From knowledge to skills (nominated for the most abusive review). Doug Lemov - From Knowledge to Skills

Doug Lemov Erica Woolway Katie Yezzi

From knowledge to skills

Universal rules for effective training of any skills

Foreword

Shortly before the trip, I read in Petty Stakes by Peter Sims how Rock was selecting material for comic numbers. Once, preparing for a big tour, Chris chose a small club in New Brunswick and performed there day after day almost fifty times; in addition, he did not part with a notebook, where he constantly entered new jokes and immediately tested them on the audience. Sims describes this process as follows: “... The artist carefully observes the audience, noting when the audience nods in approval, reacts with gestures or long pauses. In other words, he tries to capture any reaction from the audience that could suggest the right direction for finding new ideas. Such performances last about forty-five minutes and are usually a sad sight: most of the replicas do not delight the public.

However, over time, Chris got to the bottom of success and learned to select the right numbers. The artist's manners became more natural, the jokes more poignant, and the transitions from reprise to reprise more dynamic. If you ever laughed at his lines (like this one: “The area I grew up in was not very good, there was always a guy who shot faster than you”), then thank the state of New Jersey and the city of New Brunswick for it.

By the time Rock got a foothold on the HBO channel and began performing on the David Letterman show, he had long ago not only mastered the secrets of mastery, but also brought it to perfection. The result is there: Chris Rock is such a jerk- considers the viewer, sincerely believing that everything is given to the artist without effort and everything turns out by itself.

A couple of months after that trip, I had to speak, and I found myself giving a speech quite automatically, as, in fact, I had done many times before. For a moment, I felt sick at the thought: I'm no different from that unfortunate tour guide. Fortunately, I had the prudence not to let out my guess and thereby avoid much embarrassment.

We always face the same choice: be a boring tour guide or Chris Rock; settle for life on autopilot or move forward and challenge yourself to achieve more. Do we want to wallow in a quagmire or will we constantly train? This book is intended to be a guide for all who choose the latter.

You will find many discoveries and thought-provoking wonderful ideas. One of them is that through training, you most likely will not achieve perfection, but you will definitely achieve stable result.

For example, you have used shampoo for many years, but your hair does not got better. You can live to the day you die without learning more effective ways to take care of your hair. Regular performance of any actions does not mean at all that we improve our skills. You need to practice for real, and not just repeat what has already been memorized. Remember the words of Michael Jordan: "You can learn to shoot the ball for eight hours a day, but if you do it wrong, you will achieve only one thing - you will perfect the wrong throws." Training gives stable results.

As children, we are constantly learning something: throw the ball into the basket, play the piano, speak Spanish. Perhaps everything was not easy for us - and what runner does not dream of a tailwind? But if the sessions were carefully planned, they brought wonderful results: we made progress. From week to week, our performance was getting better.

Why did training leave our lives? After all, the need for it has not disappeared? Office workers need constant practice just as much as athletes or musicians. Each of us would do well to perfect certain skills, and the list of them is huge. I will name just a few: the ability to conduct a meeting without delay; the ability to listen (really) to your other half; the ability to endure intense traffic without hating others and swearing at them.

Published in Russian for the first time
Published with permission from John Wiley & Sons and Alexander Korzhenevsky's agency

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use, without the written permission of the copyright owner.
Legal support of the publishing house is provided by the law firm "VegasLex"

Three reasons to read this book
– You will understand how to inspire yourself and others to new achievements
– You will learn the universal rules for training any skill
– You will be able to achieve excellence in almost all areas of life

