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| Sample Spreadsheet. Analysis deleted to protect privacy. |
"It's 2 am. Please go to bed," my wife chided me.
"Soon, let me finish this analysis first," I replied.
"You have doing that since 10.30 pm just now. You can do it tomorrow," she
"Five more minutes, please?" I requested as I went back to my spreadsheet.
My wife is often puzzled by the amount of analysis I do for my students. She often asked me if other tuition centres are doing the same thing. I am not very sure about other tuition centres, but I am very sure about what I want for my own students. To become experts (not only improve), they must have deliberate practice.
What is deliberate practice?
From Wikipedia:
"People believe that because expert performance is qualitatively different from normal performance the expert performer must be endowed with characteristics qualitatively different from those of normal adults. [...] We agree that expert performance is qualitatively different from normal performance and even that expert performers have characteristics and abilities that are qualitatively different from or at least outside the range of those of normal adults. However, we deny that these differences are immutable, that is, due to innate talent. Only a few exceptions, most notably height, are genetically prescribed. Instead, we argue that the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain."
My definition:
1. Break the practice down into different levels of difficulties and various skills.
2. Always practice at one level higher than current ability.
3. Immediate coaching feedback.
4. Practice everyday.
Why is it important?
Let me give you a very simple example.
Student A already mastered the addition "1 + 1 = 2". The teacher still gives 10 worksheets to Student A to practice on "1 + 1 = 2". Is this going to increase the level of expertise for this particular addition?
No, it will only bore Student A and Student A will slowly become unmotivated.
You will turn off the heat once the water is boiling. Any additional heat given will only be wasted. The water cannot be more boiled once it is boiling.
In the same way, if a student has already mastered the skill, he should move on to other skills or go on to the next level for the same skill.
Deliberate practice is the secret to improve the grades of a student. However, it does more than that. It motivates the student and gives the student a sense of accomplishment/satisfaction.
The 'How' in the practice is very important
If the child is practicing Math problem sums, there should be an escalation of difficulty.
Level 1: Simple problem sums from school workbook.
Level 2: Problem sums from past year papers from top 10 schools.
Level 3: Challenging problem sums from some assessment books.
Now, this is a very simple strategy to escalate the difficulty. For me, I further break the questions down into different skills/methods/topics and in each of these, I further break them down into different difficulties.
This is the planning. Next, you need to coach the child as well. Informative and positive feedback need to be given to the child immediately. This will motivate and guide the child in the correct direction.
Record the progress
The progress of the child should be recorded so that the same skill will not be deliberately practiced again. For me, I keep a spreadsheet and a journal.
It is good to read the spreadsheet and journal weekly and discuss the progress with the child.
As with my story in the beginning of this blog post, conducting deliberate practice is extremely tiring. However, I believe very strongly that this is the method to increase the level of expertise in each child because this is how I level up myself too.
(Please don't get me wrong. Past topics needs to be revisited regularly to reinforce the learning, but it should not be taught and drilled again. Back to the '1 + 1 = 2' example, this question can be slotted into a practice worksheet as a single question to test for reinforcement, but a single worksheet should not be crafted entirely on this skill.)
Coaching a kid in his/her work is more effective but it is a lot harder because a lot of analysis/planning need to be done. It is also a longer term process with a longer term goal.
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