“Peak” has been lying dormant for the longest time. It digs deep into the Science of Expertise, something that appeals to me, but the conditions were never right for reading. I have two kids; I just want to snatch my social life back from the clutches of imposed care-taking; the font size is too small; and the pages are yellowing.

Then, I started to tear off pages whenever I read, and the dopamine rush proved enough for me to tackle this book. Boy, am I glad to have read it because it provides many insights rather pertinent to my context.

I have read somewhat about deliberate practice, but what the authors do well is to make me aware of purposeful practice and how it is one rung below deliberate practice in the ladder of self-improvement. This reminds me of popular platforms like Geniebook that zero in on a child’s weaknesses and bombard him with questions that enable him to improve on his areas of growth. No wonder they are so successful at recruiting kids for tuition.

So, this human teacher cannot lose out to technology. As an ex-Science teacher, I have long utilised the benefits of concept maps and flow charts in my teaching. However, thanks to “Peak”, I was able to act with conviction. Frustrated about my students’ inability to give me any examples of personal pronouns - my area of focus last term - I drew a flow chart, declared firmly, “You need to see this in your mind’s eye!!” and got them to replicate the flow chart on their workbooks with their eyes closed. I didn’t shun away from using jargon like mental representations with them because I shouldn’t subject them to dumbed-down explanations even if they are learning foundation English! My conviction, strong. 💪

Personally, I was keen on leveraging deliberate practice to improve my writing. I have reached the stage in which I get bored with the feedback offered by Meta AI and Magic School AI. No harm using them, I suppose. At least, I know that I need to work on making more explicit transitions and ensuring that my conclusion cycles back to my introduction. But there comes a point in time where I want to learn from real writers and bear witness to their quirks and idiosyncrasies. The authors delivered what I have been asking for. They told the story of Benjamin Franklin and detailed the process in which he made a conscious effort to model his writing after the style used by published authors in various authentic texts. It’s high time I employ mentor texts in my own writing lol.