"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."
---Henry Ford
Working together is the goal of my mathematics classroom. Rich discussion and friendly critique provide an engaging and rigorous classroom. While this is my goal, I have found creating it to be a learning process in and of itself.
First I bring my students together in the classroom by arranging their desks into tables. Listening to each other I liken to keeping together. This I also have to teach. Students don't necessarily know how to listen to each other. I often ask them to tell me what someone at their table shared. Working together to solve problems is when the magic really happens. My students seem to be able to do this more frequently and the resulting ideas and reasoning continues to amaze me.
The same is true with really producing music. I found that all of my previous solo experience was great, but the potential for playing with someone made it even better. I enlisted my sons to practice with me. I was that one student in the group that needed a lot of help. Realizing this made me quite sympathetic to the type of student that takes some more time and slows the group down. As we practiced, they supported my need to move the timing down a bit, and gave me tips to help our whole group work together.
---Henry Ford
Working together is the goal of my mathematics classroom. Rich discussion and friendly critique provide an engaging and rigorous classroom. While this is my goal, I have found creating it to be a learning process in and of itself.
First I bring my students together in the classroom by arranging their desks into tables. Listening to each other I liken to keeping together. This I also have to teach. Students don't necessarily know how to listen to each other. I often ask them to tell me what someone at their table shared. Working together to solve problems is when the magic really happens. My students seem to be able to do this more frequently and the resulting ideas and reasoning continues to amaze me.
The same is true with really producing music. I found that all of my previous solo experience was great, but the potential for playing with someone made it even better. I enlisted my sons to practice with me. I was that one student in the group that needed a lot of help. Realizing this made me quite sympathetic to the type of student that takes some more time and slows the group down. As we practiced, they supported my need to move the timing down a bit, and gave me tips to help our whole group work together.
As my 20% project nears the end, I feel I understand the learning process more deeply and definitely have more compassion. Sometimes even though I knew something, it was difficult to perform. Sometimes, I was frustrated when something seemed too difficult (and easy for everyone else.) Sometimes, often actually, I made mistakes. However, ultimately the process was extremely rewarding because of the help, encouragement, and support of my teenage community. I hope that I can offer this to my future students as well.
I have signed up to take a community band class this summer and look forward to maybe one day playing for the USD pep band my sons play in!
I have signed up to take a community band class this summer and look forward to maybe one day playing for the USD pep band my sons play in!