What I want to say most to start this off is, “Who came up with ten thousand hours, anyway?!” except I know where it came from and to be honest I am sick of hearing about it.
But who's counting?
Ten thousand hours has become common. Journalists have reduced it to nothing. They have beaten it to death. Even when it is not referencing Expertise, you will hear ten thousand hours being bandied about. It. Just. IS.
I hate to break it…no…I love to break it to you. Ten thousand hours means nothing.
The research that spawned this number was performed on 40 violinists and was seeking to find some common experiences and habits among some of the best of them. Those violinists who had achieved the highest levels of skill had accumulated about seven thousand hours of practice by age 18 and about ten thousand hours of practice by age 20.
These data were common among a very small group of musicians from among a small group of subjects. Data on practice time was self-reported. From this article, came our famous misinterpretation by Gladwell who took it upon himself to recognize “experts” in retrospect by attributing ten thousand hours of practice to individuals and groups.
Outliers. Silliness.
Expertise is superlative. It is rare. It is domain specific and its definitions and components do not transfer to other domains. That is to say that those things that contribute to Expertise in violin playing are not likely to contribute to Expertise in another content area.
While some may ask why it is important to make these distinctions I find it compelling. There are other conditions that are necessary for the achievement of Expertise. It is possible for anyone to become competent with enough practice, guidance, and some motivation. It is not possible to become and Expert on these things alone–even with ten thousand hours of deliberate practice.
Many will live out their existence as “experienced non-Experts,” or the more pedestrian “merely competent” despite significant dedication and many hours, weeks, and years of practice. So sorry.
Measurement is a curious thing. Everyone is talking about it. A lot of people are doing it. With all that talk and all that measurement, it causes even more people to do it. I mean, it must be important, right?
Contagious shooting.
Offsides. They jumped first. We all jumped.
Strong words. Actions. Open doors. Imply permission.
Just don't.
Buzz. Some are testing because everyone else is doing it and they do not know why they are doing it themselves. It is contagious and it is killing us.
There are a few problems that are typical of assessment culture. They differ in severity. Jim Croce used to talk about causing trouble in Chester, PA where they would cut you four kinds of bad: long, deep, wide, and often. Who would think that I would ever talk about assessment and Jim Croce in the same paragraph? I like Jim Croce. I like assessment. I do not like the abuse of assessment and data. It gives an essential part of education a bad name. Yes I said essential. When it is done well and done correctly, it is good stuff. Don’t mess around with Jim. Errr, Slim.
The effect of non-educational and non-assessment pertinent information on our students is referred to in the testing field as “unintended consequences.” We need to consider them. Seriously.
1. Long
Rather, length. Any assessment that causes the facilitation of learning to be interrupted is too often long and disruptive. It is important for the assessor to consider what is actually being tested when distributing a test with 120 items. My first assumption is that they are assessing attention and fortitude. Stubborn constitution? While it may be clear to the test creator that each of these items has a clear purpose, I pose this question–has the need for coverage been obscured by the other challenges that are presented before those questions are asked?
The length of a test is one of the first things that a student checks when it is delivered to their desk. Flip through and count the pages. See if they are multiple choice, short answer, long answer, or essay. Matching? True/False?
2. Deep
It is often that the coverage of an assessment is haphazardly accounted for by length. Oops. Depth of an assessment can be addressed with a shovel or with a scalpel. Do you investigate like an excavator or a surgeon? While there are several questions that could get to the bottom of a student’s understanding of a novel, mathematical concept, or science theory; is it possible that there is one question that could be used to demonstrate understanding of the larger constructs? The answer is usually yes and the rationale that is usually defended is depth.
When quality inquiry includes necessary skills, we begin to scratch the surface of depth. A complex skill often trumps less complex skills–not always the case but often the case. You have heard the saying, “You have to crawl before you can walk.” If your child went straight to walking without crawling, would you intervene? Neither did I. It is not a completely common phenomenon but it happens and aside from toddler locomotion, there are not really any good reasons to crawl. Either way, I would bet that you could learn it later.
3. Wide
Breadth of assessment is key. It probably means something completely different than what you think, though. The wideness of assessment does not have to include every aspect of what is being taught. Variations in the width of coverage is often a factor of interests that our students have that either narrow or widen their take on the material. That is fine.
