What future for education, week 2. My reflection. Part 2

How to become a better learner? First, to have opportunities to do many things (Bill Gates as an example).

Schools have straight curriculum and often ignore kids interests. Such boredom kills desire to learn in some children. It does not mean they are bad learners. It means the teacher hasn't found something his student is good at, hasn't made connections between the subject he/she teaches and the real world, hasn't kindled interest. The film Cares is a good example of this.

What opportunities do I give to children? They can choose the songs we sing. Sometimes they offer new rules for games. I ask them to compose melodies so they can explore the opportunities themselves. But I also should give more examples of using particular material in music than I do. Also, we sing romances of famous composers, and children love it.

I should ask them to pick up their favorite melodies by ear more often. It would also be fun to add beatbox to rhythmics lessons :). At the same time, the curriculum is straight enough and I have to follow it.

I should advise music events or music compositions to listen to. I should play the music to them more often, encourage them to find examples.

What opportunities do I have as a learner? I guess too much. Just to name a few I have chosen:

• sing in a choir;
• play the piano in ensembles;
• teach;
• program using Max MSP;
• learn music history, harmony, polyphony etc.
• learn English.

What I have discarded: learning German, learning to play bass-guitar, working as a software developer. Stop.

How can we as parents help a kid to become better learners?

1. Find our what he/she actually know. Ask questions that might show any misunderstanding. And if there is, ask where did this misunderstanding come from?

2. Give them a bigger picture.

3. Constant feedback.

4. Expand vocabulary.

5. Ask hypothetical questions rather than factual.

Feedback should not be empty. Good feedback is very task-focused and specific. 

What feedback? Btw, some music teachers give very painful feedbacks. I don't think it's correct. For me it won't work. I will loose interest to the subject, get upset and give up. It will not motivate me. I am motivated by new ideas, new look on an old things, by team work, by understanding of importance and (more crucial) practical use of the new information or the exercise.

Teacher must have a good picture of progression in his subject. 

It is a matter of experience. I must admit that my picture hasn't yet become clear. 

Sing a tone, sing some music elements, understand the concept of a scale, interval, chords, apply them from one pitch, then from another etc. Connect these elements together. I use the picture of our school's curriculum, the picture of the books I 've read.

As for my progression in music... I write it down almost every week. My biggest recent achievement is a better understanding of music expression.

A teacher should explain children why they are doing something. They should understand their progression. What it would be like if I am successful? Ask open-ended questions.

The statistics about questioning is bad: 60% recall questions, 20% procedural questions. The answer usually requires 3 words.

The word "Ability" is about teachers' reputation, about their work but not about a kid. It's about the way teacher treats him. So it's a label. 

Expert teacher demands a high cognitive work, expects children to do deep learning work, make sense of it for themselves, really put in some personal views into it.

Reflection tasks

During your own education, how has your "intelligence" been assessed?
How has this affected the educational opportunities you have been given?
What judgments have people made about you that have been affected by an assessment of your "intelligence"?
Do you consider yourself to be a "learner"? why?

What future for education, week 2. My reflection

Week 2: What is intelligence and does it matter?

The week started with the interview with Professor Gordon Stobart, an author of the book called "Expert learner". 

He expresses the idea that I come up with when I started to learn how to learn. He says that we exaggerate the importance of intelligence and abilities. The ability itself is a skill that can be developed, and it dramatically depends on the environment. A person from a privileged background usually has bigger vocabulary, more diverse experience, rather than a person from disadvantaged background. So one could say his/her abilities are higher.

So what actually matters most when you learn are your background (or the environment you create to your students as a teacher) and deliberate practice.

The rule of 10'000 hours is actually about hours of deliberate practice (10 years of 3 hours a day).

It's a practice when you intentionally do something that you are not good at.

What is deliberate practice for me? What am I not good at?

• Harmony. T goes to S. D'oh!
• Creating melodies. Thinking of melody as a complete thought with a beginning and an end.
• Polyphonic music. It is difficult for me to listen to the dialog of several voices that I play.
• Singing. My music intonation is not precise.
• Grasping the whole piece I am going to perform. To see its structure as a building, an architecture.
• In teaching: maintain a long-term interest to the subject I teach to children.

