us that it simply means ‘child leading.’ Discussion about it usually goes like this:

‘that isn’t what I mean.’

“then why did you say it?”

Pedagogy refers, in large part, to the approach, process, and learning of teaching. By defining it, we denote the terminology and make it sound fine, do we not? In that sense, we can use pedagogy in our in-services, professional training, college courses, etc. Correct? Of course not!

We know that pedagogy is stuffy and that we are no longer in a field dominated by lecturers in the K-12 classrooms. We know that direct instruction is acceptable for some lower grades in some instances but that we should, as soon as developmentally possible, get our students involved and participating rather than “being led” but the pedagogue.

We know, thanks to Malcolm Knowles,of the term andragogy that still tricks our spellchecker even though it is a common word that has been in published materials throughout the world.

Andragogy refers, in large part, to the approach, process, and learning methods used when working with adults. It recognizes that adult learners have specific needs that must guide the development of instruction. We like to use terms such as facilitate when we do not know what else to say in regard to andragogy.

It is much more than facilitation and Men are

from Mars-style deceptive communication practices. Take some time to read up on it–by the way, by definition, andragogy doesn’t work with college students but that is another post for another day.

Returning to my battlecry,

Reclaim the Nomenclature!

What, then shall we name the set of acceptable, beneficial, necessary, and sufficient learning approaches used to educate the adolescent? Let us not fall into the poor practice of saying that other terms are good enough. Let us think differently about education. Let us be responsible. The answer to this question is not just about creating terminology, but it is about creating definitions that are both functional and accurate.

So what’s in gonna be?

Adolgogy? You heard it here first. Maybe last.