From the Desk of Melissa…
What if we taught piano lessons like we do reading?
“Alright, we are ready for our lesson today. To begin I am going to show you the notes in our song and play them. You are going to tell me what they are.”
“Now you are going to see these notes again. I want you to remember them so that you can play them by yourself. This song is called Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”
“Let me play it for you so you know what it sounds like.”
“I want you to pick your favorite part of the song to share with me at the end. Now go ahead and play for me.”
Student begins playing and makes some mistakes… teacher steps in immediately and plays the correct notes for the student not waiting to see if they catch on to the note pattern once they are more comfortable with the piece.
Lesson continues with the teacher taking over at each mistake. By the end, the teacher has played Twinkle, Twinkle through several times while the student sits with hands in lap and watches.
“Now, what was your favorite part? We will play this again next week, keep practicing!”
So where is this lesson playing off key?
Did you notice how the student listened and watched and identified but did not actually apply? In order for anyone to learn anything there has to be lots of application. The student never got around to this important part of learning. In addition, a big part of teaching reading (or piano) is informally assessing where students are struggling and showing improvement.
You want to be able to answer these questions for yourself: Where should this lesson go next? What did I learn about my student today? Do I know what parts of this piece(text) they could play on their own? What skills did they get to apply today? Will this student be ready for their recital (think EOGs)?
Playing in Harmony: A common practice with teaching reading is “guided reading”. This is when students with a common need come together to practice reading on an instructional level text. Instructional level means a text where students can typically read with 90-93% word accuracy and understand the text. Guided Piano should look like Guided Reading where the student gets the opportunity to practice new music for the teacher to gauge their capabilities. If you give your students a piece they have already mastered (something they have read before or that is below their instructional level) you aren’t able to see where their missteps are and where to redirect.
Ready for the Recital: Students can only perform how they have practiced. If they have not had the independent practice reading challenging text and thinking/responding deeply to text we cannot expect them to do so on an assessment.
So maestros get back to your lesson making sure your students are getting to practice their reading and apply their word strategy and comprehension skills in front of you every time they perform!
So funny I just ran across this blog. I came on the website for something else and just saw this…about 30 minutes after completing a peer observation on our piano teacher. When I first found out I had to observe him, I was slightly nervous. I’m a reading teacher! As he talked with and coached the student he was working with, I was learning so much, not about piano, but about how to be a better teacher. He didn’t jump in and take over as the student made mistakes, but he also didn’t do the “smile and nod” thing that I’ve seen other teachers do. She’d play until a good stopping point, and then he made the student aware of her mistake (if she didn’t self-correct). Instead of telling her what to do or what was wrong, he had her articulate it and then try again. Differentiation was a given; every student needed something completely different. She was doing the work, and he was coaching her. Seems so natural, but why are our LA (and other content teachers) struggling with this? As I left I continued to reflect on this experience… and then I saw this blog. Thank you!