So how should I practice it?

Analyze pieces I play in terms of its harmonic language and voicing. Maybe I should draw a structure of my pieces. I must create melodies, improvise, sing every day.

Such kind of practice is quite painful, cause you fail 50/50 times. Otherwise it's not a deliberate practice.

This statement made me to think about today's practice. Was it deliberate? Considering that I had only 50% of success in my actions, yes :D I tried to memorize 4 pieces from Tchaikovsky "Album for children" (or how it is translated into English). I played, analyzed (mentally) and repeated without the book. I hope such kind of exercises will give a wider framework, I will memorize quicker, hold more details, connections and changes in mind.

What can I improve in my practice? I want to learn to listen to my play in real time, to have an absolute control over the sound. I should train more without an instrument. I should create a clear image of desirable sound, clear image of my movements (precise, flexible and relaxed). And I MUST sleep more.

What can I practice as a teacher? First of all, I should keep track of the students' progress. And since there are many students, I should write it down in order not to forget. It will motivate children to become better than yesterday, I hope. I need to take a video of myself teaching and see what kills an interest and why. I will do it tomorrow.

I want to write down some teaching principles to the paper and read them each day before classes begin. And at the end of the day analyze what when good and what was against that principles, why and what could I do differently.

Another reflection. The professor mentions the books I've read or heard about: "The peak", "Little book of talent". "The peak" is a must-read book.

... to be continued as I have watchced only 2/4 videos this week and haven't done a week assessment yet.

Reflective post for "What future for education?"

Week One: How do we learn?

Successful learning: driving lessons

I was a total newbie, and had no idea how to drive a car. To succeed, I was taking driving lessons almost every day for 2-6 hour for 2 months. There were lots of situations: icy road, highway, traffic jams, turn round, hills, awful country roads, etc. My teacher always gave me a clear feedback: “you haven’t checked the left mirror”, “change transmission”, “you have crossed the doubleline”. The rules were simple: change transmission on time, look to the mirrors, be predictable for the others and be attentive to road signs.

Also, I watched tons of youtube videos with car accidents and analyzed them, took online driving tests, asked my friends to let me drive their cars or park their cars.
By the time of the final exam, I bought my own automobile. I was very interested in getting a driving license.
Conclusion: I spent at least 5 hours each day learning new subject from different perspective. Also, when I drove, I was fully concentrated and other things didn’t interfere with driving process.

Unsuccessful learning: physics

I actually was not very interested in the subject. I didn’t do the homework on time, or did it in the last minute. Didn’t dive into this subject. It was too difficult for me to think on the problems, find my own solutions, so my mind was wandering on different thoughts, I could not focus. And I didn’t have a purpose. Why was I learning physics? To become an engineer? But I don’t want to be an engineer. Actually, I didn’t know what it is to be an engineer, I was just a learner with no cynosure. So I forced myself to learn new things just to get a “pass” grade. In 2 years I gave up.

50/50 successful learning: programming

I was not fully interested in the subject as well, however I was able to learn some new things. I attended lectures, seminars, discussed material with other students, did homework. I think I was able to learn because professors of the computer science department were experts on their subjects, the material was well-structured and I was practicing programming almost every day for 5 years.

In progress: music

At the moment, I am learning to play the piano and to teach music to young children. I practice it every day: play the piano, attend lessons of famous music professors, listen to the music, analyze my feeling, music pieces, read books about learning, playing the piano, music, I watch piano competitions, play music with friends, record my performance, etc.
I have some difficulties as a teacher, since my music education at music school was a poor quality, it was not about the music at all. And I didn't learn anything when I was a kid. So I need to find the answers from books, other people, from observations and experiments on these questions:
- what steps and exercises develop children' creativeness, inner music hearing,
- how to help a child to develop an every day habit for practicing,

The music lessons held in small groups, so I need to use 45 minutes effectively for everybody and pay attention to each student individually. How can I create the atmosphere on my lessons: “I am discovering, drawing in from the outside, and making that which is drawn in a real part of me.”

