Study Your Craft: Why and How
As professionals of whatever our occupation is - medicine, motherhood, farming, writing, teaching, etc. - we are expected to be masters of our craft. Yet, people often do just enough to gain that “professional” status and cease to progress further. This is what keeps people from being great and eventually minimizes the impact they have on those around them.
Why study your craft?
If you want to be good at something, you need to learn and you need to practice. Michelangelo didn’t waltz in with some paintbrushes one day and declare that he would paint the Sistine Chapel. Beethoven did not compose 722 original works by just plinking flippantly on a piano. Each of these feats required study and a desire to improve - a relentless desire to improve.
To study one’s craft means to learn, implement, and reflect. We do this so we can do our jobs better and with more satisfaction. When we do a better job, we also expand our impact.
So, how do you study your craft?
Before you can learn, implement, and reflect, you must first take a step back and assess your starting point.
Step 1: Assess yourself.
Before you can begin to study your craft, you need to assess your strengths and weaknesses. I’d recommend starting a journal for this process. Use it as a place to keep your notes, reflections, and ideas. That way you have one place where you can visually see where you’ve started and how you’ve grown.
Ask yourself:
What am I great at?
What am I good at?
What am I weak at?
Take a few minutes to write down your answers to these three questions. Be honest and realistic. People tend to think they are either master of everything or master of nothing, but usually we fit in all three categories above.
For example, one thing I believe I am great at is getting to know my students as people. By the end of the first week I know each of their names and I make a point to have conversations with each student on a weekly basis, and not just about what we are learning, but about their lives.
One thing I believe I am good at is getting kids excited about reading. I do well, but I know I can do even better.
One weakness in my teaching is grammar instruction. I love grammar, but I don’t always feel like I convey what I want to say as effectively as it needs to be said.
Step 2: Learn Through Research
After assessing our strengths and weaknesses, it’s time to learn. My favorite way to do this is through research. Things to research can include the history of your industry, perspectives that agree with what you already know, perspectives that challenge or are against what you believe or know, new and old techniques, style and form, and historical and modern influences.
I do the majority of my research through reading. I seek books about professional development, literature, history of education, politics, and about raising and caring for children. Often what I read in one book leads me to several more.
For your industry, film, podcasts, blogs, radio, or other avenues might be more beneficial. Regardless of how you conduct your research, focus on learning and research widely. Do not willingly put yourself in an echo chamber of the same ideas because it will not force you to understand other opinions or gain the knowledge to defend your own. If you aren’t sure where to begin, use your “good” and “weak” areas as a starting place.
As you research, take notes in your journal. I use this to keep track of ideas and topics for further inquiry, jot down teaching and lesson ideas, write questions that I want to find answers to later, and expand my technical vocabulary.
When thinking about vocabulary, each industry has their own language and jargon (doctor’s speak in medical terms, lawyers have their own slang, teachers use acronyms like crazy). Learning more about the vocabulary used in your industry helps fill in potential holes in your learning and can lead you down new paths of learning.
Most importantly, if you don’t know something, make a note of it. Don’t leave those things unsearched, however, because you’ll leave the structure and integrity of your craft full of holes.
One great way to cement your learning is through discussion. If you have people around you that you can discuss what you’ve learned with, do it! You learn best when you speak through your ideas, form opinions that are backed by reason and research, and challenge your thinking. I am not always the most forthcoming in this way, but I talk to my husband about teaching, lesson ideas, and education politics. He challenges me and forces me to think critically about what I am saying, what I practice, what I believe, and why! This has only strengthened my passion for teaching.
So, learn as much as you can and research widely. Reflect on what you’ve read, and discuss when you have the opportunity.
Step 3: Implement.
Now comes the difficult part - putting that learning to use. In teaching, it can mean trying a new lesson or changing the way you handle a student’s behavior. After learning more about different styles of teaching, old and new, I can change and adapt the classroom itself to better fit the needs of my students. Teaching is constant trial and error, allowing us to continually patch the holes in our craft and explore new approaches to problems that arise.
Get creative! This is where you grow to be great at your craft.
Step 4: Reflect and repeat.
To effectively study your craft, put yourself in a state of constant reflection. By thinking about how to grow and learn, you will never stop studying your craft. Write down your reflections in your journal and head back to the research.
After a while, you will have a wealth of information under your belt. You will have the research and know-how to support what you do and say. And, you will grow in confidence.
Human beings have the amazing opportunity to excel and be great at whatever they set their mind to. Don’t stand in the way of your own success. Give yourself the room and support you need to grow.
Happy studying!