Growing Pains (not the TV show from the 80's)

We all know the cliche "No pain, no gain" and have no problem using it as motivation when we work out.  When kids are growing, their bones hurt, and we say they are having growing pains.  We seem to understand that when it comes to physical change, pain will be involved.  We understand that while it is not fun, it is necessary for improvement.

The acquisition of new skills often means failing until we succeed.  We know that to improve our condition, we may have to destroy the old condition.  We practice a dance move over and over until we get it right, suffering leg pain, foot pain, and blisters in the process.  We take a kind of pride in our soreness after a hard workout.  We practice free throws, putts, and other athletic skills over and over.  We hire personal trainers to yell at us, making the pain we experience from a workout even worse.  We intentionally don't look at the ingredients on bottles of skin enhancers because we would rather have the results than be grossed out by the contents when we could just look better.  When it comes to improving the body, we get it.  There must be pain for there to be growth.

As I teacher, I will tell you that most people don't seem to get it when it comes to improving the mind.  When I push a student past their current state, they are rather upset by it.  Many (but not all) of their parents are as well.  I teach eighth grade, which is a difficult transition year because it is the year a  start as a middle schooler and ends as a high school student.  Teachers must take students higher up on the Bloom's taxonomy ladder more often.  The study methods students use for the first years of school are not enough any more.  They must start making connections between different aspects of the material they are learning, and they must connect it to things they have already learned.  They must apply and analyze information in a way they haven't had to before.  Students who have always been high performers on tests suddenly find themselves making lower grades than they used to.

I know this sounds like it is all bad news, but it isn't.  Lifting weights doesn't make your muscles stronger.  If they did, each rep would be easier than the last.  We all know that doesn't happen.  Muscles grow stronger BECAUSE the muscle fibers are broken down by lifting weights that are heavier than the muscle can currently lift.  They then repair themselves with more connections.  Personal trainers take people beyond what they believe to be their physical limits.  If they don't, the trainee will not see results.  The same is true of the brain.  When a student first learns something, they may be confused and feel off balance because the material is more difficult than what their mind can process in its current state.  The educational term for this is "mental disequilibrium."  As the new skill is practiced, the brain is brought back into balance with the new skill.  That is learning.  This means if a student is never confused, he isn't learning.  If I don't stretch them beyond what they believe their limit to be, they will not see results.  You would fire your trainer if every workout was easy, and you should drop any teacher that makes every class period easy.