This book is well complemented by:
Strength of will
Kelly McGonigal

This year I…
M. J. Ryan

whole life
Les Hewitt, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen

To our children. May they live in a world of possibilities

Foreword

In the summer of 2011, my wife and my parents went on a tour of Scotland to a whiskey distillery. It seemed that our guide was about to die of boredom. At each stop, she recited a memorized text and then asked, “Any questions?” - of course, they were not, because no one listened to her. What I remember most about the whole trip - apart from the desire to start tasting as soon as possible - was that I was constantly haunted by the thought of artist Chris Rock.
Shortly before the trip, I read in Petty Stakes by Peter Sims how Rock was selecting material for comic numbers. Once, preparing for a big tour, Chris chose a small club in New Brunswick and performed there day after day almost fifty times; in addition, he did not part with a notebook, where he constantly entered new jokes and immediately tested them on the audience. Sims describes this process as follows: “... The artist carefully observes the audience, noting when the audience nods in approval, reacts with gestures or long pauses. In other words, he tries to capture any reaction from the audience that could suggest the right direction for finding new ideas. Such performances last about forty-five minutes and are usually a sad sight: most of the replicas do not delight the public.
However, over time, Chris got to the bottom of success and learned to select the right numbers. The artist's manners have become more natural, the jokes have become sharper, and the transitions from reprise to reprise have become more dynamic. If you ever laughed at his lines (like this one: “The area I grew up in was not very good, there was always a guy who shot faster than you”), then thank the state of New Jersey and the city of New Brunswick for it.
By the time Rock got a foothold on HBO and began performing on The David Letterman Show, he had long ago not only mastered the secrets of skill, but also brought it to perfection. The result is there: Chris Rock is such a jerk- the viewer thinks, sincerely believing that everything is given to the artist without effort and everything turns out by itself.
A couple of months after that trip, I had to speak, and I found myself giving a speech quite automatically, as, in fact, I had done many times before. For a moment, I felt sick at the thought: I'm no different from that unfortunate tour guide. Fortunately, I had the prudence not to let out my guess and thereby avoid much embarrassment.
We always face the same choice: be a boring tour guide or Chris Rock; settle for life on autopilot or move forward and challenge yourself to achieve more. Do we want to wallow in a quagmire or will we constantly train? This book is intended to be a guide for all who choose the latter.
You will find many discoveries and thought-provoking wonderful ideas. One of them is that through training, you most likely will not achieve perfection, but you will definitely achieve stable result. For example, you have used shampoo for many years, but your hair does not got better. You can live to the day you die without learning more effective ways to take care of your hair. Regular performance of any actions does not mean at all that we improve our skills. You need to practice for real, and not just repeat what has already been memorized. Remember the words of Michael Jordan: "You can spend eight hours a day learning to shoot the ball into the basket, but if you do it wrong, you will achieve only one thing - you will perfect the wrong throws." Training gives stable results.
As children, we are constantly learning something: throw the ball into the basket, play the piano, speak Spanish. Perhaps everything was not easy for us - and what runner does not dream of a tailwind? But if the sessions were carefully planned, they brought wonderful results: we made progress. From week to week, our performance was getting better.
Why did training leave our lives? After all, the need for it has not disappeared? Office workers need constant practice just as much as athletes or musicians. Each of us would do well to perfect certain skills, and the list of them is huge. I will name just a few: the ability to conduct a meeting without delay; the ability to listen (really) to your other half; the ability to endure intense traffic without hating others and swearing at them.
Pride, fear and complacency are the main enemies of learning. After all, any training is based on humility. Turning to those who can teach us something, we are forced to admit that we do not know much. And of course, the desire to practice is not a sign of weakness at all. After all, we know many champions who have been elevated to the pinnacle of success by relentless training: Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, Roger Federer, Mia Hamm, Tiger Woods. Education does not at all indicate that i'm not going anywhere. It means: i can get better.
No doubt, every day we something practice - training takes place around the clock. All our lives we learn to understand our children and find a common language with colleagues. But something else is important to us - are we marking time or are we gaining experience and developing?
Since you have this book in your hands, you are ready to learn. So you have made the right choice.
Time to practice the art of getting better.

Dan Heath, Senior Fellow, Center for Social Enterprise Development at Duke University

Prologue. Why hands-on training? Why now?

