Learning and Teaching Strategies

Last night I went to my third Cha Cha lesson with my boyfriend. I love dancing, moving with the music, feeling so graceful and expressive. I really could get lost on the dance floor in my own imagination!

Pedagogically speaking, though, teaching any skill...dance, piano, violin, voice...is basically the same.
#1 The teacher must be able to model the skill for the visual learner.
#2 The teacher must draw from the students' prior knowledge to talk them through each step.
#3 The teacher must watch students' attempt and be able to identify and fix the problems.
Often in my classroom I find myself rushing through #3, and it is the most essential because it is where the student shows what he or she is learning.

Last night I got frustrated because I couldn't get a particular step, so I slowed it down and watched my feet carefully until I diagnosed the problem and was able to correct it. The most difficult thing, emotionally, is not to get embarassed that I can't get it right! Those two self-teaching skills are the weakness of most of my students today, and they are skills that can only be learned through the process of failure and success. Today, in our schools, teachers are forced to be so focused on the goal (raise test scores, get an A, memorize facts) that the process is overlooked. Learning is a journey, and mistakes are expected! It's how we teach our students to handle those mistakes that can change the future.

Me...a piano teacher!

This week my students asked me how long I've been playing the piano and where I learned to play. I told them the truth...I learned to play the piano first by learning to sing and read the pitches on the staff, then poke out those pitches on the piano until what I heard sounded like what I was singing. I've never had any formal piano lessons, but my mother plays piano and organ and taught me little by little as I was growing up. Not too impressive, huh?

I look back on the ways that I learned music and the reasons why I love it so much. I was not forced to attend private lessons or required to practice daily. Instead I was immersed in it through school and church choirs and watching my mother and father sing and play whatever instruments we had around the house. My music education began with experience and watching others share joy through music. I am so lucky in this, and it is what gives me the vision for where to start with my students. Inspire them, encourage them, challenge them... this is my mission for them, and my mission for myself... take the love for music that God has given you, despite formal training, and share it!