Additionally, I have been unhappy with my tendencies to be lenient about how much they practice at home, when the parents pay me, and making them start and end on time (though this really is only a problem one day a week). Almost all of my students are from my old ward, so I'm friends with all the parents. I know the families and tend to make more exceptions than I should as a professional.
I've been racking my brain and combing the internet for ideas to help make my lessons more beneficial, more organized, and more interesting. I really want to become a better teacher and expect more from my students.
There are a couple of sites I found extremely helpful for teaching ideas and resources.
Layton Music Games and Resources
Music Matters
Free Music Theory Workbooks
I've decided I'll not make many changes until next fall, but here are a few things I'll be changing:
- I will create a practice log booklet for every student. In it I will have:
- clear expectations for my lessons, payment, scheduling/rescheduling, vacations, etc
- my piano schedule with names and phone numbers of the parents. That way if they have a conflict on their scheduled day, they can call another parent and try to switch slots for the week. I'm hoping this will help reduce the number of "extra" hours I have to come up with for make-up lessons.
- a page with common musical terms and symbols
- Key signature charts
- Scales
- a few workbook sheets according to level
- Practice log/assignment pages. Students will have to keep track of how much they practice everyday. Parents will have to sign. Students need to see how much (or in most cases how little) they actually practice and be accountable for it.
- Staff paper for various things. One goal I have is to help every student compose an original song by the end of the year. It will be on staff paper with dynamics and everything. Ambitious, I know.
- Year end evaluations of progress
- Every student will have to memorize a scale and musical term every week, regardless of their skill level.
- I will have a reward/point system for things they do well. They will get points for practicing, bringing all their books, having their term/scale memorized, playing their songs well, etc. I'm not sure what the reward(s) will be. Any ideas? I have kids ranging in age from 8-14 yrs.
- The first 5 min. of the lesson will be dedicated to some sort of "music game or challenge". This will include things like sight reading, flash cards, rhythm games, listening games, not identification, intervals, etc. I will have a jar with popsicle sticks representing each challenge they have to pull from. There are just too many things to cover in every 1/2 hour lesson.
- I will have bi-yearly recitals with themes for the song choices. Our first recital will be in May, and I think I'll do "Classical Composers". The recital at the end of the year will most likely have to do with holiday music and their original compositions.
6 comments:
Good for you! I know that I loved the fact that my piano teacher was so organized. She truly treated it like her career, and I know her students benefited.
I think you have some great ideas here, and I hope you are able to smoothly implement them all. One thing my teacher did, since she had enough students, was to have once-monthly ensemble lessons. It was a group lesson and we practiced playing a simple piece together. She had her regular upright piano, plus a few keyboards as well xylophones, and students who played an additional instrument were welcome to bring that to play along. It worked pretty well, and was a good opportunity to get the feel of how an orchestra/band worked without technically being one. At these lessons, we completed theory worksheets and for each one we completed correctly, we received stickers which, along with stickers received for practicing regularly, could be redeemed for small musical prizes (like small, cheap instruments, pencils/pens with musical designs, sticker books, cutsie notepads, candy, etc….stuff that appealed to us). It took us, on average, about 3 months of working to earn the stickers in order to get enough to redeem them for something.
As for bigger reward ideas, another thing my teacher did was to give us our choice of a hardcover hymn book or primary songbook once we completed her entire piano course (which, granted, took several years to get through). Most of her students were LDS, so this worked. Maybe it would for you, too, since you say your students mostly come from your old ward. Along with the stickers we earned for practicing/doing theory worksheets, etc, we were given smaller rewards at the semi-annual recitals...things like a musically shaped Christmas ornament or springtime treat or something along with a certificate. Nothing huge, but it was nice to be recognized for our efforts.
I've been a lurker for so long I can't even remember when I started reading. It sounds like you have some GREAT new ideas. I'm not a piano teacher, but when I was the ages of the kids you teach, my teach awarded with a sticker system in our log books. Each song we passed off that week was worth a sticker and if we practiced every day (except Sunday of course) we got a sticker for that as well. 20 stickers=a full size candy bar. It usually took 4-5 weeks to get there, but it was the highlight of the month to choose a candy bar from her basket (she watched for sales and stocked up). Hope that helps a little. ~KaLee
wow, celia, i have been in such a rut too. i only have one student right now (since i haven't been feeling well), but i would like to take on more in the next year or so. i have been looking and looking for fun stuff, and that layton music site had a LOT of good ideas. i will probably have to sit down and print out lots of stuff from them one of these days.
if/when i get more of a business going (i have 7 students who want to take piano lessons, but i just don't feel well enough on a regular basis) i definitely want to get more organized with clear expectations, etc. reading your post really motivated me to do that, and it made me more excited about teaching!
Lindsay and Kalee, great suggestions. Thanks for de-lurking Kalee! =)
I really do like the idea of having a chart with a column for each kid. As an immediate reward they get to pick stickers and put them on their chart for the points earned for the day. Then they build up to a bigger prize. I'll probably do a mixture of big candy bars, or things from the $1 section in Target or something.
One of my piano teachers really felt strongly about kids learning to play hymns. If we passed off a hymn out of the big hymn book (perfectly) with her singing, we got $5! There was a limit to the # we could get $ for, but holy cow was that a motivating factor for me!! (Not like I needed much motivation. I practiced songs I wasn't even assigned most of the time.)
Amanda, I'm glad you liked the links. They were really helpful for me. That Layton Music person is LDS if you didn't notice. She actually has a link on her site to another site of hers that has Primary Music resources. She's simplified some songs from the children's hymn book for piano, and she has a lot of flip charts for Primary songs. It's a good resource for Primary Choristers.
Also, one of those sites linked to finale program. This is a free download for music notation software. It's very basic, but I'm so excited for it! I have had students who want to play songs I can't find simplified versions for, so I'll just simplify them myself. This will also work when my kids get their songs written. It will have a "professional" final look.
Woot. I just transposed and arranged my first piece in that finale program. Pretty cool. The only thing I don't really like about it is that the # of measures/line is inconsistent. The first line has 9, second has 10 and the third has 5. I wish it would space it better. But it's much better than doing it by hand!
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