Expert in a Year

The school I work in has been doing a thing this year that they call ‘expert in a year.’ The title makes me twitch a bit because I’ve spent nearly fifty years working at playing the flute and still can’t call myself an expert. However, I’ve loved it.

We have been talking a lot about the growth mindset concept, which is the idea that you shouldn’t be a quitter and should be open to new ideas. Musicians know a thing or two about this. We call it practice. In the original YouTube clip I think the chap got better at table tennis. He seemed to play all day every day and also had expert tuition. Obviously, these options weren’t available to us - we all still had to come to school for a start, so our expectations of what we could hope to achieve
 had to be lower. Both staff and pupils set themselves challenges at the beginning of the school year. Some went public, others kept their ideas to themselves and a few more refused to be an expert in anything other than to continue to be a good teacher/pupil/human being (which is enough really).

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching people both succeed and fail. I think we learn as much from failure as we do from success. If you have an injury that stops you competing in the Badminton Horse  Trials then no amount of positive thinking or Growth Mindset will help you. If you have forgotten that the Badminton Horse Trials were in May and already oversubscribed and you have only managed a rising trot once before falling off then you probably set your sights too high.

I have particularly enjoyed watching people take on this challenge because many chose music. Lots of the children wanted to start playing an instrument or get better at one they already played, although it wasn’t just children. Some staff chose to learn an instrument. I could help the flute players and am pleased to say that they have all made progress, with one adult going from not being able to blow a note to passing her grade 1 exam with a distinction.

You are probably wondering if I set myself a challenge or just sat back and watched everyone else. Well, I’m not an All Trades Master of None for nothing. I’m always setting new challenges. I had already started a photography course to get better at using my camera, so didn’t feel I could use that one, so I decided to become an expert in reading and walking. More about that tomorrow