The book is addressed to a wide range of readers. However, we, its three authors, consider ourselves teachers first and foremost. Initially, we planned to write a book about teachers and for teachers, but as the work progressed, we realized that managers, coaches, mentors, and leaders of large organizations can become our readers - moreover, they all have children, which means Everyone had to teach someone one way or another. In other words, the audience was clearly expanding. And yet, first of all, we remained teachers, so the world in the book is presented through the eyes of a teacher.
We hope you will forgive us our addiction to general discussions about pedagogy, which we look at with hope, albeit timid. We are optimistic because we still believe that this is the noblest profession in the world. And no matter what you teach - to be patient when examining an elderly patient; solve quadratic equations; score balls; holding meetings, reading 19th-century novels—the job of a teacher seems to us to be one of the greatest in the world. That is why we are full of optimism. Today, due to political confusion and budget deficits, teachers have been cornered. But in the end, temporary difficulties will pass, and there will be fruits of creative research that will change our profession, enrich it with new knowledge and provide tools that we did not know before. This will happen not only through the new teacher training system, but also through the use of analytical tools to identify and compile the best pedagogical achievements - "bright spots", as the Heath brothers would say. By the way, it was their work that inspired not only us, but also many other teachers.
At the same time, we are modest, because, trying to develop a new formula for teaching, we ourselves made many mistakes - it happened in public - and very annoying ones. We are modest, because, in our opinion, modesty - that is, the constant awareness that you can and should work better - is the basis of any work in the modern world. Our modesty extends so far that we hardly dared to start writing this book. But nevertheless, we wrote it and we hope: it will be useful both for teachers and representatives of other professions.
In this book, we, Doug, Erica, and Katie, share our experiences in an extremely important sector of the economy - the public education system. We share what we have learned by fighting for every talented person and participating in solving the most difficult social problem - the gap in the level of academic achievement between children from wealthy strata of society and children from needy families. In addition, the book presents observations on the creative path and professional development of many talented people from a wide variety of fields. Therefore, we are convinced that the material we have collected, containing many examples from teaching practice and our personal experience in school, will be of interest not only to specialists in the education system, but also from other areas of activity, and to all those who wish to improve their professional skills. Moreover, we ourselves have long been applying the knowledge acquired in a narrow professional field in our personal lives, so we believe that the book will benefit many readers. After all, any parent repeatedly faces the same problems, trying not only to raise children as good people, caring and confidently going through life, but also to make them real professionals - mathematicians, musicians, football players. By the way, many problems also arise when trying to improve ourselves, when we learn to ski, hammer nails, knit, manage people, and even, judging by our latest experience, write books. The first step to take is to learn the art of learning.
In all these situations, you will need an assistant, rather modest and inconspicuous, but able to turn straw into gold. We are talking about training whose role is underestimated by many. The training itself is considered mundane and routine; the idea of training is often treated with disdain and even distrust: it's too banal to be interesting. However, such a thing as constant practice deserves a more thoughtful attitude - deep study and correct execution.
Each of the three of us has been studying the problem of teacher professional development for many years. Doug worked as a teacher, was the director of the school; thoroughly studied the experience of the best teachers and summarized it in the extremely successful and useful book "Teach Like a Champion" (Teach Like a Champion) . Erica was a teacher, chairman of the certification committee, head of educational work; as a young school leader, she mastered Doug's method in an effort to find a common language with novice teachers. Katie has fifteen years of teaching experience under her belt: she has worked as a teacher, principal and charter school consultant; She was introduced to Doug's system before the release of Teach Like a Champion, and his methodology was a revelation to her, as it provided a real opportunity to pass on the latest teaching methods and techniques. In the fall of 2008, Erica and Katie joined an organization led by Doug, whose goal is not only to educate thousands of top school teachers and principals, but to change the lives of teachers and students in public, private and charter schools across the country with new approaches. The most striking thing is how many instructors, parents, educators, doctors, high school teachers have found other uses for Doug's methods. Therefore, when we fully realized the value of constant practice, we turned to those areas of activity in which, unlike teaching, the method of training is used as the main one.
On the recommendation of our colleague Paul Bambric-Santoyo, we read Daniel Coyle's The Talent Code, a book about a unique system for identifying and cultivating talent, and learned some very useful lessons from it. Among them, not the last was the understanding of the leading role of training in the development of abilities. To understand how to apply and teach the methods of the best teachers, we took a close look at the work of Malcolm Gladwell, Atul Gawande, Carol Dweck, and Daniel Willingham. Their arguments completely convinced us, moreover, we became simply obsessed with different ideas of training, but we lacked specific instructions. Therefore, after analyzing our own practical experience and following our intuition, we selected the most effective of them. All our conversations revolved around one topic that raised many questions. What is the secret to a successful workout? What is the difference between constant practice and ordinary activity or repetition of what has been learned by heart? What principles should underlie exercises designed to improve skills? Thus were formulated forty two rules designed to teach the reader how to use the most effective teaching methods, and as a result, the book that you hold in your hands saw the light of day.
In the first chapter, we ask you to rethink stereotypes about the learning process. This is where we begin to present a set of rules, since it is impossible to build a new system without abandoning biased opinion. In the following chapters, two, three, and four, we provide practical instructions for organizing learning, using examples, and providing feedback. Chapters 5 and 6 show you how to build teams of people who are willing to constantly practice and make the best use of the power of training. At the heart of success - personal, corporate, public and even state - lies primarily the struggle for talent. More precisely, the struggle to attract capable people and to develop them. This principle has always worked, but the struggle for talent has never been as acute as today - today, when competition has outgrown the boundaries of individual markets and turned into an international one, when any organization is in dire need of gifted employees, when narrow specialization sets higher standards for personal efficiency. The rules in this book will help you develop your own abilities, which are so necessary in today's world of competing ideas and values, and at the same time teach you the art of learning.

Introduction

Everyone has the desire to win, but few have the will to prepare for victory.
Bobby Knight

