challenging youth to practice and self-improve

[Phil Shapiro]

hi everyone -

     when i was growing up, when i was about 8 or 9 i would often run 
over to one of my older siblings and announce, "look what I can do!" 
these stunts usually involved balancing four books on my head at one 
time, or standing on one foot while holding a glass of water in an 
outstretched arm. my older brother ian would look mildly impressed 
and respond, "yes, but can you do that for 45 seconds?  come back and 
show me when you can do that for 45 seconds."

      invariably i couldn't do it for 45 seconds -- until i had 
practiced the stunt for several hours.

      a few days later i would triumphantly return and proclaim, "i 
can now do it for 45 seconds. watch me."

       these childhood episodes came to mind last night when i was 
recording a snippet of guitar fingerpicking. the first attempt at 
this sound recording wasn't that good. so i tried again. the second 
attempt was just a bit better. so i tried a 3rd and 4th time. better, 
but still not good enough. and then  the 5th time i hit it squarely 
on the mark.

        when i looked at the duration of the audio, it was about 45 
seconds -- the same duration challenge that my brother ian gave me 
when i was growing up. thru practice and concentration i was able to 
make it to the 45 second mark. for those who might be interested, the 
audio i recorded can be seen and heard in a quicktime at 
http://storymakers.net/bobbymcgee.mov   note - this is just a snippet 
of a song, so there are no copyright concerns putting it up on the 
web. the technique i used for creating this quicktime (using 
quicktime pro - $30 from apple) can be found in a quicktime near the 
bottom of http://storymakers.net/thanks/)

          i'm interested to hear what other ways people on this list 
challenge youth to practice and perform. youth often surpass their 
own expectations when they're challenged to reach a target or goal.
the yearning to self-improve while practicing is in-born. you don't 
need to teach youth to yearn to self-improve. you do need to give 
them ample self-improvement opportunities.

             - phil shapiro
               arlington, virginia

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-- 
Phil Shapiro  pshapiro at his.com
http://www.his.com/pshapiro/ (personal)
http://teachme.blogspot.com (weblog)
http://storymakers.net (multimedia explorations)

"Where there is storytelling there are relationships. Where there is 
storytelling there are folks who crave to speak and learn." -
Brenda Laurel.

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