Powerful Yet Simple Practice Tools for Music Lessons
Why a post on practice tools?
As pandemic life would have it, our time has been taken up with a major shift to online lessons.
In the wake of all the fuss to make lessons shine despite dark times, we’ve been preoccupied with reinventing our lessons. Perhaps at the cost of tending to what happens between lessons.
So..here’s a post to empower you with tools that will up your game during lessons AND guarantee smarter more efficient practicers at home between lessons.
What does cognitive science teach us about practice?
If you’re wondering why students can’t remember things or why their practice doesn’t lead to progress or why they just skip practice between lessons, it could be that they are not equipped with the right practice tools.
Cognitive scientists continue to research how students learn and their findings are adaptable to how students practice, too. Many of their suggested strategies you may already use. However, as Jennifer Gonzales of Cult of Pedagogy puts it:
You just might not have known exactly why they worked or how to harness them in the most optimal way.
Recently, I stumbled across a podcast hosted by Jennifer Gonzales of the Cult of Pedagogy called Four Researched-Based Learning Strategies Every Teacher Should be Using. Gonzales is a leader in educational pedagogy and I’m one of her thousands of loyal fans. What she covers in the world of education is almost always applicable and transferrable to the piano bench.
Her blog is where I first learned about the book Make it Stick, which covers the concepts of retrieval practice, spaced practice, and interleaving. And then her 2016 post called Six Powerful Learning Strategies You Must Share with Students inspired my six scientifically proven practice strategies post called the The Science of Practice and Motivation.
In a recent podcast episode, Gonzales shares how classroom teachers can utilize strategies like retrieval practice in their teaching with specific examples. The fascinating discussion between Gonzales and cognitive scientists Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain who wrote a book called, Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning covers what it looks like when teachers apply four research-based “Power Tools” in the classroom:
Retrieval practice
Spaced practice
Interleaving
Feedback-driven metacognition
Agarwal and Bain and other colleagues did much of the research that found its way into Make it Stick. Since then, Agarwal says,
“We expanded that through (Bain’s) whole school district, and we’ve been working with teachers to really translate this research and make it actionable in the classroom.”
Perhaps the best part of what they’ve discovered is that the power-packed strategies are simple:
“It is not your fad of the semester,” Bain says. “It doesn’t cost a fortune. It is simply techniques and strategies that teachers can incorporate in their classrooms the following day, and the payoff is so great.”
What you’ll find below is paraphrased excerpts from the show notes of the podcast. Next, I share ways to translate these strategies to practice between lessons that we can use as music teachers.
Remember that all of these strategies can and should be used DURING the lessons as part of our instruction as well. In fact, it’s as if we must TEACH PRACTICE WHILE WE PREACH!
Please keep in mind that I’m NOT a cognitive scientist and have brainstormed and categorized ideas inspired by the research. If you want to learn more, listen to the podcast and read their book, Powerful Teaching.
Instead of making a list for you, I’ve created sticky note graphics. I imagine getting at least some of these printed at Vista Print to stick on students’ sheet music. I also will be sharing the digital graphics with my students via the Tonara chat and assignments so they can refer to them as they please.
#1
Retrieval practice
Recalling knowledge from long-term memory
rather than constantly feeding it into the brain.
Teachers frequently attempt to shove things into students’ heads, and retrieval is about pulling out information.
How it’s used in school
Instead of homework, teachers give a 3-5 question “mini-quizzes” at the start of each class about the prior day’s learning. The goal is to reinforce the learning, not measure or grade student work.
Bain claims:
“So many students have absolutely mastered homework. They look at a question, they look up the answer, they write it down and repeat. They get good grades, but they can’t retrieve the information; it’s difficult to discuss the next day, a week later. And so I thought, there’s really a disconnect going on here.”
When Bain replaced homework with mini-quizzes, she found it made all the difference in students being able to retain the information. It gave her a quick way to gage understanding.
Two practice strategies that require retrieval
#2
Spaced Practice
Revisiting old information by asking students to retrieve information a few days, weeks, or even months after they learned it.
Because the information is harder to recall, it actually makes the learning that comes from it that much more durable.
It’s desirable that students engage in more difficult retrieval activities as opposed to completing homework where they simply copy down answers.
How it’s used in school
Ask questions that challenge students to recall something from an earlier time class time. Build in a theme like “Throwback Thursdays.”
Even if students get uncomfortable and teachers may think they didn’t teach the concept that well, this activity is beneficial. Although counterintuitive, it’s important for students to forget and then bring it back up, which solidifies things in the future.
Two practice strategies that require spacing.
#3
Interleaving
Mixing up content from different areas to build stronger retention of information.
This strategy prevents students from repeating the same procedure over and over.
How it’s used in school
If students assume an entire worksheet will cover multiplying fractions and then ten more problems with dividing fractions will follow, they “plug and chug.” But, if the two functions are mixed up, then students must carefully observe and choose the correct strategy.
Mixing up similar concepts provides a challenge where students must see and know the difference and choose a strategy which then enhances learning.
Two practice strategies that require interleaving
#4
Feedback-driven Metacognition
Helping students learn how to discriminate between what they know and what they don’t.
When studying for a test doesn’t pay off, it’s often because students studied what they already knew. It feels better and makes them feel confident but it keeps them from studying what they don’t know.
How it’s used in school
After a mini-quiz, answers should be reviewed instantly so that students know if they got them correct or not. The following day, go over the questions again and allow them to retrieve the answers. This way they’re getting feedback and a chance to test their discrimination skills of what they know and don’t know (metacognition) and incorporating spaced practice, too.
Two practice strategies that require feedback-drive metacognition
Was your intuition was right?
Perhaps most of you already use the strategies above or variations of them. Good for you!
I post this so you have a chance to pat yourself on the back. And, I post it so that you will be reminded to keep at it and be intentional with your strategies.
One way you can offer mini-quizzes at lessons is to play games. There are plenty at LeilaViss.com. Find them all here. The digital escape room games are hot sellers and are ideal for online lessons as well as Off Bench Time.
There are a couple of scientifically proven strategies that are not mentioned in this post but are part of my blog on progress that I wrote a while back.
One of them called is called Elaboration. I plan to employ it in lessons more and more. My slant? Ask students to teach me at least one concept that they learned from their last lesson. I call it BE THE EXPERT.
This strategy plus at least a dozen more I’ve made into the sticky note graphics like what you see above.
Click on the button below to get yours.
One more thing…a bonus tip for Group Lessons
If you are wondering what to do in your Zoom breakout rooms for group lessons, check out this Jigsaw Method that Jennifer Gonzales demonstrates in this video!