An amazing thing: the more I train, the more lucky I am.
Arnold Palmer

The decisive role of practical training

John Wooden is a legendary figure. For twenty-seven years, he was the permanent coach of the basketball team at the University of California. ESPN named him the best coach of the 20th century, and Sporting News named him the greatest coach of all time. Wooden took his team to the level of national championships, and in twelve years she became the champion ten times. He won eighty-eight games in a row and achieved the highest scoring percentage (0.813 win percentage) in NCA basketball history. The constant victories of the team and its highest reputation were partly due to the special attitude of the coach towards the players, who paid no less attention to the development of the character of the athletes than to their professional skills. In retirement, John Wooden began to write books about his vision of life in basketball, and it is not surprising that the influence of his ideas extended far beyond the basketball court. Books written by Wooden and books about him help people to comprehend not only the secrets of the game of basketball, but also reveal to them something more in education, business and life itself.
Even those who are not at all interested in sports look to Wooden's methods for the magical power that turns effort into triumph. Wooden has many followers, but few have been able to replicate his success. Why? We - the authors of this book, constantly helping promising teachers become better teachers - have found the right answer. As a rule, people miss one crucial component of the Wooden system, which, perhaps, lies the secret of success. This is a good old training, well organized, planned and correctly carried out.
If you ask Wooden what led his teams to success, he would probably talk about unknown episodes in an empty gym. For example, when players practice shooting without a basketball hoop. Maybe he would remember how in the evenings he painted the program for the next day, indicating exactly where the basket should be, so that not a single player wasted time looking for the ball. For Wooden, training was everything, he put so much energy, soul and mind into it that his passion became a legend. Usually, to everyone's bewilderment, he began each training session with such trifles that other coaches not only did not pay attention to, but did not even remember about them. In particular, how to put on socks and lace up sneakers. He calculated everything to the minute, thinking over how to use every second of the game wisely, and precisely planning the place of the players on the court. He logged every practice session, writing down the details on cards that he saved for future matches, checking what worked, what didn't work, and how to play better next time. Unlike other coaches, Wooden did not devote all his attention to training, reproducing situations of real competition, and separate game elements to practice specific principles and skills. He preached consistent progress and always started coaching by having the athletes train without the ball, gradually making the task more difficult. He repeated the exercises until the players reached perfection, brought to automaticity - sometimes to the detriment of practicing more complex skills. In situations where other coaches thought their teams had mastered it, Wooden's team was just getting started on the real work. From his players, he invariably demanded the careful execution of all exercises, even if some of them had already been worked out earlier.
We remember John Wooden during the championships. But what really made him great was his training. Each stage: explanation, training, re-execution - everything was organized and thought out at least a little, but better than others. The very culture of training, that is, the atmosphere in which they took place, and the mood of the players were distinguished by a little more restraint, a little more dedication and a little more perseverance. All these "little bits" had a powerful cumulative effect, leading each new generation of players to stable and systematic success.
We have already mentioned the book by sportswriter Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code. In our opinion, this is one of the attempts to comprehend the tradition of purposeful training established thanks to Wooden. Coyle talks about the amazing "hotspots of talent" that are springing up around the world, and attributes them to good training that gives the same cumulative effect. What we often refer to as outstanding talent can be a brilliant skill developed through subtle but constant practice. How else to explain that a children's tennis school that exists in a city with a not very favorable climate and has at its disposal only one old indoor court - a school that Coyle frankly calls a beggar - has produced more champions since its inception than all American tennis clubs , taken together?
The whole secret is in the "mistress" of the school, an elderly gray-haired woman in a tracksuit - teacher Larisa Preobrazhenskaya. Her wards understand that training gives a stable result, because it translates movements into muscle memory, therefore, you need to take your time and do the exercises slowly and correctly. Like John Wooden, Preobrazhenskaya pays attention to practicing fewer professional techniques, but trains skills with more quality and scrupulousness. She requires students to imitate outstanding tennis players, and does this without any regard for authority; after all, many coaches refuse such a teaching method, considering it too humiliating and therefore unacceptable. “Thanks to her perseverance,” writes Coyle, “Preobrazhenskaya virtually single-handedly changed the views of Russians on domestic tennis.” The first bright performances of her students caused a surge of interest in this game in the country, and a crowd of people rushed to the "factory of champions". The success that followed was so huge that it seemed statistically impossible. Today, Russia rightfully considers itself a great tennis power, because it has created players who are absolutely confident in their abilities.
Coyle gives many examples of how a well-thought-out system, consisting of seemingly simple techniques, creates an inexplicable concentration of talented people who can change society and established opinions about human capabilities. Brazilians' passion for football has given them international recognition, but it's hard to imagine the impact their passion for football has on the development of Brazilian players. futsal.(This game is similar to football, but played with a less resilient ball in a smaller area with fewer players and usually in a closed hall.) In one hour of playing futsal, an athlete contacts the ball six times more often than in regular football. Due to the limited size of the sports ground, the skill of the players is brought to automatism. “Commentators like to talk about the creativity of Brazilian footballers, but this is not entirely true. Their creative abilities have been trained all their lives,” writes Coyle. Brazilian football is formed through training, consisting of the simplest elements - in fact, they brought it to a level inaccessible to other countries.

To be honest, the book was a little disappointing, the expectations were different. The book is positioned as mandatory reading for coaches, teachers, leaders.
In fact, for those who have undergone training for trainers, the book will be of little information. Although it may be suitable for teachers.
The book is replete with "discoveries" of the authors: we taught and taught for a long time and hard, and then, bam, discovered for ourselves ... This is how almost every description of the rule begins. I just want to give the authors books by Sidorenko, Gippenreiter, Elkonin. "Learn the materiel, student!" Many more rules repeat each other.

Of course, there are also positive aspects.
At least one thing is that I constantly had a dialogue with the authors :)
Firstly, it is a good idea to use the experience of sports training in training. Namely:
- instant feedback during skill development (in trainings, as a rule, there is a considerable pause between practice and OS, which, in turn, reduces the effectiveness of skill consolidation)
- breaking down a skill into smaller actions, simplifying to make it clear to a beginner
- practicing success in training (this is logical, but sometimes undesirable behaviors are played during trainings, which is not good. Play only positive ones, and watch bad models, for example, on video recording)
- elements of competition in learning
- development of skills, basic skills to automatism with further complication (which, in turn, will give room for creativity).

Secondly, she took a fresh look at the Pareto 20/80 principle regarding training:
- identify 20% of the skills that after training will bring 80% of the results (in fact, these skills should be given 80% of the training time)
- To identify the top 20% of skills, use objective measures of what, for example, customers say they value the most.

Thirdly, I liked the idea of coming up with names for all the techniques and skills that are practiced during the training. This allows you to reduce the time for discussion and analysis, a common vocabulary, "bird language", and, consequently, some kind of sense of ownership is formed.