As educators, we must widen our assessment in order to provide every opportunity for our students to demonstrate competence and understanding. If this goal is achieved by one student through a presentation and another through various and typical testing procedures, why should that prove an issue? BECAUSE in college, they will get scantron tests so they need to get used to it! That is not a reasonable answer. I do not care who says so, either.
If you want students to get better at scantron tests because that is what they will encounter, that is fine and in some contexts a reasonable goal. There is, however, no reason to restrict a student in their demonstration of competence and understanding in the process.
You will often hear about differentiated instruction but I am telling you that the need for citizens of our age is to be given the opportunity for differentiated assessment. You see, differentiated instruction is an appealing concept but its goals are achievement on typical assessment procedures–if you teach them differently, they will all be able to achieve in the same way!
No. The teaching is probably not the issue. I will put myself out there and say that you are probably a good enough teacher. It is more likely that a student is capable of demonstrating understanding in a way that is not being assessed.
If I hear “they know the material but they cannot pass the test” one more time I will scream. Twice.
4. Often
The frequency of assessment is not simply a problem of testing too often. It is also a problem of failing to assess often enough. Notice that I am referring to testing specifically and assessment in general. The “movement” to get rid of testing and assessment and measurement and grades aside, please understand that we are constantly assessing, judging, and measuring. After all that we act, stop acting, or change the methods and manner of acting to meet the assessed need. If you want to attach a letter, number, or whatever to that–fine. Do not think that by doing away with scantrons, letters, and numbers that you have put the assessment monster out of the room. It is still there. Boo.
Ecological validity is an issue that is at the forefront of research these days. Developing methods of observation and assessment that fit and make sense in the context of the learning scenario can be challenging. Is it possible to measure some aspect of learning within the context of that learning using tasks that make sense within that domain? If not, that is an issue of ecological validity. Think about the NFL combines that are used by professional teams to assess the viability of future draft picks. These sets of skills are supposed to be indicators of the athletes’ ability to do well in an NFL game. We know, though, that the only way to know if an athlete is capable of playing professional football is to have them play professional football. Ecological validity.
Slightly more than a rant.
Pt. 1 coming soon!
Yeah, Jim got his hat. Find out where it’s at. Not hustlin’ people strange to you. Even if you do have a 2-piece custom-made pool cue.
Do you believe that you are capable of objectivity?
Do you believe that you can answer that question objectively?
Reflection is something that is expected of the educator. Expected to the point that it may be impossible. For the most part, reflection is discussed more than it is taught. Discussed far more than it is genuinely practiced. I have to confess, I hear an awful lot of talk about being reflective but I hear very few people talking about how to reflect. And I hear even less people challenging one another on their reflection. Not to encourage impolite behavior or being impolitic, but it is necessary that we seek a common understanding of practices that will save our professional lives.
What is it? Is it a unified concept? That is to say–does it mean the same to everyone? Have we reached consensus?
If we are to develop as professionals through the use of reflection in a meaningful way,
then reflection must be a singular sensation.
Quick, what's the square root of a gross?
Think about it. If green is not green to you, but it is green to me, is that a problem? Really? You see, if you are color blind, green is still not a problem. We tend to think narrowly about that, do we not?
We think–how will you know whether to stop or go at an intersection?
But then we realize that knowing the color doesn’t affect whether we know the light on the bottom from the light on the top.
Color blindness does not make one less capable despite what fashion decisions may be made.
If we are going to engage in reflection, we have to take purposeful steps to take myth out of the process. Here are a few tips to get you started.
1. Plan ahead based on the type of activity.
You need a point of departure. Write a list of hypotheses, questions, or even opinions you have about your own approaches to teaching. Select which ones belong in each context. This will become your Inquiry Checklist. If you are introducing new material you may have different items than a session based on exploration or review for a larger project or assessment. Do you think that you are great on your feet? A whiz on the fly? What are some of the things that would support that belief? Some teachers think that they are very positive in class–do you? Are you? Maybe you’d like to know how many positive or negative statements you make in a session. Are you a great facilitator? What do you do that supports that belief?
2. Keep your scope narrow and rare.
Answer just a few questions per session. You will find that you could be overwhelmed with your actual performance. I also recommend that you do this full process, at most, four times each school year. Aside from the amount of time it will take to do this responsibly, altruism is at a premium.
