1-2: Low Risk, High Reward

Building on the core concept from The First Tenet, I want to tell you about a really bad habit I had as a new teacher, and why it was so bad. But I bet it was a behavior you've experienced countless times in the classroom.

I would be in the middle of explaining something, and then ask a question of my students—a question to which I had a "right" answer in mind. Student hands would go up, and I'd call on them, trying to call on students who hadn't yet answered. Some kids would just guess. Some kids always had the answer. Some kids never raised their hands. Seems innocuous, right?

I was making a pretty toxic environment for learning. Let me explain.

If you're a kid, academic performance confers social capital. What does it mean if you're the kid who always knows the answer? What about the kid who tries, but never gets it right? Every time I asked a question that way, I was setting up a risk-reward scenario for each student. Each student's share of risk and reward was different, but at the extreme end, there was the high-risk, low-reward breakdown. The danger of publicly getting something wrong vastly outweighed the minor reward of a right answer. And so, they never spoke up.

Obviously, you're not a kid in my class. In fact, you're neither a kid, nor in a classroom. Even so, self-directed learners run the risk of creating high-risk, low-reward situations for themselves. When you're just getting started in an area of study, making big leaps to challenge yourself can feel daunting. That's high-risk. There are even some learning platforms that will make asking questions feel unwelcome. That's extremely high-risk. When success means you just get to take another risk of the same size, that's low-reward.

As you gain more experience and confidence, the risk/reward proposition can change. Learning resources that didn't make sense at the start will provide new value. The trick is to begin with low-risk, rewarding activities you enjoy. Then, after some practice, you can move on to the riskier stuff, which at that point will be more rewarding!

I'm bringing this up now so you keep it in mind while developing your learning plan and choosing resources. It really is okay to start on Easy Mode. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.