Yes, this exactly what Coyle describes in his book, The Talent Code, though he refers to it as "deep" practice. What's interesting and so logical is that practice will only be fruitful if the person who is doing the practicing is highly motivated to become better. That's apparently why a child's level of commitment to how long they plan to play a musical instrument/ before /they had taken their first lesson predicted so well how gifted they would eventually become. Their so-called practice is clearly far more deliberate and intentional. BTW, Coyle has a fascinating section in this book about the coaching style of John Wooden, the famous basketball coach. He coached for UCLA for 27 years, winning 10 titles, seven in a row and setting a record of 88 straight wins, with a record of 259-12 for his final season. What they found was a man who was very low-key coach, not at all prone to giving "inspirational speeches" but during every practice moving around constantly in order to give continual and precise feedback throughout to each and every player. Bill Walton stated that practices with Wooden were always very intense (deliberate?) as players were constantly given advice by Wooden on how to best modify their play. I would recommend the book if only for that one section as it clarifies what makes for great coaching and teaching--lots and lots of clear and individualized feedback. Interestingly, Wooden himself liked to think of himself more as a teacher than a coach. I have provided his website with reference to his books which I suspect all teachers could benefit from reading.
http://www.coachwooden.com/ Joan Joan Warmbold Boggs Professor of Psychology Oakton Community College jwarm...@oakton.edu Claudia Stanny wrote: > > > > Allen writes: > > I suspect it is a mistake to treat all exceptional achievement in the > same way, e.g., athletic achievement and musical talent. For instance, > the soccer player David Beckham undoubtedly acquired his special talent > of extraordinary accuracy in long passes by hard work, i.e., repeated > practice. But I don't believe a budding composer can advance his or her > talents very much by repeatedly copying the same (or different) pieces > of music over and over again. > > > There is practice and there is deliberate practice (see the work of > Ericsson, who is the source for the 10,000 hour estimate). Mere > repetition of exisitng moves and skills (Allen's example of copying an > existing piece over and over as "practice" in composition would fall > into this category) does not move an individual to the next level of > expertise, even if they do this work for 10,000 hours. Ericsson and > his colleagues argue that the extended practice must be deliberate > practice, in which the person works on progressively more challenging > tasks and takes advantage of the feedback from a skilled mentor or > coach to direct attention and effort toward areas that need > improvement. Ericsson had an article in the NYTimes magazine (March > 2007) in which he discussed the emergence of world-class tennis > players from tennis camps in Russia with dreadful facilities but > excellent coaching and players who deovoted massive time in deliberate > practice. > > An excellent description of deliberate practice (including a > discussion of the role of other factors such as genetics) is presented > in a Psychological Review article: > > Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Romer, C. (1993). The role > of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. > /Psychological Review, 100,/ 363-406. > > Ericsson is a prolific publisher. A quick PsycINFO search will locate > many recent articles, in which he applies this notion of deliberate > practice to attaining exceptional performance in music, medical work, > sport (in general and for specific activities), and even Scrabble play. > > I've been thinking a lot lately about what might constitute delibrate > practice for teaching in higher education. Any thoughts? > > > Claudia Stanny > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: jwarm...@oakton.edu > <mailto:jwarm...@oakton.edu>. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=49240.d374d0c18780e492c3d2e63f91752d0d&n=T&l=tips&o=7711 > > <http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=49240.d374d0c18780e492c3d2e63f91752d0d&n=T&l=tips&o=7711> > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-7711-49240.d374d0c18780e492c3d2e63f91752...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > <mailto:leave-7711-49240.d374d0c18780e492c3d2e63f91752...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=7724 or send a blank email to leave-7724-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
