So, my knitting is improving. The quality of my stiches (is that even the right vocabulary? I could do with a knitting knowledge organiser to ensure I’m using my domain specific vocabulary appropriately) is demonstrably better. The reward that this offers, motivates me far better than any amount of external praise ever could.
After reading this article by Daniel Willingham, I’ve been thinking a lot about praise and the importance of it being sincere. When my knitting was objectively pretty rubbish, it was no use telling me that it was good. To do that would be to insult my intelligence. I had the product in front of me and, rightly, I had high expectations for myself. However, praising my progress (honestly) in relation to my starting point, really helped.
I truly believe seeing this progress and expressing it appropriately is the deepest craft of the expert teacher. It is for this reason that I am so passionate about ensuring that we get our ‘best’ teachers in front of our most vulnerable learners. And by ‘best’ I mean those that know their subjects so well that that they can chunk and sequence fluently, and then identify and explain to pupils the micro-steps that make up progress in that discipline expertly. My Aunty (click here for Part 1 of my knitting journey), skilled as she is herself, was able to see and point to the minutia of my progress even when I could not see the wood for the trees (insert more appropriate knitting related metaphor here).
Nonetheless, there is nothing like seeing the fruits of your own labour (or perhaps loops of your own labour is a more appropriate phrase in this context) for instilling real motivation. If my pots and seedlings have taught me anything it is the importance of failure in the learning process. However, my knitting has reminded me of the importance of seeing the progress that comes from a bit of perseverance.
We must make sure the work we set pupils work is ambitious and desirably difficulty but it is equally important that we build in meaningful opportunities for success. This is how we harness true intrinsic motivation. It is this that insulates learners and ensures they are able to persevere when the inevitable implementation dip comes.
Great teachers know how to do this. They are also able to judge how and when to step back and not interfere, watching carefully. As novices get more proficient, they need more independent practice. Teachers able to hold their own anxiety here and not succumb to ‘safetyism’ themselves.
Obviously, this isn’t excuse for the teacher to switch off. As I develop and start to be aware of what I don’t know, I still desperately need my guide to intervene at key moments and answer my increasingly technical questions (like why is it that my scarf is getting wider). I also need her to inspire me, to help me craft a long-term vision for what I want to make and how I might get there. This long-term vision is what will sustain me in the practice. I’m more proficient now but that also means any progress I’m going to make will be slower, so knowing where I want to get to is absolutely key to staying. I’ll keep you ‘in the loop’, so hold tight, for Part 3..
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