How do I convince students that there鈥檚 a point to doing homework every day?
You can explain the power of practice. Here鈥檚 something I wrote about the topic for as a :
In the 1993 film 鈥淕roundhog Day,鈥� misanthropic meteorologist Phil Connors relives the same 24 hours, over and over and over again 鈥� for years on end.
Given nearly infinite 鈥渄o-overs,鈥� Phil learns to speak French, play jazz piano, and flip cards into an upturned hat. Most important: He discovers the good in other people and he learns to care about them. In return, they love him back.
There鈥檚 a lesson in 鈥淕roundhog Day鈥� for all of us: Trying to do something over and over again, with intention and focus and feedback on what we could do better next time, is how you improve鈥攁t anything.
Whereas repetition plus reward leads to automatic, effortless habits, repetition plus goals for improvement plus feedback generates a different benefit: ever-improving expertise. If you do your homework in the same place and at the same time, day after day, studying will become a habit. If you also look for ways to improve your efficiency, and monitor how your new techniques are or aren鈥檛 working, you鈥檒l also get better at studying.
is how you learn to speak a foreign language, , and even perform what to others seems like .
To me, is not just heroic courage in the face of setbacks. Grit also means getting out of bed, one day after the next, and coming back to your work, and trying once more to do what you did so many times before鈥攖his time just a little bit better.
Like habits, skills don鈥檛 come easily. One of the oldest studies in psychology documents the learning curves of sending and receiving Morse code. Like Phil Connors, the very best operators worked daily to improve. 鈥淚t requires 10 years,鈥� concluded the study鈥檚 authors, 鈥渢o make a thoroughly seasoned press despatcher [sic].鈥�
From a practice standpoint, the movie 鈥淕roundhog Day鈥� represents an unattainable ideal. You don鈥檛 often get the chance to practice under the exact same circumstances, over and over and over again. But like all ideals, the parable of Phil Connors gives you a sense of what you鈥檙e aiming for.
顿辞苍鈥檛 assume that repetition is only good for building habits.
Do practice a skill you鈥檙e trying to improve not just once or twice but, like Phil Connors, hundreds or even thousands of times. You may discover that mundanity is magic after all.
