Differences in practice habits in group
Found in: Practicing & Playlists, Shared Lessons
Kym N., California
A group of three students: The first one does everything I assign beautifully. The second one (the fastest learner of the three) only practices 1/2 of the assigned items, but beautifully. The third one does 1/3 of what I assign but not so beautifully because he didn’t spend the time. They all have the abilities to do everything I assign.
What would you do so that the first one gets his needs met and the third one doesn’t get moved along when he is not ready? The third one was given enough time to learn the assignments but he did not do so.
All are delightful students and are good matches for a group except for the huge difference in their individual home practice habits.
Stephen R., California
The third doesn’t quite sound like a match with the other two. Maybe split them up, especially if they are moving too far apart. You can give the faster students extra projects like an arrangement, new composition idea, or accompaniments from a fake book.
Kym N., California
I have already designed flexible projects into their assignments. The problem is that I will need to schedule in time during the lesson to follow up on those projects for the first student and so it will cut into the needed time for teaching the ‘regular’ things. I can’t split the second from the third as they are good friends and were taking lessons since the beginning. I though the first student would help to motivate the second and third to put in more time at home, but it didn’t. Plus, I do love teaching the three boys together.
Cate R., Australia
Maybe talk to the parent of the third child. Ask them how his practice is going. Maybe suggest a strategy to practice in the mornings. Or projects in the morning and practice in the afternoon and play some favorites after that. If that fails, overlap the class to do Accompaniment, Arrangements, or Reading Rhythm or Reading Notes. This way they stay together and there is less pressure on the third student.
Carrie L., Michigan
I tend to get the class involved in helping get everyone on the same page. I also will have a conversation about commitment if someone isn’t following through and keeping up because they aren’t doing the work.
Gordon Harvey, Australia
Sounds like there might be a need for a conversation with student 3.
Beyond that, it’s normal for students who are equally hardworking to move at different speeds. There are a few things you can do. You might give the brighter ones occasional additional variations and arrangement projects. They could also sometimes teach the slower ones some projects, with the justification that you can see how well they have grasped the learning tools by teaching someone else.
Once they have the basics of accompaniments, there’s the opportunity for students to have their own accompaniment projects.