3. Bring a friend.
There is no way to do this while you are teaching. However you choose to assess, recalibrate, and redirect activities in class is simply your teaching practice. It is your professional activity–do not let this become your only indicator of your success. Act natural and do your thing. Set up a camera in a hidden place with a good view of the room. Do not tell your students about it. Want to add to the excitement? Have a colleague do a walkthrough with one, two, or all of the items from your Inquiry Checklist. Invite them to stay for a set period of time or the whole period but decide that ahead of time.
4. Document before the big reveal.
As soon as you are able, debrief alone. Respond to your prompts as honestly as you can. Do this before you view the video. Do this before you schedule time to listen to your colleague. This is an important step in the process because it will allow your reflective process to calibrate–helping you to develop some inter-rater reliability with your subjective mind.
5. Prepare to be non-plussed.
When you have your own reflection completed, sit down with your colleague and listen. Let them tell you the story of what they saw in your classroom. Allow them to tell you what they think you were trying to accomplish and their impression of good, bad, and neutral activities by you and your students. Did you add to learning or confuse? Did you jump in or change gears too soon? Was it paced well? It is important that you create the type of atmosphere that allows your colleague to be honest. Some of their input may be challenging. Do not allow yourself to explain or justify. For the colleague, this is the second time through but for you it is the first. Let it sink in and settle.
6. Make decisions.
When this whole process has run its course it is time to make decisions. My advice is to limit yourself to one or two changes that you think are most important to the classroom. Some suggestions that I have made or heard from colleagues: Let information breathe–do not jump in too soon; Give students more time to think before you speak; Model risk taking and mistake making; Sit on the floor–change levels, not just placement in the room
The greatest myth of reflection is that is can happen alone.
Our first mentors and coaches are our parents. They determine, from our first days, our exposure to the world. They curate our experiences. They vary our inputs. Our caretakers ensure our stimulation and absence of stimulation. All of this activity rushes to the senses unmitigated and without preference by our nervous system. There is no internal discrimination between sound and noise.
From a cognitive standpoint, we are open–a stormdrain. A waterfall.
It is easy to see every movement of the child as an instinctual motion of comfort or need. After that, it is easy to see how activity is Hebbian: developmental, appropriate, necessary, and purpose-driven. It is in our genetic code to repeat, practice, and perfect–to prepare ourselves to engage with a world that demands engagement.
Typical of most situations, caretakers return to work after the honeymoon period that follows childbirth. Emotions do not diminish but practicality of employ and schedule returns and the rhythmicity of life begins to influence the habitudes of the young. Arranging time for play is the most important thing that can occur in this period as it is play that prepares the young mind for the confounds of the ‘real’ world. In the same way that young cats at the zoo or the wild wrestle, stalk, and bite to prepare for the hunt, our offspring require experience and exploration. Whether you believe that it is age-driven, chemically driven, a function of input capacity, or a mix of them all, you likely mediate their experiences (or at least you should) based on those beliefs. Why would you not?
Look at a seed about to be planted into the ground and see the plant that it will become. If you have never placed a bean into a styrofoam cup on your kitchen window, I advise it. Become accustomed to small seeds becoming full grown entities. Look at that small scratch on the hood of your car. Become accustomed to the development of that scratch into a rusted line and eventually a hole. Get used to the fact that working with your hands produces calluses, deformations of those once straight fingers, knurled scars that tell stories over time; get used to it all.
Grow!!!!!
Get used to the idea that every activity in which a child engages–and with whom they engage in it–grows to become a developed portion of who they are. Some of these skills and behaviors will thankfully become automatic. Consider the ability of the vestibular system to right itself through a triple failsafe system of canals of the inner ear, vision, and musculature. This is a skill that may be taken for granted in the adult but was practiced and refined over and again in so many ways that looked nothing like walking.
That is to say: One did not become a competent walker by walking.
Every engagement or failure to engage shapes the habits and decisions of the person that will be. In some ways it is like trying to operate a tropical fish tank without any tools or measures. Haphazardly managing pH levels. Hoping that the food is enough. Wondering if the water is too warm. Thinking that maybe we should have bought the book. Reconsidering the addition or subtraction of variables that caused some of the residents to quicken, slow, lean, or gulp float.
It is all practice. It all shapes and it all sets us on the path toward becoming.
How actively will we engage in this system?
It does happen without us. It will happen without us.
It does not guarantee Expertise or even competence.
