I'm often struck by how, in English ed and teacher ed courses, we encourage pre-service teachers to learn about their students in order to inform their lesson planning, etc., but we and they sometimes seem to remain vague about how one transforms information about student needs, interests, and abilities into activities. Even less is said about how a teacher might do this on the spur-of-the-moment in response to what students say and do during a lesson.

On a recent episode of the TV show "Dancing with the Stars" (yes, I'm a fan), I saw an example of HOW this transformation happens and thought the example might be accessible. In case you don't know, DWTS is a reality show in which celebrities are paired with pro ballroom dancers and compete against each other each week for judges scores and viewer votes. This season, one of the celebs was snowboarder, Louie Vito. When Louie was having trouble with a particular move, his partner, pro dancer Chelsie Hightower, showed him a video of himself snowboarding and pointed out how the move he had done on the mountain was similar to the one she was trying to teach him in the ballroom. Here's the link: http://abc.go.com/watch/dancing-with-the-stars/93512/239413/week-6-part-2.

This pop example illustrates how powerful it can be draw on a practice a student is already familiar with to teach him/her something new, not only because it can make that practice more relevant, but because it can make it more accessible--the student sees how s/he can succeed. I think it's also significant that this isn't just an example of modeling--though that, too, is a powerful technique--but one in which the person's own prior practice is recontextualized.