Fourth, a fairly informative chapter on feedback. I learned one technique well and actively use it with my son: do not say “how cool everything you did”, but specifically indicate the actions that led to the result (“you rearranged your legs well, leaned on your hands and, pushing a little, was able to get off the bed” ).

Fifth, a reminder of how to praise was not superfluous:
- praise not a character trait (for example, intelligence), but a specific act. A positive assessment of actions inspires that he can change his behavior and influence the results.
- express gratitude, that is, thank you when the person's actions meet expectations. Praise for deeds that excel them.
- create a recognition system, for example, a notice board with thanks (it would be possible to post the name and photo of the training participants on the notice board, who somehow proved themselves at the training, offered something new and interesting, etc.)

Sixth, require detailed answers in full sentences. I can't remember any teachers demanding that of us. Unfortunately. It has more to do with your children. For the future.

And a few quotes with my thoughts in brackets:
"Pride, fear and complacency are the main enemies of training. After all, any training is based on humility." (oh, yes! how many of them, experts with three higher educations who work as security guards, and who consider that training is beneath their dignity, "BECAUSE THEY KNOW EVERYTHING THAT WAY!").
"One of the tricks that distinguishes first-class teachers from just good ones is the use of non-verbal signals to correct the behavior of students in the classroom" (I always do this! with a look, gestures, if the training participants are completely "raged", then I silently approach them).
"The 10,000 hour rule: that's how much time you need to spend on learning and training to become a world-class professional in any field of activity" (this is not the first time I've come across this idea. It makes sense!)
“If you need to start creative thinking, do mechanical work - unload your brain” (I discovered it a long time ago when I actively participated in night bike rides. At work, if I need to “create”, I first clean up on the table).
"If you want to be a coach, buy a whistle" (which is an idea! I do use a bell, but the whistle evokes training associations).
"People consciously or unconsciously imitate the actions of their leader, coach. If the example is not shown in an accessible way or is performed correctly, then the students will never know what an ideal professional model is" (conclusion, one must constantly work on oneself, be an example).
"Daily ... you set a personal example, so whenever possible you need to find the class of professionalism that you want to achieve from others" (what was said above).
"In the eyes of businessmen, any desire to improve their professionalism is tantamount to an unwillingness to do their job" (so true! Especially in large bureaucratic companies. The employee has a desire to learn, and the manager believes that he wants to take a break from work).
"If an employee of your company does an excellent job, you need to immediately figure out where else you can apply his talents" (it's great for employee development, the main thing is to know when to stop and not cover all the white spots with one employee).
"What seems to be resistance is actually a lack of understanding" (Dan and Chip Heath) (to the issue of resistance to change).
"Every profession is a conspiracy against the uninitiated" (B. Shaw).

Doug Lemov Erica Woolway Katie Yezzi

From knowledge to skills

Universal rules for effective training of any skills

Foreword

Shortly before the trip, I read in Petty Stakes by Peter Sims how Rock was selecting material for comic numbers. Once, preparing for a big tour, Chris chose a small club in New Brunswick and performed there day after day almost fifty times; in addition, he did not part with a notebook, where he constantly entered new jokes and immediately tested them on the audience. Sims describes this process as follows: “... The artist carefully observes the audience, noting when the audience nods in approval, reacts with gestures or long pauses. In other words, he tries to capture any reaction from the audience that could suggest the right direction for finding new ideas. Such speeches last about forty-five minutes and are usually a sad sight: most of the lines do not cause delight among the public.

Pride, fear and complacency are the main enemies of learning. After all, any training is based on humility. Turning to those who can teach us something, we are forced to admit that we do not know much. And of course, the desire to practice is not at all a sign of weakness. After all, we know many champions who have been elevated to the pinnacle of success by relentless training: Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, Roger Federer, Mia Hamm, Tiger Woods. Education does not at all indicate that I'm not going anywhere. It means: I can get better.

No doubt, every day we something practice - training takes place around the clock. All our lives we learn to understand our children and find a common language with colleagues. But something else is important to us - are we marking time or are we gaining experience and developing?

Since you have this book in your hands, you are ready to learn. So you have made the right choice.

Time to practice the art of getting better.

Dan Heath, Senior Fellow, Center for Social Enterprise Development at Duke University

Why hands-on training? Why now?

We hope you will forgive us our addiction to general discussions about pedagogy, which we look at with hope, albeit timid. We are optimistic because we still believe that this is the noblest profession in the world. And no matter what you teach - to be patient when examining an elderly patient; solve quadratic equations; score balls; holding meetings, reading 19th-century novels—the job of a teacher seems to us to be one of the greatest in the world. That is why we are full of optimism. Today, due to political confusion and budget deficits, teachers have been cornered. But in the end, temporary difficulties will pass, and there will be fruits of creative research that will change our profession, enrich it with new knowledge and provide tools that we did not know before. This will happen not only through the new teacher training system, but also through the use of analytical tools to identify and compile the best pedagogical achievements - "bright spots", as the Heath brothers would say. By the way, it was their work that inspired not only us, but also many other teachers.

