“When a pupil does something ‘correctly’, we may be forgiven for assuming that they’ve understood it. But it may well be an illusion! Just because they smile and nod their heads when we say ‘do you get that?’ doesn’t necessarily mean that they do”
Paul Harris, Improve Your Teaching: Teaching Beginners: A New Approach for Instrumental and Singing, Faber Music Ltd, 2008
Today’s post is a moment to reflect on your teaching. How much do you assume your student has understood what they are learning?
Imagine you are in a lesson and say “can you name me that note?”. Your student puzzles for a little while before exclaiming, “is it A?”. Hearing the right answer you move on. But what if they were guessing and got lucky? Perhaps in this situation you might assume they understood.
Sometimes you get serial guessers who blurt out any answer without thinking: “is it C?”, “ok how about G?”. Before you know it they have gone through almost the whole alphabet! But in this scenario it is transparent that they haven’t understood and you can take steps to help.
Perhaps your student might be really shy and won’t say much during the lesson. If they nod their head or smile we might assume they are following what we are teaching.
I heard a colleague discuss an interesting lesson recently. They had taken on a beginner level transfer student and during the first meeting it became apparent that there was a fundamental misunderstanding.
To teachers, it’s obvious that we look at the note head position to name the note, and not the stem. But occasionally something gets lost in translation. This particular student was looking at the stem and trying to name the note from where it sits on the stave.
It’s a good example of where something so simple can easily be misunderstood. Perhaps the teacher assumed the student realised they should look at the note head, without explicitly pointing it out.
Sometimes putting on the student’s shoes can be a good idea (metaphorically – not physically!). The concept you are trying to teach might be obvious to us as a teacher, but perhaps we need another layer of explanation to make sure they totally understand something.
Another common misunderstanding related to note recognition is the direction of the note itself. I had a beginner student of only a few lessons remark recently, “but that’s not the same note” when looking at a crotchet or quarter note which is upside down. It’s second nature to us, as the teacher, but to our young students it’s a whole new exciting world to explore and understand.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Have you had any interesting misunderstandings occur?
