Let’s discuss about additional teaching tips, with a focus on Teacher Toolkit. Successful teachers are reflective: In order to avoid becoming the stuck and stubborn teacher, successful educators take time to reflect on their methods, their delivery, and the way they connect with their students. Reflection is necessary to uncover those weaknesses that can be strengthened with a bit of resolve and understanding. Successful teachers seek out mentors of their own: Reflective teachers can easily get disheartened if they don’t have someone a bit older and wiser offering support. You are never too old or wise for a mentor. Mentors can be that voice that says, “Yes your reflections are correct,” or “No, you are off because….” and provide you with a different perspective. Successful teachers communicate with parents: Collaboration between parents and teachers is absolutely crucial to a student’s success. Create an open path of communication so parents can come to you with concerns and you can do the same. When a teacher and parents present a united front, there is a lower chance that your student will fall through the cracks.
Model expectations for your students. Interactively model how to complete an activity or task. We often offer multiple, repeated opportunities when teaching “academic” skills (e.g., letter sounds, math computations), but typically neglect to offer multiple, repeated opportunities for practicing behavioral routines (e.g., lining up at the door, pushing in their chairs). Say what you mean and mean what you say. If you make a request of a student, follow through with that request. If you cannot follow through, avoid placing the demand or providing the instruction. Know yourself and adjust expectations (for yourself and your students) accordingly. Read extra info at Teacher Guides.
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 http://seniortechtutorials.com/.
Music learning 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. Performing is an important aspect of music education. Your students can take pride in sharing their achievements with an audience. They can show their peers, parents and others what they have been learning in your class. New technology has made performing possible for anyone with an internet connection. As the culmination of a large class project, give a concert together. If a traditional end-of-year school concert is not possible, why not make a video of your students performing and share it on YouTube. If your school has good video or recording equipment, make use of it to produce a better quality video. If such equipment is unavailable, a smartphone can be used to make a reasonable quality video that can be a record of your students’ achievements. If you and your students are feeling confident, you could even stream your performance live. Just don’t forget to announce it to your intended audience in advance!
Tip of the day for music teachers : Get to Know Your Students: Being a young teacher, students may start the year out being shy and reserved. There is no better way for music teachers to get to know their students than to ask them about their favorite songs or artists. Also, feel free to provide students with the option to choose what kind of music they would like to perform.
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/.