And the final answer:

Based on your experience as a learner, what do you think you will be able to get out of this course? And what ideas do you already have about the future of education?

This course is a new experience for me. I was raised in a traditional didactic system (although I was a problematic kid for my teachers, I didn't have an opportunity to change it). 

Since 2014, I am a teacher. And I teach music to children 6-11 years old. I need to find an answers on the questions: what teaching approach would be best for my students? I am sure that education is not about mechanical training, but I need to stimulate students to think, to experiment with given information and go beyond it. I would like to create an atmosphere of discovering something new on my lessons.

From this course, I will be able to experience new learning models, read the researches on this subject, and apply some ideas into my work, think on questions I can ask my students to encourage their learning process. I am very interested in reading about constructive learning. What is it and can it be applied to music?

Also, I am a learner. I learn to play the piano. How can I learn faster? Maybe this course will help me to prevent some mistakes and save my time.

From today's reflection on previous learning experience, I realized that simple well-formulated rules are required for getting a good feedback. And I have realized that I don't know what well-played music exactly is. I will make a glossary with my observations ("Resolvings are softer!" will be the first entry :) ).

Another reflection: how do I learn most effectively? From actually doing. I usually perform slowly and highly consciously some action, making logic connections between parts and then speeding it up. I use the triad from "The peak" by Anders Ericsson: "focus-feedback-fix it". 

Велопоездка 26 октября. Знакомлю подругу с велосипедингом

Сто лет уже не обновляла блог. Так уж получается, что новые сообщения здесь появляются не тогда, когда я хочу чем-то поделиться с миром, а когда вспоминаю про существование моего блога. И вдруг накатывает желание писать, и совсем не важно о чём. Акын-(как правило)-блюз.
Сегодняшняя пометка будет velo, поскольку самые сильные впечатления - это впечатление от сегодняшнего велопохода, который я организовала. Блин, да я уже 2 года нормально не катаюсь. Ничего удивительного, что получилось так, как получилось: куча ненужных вещей с собой, неоптимизированный маршрут, ведь я хотела по нему прокатить мою подругу, а у неё попа и ноги вообще не подготовлены к путешествию в седле велосипеда, а ещё растерянность, когда что-то идёт не по плану и, самое-то главное, отсутствие плана).
Из явного прогресса: мне удалось одеться нормально по погоде, да ещё и подругу собрать :). А ведь уже октябрь... У нас тут нулевая температура, небольшой моросящий дождик, замерзшая грязь, лёд на лужах. Нельзя же вечно наступать на те же грабли. Демисезонная и зимняя походная одежда была мною выстрадана на собственной шкуре: в полях, в +10 и дождь.. Мокрые ноги в течение 100 км.. БРР! Результат был печальным. Или зима и -37. Люблю экстрим).
Хочется почаще кататься, всё-таки мне это очень нравится. Особенно велосипед осенью и зимой. В это время люди обычно сидят по домам, высовывают нос только для того, чтобы дойти до остановки или до другого дома. Да я сама такая - несколько лет подряд я строила себе берлогу и впадала в спячку. Всё, что творилось за её окном, проходило мимо меня. Местами бывают озарения: вдруг замечаешь, что снега уже по колено; вдруг просыпаешься в 9 утра, и всё ещё темно - нужно включать в квартире свет; вдруг - через 2 недели Новый год! Всё-таки дни в замкнутом пространстве однообразны. В квартире редко что меняется. Разве что кот :) Другое дело велопоход... Ты находишься весь день на улице, привыкаешь к природе и её капризам и даже начинаешь ими наслаждаться. Например, особое удовольствие - ездить по замёрзшей грязи )) Она, как чудовище, готова тебя сожрать, но вдруг явился волшебник Мороз и превратил её в замёрзшую статую. А ты едешь по ней, затаив дыхание: вроде бы она тебе не страшна - но наши дороги коварны! Если в них не утонешь, то можешь о них споткнуться/поскользнуться, поэтому надо быть начеку :) Сегодня меня занесло в грязи на расстоянии метра от камаза. Я ехала с горочки на нормальной такой скорости. Конечно, я удержала руль, но когда мимо меня спустя долю секунды пронёсся камаз, как-то захотелось куда-нибудь вжаться, чтобы он меня не заметил ).
Короче, проехали мы сегодня порядка 45 км, правда совершенно не те километры, которые я запланировала. Тот поход не для новичка. Надо месяц покататься, и уже тогда брать подругу в тайгу. Да, ладно, не буду лукавить, с моей-то частотой катания завтра мне мышцы тоже спасибо скажут. И как всегда - нет фото =).

