Teaching in a different time....
During this time where I am not physically in the same room with my students, it brings an interesting challenge. I’ve been telling the people I’ve been able to come in contact with about this regularly. It’s something that I have realized for a time but is even more apparent at this time.
I’m in charge of a really unique and awesome music program at a public High School in Nashville. In this class, we focus on theory, song writing, arranging, digital programming, instrumental performance and grouping situations. But since we have all been at home due to the current state of affairs with the world-wide pandemic, the schools are currently closed and all students and teachers are asked to stay at home.
During this time, I feel that it is necessary to be as available as possible for my students because anything they do at home is purely for personal enrichment and cannot be graded. The hard part, though, is that we ARE separated.
When we are at the school, I get to have my time with my students for 10 hours a week. We have time to get a lot of stuff done during that time. It’s great, really. While we are at the school, because we have all that time together, it’s a lot easier to say to a student, “Hey there…. There’s a guitar! Pick it up and work on this.” There’s a keyboard! Sit down at it and work on this song or scale. There’s a drum set! Sit down at it and work on this feel or groove.” While we are at home, it requires a lot more individual motivation. And I have to constantly remind myself that I do not fully understand what my students have to deal with when they are at home. Everyone’s home life is different from everyone else so I do not necessarily fully understand how that is for every one. Sometimes, there are other factors that make it difficult to study or work on this stuff while at home. My main hope is that I remember that and when my students are ready to connect with me regarding their studies at home, I’m ready for that, and I try to remind them of that whenever I can.