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Learning a New Skill — Skiing!

Writer's picture: Nathan BelcherNathan Belcher

Before this week, I had used skis once in my life.


Growing up in the Appalachian mountains, I had a bunch of experience with sleds and a beginner’s snowboard — but I only went skiing one time when I was 13 years old. We had no instructor; instead, we relied on the advice of friends on the trip to help us with the basics. I remember falling a few times at the beginning of that day, but felt confident on the beginner runs by the end of the day.


With a love of football, basketball, and soccer taking up my time, I did not ski again — until this week!


The Swiss Alps surrounding Zermatt are a bit different (haha) from the Appalachian mountains, especially since the ski season in Zermatt is just beginning. There was snow from a few weeks ago, but the current snow on the slope was quite icy; according to my instructor, this made the beginning ski experience more challenging. I stayed on the simple part of the slope and worked on the basics of turning, raising my level of skiing slightly by the end of the session.


With this experience, I have a few thoughts that connect the experience to learning. As someone in my late 30s, I do not have too many times where I am a complete beginner; having this experience was humbling and enlightening.


The right coach is really important.

Earlier in the week my wife had hired a ski coach, having a great experience with his teaching. We continued with the same coach for our daughters and me, with everyone having a wonderful time with the coach.


Here are a few of the many positive aspects of the coach:

  • Patience

  • Clear explanations and demonstrations

  • Aligning the level of challenge with our current level of skill

  • Encouragement and positivity


Each of these aspects helped us learn more quickly, plus made the learning fun! We were fortunate to find the right coach for us; a different coach might have changed our views of skiing or made the learning less effective.


The positive aspects of the coach made me think about my own teaching and coaching. Was I being patient? Giving clear explanations and demonstrations? Aligning the level of challenge? Staying positive through setbacks?


These aspects transcend the “what” in my teaching or coaching, helping those I teach and coach to learn more effectively and with enjoyment. As I continue with teaching, coaching, parenting, and other parts of my life, I will keep asking myself these questions.


Knowing about learning helps with learning.

I’ve been thinking about learning for a while, developing the Model for Learning — and creating a class on the Principles of Learning. All the thinking about learning helped me as a beginning skier, helping me understand where my learning was breaking down and how to fix the issue.


One part of learning was in “Sensing and Focusing” — the mountains are (distractingly) beautiful, plus there were a bunch of other people learning to ski in the same spot. I found myself not focusing on my technique; instead, I was observing the beauty of the mountains or worrying about not hitting anyone. I realize this was an issue so I changed my focus to the actual technique while trying to turn, which helped me actually complete the turn.


Another part of learning was the conceptual models for skiing. I’ve been a physics teacher for a while, which helped me with the physical explanations of how to move the skis. I had to combine the physical explanation with the bodily sensation to make the skis move in the proper direction, which took some time. As I continued to learn, I combined schema into conceptual models — which gave me a solid foundation for future learning.


The last part of learning was “Purposeful Application” through practice, which helped me solidify the ideas from the explanations and demonstrations. We practiced turning left about 10 times in rapid succession; I kept using the wrong technique and wanted to try again as quickly as possible. I thought about what I did wrong as I walked the 10 yards back up the hill, then tried to turn left again; by going quickly, I was able to solidify my learning and then apply the learning when we went down a longer hill.


Reflecting on the experience helps deepen the learning.

Reflecting is a huge part of learning, strengthening the connections between neurons and building stronger conceptual models.


This can happen on a couple of time scales:

  • Quick reflection — this happens right after a task (in my case, turning left) and focuses on what went wrong or right in that task.

  • Medium-term reflection — after several runs, I would stop and chat with my coach. We discussed the technique; I said what I was thinking about as I was turning, then he corrected my understanding. We continued the conversation after working on both left and right turns, which expanded into more tasks as we went down a longer hill.

  • Long-term reflection — after the session, we summarized the ideas from the session and talked about future ideas. In the few days since the lesson I have been thinking about the ideas, which continue to strengthen the conceptual models.


Without the reflection, I would have learned the ideas more slowly and not retained as much from the lesson. Using time to do reflection in the short-, medium-, and long-term is taking more time for a task, which can seem like a waste — but using time to do reflection saves time in the long-run because the conceptual models for the ideas are built more strongly, leading to better learning.


Being a beginner again is humbling and enlightening, helping me remember the feelings and empathize with others who are beginning. I am grateful for the experience with a great coach, which made me reflect on my own teaching and coaching.

Questions

  1. When is the last time you were a true beginner?

  2. How did you react in that situation?

  3. Towards yourself and those you teach and coach, how is your patience?

  4. Are you giving clear explanations and demonstrations?

  5. How does what you know about learning as you continue to learn?

  6. How are you reflecting on your experiences?

  7. For those you teach and coach, when do you build time for reflection?


I would love to know your thoughts on these questions — leave me a comment!

 

Belcher’s Model for Learning — how does this describe the learning process?


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