TEACHERS' CORNER
The basic elements of learning and teaching are quite simple. There is something to learn, and there are ways of learning it, i.e. the what [normally called the content] and the how [normally called the learning activities]. This gets interesting when we consider how different kinds of thing can be learned in different ways, either with or without a teacher. All of us learn a great deal on our own but since this is the teachers' corner, I will suggest some simple approaches for music teachers to try.
1. Content can be considered as input, since it "goes into" the learner. It can initiate the learning process; without content there is nothing for the learner to learn. All creatures learn a great deal independently, often through spontaneous activities of their own. At other times, they learn by having something brought to their attention by someone else - often a teacher but it may be another learner, or indeed any other person. The KNOWING page lists new music apps for learning content.
Educational structures and institutions enhance learning by organising it and using strategies to improve the process of acquiring the content. The teacher is key to this process, as are apprentice models, mentors, parents, peers, tutors, facilitators, moderators, and others. In other words, the learning process can be scaffolded so that it becomes more efficient. Scaffolding will package the content in a manner that makes it more learnable. Many factors come into play here, normally including arranging the content in a sequence from familiar to new, from easy to more difficult, from simple to more complex, or perhaps in a hierarchy from general to particular (or vice versa), or even by presenting it in simplified form.
In a simplistic but very common model, the learning or teaching process starts at the point where a learner becomes aware of some new content. It can be present to the learner in a great variety of ways. It may be directly stated and described [i.e. presented], by the teacher or by another expert, another learner, an automated teaching program; or else it may be revealed and discovered through resources such as reading, audio-visual materials or activities designed to lead to it. There are many technical options, such as voice-overs, audio or video talks, still and moving images, graphics, and virtual reality. Also, as will be described, learning need not start with initial awareness of the content; there is an infinite range of ways of arriving at learning
2. Learning activities - how something is learned.
Learning does not necessarily occur just because an individual is presented with content. There has to be a response to the content in the learner, which normally occurs through relevant activities, either intellectual or motor, or both. The teacher’s role is to enhance such activities by organising them, and encouraging learning strategies to improve acquisition, understanding, and memory. All the pages on the site from PERMORMING to OTHER STUFF list new music apps for learning activities. Many of these activities will take musicians well beyond their early learning into creativity and innovation of their own. As music is a creative art, for some music learners the thrust is towards excellence in performance, involving innovation and seeking to be a musician, as much as or more than to know and enjoy music or be able to sing or play.
3.Feedback is therefore essential after a learning activity or after any performance, because learners and performers always need and seek ways of evaluating themselves. They do their own trial and error practice, and in their own independent learning, they adjust and unconsciously improve – up to a point. It is one of the teacher’s key roles to help them recognise the extent of their own competence, as well as the opportunities for improvement. The teacher’s feedback can be crucial in some learning contexts. But peers often give useful feedback to each other. More formal assessment, rather than merely feedback, offers a measure of what the learner can do. The page FEEDBACK suggest some new apps for automating an evaluative response to the musician.
In summary, content, learning activities, and feedback, are the three basic elements of learning music as they are for any other subject. The fact that music is a creative art that is frequently learned independently and often relies heavily on innate musical talents, does not fundamentally alter the learning process. But it should be seen in the light of the infinite variations of learning patterns that are possible for everyone; some of these apply particularly well to intuitive, gifted musicians. This page has sketched the basic elements. The document to download at the bottom shows you 6 easy ways to make them more imaginative and stimulatingby varying them.
These are described on the page to download and there is an overview chart at the end.
The basic elements of learning and teaching are quite simple. There is something to learn, and there are ways of learning it, i.e. the what [normally called the content] and the how [normally called the learning activities]. This gets interesting when we consider how different kinds of thing can be learned in different ways, either with or without a teacher. All of us learn a great deal on our own but since this is the teachers' corner, I will suggest some simple approaches for music teachers to try.
1. Content can be considered as input, since it "goes into" the learner. It can initiate the learning process; without content there is nothing for the learner to learn. All creatures learn a great deal independently, often through spontaneous activities of their own. At other times, they learn by having something brought to their attention by someone else - often a teacher but it may be another learner, or indeed any other person. The KNOWING page lists new music apps for learning content.
Educational structures and institutions enhance learning by organising it and using strategies to improve the process of acquiring the content. The teacher is key to this process, as are apprentice models, mentors, parents, peers, tutors, facilitators, moderators, and others. In other words, the learning process can be scaffolded so that it becomes more efficient. Scaffolding will package the content in a manner that makes it more learnable. Many factors come into play here, normally including arranging the content in a sequence from familiar to new, from easy to more difficult, from simple to more complex, or perhaps in a hierarchy from general to particular (or vice versa), or even by presenting it in simplified form.
In a simplistic but very common model, the learning or teaching process starts at the point where a learner becomes aware of some new content. It can be present to the learner in a great variety of ways. It may be directly stated and described [i.e. presented], by the teacher or by another expert, another learner, an automated teaching program; or else it may be revealed and discovered through resources such as reading, audio-visual materials or activities designed to lead to it. There are many technical options, such as voice-overs, audio or video talks, still and moving images, graphics, and virtual reality. Also, as will be described, learning need not start with initial awareness of the content; there is an infinite range of ways of arriving at learning
2. Learning activities - how something is learned.
Learning does not necessarily occur just because an individual is presented with content. There has to be a response to the content in the learner, which normally occurs through relevant activities, either intellectual or motor, or both. The teacher’s role is to enhance such activities by organising them, and encouraging learning strategies to improve acquisition, understanding, and memory. All the pages on the site from PERMORMING to OTHER STUFF list new music apps for learning activities. Many of these activities will take musicians well beyond their early learning into creativity and innovation of their own. As music is a creative art, for some music learners the thrust is towards excellence in performance, involving innovation and seeking to be a musician, as much as or more than to know and enjoy music or be able to sing or play.
3.Feedback is therefore essential after a learning activity or after any performance, because learners and performers always need and seek ways of evaluating themselves. They do their own trial and error practice, and in their own independent learning, they adjust and unconsciously improve – up to a point. It is one of the teacher’s key roles to help them recognise the extent of their own competence, as well as the opportunities for improvement. The teacher’s feedback can be crucial in some learning contexts. But peers often give useful feedback to each other. More formal assessment, rather than merely feedback, offers a measure of what the learner can do. The page FEEDBACK suggest some new apps for automating an evaluative response to the musician.
In summary, content, learning activities, and feedback, are the three basic elements of learning music as they are for any other subject. The fact that music is a creative art that is frequently learned independently and often relies heavily on innate musical talents, does not fundamentally alter the learning process. But it should be seen in the light of the infinite variations of learning patterns that are possible for everyone; some of these apply particularly well to intuitive, gifted musicians. This page has sketched the basic elements. The document to download at the bottom shows you 6 easy ways to make them more imaginative and stimulatingby varying them.
These are described on the page to download and there is an overview chart at the end.
6_teaching_patterns.doc | |
File Size: | 58 kb |
File Type: | doc |