Standard 3 - Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning
3.1 Challenging the year 8s
3.1 Establish challenging learning
Students must be challenged and pushed to effectively learn, and depending on the classroom, environment and school, extreme challenges can be used at great length. If the students have the ability and motivation to work hard to achieve an extremely difficult task, then this should be put forward to them so that they have an opportunity to excel and achieve. If the motivation and standard of talent/ability is lacking in the first place, then obviously a class cannot be given a task that is so far out of their reach that they will not achieve it. An example of this the year 8 band that I took. They were a very intelligent and talented bunch, so once we had learn the song that I wrote out for them (No Lies), I wrote chords on the board and went around the band and made them all take a 4 bar solo. This is quite advanced for their level, and some of them responded with great enthusiasm, and some not so much. I discovered that this was a great way to push and challenge students, because all of their peers are doing exactly the same thing in front of each other, so soloing doesn't seem as daunting.
Students must be challenged and pushed to effectively learn, and depending on the classroom, environment and school, extreme challenges can be used at great length. If the students have the ability and motivation to work hard to achieve an extremely difficult task, then this should be put forward to them so that they have an opportunity to excel and achieve. If the motivation and standard of talent/ability is lacking in the first place, then obviously a class cannot be given a task that is so far out of their reach that they will not achieve it. An example of this the year 8 band that I took. They were a very intelligent and talented bunch, so once we had learn the song that I wrote out for them (No Lies), I wrote chords on the board and went around the band and made them all take a 4 bar solo. This is quite advanced for their level, and some of them responded with great enthusiasm, and some not so much. I discovered that this was a great way to push and challenge students, because all of their peers are doing exactly the same thing in front of each other, so soloing doesn't seem as daunting.
3.4 The Blues resource!
3.4 Select and use resources
There are so many resources out there, both in libraries, musical databases and on the internet that it would be a complete missed opportunity if one did not collect from these places. Whilst resources can be created from scratch, sometimes there are already effectively planned and created resources from a different source that has been filed somewhere for future use by anyone. Selecting and using these resources on top of one's own will create a diverse learning course and the students will be engaged by the different tasks that are set out for them. For example, during my blues unit with a class of year 10s, I discovered an interesting worksheet online that fit in perfectly with what we were working on. It outlined the blues concept perfectly and was a free resource up online for anyone to use. I handed them out to students and the information was transferred effectively.
There are so many resources out there, both in libraries, musical databases and on the internet that it would be a complete missed opportunity if one did not collect from these places. Whilst resources can be created from scratch, sometimes there are already effectively planned and created resources from a different source that has been filed somewhere for future use by anyone. Selecting and using these resources on top of one's own will create a diverse learning course and the students will be engaged by the different tasks that are set out for them. For example, during my blues unit with a class of year 10s, I discovered an interesting worksheet online that fit in perfectly with what we were working on. It outlined the blues concept perfectly and was a free resource up online for anyone to use. I handed them out to students and the information was transferred effectively.
3.5 Theory with the year 10s
3.5 Use effective classroom communication
For students to learn effectively, there needs to be an effective channel of communication, both back and forth between teacher and student. This involves talking, emailing, listening, discussing and many other communicative techniques. From the teacher's end, the communication (any sort) must be precise and direct so that the students know exactly what is expected of them. This can be as simple as neat, cleanly laid out whiteboard work. It can also incorporate various ICT devices (like the aforementioned Sibelius) to convey information effectively. The picture on the left depicts me taking a year 10 theory class using clearly set out whiteboard tasks and examples.
For students to learn effectively, there needs to be an effective channel of communication, both back and forth between teacher and student. This involves talking, emailing, listening, discussing and many other communicative techniques. From the teacher's end, the communication (any sort) must be precise and direct so that the students know exactly what is expected of them. This can be as simple as neat, cleanly laid out whiteboard work. It can also incorporate various ICT devices (like the aforementioned Sibelius) to convey information effectively. The picture on the left depicts me taking a year 10 theory class using clearly set out whiteboard tasks and examples.