Tech changes quickly. Neural pathways, however, need a bit more time to develop. In a world where new apps, technology platforms, social media hubs, and websites appear seemingly overnight, the tacit assumption starts to sneak into the brains of students – I can learn at the speed with which I create a meme, search for a research link through Google, or order my dinner on Grub Hub – right?
It's logical that they should make this assumption, given the world that swirls around them. However, it's incorrect – and it often hampers the motivation to put in effort over time. In the first few weeks of a semester, most students haven't gotten to where they know their new class meeting schedule solidly, nevermind the new content being delivered in those courses.
Perspective shift questions, ones that ask students to consider previous learning processes and paths, can help ignite understanding of just what it takes to learn something in a deep and lasting fashion. Coaches, when you get the sense that a student is experiencing struggle because they are not giving themselves the time and chance to learn, consider questions that ask students to look back at their own experience:
- Think for a moment: What do you know or do extremely well?
- When did you begin learning this?
- Why did you want to learn it?
- How did it feel when you first started learning this?
- How many hours do you think you've put in practicing this skill or working with this content?
- What does this experience tell you about what learning demands?
Let students know there is no judgment as to what they've deeply learned – it could be a challenging video game, a complicated recipe, an ethnic dance, anything that they've automated in their minds over time with effort. Anything that tells them the story of learning can help them write a new chapter with the learning that is set in front of them.
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