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Share from your breakout group about applying the 4Ps

natalie

What were some of the ideas or experiences shared in your discussion group today (22 April) about putting the 4Ps -- projects, peers, passion, play -- into practice?

yangie

One question I had that our breakout group didn't get to discussing:

Wondering if folks have ideas/examples on introducing/incorporate concepts that are 'Have to Knows': The multiplication table, physics formulas, (in my case) proper piano playing posture for students that have enjoyed tinker/play time without 'boring' them with these concepts? (So far I've created situations where they realize it is easier for them to tinker if they know these important concepts, and it's going...ok.)

One discussion points that lead to this: time as a limited resource for a lot of families.

Thanks!

geraldiux64

I couldnĀ“t reach the chat cause of time

KathyG

Not sure I'd agree that many things are "Have to Knows" until the student actually does need them.
But, on the proper piano playing posture, I think the best approach is to make the connection for the student so they understand the importance of posture. For example, try taking a photo of the student in a not-great posture, and a better posture, and also finding videos or photos of great piano players (male and female) who have good posture and asking the student to examine these and describe what they see. Then I'd encourage discussion about posture, showing how good posture makes it easier to play, say a difficult sequence, and how good posture will become automatic at a later time. I'd also give the student an easy prompt to remember the posture points that they can run through before they begin playing (and have a poster showing this in the room so it's an instant reminder). Many children do not have good body awareness, so it can take a while for them to understand good posture.

yangie

Thank you for these great tips - that roughly summarizes my approach so it's very nice to get some confirmation on that I'm on a pretty good track! Really appreciate your feedback. I would counter that posture is a 'Have to Know' in that they do need it from day one to form good habits. Muscle memory is very difficult to correct later...

At any rate, I've found the tricky parts are:

  1. Talking/explaining doesn't work as well as Doing for the little kids, so telling them Why posture is important gets me a glazed looked every time (doesn't stop me, though! I just try to keep the reminders short.)

  2. They often don't care about "doing this now will benefit you later." For concepts that require delayed gratification, I'm finding it challenging to keep students interested in the repetition that is required to improve a skill. So that's one of my assignments for myself: Keep thinking of ways to make the repetition interesting.