Let’s talk about more training info, with a focus on Teacher Toolkit. Successful teachers bring fun into the classroom: Don’t be too serious. Some days, “fun” should be the goal. When students feel and see your humanness, it builds a foundation of trust and respect. Fun and educational aren’t mutually exclusive either. Using humor can make even the most mundane topic more interesting. Successful teachers teach holistically: Learning does not happen in a vacuum. Depression, anxiety, and mental stress have a severe impact on the educational process. It’s crucial that educators (and the educational model) take the whole person into account. You can have the funniest and most innovative lesson on algebra, but if your student has just been told his parents are getting a divorce, you will not reach him. Successful teachers never stop learning: Good teachers find time in their schedule to learn themselves. Not only does it help bolster your knowledge in a certain subject matter, it also puts you in the position of student. This gives you a perspective about the learning process that you can easily forget when you’re always in teaching mode.
Use visuals or gestures. Know your students and choose age-appropriate visuals and gestures. Including students in the development classroom signals can increase buy-in, particularly for older learners. Provide directions versus asking questions. This recommendation can lead to the quickest change. It may not be all that you need to do, but it’s definitely one of the first 10 things you should try! Remember, if we ask a question, we have to be willing to accept yes or no as an answer. Read extra info at Teacher Advices.
Learning is not only for young people. How-To Books for Seniors. Visit your local library or bookstore. There you’ll be sure to find a variety of books to help you learn how to use different types of technologies. Some are quite simple to follow and written specifically for seniors such as the Visual Steps and For Dummies series of books. You can also order these books online at sites like Amazon.com.
It’s always best to start small and have multiple sessions so you don’t give them information overload. The last thing you want to do is get them feeling too overwhelmed and then they give up because you gave them too many tasks to try by themselves. A good website for senior learning is Tech learning for seniors.
Music education is hot this days, many people try to learn music, for various reasons. There are a few podcasts that focuses on teaching people about music and one of them is The Music Educator by Bill Stevens. There isn’t much shorter than the attention span of a child today. New technologies are making it easier for us to read and learn in short bursts. It is getting harder for young people to focus on one topic or task for a long period of time. Fit your lessons to your students’ concentration levels. Mindchamps explains that kids can become overwhelmed when presented with a string of tasks. This makes them get bored and give up. Luckily, it is easy to avoid this scenario in your classroom.
Tip of the day for music teachers : Set Ground Rules Early: Be sure to set classroom ground rules and policies early with your students, even if they are minimal. Setting ground rules early is important because it establishes the foundation for the rest of the year. Remember, it’s much easier to set strict ground rules early and loosen them up as the year goes on than the other way around.
You can listen to the The Music Educator podcast by using the app from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.themusiceducatorpodcast.android.music. You can learn more about Bill Steven by checking his website at https://www.4themusiceducator.com/.