As parents, teachers, and mentors we have a strong influence on children. In their pre-adolescent years, parents are the single most significant influence on the lives of their children. Beyond that, there are competing influences of teachers and friends. Once adolescence kicks in, we all lose out to peer influence. It is arguable about whether parents can retain or regain that ground but we know what we know based on research, experience, and fairly legitimate wisdom.
The legend lives on
All that being said to set the stage for how we, as adults, can shipwreck the development of Expertise.
While the development of Expert level skills must begin at interest, the identification of that interest is a genuine challenge. I have used the example of my daughter and her knack for spotting airplanes. We were looking at pictures with her and one of those was an airplane. Very soon afterwards, we were driving south of the city and she saw an airplane departing from the airport. It was low enough to be seen out of the side windows of the car in the distance. She yelled, “Airplane! There’s an airplane!” and we were delighted that she made that connection from picture to real life and that she remember the name. All very commonplace in the life of a young child, right?
Let us take a simplistic approach to make a point. What if we thought that her recognition of that airplane was based on an inner love of airplanes? What if we then decided to take a turn off the highway and watch airplanes take-off and land for a few hours that day? What if we purchased toy airplanes, constructed paper airplanes, and rented movie after movie about airplanes?
The likely outcome: Our daughter would think that we had a deep love and value of airplanes. She would probably like airplanes because we like airplanes so much. We spent all that time together doing things and talking about airplanes. She might even start initiating activities that revolved around airplanes which would have an entirely new influence.
Let us be extreme.
Fáilte Romhat!
Cut to 20 years later and she is piloting a jumbo jet across the wide Atlantic. She deplanes. She sits in Baile Átha Cliath airport eating her lunch and complaining that she does not really like flying but it is a job and pays well with decent benefits. She is, like many others, a competent pilot. Why not an Expert? She was never really interested.
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.
“Interested, valued, encouraged, supported, trained.” In the case of “prodigies,” this usually ends with “bored. quits.” Or leveled out–regressing to the mean. #Expertise
After a while, you realize that the Prodigy isn't that good.
It seems that when someone wants to argue Expertise, they bring the prodigy to the table. What of the prodigy? They argue. The Prodigy did not practice for all these hours. The Prodigy did not receive mentoring. The Prodigy did not…Let me stop you there.
Everyone remembers the prodigy–the wee man on his enormous piano bench. Johnny Carson offers to push the pedals while they “drive.” The audience laughs. “He is good,” we think to ourselves or say below a whisper to those also watching late at night with you. We gather our plates, head to the kitchen, and likely forget the name. That’s fine. It is unlikely that you will hear that name again anyway.
But, let me assure you that the prodigy receives everything they need at the time to excel.
Let us not pretend that prodigy should be revered
What is the appeal of the prodigy? Is it a sign? Some kind of mental release? Is it the permission that we need–telling us to stop trying so hard? Understand that there are elements in place that allow excellence early on and that those same elements, without the supporting components, are the ones that cause total, beautiful, destruction later in life. Enjoy the flash in the pan; the 15 minutes; the onlookers, hand-shakers, and picture-takers. They love you. For the rest of your life. Today.
The amount of commitment that is necessary to sustain and to back-build the missing foundation…I cannot begin to explain it…is a challenge to great for most and that is why you will rarely hear that name again.
Gumption. Drive.
Missing.
or, perhaps, once that level of fame was found it was enough
–or too much.
You see, working at your maximum potential–if you could–is necessary for the development of real Expertise but it is not sufficient. You will not know what if it was until you get there. It reminds me of a film from a number of years back, or maybe it was a television series. The lead actor was a spy who was recruited by a top-secret group whose Batcave-like lair was behind a wall at a dead-end street. In order to get past the wall, you had to drive directly into it moving at least 80 miles per hour. It was a matter of faith. Of belief. If I believe it, I might get it. If I doubt, I definitely will not.
Welcome to it. Say farewell to the Prodigious Son.
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.
