Thanks to Chris Harte for this recommendation about the different experiences we have of learning on the path to mastery.
Eduardo Briceño outlines the difference between spending time in the Learning Zone (experimentation, low stakes) and the Performance Zone (flawless execution, high stakes).
Briceño shares an interesting provocation and perspective on what it might be like for a student.
[Students] learn that mistakes are undesirable inadvertently when teachers or parents are eager to hear just correct answers and reject mistakes rather than welcome and examine them to learn from them, or when we look for narrow responses rather than encourage more exploratory thinking that we can all learn from. When all homework or student work has a number or a letter on it, and counts towards a final grade, rather than being used for practice, mistakes, feedback and revision, we send the message that school is a performance zone.
[Particularly relevant in the UK at the moment as students have just received their A-Level results]
I wonder how much we alternate between the two different zones without realising. It makes me think about another idea I have heard from sport:
practice like you are performing, then you will, perform like you practice
I wonder if the zones are always distinct and separate? Can they occur at the same time? Do they overlap? What exists between them?
What do you think?