Page 143 - Making Instruction Work

chap 12 3/11/97 5:03 PM Page 129

relevant practice 129

ability to recognize correct from incorrect performance, or
you can have another person or device do it. If you are going
to build the performance criteria into the students’ heads, then
you must prevent them from practicing until this is done. Plainly
put, unless you’re going to provide an external source of feed-
back, they must not practice until they know how to evaluate
their own performance.
If you will have an external source provide the feedback, you
must be sure that the person or mechanism providing the
feedback knows the performance standards. If another person
is to provide feedback, that person must know more than just
how to recognize correct and incorrect performance. That per-
son must also be able to offer the information in a way that
will not destroy the motivation or self-esteem of the student.

Practice Isn’t Practice Unless . . .

Suppose you saw me practicing the tuba and said,“Hi there.
What are you doing?”And suppose I replied,“Why,I’m learning
how to dance.” What would you think? Suppose I then said,
“Y’know,I’ve been working hard at this,but my dancing doesn’t
seem to be improving. Got any ideas?”I think your reply would
be obvious: “If you want to learn how to dance, you need to
practice dancing.”And of course you’d be right—and I’d thank
you for not using saltier language in your reply.
That is an obvious example of wrong (useless) practice.
Other examples are a little harder to decode. Suppose while
learning to be a policeman you are expected to learn when and
when not to shoot (a rather important skill). And suppose the
instructor had you practice reciting the law that pertains to
shooting.Would that practice help you get better at making the
shoot/no-shoot decision? You see that it isn’t as easy to decide in
this case.Actually, knowing the law may be useful information,
but it won’t improve your ability to make the instant decisions
that shooting situations require. It wouldn’t, in other words,