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The Cha Cha Challenge
Reflections upon Learning
Dave Appleby
The cha cha was his choice.
Unlike the vast majority of learners, I planned my learning. My time with Matt was limited so I intended to supplement the face to face learning with YouTube and lots of practice. Moreover, unlike most learners I am confident about learning so I was able to take charge at certain points during the lesson. When I got lost or confused I could stop Matt and ask for specific guidance; after he had shown me the first three steps and started showing me the fourth I was able to insist that three was enough for now; when I reached the point where my head was bursting I could stop the lesson. These are privileges that students rarely possess. In essence, I was being proactive in my learning and most students are, of necessity, reactive.
Some of the barriers to my learning were intrinsic to the task. I had to move, fluently, in sequence, quickly and in time to the music. Watching the videos I felt like someone confronted with a new language: it was a babble of movement; I could not even pick out the ‘words’ of the dance.
I believe I am primarily a visual learner and that auditory and kinaesthetic learning (key components of dance!) are not really my forte. This has been reinforced by the "humorous" comments of both dancing partners and spectators. So I needed to change my self-perception. When I failed my first driving test I told myself that if lorry drivers could drive lorries, I could drive a car. I now told myself that dancing was no more difficult than walking for a baby. I suppose I was repairing my damaged identity, as described by Gee (2003; p61).
I lost track of time at the start of my first lesson; I was concentrating furiously (clearly this is not the experience of “flow” as described by Csíkszentmihályi[1]; I may have been in a state of high challenge but I was not highly skilled). Matt showed me the first two steps and then I tried to copy him; as I did he suggested small corrections and talked about controlling my balance. We practiced and I became marginally faster and more fluent. Then he added the music. For a moment I was dancing in time. I knew that I looked nothing like the swaying elegance of my teacher; nevertheless I was a dancer! I was excited. I had upgraded my A-identity (Gee, 2001).
The first lesson should have ended at this point but the time was not yet over. As an experienced teacher there are times when I know that my students have learned as much as they can take; I try to end the lesson there. Matt is less experienced; he added the third step.
The “New Yorker” adds a twist and an arm movement. Things began to go wrong. When we added it to the other two steps, I began to muddle them all up. My feet were in the wrong place. I improvised a shuffle. I got tangled. I fell over.
I have experienced this same type of confusion when learning languages (something else I have always found difficult). I particularly muddle Italian and Spanish (eg gracias and grazie). Presumably the more similar things are the greater the likelihood of confusion (is this a version of Paivio’s Dual Coding theory?[2]). I think I should have learned one step to a much greater degree of mastery before attempting to learn another. When Matt tried to add a fourth step I insisted we stop.
After my first lesson I quickly forgot even the basics. Within two days I had forgotten how to count! My problem was the "4 and 1, 2, 3” system; being a logical person I needed to start on 1. I had encountered the same difficulty years ago in my one and only samba lesson: asked to count "1, 2, 3, rest, 5, 6, 7, rest", I could not resist adding a four which destroyed the rhythm. This difficulty was solved when I watched a YouTube video[3] in which the instructor counted "cha cha cha, 2, 3"; suddenly I remembered how to do the step!
In some ways this is the same problem as with the confusion described above. This time, however, the confusion involves unlearning something I have learned thoroughly (how to count); in that way it is the opposite of the previous problem. It is difficult to know which is harder.
A third sort of confusion arose with YouTube: there are many alternative versions of the cha cha and even more ways to teach them. I sought a video that taught me in the same way as Matt did. This must be like a child who asks their dad for help with homework and is shown a different way of solving the problem. This might be a good idea because it equips the learner with multiple alternative strategies; on the other hand it might confuse the learner. When a learner has failed to understand one explanation should a teacher try an alternative one or just reiterate the first? Reiteration seems like speaking English abroad loudly and slowly.
I scrutinized every step on YouTube but I couldn't ask questions. I knew I was doing it wrong but I didn't know why; even if I did, I didn't know how to do it right.
Despite assiduous practice I am stuck with the performing the first three steps. I have travelled from Unconscious Incompetence to Conscious Incompetence[4]. According to the literature I can expect to “exist in this state for a long time”; I will need “determination” and “persistence”[5] to reach the stage of Conscious Competence.
The identity changes described by Gee (2003) and Wenger (1988) seem relatively pain free. The situation I am in is more like that described by Meyer and Land (2005; p376): "This transition [to a new identity] … is often problematic, troubling and frequently involves the humbling of the participant .... the transformation can be protracted, over considerable periods of time, and involve oscillation between states, often with temporary regression to earlier status."
In conclusion the barriers to my learning have been the lack of a conceptual background, my belief that I couldn’t dance and the confusions I encountered (trying to learn two similar things before achieving mastery in one, trying to relearn how to count, and the different approaches adopted by different teachers).
The key thing I learned was how easily confusion can damage learning and, therefore, how important it is to be sure that a student has mastered one stage before proceeding to the next.
Bibliography
Gee J, 2001 Identity as an analytic lens for research in Education Review of Research in Education 25: 99-125
Gee J P, 2003 Learning and identity: What does it mean to be a half elf? Pp 51-71 in Gee J P, 2003 What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy Palgrave Macmillan Basingstoke 978-1403961693
Meyer and Land (2005) Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): Epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning in Higher Education 49: 373-388
Norman D, 1993 Experiencing the world pp19-41 in Norman D, 1993 Things that make us smart; Addison Wesley
Wenger E, 1988 A social theory of learning pp 3-17 in Wenger E 1988 Communities of practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)#cite_note-CM1990-5 Accessed 16th November 2009
[4] http://www.businessballs.com/consciouscompetencelearningmodel.htm accessed 15th November 2009
[5] http://changingminds.org/explanations/learning/consciousness_competence.htm Accessed 15th November 2009
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