First, who is an Expert?
Let’s take help from Daniel Kannamen, known for his works in behavioral economics, for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
In his wildly popular book, Thinking Fast and Slow (2011), he proposes two modes of thought or types of thinking. System 1 and System 2.
System 1 is the subconscious, fast, and automatic system.
System 2 is the conscious, slow, and effortful system.
When you watch a guitarist playing amazing solos flawlessly and effortlessly, and it feels like magic. That’s System 1.
Similarly, when you watch Messi dribble the ball smoothly through the opponent’s defenders and score a perfect goal, that’s System 1 at work.
In contrast, when you are at a new city and you struggle to figure out which is East and which is West. You are thinking consciously with full concentration trying to figure out the direction.
That’s System 2 at work.
So, in simple terms:
an expert is someone who is able to use System 1 thinking in a particular domain or field.
With that ability, an expert can engage in quick/automatic “pattern recognition” and form “intuition” based on that recognition. To solve problems. To think critically. To improvise. To make decisions.
So the question is: how to move teachers from System 2 to System 1 thinking?
How to become an Expert teacher?
Alright, let’s dive in deep about experts in this video. Don’t worry, I’ll summarize the main ideas for you. But I do insist you watch this video when you are free.
The major points in the video:
Remember, expertise is about pattern recognition and intuition. These come from the incredible amount of highly structured information inter-connected and stored in one’s long term memory. Thus, to build that memory requires four things:
1. VALID ENVIRONMENT
It means a regular and predictable environment where a teacher can work. Something that does not change that much. The classroom. The set up. The lessons. The same bunch of students. Technology. Materials. Goals. Same context. Or at least similar context.
In a school, these are manageable but some of the factors are irregular. Like, each student comes with a different level of prior knowledge, skills, attitude, beliefs, experiences, etc. However, know that, when it comes to learning, students are more similar than different.
You will literally need thousands of regular predictable experiences before you can get better. So keep practicing in this regular classroom environment and develop your pattern recognition. Then when you are confident to try something different, change the environment a little.
Then change the way you start the class. Change the way you give instructions. Use different technology.
2. MANY REPEATED ATTEMPTS
Do you practice before you go to the class? Do you practice your instructions? Do you go through your lesson plan or slide decks before the class? How many times do you do that?
In reality, many teachers do not practice. What they do is they practice in front of the students - live. Most teachers spend their time practicing instead of performing. I am not blaming any teachers for this. There are so many challenges.
Yet, one can always find some time to sharpen sub-skills, like “asking follow-up questions to the students” or “giving specific examples with specific details” or designing clean effective slides.
3. TIMELY FEEDBACK
Learning takes time. Learning to teach also takes time. It is messy and unpredictable. It is frustrating sometimes. So a teacher may or may not know if he/she is getting better at teaching.
Similarly, most teachers do not get immediate feedback on their classroom teaching. Most of the class observations are done by the admins, for performance evaluation not for performance enhancement.
Sometimes student feedback can be helpful and valid, but most of the times they tend to give “feeling” based feedback. Which might or might not be that helpful.
One way to get proper feedback about one’s teaching is to request another colleague/teacher to observe the class, lesson plan, and content. And, to ask for specific feedback.
Start with one sub-skill. You can ask your colleague to observe how you move around the class, how fast/slow you tell the instructions, how you allow students enough time to think, etc.
My rule of thumb is: zero feedback is better than vague feedback.
So, sit together with your colleague (or an instructional coach) and plan for it - specific observation and specific feedback.
4. DELIBERATE PRACTICE
Here’s a classic mistake a lot of teachers make. They get too comfortable when they reach a certain level of expertise. They hit a certain plateau and they stop.
May be you have been teaching for 10 years but that does not necessarily mean that you are improving every year.
So when you start to feel comfortable, it is time to practice at the edge of your ability.
Just like in the gym. The rule is: repetition till failure. When you get comfortable doing 20 pushups, go for 22. Then go for 25. Till your arms burn and you fall flat on the floor. Now your next goal is 30 pushups.
Deliberate practice means choosing a skill or a sub-skill, making your practice more challenging and reflecting up the experience.
If you take the roll call in 90 seconds, trying doing it in 80 seconds. If you were using powerpoint slides, try to ditch them. If your examples and explanations are long winding, try to cut the vagueness out of them. Try whole class feedback instead of individual homework checking.
What else can you do?
Remember, you are trying to develop your System 1 thinking mode. But for that you need to make your System 2 thinking more stable and automatic. You need to be able to recognize patterns, and make quick decisions. For me, that is developing your “teaching intuition”.
Here is my action plan for you:
Volunteer to be an observer in a colleague’s class. May be you will have to request your admins for this to happen. But do it.
Try to see both visible and invisible layers of interaction happening in the class.
Reflect and share your observation notes. Take feedback with an open mind.
Then, swap the roles. Invite your colleague to observe your class. Repeat the process.
In the meantime, study more about your subject. Being an expert teacher means being able to intertwine domain knowledge with pedagogy. So, develop deeper understanding of your domain. And your students. Also, explore on how learning happens. How teaching happens. Before you go inter-disciplinary or multi-disciplinary, first go mono-disciplinary.
Slowly, develop your “teaching intuition”.
On a side note: Watch the 2008 animated movie Kung Fu Panda. If you have already, watch it again. Not just for fun but for interesting insights, that you will find in the interactions between old Master Oogway and new master Shifu. And, further when Shifu takes on the responsibility to train Po, the bumbling panda, a wanna-be kung-fu warrior. You’ll see clear distinctions between how an expert master (Oogway) thinks and a new teacher (Shifu) thinks.