Practice makes perfect?

We've all heard this expression before.  The question is, what do you practice to become "perfect?"  Following up on my previous blog, the trick is to figure out what needs improvement and how to make the improvements.  To do that requires the ability to constructively evaluate one's performance, seek out additional feedback, determine appropriate activities to help, and then, as the Nike ads say, "Just Do It!"  Sounds simple, right?

In learning to play hockey, I spend a lot time reading about certain skills and drills that can help those skills.  For instance, making the transition from forward to backward skating without losing any speed is an important skill, especially if one wants to seriously play defense, which is what I am working toward.  I've read about various things to help make that 180 degree turn without losing speed.  I've talked with coaches and players about how they learned it.  And, I've spent many hours on the ice trying various things.  After four and a half years, I can turn 180 degrees, but I lose a lot of speed in the process and I can only turn in one direction.  (It's important to be able to turn both ways because the action may be on the other side and I would need to see it to be able to defend against it.)

So, what do I do to go from here to improve?  Well, one of the things I did this summer was go to summer camp (hockey class) and listen to instructors first tell me what was wrong, then provide some new ideas how to improve.  After that, I had a lesson with a skating coach.  Together, I found out that my backwards skating was weak (I am not putting enough weight on the glide leg).  Because of this, I often feel off-balance and increase the odds of falling.  The recommendation:  until I can glide backwards on one leg, I am not to try too many of the other backwards or turning drills.  Without that balance, I will end up developing bad habits and possibly scaring myself more than I already am about falling.  So, before my surgery, I was spending much of my skate time working on the simple (yet very scary) task of gliding on one skate.  I still suck at skating backwards and the 180 degree turns, but it is slowly improving.

I find physics to be similar.  You have to first figure out the problem areas before you can work on tasks to improve.  That is where your group, others in the course, physics majors (as tutors or staffing the Help Room), and the instructor can help.  While you might not see what areas are causing you trouble, the "outsiders" may be able to spot something.  In fact, this is one of the reasons why I ask students to stop by so often.  I can more easily spot issues a student is having in the course than most people because I have been doing this for over 20 years.  Then, once we figure out the issue(s), we can develop a course of action to make improvements.

And, before those of you who are not having issues think it's safe to relax, you also have to practice.   As with any activity (like music or sports), each time you learn something new, you have to practice it to reinforce what you learn.  Practice helps to overcome problem areas and practice helps to keep what you've learned.  So, continue to practice (via the various worksheets and online activities) to learn from your mistakes and to improve.

As always, should you have a comment you would like to share, please feel free to add your two cents worth.  In the meantime, practice, practice, practice!