Removing the Net

Gradually.

Feb 26, 2022

I teach a skills course for the full year with approximately 35 graduate students every year. Over a quarter century teaching the course, I have developed a theory about teaching such courses, and it informs many of the syllabus design decisions that I make with the course I teach. Perhaps it will be useful to a course that you teach?

The idea is that skills courses usually involve asking students to try something before they know how to do it. You can teach components of the skill, but for the concepts to come together, they have to try to do it. And after trying it, they need detailed feedback, and a chance to try it again. And again.

These early assignments need at least two key components to achieve the learning outcomes for them. The first is that they need to be low stakes (at first) - that is, they should involve very little grade weight. Not no grade weight - or it is hard for students to take them as seriously as they need to - but low grade weight. That way, they are not overwhelmed with the grade impact of the assignment while trying something they do not yet know how to do. The second is that you need to make sure your students feel safe to try these assignments that they do not feel confident doing yet.

To achieve the first, I leave 70% of the semester grade on the final two assignments. In these assignments students must demonstrate they have acquired the skills we have been working on developing all semester.

To achieve the second, I do a number of things that I refer to as “providing a net” under them. I call it that, because I tell them I am asking them to walk out on a tightrope, but I want them to know there is a net under them as they do that. I teach them that I want them to make mistakes, because it is only in making those mistakes are they likely to build the skills they need. I provide a tremendous amount of feedback, always provided in a supportive and respectful way. (I tell them that if a comment I have given them could be taken in two ways, and one of them was mean or unkind, that I - always - meant the other one). When I use student examples to teach from, I always use anonymous examples from a prior year, so they never have to worry that their own work will be examined in front of their peers. And I admit that what we are learning is hard to do, and assure them it is OK to make mistakes. Finally, I give them copious conferencing time and office hours and answer emails at all hours of the day and into the night. Any question they ask - if I am able - I give them the answer. You never know when the moment will be when a student is going to make that critical connection that they need before the concept or skill locks in for them.

So the first semester is - in large part - designed around this concept of providing a net. But the related, and equally important concept is activated in the second semester. It is important to gradually remove the net before the year comes to an end and students need to actually use the skills as soon as that summer. By the spring semester, also, I am teaching more advanced skills that have discretionary choices to them - skills that do not necessarily have one best answer. This is hard for teachers to do, because students want answers, and teachers are wired to provide them. Here is an illustration of what I mean:

Q: How do you do this?
A: Here’s how. Just do this.
Q: Can I do it this way?
A: No.
Q: When should I do this?
A: Only here.
Q: What if I do it this way?
A: Don’t do that.

Of course, I don’t have to point this out, but that is poor teaching. Well, maybe not for a 8th grade math class, but you get the point. And while the first time a student is learning a skill they need more support, by the spring semester, the better example would be something like this:

Q: How do you do this?
A: Well, you have several options. What are you trying to do here?
Q: Can I do it this way?
A: Sure. But have considered the advantages and disadvantages?
Q: When should I do this?
A: You have several possibilities… which do you think would be best?
Q: What if I do it this way?
A: Well, you get to make this choice. There is no right answer here.

This is what I mean about “removing the net.” And it should be customized to each student (if you can) and gradual - even not noticeable to the student, ideally. That is not always possible, so sometimes, students will notice that your answers are less forthcoming than they were in the previous semester and feel frustrated by that. You may get pushback. But the greater learning happens when you send as many decisions back to the students as you can, without - of course - letting them go off on the wrong path.

Doing this is important for many reasons, but perhaps the most important reason is that this is the only way for them to build confidence. They have to have confidence that they can exercise the skills on their own by the end of the semester. If you are still providing all the answers to all of their questions, they will find themselves in the summer being asked to exercise the skill, and wonder where you are to help them.

Put another way: the job of a teacher is to make themselves obsolete.

This is hard for teachers to do. We got into teaching because we want to help; we want to be of service to our students. But we have not done our job optimally if students are still depending on us for answers at the end of the year. They should be ready to walk the tightrope with no need for a net, or for someone with all the answers.

Every spring semester, there is a point when I can tell that my students do not need me anymore. Frankly, it is a bittersweet moment. Bitter because I will miss them. Sweet because I know my job is done, and I can take some time off before starting the whole cycle all over again.

The Chalkboard Life

Removing the Net

Gradually.