At the same time, we are modest, because, trying to develop a new formula for teaching, we ourselves made many mistakes - it happened in public - and very annoying ones. We are modest, because, in our opinion, modesty - that is, the constant awareness that you can and should work better - is the basis of any work in the modern world. Our modesty extends so far that we hardly dared to start writing this book. But nevertheless, we wrote it and we hope: it will be useful both for teachers and representatives of other professions.

In this book, we, Doug, Erica, and Katie, share our experiences in an extremely important sector of the economy - the public education system. We tell what we have learned by fighting for every talented person and participating in solving the most difficult social problem - the gap in the level of academic achievement between children from wealthy strata of society and children from needy families. In addition, the book presents observations on the creative path and professional development of many talented people from a wide variety of fields. Therefore, we are convinced that the material we have collected, containing many examples from teaching practice and our personal experience in school, will be of interest not only to specialists in the education system, but also from other areas of activity, and to all those who wish to improve their professional skills. Moreover, we ourselves have long been applying the knowledge acquired in a narrow professional field in our personal lives, so we believe that the book will benefit many readers. After all, any parent repeatedly faces the same problems, trying not only to raise children as good people, caring and confidently going through life, but also to make them real professionals - mathematicians, musicians, football players. By the way, many problems also arise when trying to improve ourselves, when we learn to ski, hammer nails, knit, manage people, and even, judging by our latest experience, write books. The first step to take is to learn the art of learning.

From Knowledge to Skill (Most Abusive Review Nominee)

Yeah... :(

The publishing house MIF asked me a riddle by submitting a book by a team of authors (Duga Lemova, Katie Yezzi and Erica Woolway) for review "From knowledge to skills. Universal rules for effective training of any skills"(book page on the site publishing houses; book on Ozone).

The essence of the riddle: how to tell good people (so as not to offend them) that they published a book that is extremely weak?

Another part of the mystery: on the page of the book on the publisher's website there are a lot of rave reviews for the book from all sorts of "gurus". I read these reviews ... Either the respected guri simply did not read the book (in full), or (horror!) They simply do not understand what the book is about, and are simply not able to evaluate it professionally :(

Question to the respected audience: what is the difference between a professional in the field of education and a non-professional? There can be many answers, but at least one of the main differences is competence in teaching methods(because it is a working tool in which - if you are a professional, of course- it would be necessary to understand everything 300%).

Alas, today the training of other people is mainly engaged in " talking monkeys" (... and even among the "gurus" there are plenty of them). A "talking monkey" is a person who, from nowhere, obtained a script for a certain training session / training, and then stupidly repeats this script. Good, good - not stupid, but with some creative-from-yourself-additives ...

But the essence of this does not change: at each, say, training, the template is copied the same teaching method. Often not their own technique - borrowed from someone. At the same time, the teacher-trained-monkey, in principle, does not know (and often does not want to know) about other teaching methods.

And since he does not know about other teaching methods ( those. in the mind there is simply no "database" for correct comparison), then he usually considers his own methods to be the very best and "unique".

For the same reason (the weakness of the professional base), the monkey teacher easily falls for the next "newest and most advanced" teaching methods. Although often these the latest techniques"- another victory of marketing over common sense: (But a non-professional simply will not notice this: ((( And write a laudatory review / review ...

Okay, enough preface ... I'll start with the fact that the book "From Knowledge to Skills" drove me into a deep nostalgic longing. Just plunged into the abyss of memories, reviving in my mind the years that I worked as a full-time teacher at the Pedagogical Institute and as the leader of advanced training courses for teachers in our regional IPKRO (Institute for Advanced Studies of Educational Workers).

The fact is that the book "From Knowledge to Skills" was written by teachers (educators) initially for their target audience - i.e. for teachers ordinary schools wishing to improve their skills. Now the question rhetorical:))): Have you ever read anything more creepy in your life than something written by one teacher for other teachers?!?! :)

/I was very pleased with the example repeatedly found in the book about how children were weaned from a terrible disciplinary violation - they "lay down", laid their heads on the desk :)/

For non-professionals, we note that there are such secret treatises :)), which are called didactics textbooks and are studied (if my memory serves me) either in the 2nd, or in the 3rd year of any pedagogical university. Here is the book "From Knowledge to Skills" - this is such an extremely simplified and poppy retelling of a textbook on didactics.

By the way, if the expert gurus were not too lazy to open some classic didactics textbook (like the old Babansky or the newer Khutorsky), then they would have found a lot more there principles and methods of didactics than in the book under review.

In the Soviet and perestroika years (I don't know how it is now), the best school teachers were simply obliged to teach other school teachers; on the basis of IPKRO their experience was summarized and published in the form of manuals. Of course, not all pedagogical discoveries were of the level of innovative teachers :), but I still keep some of these manuals (as a source of interesting ideas for designing my own teaching methods). The book "From knowledge to skills" - the level of those same manuals :( Is that in the literary processing (ie, "water" more).

