Pedagogical Principles You (Probably) Never Learned in School
Please join me in welcoming the author of this guest post, Christina Whitlock. Christina is the genius behind the Beyond Measure Podcast. I regularly joke that I cannot listen to any episode of hers without shouting “Amen!” multiple times. Do check out her podcast, and enjoy her contribution below.
Hello, studio teacher friends!
It is an honor to be writing for Janna’s blog, as she is SERIOUSLY one of my favorite people in the entire world. I’ve been teaching a full studio since age 14, which means I’ve been at this gig for a solid 27 years now. I’m a die-hard advocate for lifelong learning, and have found a sweet spot in cyberspace for connecting with teachers over some of the less-obvious aspects of studio teaching. I began this article with a list of twenty (!) lessons not typically taught in pedagogy courses, but (because I’m also a firm believer that “less is more”) I narrowed it down to three.
1. Most of your students will be less committed to this art than you.
Ouch! That one hurts, doesn’t it? Sad as it may seem, this does NOT have to turn into a point of contention in your studio. I work with a lot of young piano pedagogy students, and this is hands-down the largest adjustment for them to make. I’m often met with comments like, “I just thought my students would be more like…me!”
Here’s the thing: Most of us in Piano Teacher World have signed on to explore this instrument to the best of our abilities for the rest of our lives. It’s a pretty hefty commitment, right? The more we learn, the more aware we are of room for improvement. “Mastery” of the instrument is a moving target. It’s a thrilling (and, sometimes, beguiling) challenge that has drawn us in hook, line, and sinker.
But.
Our students do not see it this way (nor does it make for a very good selling point!). Think of it this way: A very small percentage of childhood piano students go on to make piano study a significant part of their adult life. YOU are in the minority here; not your students who are torn between many interests and responsibilities.
Does this mean we have to sacrifice our standards for our students? Absolutely not. I trust your unique brand of Teacher Magic will continue inspiring students to reach further and dig deeper as they study with you. I simply find it helpful to note the exceptional level of YOUR commitment and to remember this may not be the healthiest expectation for the entirety of your studio.
2. No one knows what you aren’t choosing to teach.
If you’re anything like me, you have a propensity to second-guess a lot of things. One unfortunate manifestation of this trait is the tendency to feel defeated if I don’t love the way a single lesson has gone. For years, I would kick myself over details I had to leave out because we ran out of time.
Or, I would feel embarrassment over a poor choice to introduce a concept a little too soon.
It was as if I thought my students were constantly judging me for what I wasn’t teaching them (which - of course - sounded ridiculous once I finally put those feelings into words).
Surely someone (whether that be student or parent) is noticing everything I’m doing wrong. Right?
Ahem.
I remember talking with a colleague once about a conference presentation I’d given, expressing regret for a few talking points I didn’t get to include because of time. She replied to me, “The thing is, no one knows what you didn’t say. You may not have relayed everything you know, but that doesn’t cancel out the solid information you provided.”
These words were a revelation to me. Of course. When it comes to teaching, speaking, storytelling, whatever avenue of human connection you might be dealing with, your audience only knows what you tell them. They don’t know what was left on the cutting room floor.
In other words, just because YOU know more about any given topic at hand, it doesn’t negate the benefit of the lesson you’ve given. If you feel you’ve left out something truly important, make a note of it, and be sure to cover it next week. It’s that simple.
Your students can still learn to play a proper trill, even if you haven’t had the opportunity to explain to them the difference between Baroque and Romantic ornaments.
Do you feel like you botched that lesson on the circle of fifths? Little Stevie doesn’t know where you misspoke (and, likely, neither do his parents). Try again next week.
Are you left feeling like you should have said something you didn’t? A delay of one week is not going to hurt anyone in the long run. Your students do not know the depth of what you know (obviously).
3. Your students are a larger part of your life (right now) than you are of theirs.
This can be a tough one to swallow, I know. The truth is, because teaching is our chosen profession, we end up spending a lot of emotional energy on each student. We work intentionally to learn what makes them light up, and what makes them feel challenged. We consider how to speak to them for optimal results, and what repertoire to assign. As Janna often says, we are students of our students.
As a fun exercise, name one of your more challenging students. Set a timer for two minutes and spend that time writing down everything you know about them: What makes them smile. Who lives in their house. What they played in last year’s recital. What drives them crazy. What comes naturally to them. Where they go to school.
Write everything you can until your timer goes off. I imagine you’re going to come up with quite a list in those 120 seconds!
Now, consider this: how much would your student be able to write about you in those same two minutes? I’m sure they would come up with interesting things, but it would likely not compare to the wealth of information you’ve collected on them.
I bring your attention to this point because many teachers neglect to consider the lesson experience from their students’ perspective. In most cases, piano studies are only a small fraction of all the responsibilities and concerns your students are carrying with them week to week. No pianist – especially those on the bench in front of us – can escape the many facets of life that occupy space in our brains.
Hear me: the work we are doing is important, for sure. Many will argue it’s more important that other aspects of our students’ lives. However, the full realization of these benefits often come later in our students’ lives. Do they appreciate you now? Of course. But music teachers play a long-term game. We are in the business of impacting our students for life.
If you seek to be a content teacher for the long-haul, know this: Your impact will be felt in your students’ lives, regardless of how much of their attention you are currently occupying. Overscheduled students will still benefit from the skills you are giving them. Their decision to spend time doing other things is not a personal attack on you.
Sigh. Teaching is a work of heart, indeed.
I hope you enjoyed this list of things you (probably) didn’t learn in pedagogy class. It took me a long while to narrow my list to three. I would love to hear the lessons YOU’VE learned, so leave a comment below.
Christina Whitlock M.M., N.C.T.M., operates a lively independent studio in Muncie, Indiana, and oversees the piano pedagogy program at Taylor University. Her passion for bringing teachers together manifests in many ways, including frequent speaking engagements, one-on-one teacher consultations, and her weekly podcast, Beyond Measure with Christina Whitlock.
Want to know my answer to Christina’s question? It’s the third question in this month’s Ask Me Anything video. Check it out here:
