Has anybody got my copy of "Making the Rounds With Oscar?"
Had my first day back at Mirrabooka Primary today after the school holidays. I'm so pleased with all of my students there - they actually practiced over the holidays! I have many other students at other schools who rarely practice even during the school term even though they have keyboards/pianos at home. Out of twelve students at Mirrabooka, only two or three have regular access to a keyboard for practice, so they have to just practice moving their fingers on a paper keyboard on a table. It goes to show what a huge difference attitude makes to performance.
One student in particular, Alice, is doing fantastically! She's seven or eight years old and extremely behind her age-group with her coordination. Towards the end of first term she had begun to make progress with moving each finger individually, and I gave her some special exercises to work on over the holidays. She bounced into the room today smiling from ear to ear saying she'd gotten it right. She showed me - she can now play C-D-E-F-G, hands together, without mashing notes or anything! Her hand position has also shown a huge improvement. Before the holidays she had a very strong tendency to play with her thumbs only, tucking the rest of her fingers under the keyboard (to the extent that 4-6 year olds do because they don't have very strong fingers).
Today, I placed a stone on the back of each of her hands and had her play the exercise, and it wasn't long before she was able to play it (separate hands) without the stone falling off! I gave all of the kids two stones each so that they can practice this hands together at home, and I'm quite confident that she will be able to do it as well as the others in her group by next week!
One of the others in the same group seems to have looked at some pieces that are a bit further on in the book, and she's much more confident than she was at the beginning of the year. I think that she will be able to progress more quickly than others now that she's mastered the most basic things, and she has a very good memory for terms. Having her in a group with Alice and also another student who is capable enough but less confident is really good, because her enthusiasm seems catching. She encourages the other two to get competitive with her (in a good way) and the three of them work really well together. Now that Alice has started to practice a lot at home and is less distracting in classes, the other two are even better with her when we do group work. Instead of standing back silently when I ask her to do/answer something, they help her to do it right. This seems to help Alice to work really well, and she's becoming much more confident when participating in the group activities.
Another student who is doing really well is one who is in an intensive english class (the music teacher at the school tells me that there are a lot of refugees at the school who don't speak any english when they come here). She seems to understand me well enough, though there are obviously a few gaps here and there, but she doesn't say very much. I end most lessons by going through flash cards with the whole group, and they can win prizes if they get their questions right. For most of last term, I had to specifically ask her to answer, and then she would practically whisper her response. Now, I only have to look in her direction and although she's not as loud or 'out there' as the other kids, she speaks loudly and clearly enough to be heard by the group. She plays very well and has excellent coordination. The only thing that I think might hold her back is her timidity, and since she's starting to shake that off I'm sure that she will go forward in leaps and bounds this term.
I'm so happy to be teaching again. I really missed it during the school holidays, and I'm now even more assured that this is what I want to do with my life. It's such an amazing feeling to have students making such good progress - it's a bit of a cliche, but it's true that you can actually see the moment when an idea clicks in their minds! It's intensely satisfying to see them struggle with something one week and then come in the following week and play it perfectly. I finally feel as though I've started to do something worthwhile.
One student in particular, Alice, is doing fantastically! She's seven or eight years old and extremely behind her age-group with her coordination. Towards the end of first term she had begun to make progress with moving each finger individually, and I gave her some special exercises to work on over the holidays. She bounced into the room today smiling from ear to ear saying she'd gotten it right. She showed me - she can now play C-D-E-F-G, hands together, without mashing notes or anything! Her hand position has also shown a huge improvement. Before the holidays she had a very strong tendency to play with her thumbs only, tucking the rest of her fingers under the keyboard (to the extent that 4-6 year olds do because they don't have very strong fingers).
Today, I placed a stone on the back of each of her hands and had her play the exercise, and it wasn't long before she was able to play it (separate hands) without the stone falling off! I gave all of the kids two stones each so that they can practice this hands together at home, and I'm quite confident that she will be able to do it as well as the others in her group by next week!
One of the others in the same group seems to have looked at some pieces that are a bit further on in the book, and she's much more confident than she was at the beginning of the year. I think that she will be able to progress more quickly than others now that she's mastered the most basic things, and she has a very good memory for terms. Having her in a group with Alice and also another student who is capable enough but less confident is really good, because her enthusiasm seems catching. She encourages the other two to get competitive with her (in a good way) and the three of them work really well together. Now that Alice has started to practice a lot at home and is less distracting in classes, the other two are even better with her when we do group work. Instead of standing back silently when I ask her to do/answer something, they help her to do it right. This seems to help Alice to work really well, and she's becoming much more confident when participating in the group activities.
Another student who is doing really well is one who is in an intensive english class (the music teacher at the school tells me that there are a lot of refugees at the school who don't speak any english when they come here). She seems to understand me well enough, though there are obviously a few gaps here and there, but she doesn't say very much. I end most lessons by going through flash cards with the whole group, and they can win prizes if they get their questions right. For most of last term, I had to specifically ask her to answer, and then she would practically whisper her response. Now, I only have to look in her direction and although she's not as loud or 'out there' as the other kids, she speaks loudly and clearly enough to be heard by the group. She plays very well and has excellent coordination. The only thing that I think might hold her back is her timidity, and since she's starting to shake that off I'm sure that she will go forward in leaps and bounds this term.
I'm so happy to be teaching again. I really missed it during the school holidays, and I'm now even more assured that this is what I want to do with my life. It's such an amazing feeling to have students making such good progress - it's a bit of a cliche, but it's true that you can actually see the moment when an idea clicks in their minds! It's intensely satisfying to see them struggle with something one week and then come in the following week and play it perfectly. I finally feel as though I've started to do something worthwhile.