Coaching practices for Explain Out Loud

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Explain Out Loud, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I thought I understood this until I tried to actually say it out loud
• I’ve got an exam or a presentation coming up on something I’ve studied a lot, and I want to find out whether I actually get it
• It all feels clear and connected in my head, but the second I try to actually write the explanation out the whole thing falls apart and I see how many steps I was just hand-waving over.
• I can get to the right answer but the second someone asks me to explain why I did it that way, I go blank
• I can explain it smoothly to myself, but I have a feeling I’m skipping right over the parts I don’t actually get

Practices that may help

1. Explain it out loud to a real or imagined learner
   Actually say the explanation aloud, to a person, a pet, or an empty chair.
   The Protege Effect: Learn It Better by Teaching It
2. Explain it to a complete beginner
   Teach the concept in plain words to someone who knows nothing about it.
   The Feynman Technique, Step by Step
3. Write the explanation, do not just think it
   Put the "why" in writing so vague mental hand-waving cannot pass as understanding.
   Elaborative Interrogation: Ask "Why Is This True?"
4. Articulation prompts
   Ask learners to explain their reasoning before, during, and after a task to surface and strengthen tacit knowledge.
   Cognitive Apprenticeship: Learning by Making Thinking Visible
5. Teach it to a real person
   Explain the concept to an actual listener who can ask questions back.
   The Feynman Technique, Step by Step
6. Expert-explanation comparison
   After explaining a concept yourself, compare your explanation to an expert’s and locate the differences.
   Illusion of Explanatory Depth: You Know Less Than You Think
7. Third-party explanation test
   Explain the concept to a person who knows nothing about it and let their questions expose your gaps.
   Illusion of Explanatory Depth: You Know Less Than You Think
8. Teach a real peer and let them push back
   Explain to another person who can ask questions and say "I don’t get it."
   The Protege Effect: Learn It Better by Teaching It
9. Apply the explanation test to gauge real understanding
   If you can’t explain something simply without notes, you probably don’t understand it as well as you think.
   The Dunning-Kruger Effect, Understood Clearly
10. Simplify the language and add an analogy
    Rewrite the explanation in everyday words and anchor it to something familiar.
    The Feynman Technique, Step by Step

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