Now to the point: what is the book about? The authors of the book made a very ingenious discovery that ANY training can be used as a prototype motor learning methodology(motor) skills used in sports training. Actually, this most ingenious discovery is already 70 years old :)

Consciously or not, the authors of the book retold the basic principles of the so-called. " programmed learning", invented by their compatriot Skinner back in the 40s of the 20th century. In our country, this topic was popular in pedagogy back in the 70s and 80s. As right now I remember the shaft of scientific articles and dissertations on this topic :) And it cannot be said that this topic was "closed", and that the technique is completely outdated - it just appeared a clear understanding the limitations this method. But more on that a little further...

To summarize: the book is a description of the pedagogical discoveries of the authors, which they made, trying to apply in their practice teaching methods and techniques from sports training. The practice of the authors: teaching children; school teacher training; and there are VERY few examples of using these methods in business training :(

The authors summarized their pedagogical findings in 42 tips. Each piece of advice is a principle or trick that can be used in teaching and self-study. Personally, most of the advice seemed banal to me: (In addition, these 42 tips could be reduced to a few key principles that the authors simply repeat in different contexts. For example:

1) Split (decompose) the activity being studied into the smallest possible discrete operations

2) Bring each operation to automatism through repeated repetitions

3) The development of complex activities occurs gradually - as consistent development operation after operation

4) Sequential movement (mastering of integral activity) is impossible without feedback for each of the stages (each studied operation). Feedback should be of high quality (quick; instructive; motivating, etc.).

5) The development of operations occurs through their modeling. In this case, different modeling methods are used: demonstration (of the correct result and the correct process); drawing up OOD (indicative basis of activity); use of professional slang, etc.

6) In the learning process, not only individual operations are modeled, but also holistic activity. A distinction should be made between "training" (simulation of operations) and "rehearsal" (simulation of activities). To model activities, their own methods are used: business and role-playing games, "field" trainings, etc.

In general, my friends, once again I am reading another Western treatise on education, and I am convinced that it is better than the domestic activity psychology(in particular - the psychology of educational activity) hardly anything has been invented. That's just we are indeed! - "Ivans who do not remember kinship" :( Instead of knowing and applying our own classics (for example, starting with P. Ya. Galperin), who are much cooler in this topic, we admire another pale copy.

I can't say the book is all bad. If you are completely "teapot" in learning (self-study), then you will surely find a lot of useful things in the book.

The book may be of interest to specialists - some trifles, interesting ideas. For example, here are some interesting ideas I "dug up" in this book for myself:

1 -automation individual transactions (rule 4) - is the basis for creativity. During the execution of automatic actions, consciousness is free for creative ideas. Consequently, the more automated operations in the structure of our activity, the more creative its entire process becomes.

Most likely, the true state of "flow" is possible only when most of the operations within a particular activity are performed "automatically" (which, by the way, distinguishes a professional from a beginner, since the beginner closely controls each operation).

2 - the idea that you don’t have to fight your weaknesses, but you need to focus on developing your ALREADY strengths (tip 6) is far from new. But the idea that our development is determined by breadth of skill transfer.

Those. this means trying to apply your strongest abilities/skills in a variety of life situations, to solve a variety of life problems. It is clear that it is not always appropriate to "open a round lock with a square key", but very often the use of high-level skills / abilities from one professional field in another professional field has an explosive effect.

3 - the idea that (tip 13) that planning is necessary not so much for the sake of the plan itself (some kind of sequence of actions fixed on paper). In fact planning is rehearsal, one way to model holistic activity.

And, by the way, in this vein, Eisenhower's words "Plans are nothing, planning is everything!" makes perfect sense :)

4 - liked the idea (tip 16) that learning is, in essence - prioritization OR managing the student's focus. We learn any activity through modeling, which can be either simple (imitation) or complex (training, games, etc.).

But WHAT EXACTLY do we learn in the process of modeling? It depends on what exactly the student's attention is drawn to, what he selectively learns. That is why the primary role / task of any teacher is to be such a kind of "external information filter" for the student. The teacher, as it were, marks reality: "This is important in the first place, this is second, and this is not important at all."

Many other interesting ideas arise here :) For learning to be truly successful, the student must "let in" into his consciousness, integrate this "information filter" (ie the teacher). And what does it depend on (integration of the "filter")? The topic is wildly interesting :), but here we will get too far beyond the limits of this book ...

5 - I liked (in general, also not new) the idea of how to use in training mistakes(tip 31). At the initial stages of learning, mistakes are perceived as an "absolute evil" that must be eradicated. Getting rid of mistakes means a certain standardization of skills, a consistently high level of their performance.

But the problem is that sooner or later a stage of plateau, stagnation comes in development. It seems that a good professional "average level" has been achieved, but at the same time there is a feeling that "you can't jump above your head." The authors call this stagnant state " trap ok".

It is mistakes that help to find a way out of the "OK trap". Mistakes begin to act as a factor of chaos, an accident that creates unexpected opportunities. Mistakes generate diversity in the system of activity, and this diversity gives impetus to new development.

Therefore, mistakes must be treated positively :) They must be observed, they must be systematized and standardized, analyzed and constructive conclusions drawn on their basis. In fact, mistakes (if they are handled correctly) are the most valuable kind of feedback :)).

