Recruiting is finished and numbers for next year have come in. Looks like my program is still growing...over 330 students signed up for orchestra next year at my school. That's over 25% of our student population enrolled in my program. It feels pretty good to spread the gift of music to so many students. How did I get so lucky to be able to do this? I'm at a point where I need help with managing my large program, so another teacher will be hired to teach a few orchestra classes. This is my advice for that teacher, as well as any new teacher out there...
Program
Philosophy
What are your beliefs and desires for your program? Here are my thoughts:
The plight of many people in the world is complacency and
mediocrity. I believe in inspiring
students to rise above the tendency to do only minimum effort. All students have greatness in them and all
can achieve success. It’s only a matter
of learning how to work for it and push to overcome obstacles. We learn about our true potential as we turn
challenges into strengths through diligent work and effort. I want students to discover they are amazing
and can truly accomplish anything.
Greatness is in reach and we reach for it daily. When students think they can’t…I show them
they can. They will rise to the
challenge. I will never give up on a
student.
Book
Recommendation: Nurtured By Love
by Shinichi Suzuki, Ability Development from Birth to Age 0, by Shinichi
Suzuki
Practicing
Students don’t know how to practice. They don’t realize that they must practice
small sections correctly over and over.
When in class, I do my best to model how to properly practice and teach
students how to practice at home. Of
course I would like students to practice.
I remind them, encourage them, and even sometimes incentivize them. We have playing tests and practice
assignments. Even so, I NEVER assume
students are going to get the work done at home. Sometimes there are struggles at home we can’t
even comprehend. I never blame students
for poor playing and berate them for not practicing enough. In my program, practicing is simply an
expectation tracked through weekly assignments.
Even if I required practice cards or had more frequent tests, I don’t
believe students would practice more. I
make sure our rehearsals are effective.
That is our practice session. I insist
students master music in class. It is my
job to help them learn and achieve success while they are with me.
Book
Recommendation: The Little Book of
Talent, by Daniel Coyle
Rehearsals
We work hard and the pacing is quick. I try to involve all students all the
time. There is a need to hear individual
sections at times, but with some quick thinking, all students can be always
working and practicing – even if it’s just fingering notes, air-bowing rhythms,
or writing counting. During rehearsal, I
am demanding and authoritative without demeaning students. They must feel it is
ok to make a mistake - everyone will
make mistakes every day and our room is a safe place for mistakes. But in our quest to overcome mediocrity, we
work to fix all errors and reach the highest possible level of
performance. If it’s not right, we do it
again. Students can master anything with
proper teaching and patience. Make every minute of rehearsal valuable.
Tips for
effective rehearsals:
· Introduce new skills AWAY from the music. Warm-up time is perfect to try new rhythms
and master new note patterns and fingerings.
·
Drill very small sections. Let all students learn the hard parts from
different sections by writing notes on board or by making practice parts. If students can’t seem to master something,
keep breaking it down into smaller and smaller skills until it is manageable. If students aren’t getting it within a couple
minutes, switch to different approach.
·
Reinforce difficult passages daily. It can take weeks of consistent practice
before a measure stays correct all the time.
Keep reviewing until students can play correctly on their FIRST try….and
even then keep reviewing. Do everything
you did at the last rehearsal while gradually adding new skills and content.
·
Be creative and think outside the box. Don’t use an excuse like “I’m not a creative
person.” Try new
ideas and always be learning. I love to
keep students guessing what will happen next in my classroom.
Book
Recommendation: Teach Like A Pirate
by Dave Burgess
Classroom
Management
Many new teachers worry about classroom management. Before my first teaching job, I remember
having dreams about attempting to teach a class and the students wouldn’t
listen and things were in complete chaos.
What a nightmare! Don’t fear. In a properly run classroom, there will
rarely be a discipline problem in class.
Busy students don’t have time to act out. A teacher must be authoritative. Don’t be afraid to tell students what to
do. Learn to speak loudly. You can have fun and should feel free to be
yourself, but there must be a way to quickly bring students back to focus.
