I came across an article in Fortune magazine titled 'Why talent is overrated' recently. In the article, the author proposed that inborn talent does not explain high achievement across many fields, examples include elite sportsmen like Tiger Woods, renowned musicians like Yo-Yo Ma, to legends of industries like Jack Welch. In attempting to find a common cause for such exceptional levels of performance, researchers converged on an answer which they termed deliberate practice. Some elements described in deliberate practice seem very complementary to what we attempt to do in assessment for learning, and they are applicable in the context of our classrooms.
1) Deliberate practice is designed specifically to improve performance.
Unlike just plain hard work, deliberate practice requires a highly defined area of performance which needs improvement. When that specific skill is isolated, it needs to be worked on intently. I think sometimes in class, it is not so much that pupils refuse to do their work, but it is that our instructions to them are not specific enough to drive certain behaviours and outcomes.
2) Deliberate practice can be repeated a lot.
Two points differentiate this from the conventional notion of repeated practice. The first is that the defined task to perform is just slightly beyond the pupil's current abilities. And the second is the high amount of repetitions. This is especially evident in the fields of sport and music.
3) Feedback on results is continuously available.
Feedback is crucial as results require interpretation. This allows our pupils to understand our perception of their performance and what course of action they need to follow up with.
4) Before the work.
Mediocre performers state general goals that focuses on achieving desirable outcomes. The best performers state goals about the process of reaching those outcomes.
There are other points in the article but I think these are the high order bits.
Going to start by thinking about how to be more specific in my expectations of pupils in next year's Art lessons.
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2 comments:
specific instructions, challenging tasks, repeat performances, constant feedback and clear goals on process. These sound like a formula for successful performance with an expert guide. Thus, the necessary condition is: competent teacher, while the for practices are sufficient conditions.
I've been doing 1,2 & 3 since forever under the training of my current piano teacher. It requires alot from the teacher in my opinion. They have to be extremely sensitive to every students' needs, strengths and weaknesses. There are so many of us, so little of you, and the worst part is the students in the same class weren't always on par with each other.
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