Teach Like a Champion: Part 1 (Reading Together)

I hope you enjoyed this week's reading on setting high academic standards. I know it challenged me to help my students not just slide through.

Here are the five techniques that were discussed.

No Opt Out
- Make sure your students know that it's not okay to not try.
- When a student doesn't know the answer to a question, ask another student the same question. Once he has answered it (correctly), come back to the first student and ask him the question again. This communicates that students can't just get off the hook by saying they don't know.

Right is Right
- Don't allow almost right answers to count as right. Follow up with the student until you get the complete answer you are looking for.
- Praise effort, but don't confuse effort with mastery.

Stretch it
- Reward right answers with follow-up questions that extend knowledge.
- Easiest form of follow-up questions are how and why questions.

Format matters
- Hold your students to answers that are grammatically correct, audible, and (if in math or science) have the correct units.

Without apology
- Don't lower the bar by apologizing for the content or for your students.

What stood out to you? Leave your comments below.
Read chapter 2 for next week and come back here to join the discussion.

Teach Like a Champion: Introduction (Reading Together)

After having started reading this book this week, I am even more excited about having picked out this book. I'm really looking forward to being able to add more "tools" to my teaching toolbox.

The introduction makes clear that this book was written to provide specific, concrete,and actionable techniques.  These techniques may not necessarily be glamorous, but they work.

A couple other main points that stood out to me:

- What I need to consider: what do I want my students to master?
"Great teachers plan objectives, then assessments, then activities." (page 10)

- Use lesson planning as not just a rote practice, but rather as the opportunity to truly design each individual class.

What stood out to you? Leave your comments below.
And, don't forget to read chapter 1 for next week.

Anouncement: New Book for Reading Together - Teach Like a Champion

I'm starting a new book for the Reading Together book club: Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov and Norman Atkins. We'll begin the introduction this week, and then we'll discuss it next Tuesday (March 20). We'll read the first chapter and discuss it the following week. It's that easy: just one chapter a week.

This program allows us to read works together that can help us in our professional development as well as providing a level of accountability and the added interest of comparing notes as we read together.

You can get a copy of Teach Like a Champion from Amazon here.

Giveaway: 100.00 USD Google Adwords Gift Card

Using Google Adwords is a great - and not too expensive way - to advertise your music studio. I have 2 (two) Google Adwords coupons to give away.  Each coupon is worth 100 USD and can only be used by a new Google Adwords user.  Both coupons expire at the end of March. 

Official Rules
(Please leave a separate comment for each entry)

1. To enter simply leave a comment at the end of this post. 

2. For a second entry, share this giveaway on twitter by tweeting, "I just entered to win a Google Adwords coupon via @pianolessonsmn.  You can, too, at http://bit.ly/pianolessonsmn."

Good luck to everyone! A winner will be chosen on Monday, March 5!

Piano Teacher's Guide to Creative Composition - Part 5 (Reading Together)

This chapter focuses on how to refine a composition. Klose starts out with a list of some easy ways to create more variety.

Klose also includes more expanded examples and ideas to use to help your students refine their compositions:
- how to harmonize a melody
- how to develop interesting accompaniments (includes quite a few examples geared towards different levels of students)
- how to spice up chord progressions
- how to vary the bass line
- how to form transitions
- how to create endings
- how to use repetitions effectively
- how to write duets

This final chapter is followed by the appendix which includes some helpful resources:
- a list of all the music examples in chapters 1 to 5
- a list of resources including additional teaching material

I hope you've enjoyed reading along. I know I've really benefited from this book. I'll be announcing the next book in the next couple of weeks, so make sure to stop back to find out what we'll be reading next.