6 - puzzled by the idea (tip 32) that the best workout is public workout. Those. training will only be truly effective TOGETHER with other people, and completely open to other people.

There is a rational grain in this idea. A person is arranged in such a way that he unconsciously feels sorry for himself, indulges his weaknesses and fears. While training (learning, developing) alone, we will find hundreds of reasons not to "notice" some of our limitations, and not to do things that take us out of our comfort zone. Those. learning "only for yourself" has every chance of turning into pseudo-learning.

On the other hand, there is nothing more cruel than the "judgment of the mob". Public training is such an extreme :) It’s cool for development, of course, but is everyone mentally ready for this? :) Although the problem is solvable: you just need to find your "flock", i.e. a community to learn TOGETHER with which you will be both pleased and useful.

7 - It's a good idea (tip 35) that real learning only happens when ALL participants in the learning take on MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY for its process and results.

For example, I have always said that the question " And what can you teach me?"- stupid and meaningless :) You have to ask yourself: " What do I want to learn?" and " How can we organize our cooperation so that I study and you help me in this?".

8 - liked the idea (tip 40) that one of the typical results of corporate training is the formation unified conceptual field(general "dictionary") - much more important than it seems at first glance. Having a common vocabulary not only simplifies understanding, but also reduces the transaction costs associated with the management and internal communication processes in an organization.

As conclusions... Despite the fact that the book plunged me into melancholy, you can find useful knowledge in it :) And among 42 tips for more effective learning ( on pages 251-253 you can read all the tips in a list at once;)), And in conclusion". In the "conclusion", by the way, there is a good selection of recommendations, which the authors called "Monday morning".

"Monday morning"- this is from the category of "start a new life on Monday" :) This is a way of procrastination, with which we put off positive changes in our lives. To overcome "Monday morning", the authors of the book give advice on how to start changing your learning strategy for leaders, trainers and self-taught people.

In addition, in the Appendices to the book there are even some types training exercises on the development of learning skills. I didn't like them, because focused exclusively on school teachers. You can, of course, try to somehow modify these exercises. But why!? ( especially since Foppel already has wonderful exercises;)).

I'll reveal another terrible secret :) I already mentioned above that programmed learning ( about which the book) has its limitations. Actually, the authors themselves write about the fact that there is a large category of professions that can be conditionally called " performing". Professionalism in them is presented only in the form of complex skills and is manifested only during actual holistic interaction with other people.

An example of a performing profession can be, for example, the profession of a teacher (an artist speaking from the stage, a politician speaking from the podium, etc.). The bottom line is that for performing professions, simple training (in the form of honing individual skills to automatism) is not very effective. For example, if you, as a speaker, perfect your diction, this will in no way save you from failure if you cannot establish and maintain contact with the audience. At the same time, diction can be trained as a separate skill, but contact with the audience cannot. Firstly, you need the presence of the audience itself at each such training session; secondly, you need to have DIFFERENT audiences (because in life they will be different :)).

Performing professions do not exclude training (as training in simple elemental skills), but this is clearly not enough. The authors themselves write that there is a big difference between training and rehearsal; and that learning and development in the performing professions requires first and foremost rehearsal.

Rehearsal- this is the whole process of activity as a whole, but as if "for fun". This is modeling / simulation of reality in the form of role-playing, business, simulation games, simulators, practices, etc. In short, this is a huge layer of teaching methods and technologies, which the authors of the book do not even touch :(

Actually, back in the 80s they proved that the learning process is non-linear. That the assimilation of complex skills (intellectual, communicative, social, etc.) has nothing to do with the assimilation of relatively simple motor skills.

In addition, step-by-step skill development is a monstrously time-consuming process. For the early-mid 20th century (or for teaching the most basic skills in elementary school), these teaching methods are still in demand. But for the "information explosion" and for the speeds of the 21st century - I doubt it ... The book, in its ideology, is outdated by at least 50 years :(

The book is weak:(I just want to offer my favorite publishing house my services as a scientific editor - because they clearly lack it.

If you have a decent humanitarian education, you can safely not read the book.

If you are a "folk teacher" ( by analogy with the "folk healer" :))), i.e. you do not have serious methodological training as a teacher, trainer, etc.), you can read the book. But without fanaticism:)))

If you are a professional, then you can flip through the book and read it diagonally. Just looking for some fresh ideas, "chips".

If you remember that we are not taught, but we are learning, then there will definitely be something useful in the book;)

PS As an example of such "chips". In one of the sections on feedback, the authors write the generally banal idea that the faster the student receives feedback (preferably in the form of a clear instruction), the easier it is for him to correct his behavior. Ideally, "faster" is immediate.

The first thing that came to my mind was our "field" sales trainings. As a standard, we carry out as follows: the seller serves the client; the coach observes his actions; after the client leaves, a “debriefing” (feedback) is immediately done, and already when communicating with a new client, the seller must demonstrate corrected behavior. And now imagine - we are correcting the dialogue between the seller and the client in real time through a bluetooth headset! Will definitely have to try it ;)

If you liked / found this text useful, be sure!

Portal for the student. Self-training

Foreword

Prologue. Why hands-on training? Why now?

Introduction

The decisive role of practical training

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