Students must know your expectations through well established
routines and procedures. These routines
must be practiced every day. Once a teacher
becomes lax, students will in turn become lax about following procedures. It’s perfectly fine to remind students about
procedures every day.
Important procedures:
How to enter the classroom, what to do when they enter, how to get out
supplies, where to put their things, how to handle instruments, putting music
in order on stands, completing bellwork, how to hand in assignments, how to get
tuned, how to act during rehearsals, what to do when not playing, what to do if
they can’t find their music, what to do when they don’t have an instrument,
what to do if they have a problem with their instrument during class, how/when
to put instruments away, what to do before the bell rings, how to leave the
classroom.
One thing that helps with classroom management is to keep
pacing quick and efficient. Slow pacing
creates classroom management problems and class morale will suffer. Be aware of how long it takes to tune…how long
takes to do transitions…how long to explain concepts. It’s important to keep instructions quick and
efficient.
Students will stay on task better when you walk the
room. Learn to teach while moving about
the room. Switch student seats
frequently (every 2 weeks). Be aware of student
body language throughout your lessons.
If students are getting tired or frustrated it is time to switch to a
new idea or a different part of the music.
Sometimes, students need an analogy or a story to inspire them to keep
working. Sometimes they need a story
just for a 1 min. break to help them refocus.
Remember, EVERYTHING is fixable and changeable. If you don't like how your class is going, change it. Make it how you want it.
Book
recommendation: Whole Brain Teaching for
Challenging Kids by Chris Biffle
What do
students really want?
Several weeks ago I interviewed some students from
another program. They spoke of
frustration with their music class because of the trouble kids who would not
take the class seriously. They wanted
their group to be the best. They wanted
the teacher to take control and insist on greatness. Students want order. They want ‘trouble’ students to be dealt with
so that rehearsals can be effective.
They want to work hard and sound great.
All students want to succeed – that is why they are with you. They want to be their best and will follow
you as you show them how.
How to get
students to work hard.
I believe students want to work hard, but it is much easier
to get students to work if you have fun!
Many times hard work can be disguised into a game. Much of our rehearsal time involves repetitions
– repeating short musical ideas over and over correctly. Try to create fun ways to add variety to the
repetitions. Use props to add interest
and create memorable ideas to help students retain skills. Fun and light-heartedness is good and
sometimes needed to help them re-focus and overcome frustrations.
How to
inspire students.
Music is inspiring. Overcoming
challenges to achieve greatness is inspiring.
Help students recognize their greatness by pointing out how they improve
throughout a day, a week, or a month. For
example, remind them how hard it was for them when first holding a bow the
right way – and let them realize how easy it has become with consistent effort. Students gain self-confidence as they
recognize their progress. They must be
aware of progress to have any motivation to continue. If a student does not feel like he/she is
improving, they will quickly become frustrated and quit. I like to use a weekly ‘Video of the Week’ to
inspire students to work and love music.
Book Recommendation: Helping
Students Motivate Themselves by Larry Ferlazzo. (I use the first couple of
lessons at the start of the school year before we start working with
instruments.
Selecting
music
Be very careful when choosing music. It needs to be challenging, but
attainable. There should be some pieces
that students can learn quickly, and some that might take more time. I try really hard to never cut a piece of
music after passing it out to students.
It is demoralizing to take music away from a student – it makes them
feel like they have failed. Whatever you
choose, make sure it sounds great. Do
all in your power to help students learn the music well and feel
successful.
How to
connect with students.
Students need to get to know you. It is important that you are genuine and
real. It’s ok to make mistakes and
acknowledge your mistakes. It’s ok to
show your sense of humor and laugh with your students. If you are authentic and show an interest in
your students, they will develop a connection with you as a teacher. Don’t try to teach like someone else. Be true to you and find your style. Students love stories – learn how to tell
stories with powerful delivery. Use
stories in your classroom every day.
Book
Recommendation: The Naked Presenter
by Garr Reynolds. This book is about doing presentations, but it has so many
gems for teachers. After all…we are
presenters.
