This section begins with taking the focus off of the student and puts the focus on the teacher. We are invited to view teaching as a cognitive skill. Willingham states that teaching is very demanding on the working memory. He then goes on to discuss the differences between experience and practice. Experience is simply that, being engaged in the activity, practice on the other hand is working to improve. To futher his point the author goes on to state "A great deal of data show that teachers improve during their first five years in the field, as measured by student learning. After five years, however, the curve gets flat, and a teacher with twenty years of experience is (on average) no better or worse than a teacher with ten." Steps are given to guide a teacher into making teaching a practice and not an experience. The steps include getting feedback and investing time in activities that are not the target task itself. The chapter closes out with suggestions to move from experience to practice.
The conclusion restates the cognitive principles which should be reviewed to help make teaching a cognitive experience. After reading this section a few questions come to mind. How do we recognize as teachers if we are simply accumulating experience or if we are truly practicing? How do we prevent ourselves from going on autopilot? Is there value to experience or do we only improve through practice?
I think there has to be value to experience. A teacher could allow themselves to cruise on autopilot, but if a teacher reflects and seeks professional development, they will always improve. This is my second year of teaching, first in the third grade and my veteran second and third grade teachers around me know SOO much that I don't. That is from experience.
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