рефлексия

чувствую, что надо написать про свой первый опыт самостоятельной работы с детьми.
что мне не понравилось:
1) мне было сложно формулировать мысли (возможно, потому что я плохо себя чувствовала). С мелкими детьми нужно говорить КРАТКО и ТОЧНО. Мне было сложно объяснить детям, что же такого хотели сделать с дворянами в революцию 1917 года, чтобы они поняли, почему Рахманинов уехал за границу. Слово "репрессия", естественно, они не поняли, слово "казнь" им не показалось страшным и опасным. Я задала ДЗ: "выписать определения слов", а потом выяснилось, что они не знают, что значит "определение". Хорошо, хоть сказали)
2) я не уследила за Сашей (10 лет), который совершенно не умеет писать(. Об этом я узнала только через 2/3 урока, т.к. Саша сидел на сааамой последней парте. Теперь надо отдельно давать под запись Саше и остальным ученикам. Или выручать Сашу дополнительными карточками. Также посадить его поближе к себе.
3) Я несколько сумбурно переключалась между темами. Нужно этот момент отрабатывать.
4) Из-за сумбура я не очень поняла, усвоили они новую тему или нет. В этом поможет проверка ДЗ на следующем уроке, и нужно оставлять пару минут для резюме.
5) я не расчитала урок и вышла за его границы - нужно тщательней фильтровать информацию
6) музыку нужно слушать внимательнее и не разрешать детям отвлекаться от нее во время прослушивания.
7) забыла отнести журнал в учительскую, убрать за собой диски и расписаться в дневниках учеников.
8) возможно, я заразила всех ветрянкой(
----
понравилось:
1) то, что мне удалось детей заинтересовать. Им нравятся карточки, рисунки, звучащий материал, мультики и все такое яркое.
2) я удачно подобрала материал, особенно то, что я не стала объяснять саксофон через "симфонические танцы" Рахманинова как было сказано в учебном плане. Они бы не поняли (даже я не поняла бы без партитуры).
3) я работала практически со всеми детьми. Только в следующий раз Сашу надо посадить поближе.
4) я расписала весь урок, и это мне спасло жизнь. Не знаешь, что сказать, загляни в листок =)
В целом, получился живой и интересный урок. Я молодец, подготовилась хорошо =) И дети ушли довольные =)

Ветрянка-подлянка

На своей шкуре узнала, что при работе с детьми есть минусы: детские болезни! Болею теперь ветрянкой (в комплекте с ОРЗ). Теоретически, на очереди еще краснуха, свинка итд - я в детстве ничем таким не болела. В моем текущем состоянии доставляют не пятна, а головная боль( И то, что сразу после первого рабочего дня я свалилась с температурой дома на неделю.
Моя новая работа - препод муз.литературы и слушанья музыки в младших классах муз.школы =) Занимает 2 часа в неделю + подготовка, но это 2 часа позитива, особенно в младших группах - все дети такие веселые, непосредственные, их легко увлечь новыми знаниями. Детей в моем окружении - море: 2 группы пед.практики и встречи "Благовеста" ("Жемчужина", "Огонек" итд) - кто-то из них сейчас тоже болеет ветрянкой +). А может уже и не один... Мвахаха! В любом случае, им, в их возрасте проще, чем мне сейчас.

Медленно плыву домой