Summary

The web content discusses the importance of deliberate practice in becoming an expert teacher, emphasizing feedback, effort, and continuous learning.

Abstract

The article titled "Anyone can become Master Shifu" emphasizes that to progress from a competent to an expert teacher, one must engage in deliberate practice. This involves moving beyond mere repetition of lessons and actively seeking feedback through self-assessment, student responses, and peer reviews. The article illustrates this through the example of Mr. James, a middle school math teacher who could improve his teaching by revising lesson plans based on student performance. Deliberate practice is described as a focused effort to develop specific teaching skills beyond one's current abilities, leading to the automation of these skills for faster and more accurate execution. The article outlines strategies for teachers to engage in deliberate practice, including setting clear goals, maintaining motivation, and embracing continuous learning to adapt teaching methodologies effectively.

Opinions

The article suggests that common practice can lead to an early improvement plateau, and only deliberate practice can help overcome this to achieve expertise.
It is conveyed that practice alone does not guarantee perfection; practice must be accompanied by feedback to be effective.
The article posits that self-reflection and self-assessment are crucial for teachers to identify areas of improvement in their lesson plans.
Formative assessments are highlighted as a valuable tool for collecting feedback on student learning and understanding what is working in teaching.
Peer and senior teacher feedback is considered beneficial for focused improvement in specific areas of teaching.
Goal setting and chunking specific practices are recommended for steady skill development.
The article advocates for maintaining motivation and adopting a growth mindset to persist with the challenging nature of deliberate practice.
It emphasizes the importance of continuous learning through professional development and experimentation with new instructional methodologies.

Anyone can become Master Shifu

The role of deliberate practice in becoming an expert teacher

Mr. James, a middle school math teacher, used the same fractions lesson he developed last year despite having the awareness of certain points of student confusion. He wondered, why did the new students not perform well on a recent test.

Although common practice (i.e., simply participating in an activity repeated over and over) leads to early improvement, the gains soon hit a plateau. Moving past this performance plateau takes ‘a high degree of focused effort to develop specific skills and concepts beyond one’s current abilities’ [1] and that effort is called deliberate practice [2]. Engaging in deliberate practice helps in automatizing the skills such that they become faster and more accurate to perform. This is the key ingredient of becoming an ‘expert’. So, what could have Mr. James done differently to become an expert teacher?

Image 2. (Left) Effects of common practice (Right) Attaining expertise due to deliberate practice [1]

Mr. James could have actively sought student responses where they are excelling or confused. With that assessment, he could have revised the lesson plan, cleared student doubts and made notes for the year ahead. For the next year, he would continue with this improvement process.

As Master Shifu says, “If you don’t train, you will never reach the next level.” Anyone can be an expert by indulging in deliberate practice. Some of the following ways can help teachers get trained in their endeavour to reach the next level:

1. Feedback

“Practice makes ____. Perfect. Nope. Practice makes permanent. Practice with feedback makes perfect.” [1]

a. Self — Just like Mr. James, you can mark the points of success and confusion in your lesson plans through simple annotations, make an engagement graph or simply video record yourself. Before preparing for the next day, refer to your notes, analyze and revise the plans.

Image 3. (Left) Annotations on lesson outline (Right) Engagement graph for the lesson

b. Students — Formative assessments are an excellent way to collect feedback on student learning. Student interviews and debrief sessions also yield information on what is working in your teaching.

c. Peers/ seniors — Have your teacher peers and instructional coaches observe you and give feedback. Let them know if you want them to specifically observe some part of your lesson/ unit for focused feedback. The better questions you ask, the better answers you get.

2. Effort

a. Goal setting — Identify the skills you want to improve upon through self-reflection or with the help of a coach. Coaches help in choosing the right tasks by targeting areas of improvement. The task should neither be too easy nor too difficult. Always remember, less is more. Chunk the specific practices you want to improve upon and steadily work on them.

Image 4. High challenge in high support settings lead to transformation

b. Motivation — Deliberate practice is difficult and requires a great deal of effort. It can be hard to engage in. Encouraging a growth mindset [3] can help one in appreciating the process over outcomes.

c. Continuous learning — Read about instructional methodologies that work (or that do not work), reach out to peer teachers/ instructional coaches for help, enroll in professional development programs or try new methods you think that will work for your learners.

This shift is not overnight, but definitely worth all the effort. Master Oogway to Master Shifu- “There are no accidents.” There are only efforts. Are you ready to become an expert teacher?

References:

[1] The ABCs of How We Learn

[2] The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance

[3] Mindsets That Promote Resilience: When Students Believe That Personal Characteristics Can Be Developed