Percussion Teacher
In forty-five hours of teaching percussion, I have learned to apply various learning theories to my work. I believe a greater understanding of these theories has improved my pedagogy and enhanced communications and interpersonal connections with my students, who are both male and female and range in age from child to adult. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on my own learning experience as a teacher, including application of learning theories, effective communication techniques, use of formative and summative assessments, and incorporating language literacy and numeracy in the lessons. By reflecting on the teaching experience, I hope to gain insight that will inform my approach in the future and help me better meet the needs of all my students.
Learning Theories
For many of my students, I use the London College of Music series that has a graded course (1-8) for drum kit. Each handbook includes the rudiments and pieces for each grade, sample viva voce questions, sight reading practice, and aural tests. Each grade is accompanied by a play along CD, which include backing tracks. There a drum tracks to which students can listen as well as tracks without drums that can be used for exams. For higher grades, there are time sequence studies that feature only a click track. The series is fully accredited in England by Ofqual and it has been placed on the national qualifications framework at the foundation, intermediate, and advanced levels. Validity and reliability as instruction and assessment instruments is well established. The series incorporates several important learning theories.
A behavioral objective states learning objectives in "specified, quantifiable, terminal behaviors" (Saettler 1990, p. 288). A typical behavioral objective for a beginning percussion student might specify that the student answer correctly identify basic drum notation ninety percent of the time in a post-test following a unit or period of instruction. The learning task is broken down into smaller, measurable tasks and competency is determined with the use of a specific, objective assessment tool. The lessons in the graded books break concepts down into their components. The tasks are thus made manageable for students, which is important while they are learning. Beginners, especially, can be overwhelmed with too many concepts at once. Instruction is thus tailored to focus on single aspects, for which students demonstrate competency before moving to the next step. Eventually, of course, students must learn to combine rhythm with tone production, coordinating eye, hand and ear with the goal of musicality, not mere timekeeping (Serrano 2006). Instruction must start, however, with manageable tasks that are specific, quantifiable, and have measurable outcomes. I can also do this with drumming circles by playing simple rhythms for students to repeat before moving on to more complex rhythms and student-led rhythms.
Cognitive learning enables students to learn by using reasoning, intuition and perception. This is accomplished in different ways, as students have different learning styles and are motivated by different things. Response behaviors can be an important tool when working with students. Taylor (2006) used a computerized behavior analysis program called SCRIBE (Simple Computer Recording Interface for Behavioral Evaluations) to quantify specific teacher and student behaviors, of which response behaviors were a part. Data showed teachers spent approximately 37% of the time talking, 10% modeling, and 30% performing with students during performance tasks. Analysis of the results of the study indicate that the nature of verbalization, rather than quantity, is the measure of success. "Feedback results in higher student achievement as well as positive attitudes towards rehearsals and the instructor (Dunn 1997; Price 1983; cited in Taylor 2006) Negative feedback alone was ineffective, but coupled with positive directives, it was helpful for students (Taylor 2006).
Observation is another powerful learning tool, and for this reason I frequently modeled for my students anything from correct hand position to a complicated rhythm. Research supports modeling as one of a teacher's most effective tools (Taylor 2006). As shown in Taylor's study, this typically comprises just 10% of instruction, with teachers generally spending "more time telling students what, where, or when to play rather than how to play" (Taylor 2006). A brief explanation of "how" is useful, but there is really no substitute for modeling, followed by guided practice. Students need to see and hear what they are expected to do, and modeling helps them understand how to produce the sound for which the teacher is asking. Reid (2007) notes that listening to actual performances can be inspiring but internalizing musical consistency comes from hands-on practice. Marshall (2006) wrote, "I believe that students benefit from hearing familiar instruments played...
" "Realia" refers to the use of bona fide materials such as magazines, newspapers, signs and advertisements; they can also include maps, graphs, pictures, charts and symbols. Classroom activities are mostly planned to finish tasks that engage students in sharing of information and communicative processes, interaction and negotiation of meaning argues Akerlind 322() Social Cultural As much as the social cultural factors within a society cannot be easily changed, there is a
Wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicative_language_teaching#Overview_of_CLT,2005). This means that successfully learning a foreign language is assessed in terms of how well learners have developed their communicative competence, which can loosely be defined as their ability to apply knowledge of both formal and sociolinguistic aspects of a language with adequate proficiency to communicate. Communicative language teaching is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching, rather than as a teaching method with a clearly defined set
A. In Literature. Thus, 25% of the participants within the study did not have an academic background in education, and had focused on literary structure and analysis rather than education as a major staple in their own training. These teachers had more of a critical evaluation background in comparison to teaching methodologies. Having a Literature background has been shown to impact the teaching methodologies and strategies implemented in language learning,
Communicative Language Teaching the Best Methodology to Prepare Students for the Cambridge First Certificate Exam? Based on its emphasis on authenticity and relevancy to students' lives, it has been argued that the communicative language teaching approach may represent the best methodology to prepare students to take the Cambridge English: First for Schools (also known as First Certificate in English or FCE for Schools), which demonstrates student progress in second language
As an analytic method it varies from the syntactic syllabus in simliar way as the practical and procedure syllabi, particularly in the supposition that the learner learns best when using language to converse about something. TBLT also is different from the two other logical curricula in a lot of ways. It differs from the procedural syllabus in that it stresses the importance of carrying out a needs analysis prior to
Further, it is in this stage that instructors have the ability to widen the instruction significantly to incorporate many activities that allow students to practice their new knowledge in a variety of different ways and with focus on a variety of different subject matters. In viewing the basic theoretical and practical-use background of the Natural Approach of Language Teaching and Learning, one can understand that basic functions that allow students
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now