Effective Practice

I initially watched a TED-Ed video called “How to Practice Effectively . . . for Just About Anything” because it related to conversations I had been having with my daughter about her piano practice (or lack thereof). However, as I got into the video, its message struck a different chord. I was reminded of the structure of Daily 5 and how purposeful it is. Although the video refers to practicing a physical skill, I believe the same conclusion applies to practicing reading and writing. Here are some of the correlations I made.

1. The video defines practice as “the repetition of an action with the goal of improvement.” That’s what we tell our students as we set the purpose of each Daily 5: we do it to become better readers or writers.
    
2. The explanation of how information travels from our brains to our muscles reminded me of the muscle memory created within students as they practice building stamina with Daily 5 tasks.
    
3. The section on effective practice is similar to individual conferring with students. To be effective, the practice must be consistent and intensely focused, and target content or weaknesses that lie at the edge of ability. We confer with students consistently, especially when we use a calendar tool to schedule our daily appointments with them. Conferring sessions are intensely focused on a determined skill, allowing us to model and check in with a student’s progress toward that skill.
    
4. Conferring targets weaknesses that lie at the edge of ability. No longer are we teaching a group of students based on the needs of one. We can target our instruction to meet the needs of each and every student and the specific skills they need right then.

The structure of Daily 5 was built on research and knowing that students are able to maintain deep attention for long periods of time when several things are in place. To combat short attention spans and maximize learning, the video suggests that we start slowly with many repetitions. When setting up Daily 5 within a classroom, students are taught to build stamina in the same way. It also suggests frequent repetitions with short breaks. Think about the structure of Daily 5 within a classroom: a short mini-lesson, followed by an opportunity to practice, repeated in multiple sessions throughout the day, builds success for all.

If you watch the video, I think you’ll also make connections between effective practice and the practice of Daily 5 and CAFE, which set our classrooms up for high-quality instruction, opportunities for growth, and the foundation for a lifetime of success. 

 

News from The Daily CAFE

 

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