Kathryn Drake

Suzuki Violin Teacher

Archives for April 2017

Small Step Example: Finishing Lessons on Time

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Last week I outlined a mechanism for developing and maintaining habit change called the “small steps” approach. Today I’d like to walk through exactly how I would “small step” a new habit in my own teaching.

Example: Using a Step List to Improve Punctuality

One problem I want to address in my teaching is punctuality. Respecting the parents and students in my studio is of utmost importance to me, and I want that to be reflected in the way I start and finish on time.

A challenge to staying prompt is that it is very easy to run a few minutes late (transition time, a student breaks down and has a tantrum, I get caught up teaching something very important, the parent asks an important question), but I feel it is unfair to end a lesson early. Like a ratchet — or public transportation — it is impossible to get ahead and all too easy to fall behind.

Since I can’t anticipate when delays occur, it seems the solution to this problem is planning for every lesson to finish 10 minutes early. Unfortunately, I’ve trained myself to be comfortable with 35 minute long lessons instead of 20. But efficient, intelligent, and practiced teaching would help me finish on time. So let’s analyze how I will make this change.

The first thing to note is that the ONLY change I’m making in my teaching right now is my ability to teach 20 minute, compact lessons. Every other habit is established and on maintenance (see the listed articles in Small Steps), or waiting on my habit wishlist. [Read more…]

Improve Your Violin Teaching By Taking Small Steps

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Have you ever been to an inspiring conference, or participated in an amazing teacher training course, or simply had your mind blown by a TED talk and consequently resolved to change everything about your life?

In the thralls of motivation you decide to completely revolutionize your meal plan, your work out goals, the way you think about vulnerability/love/education/technology, and the way you operate as a professional. Perhaps you completely revamped the way you schedule your lessons, the way you expect students to review, or the manner in which you ask parents to take notes. Coming away from an inspirational learning experience, you want to change everything all at one.

But how much of that change lasts? How much of that change persists, and how much of it drifts back to your state before the moment of divine inspiration?

Much literature has been written about what to change in your teaching, but not not much has been written about how to make those changes. I’ve published many habits and routines that are seemingly minor on their own, but have had a huge net impact on the ease of learning in my violin studio. The “what to change” included…

Using a practice chart
Maintaining discipline
Integrating performance
Giving feedback
Using gestures
Prepping recitals
Preparing your mind and body through meditation
Using growth language
Using time spent walking to practice teaching

I invited you to join me in making these changes in your teaching, but now I want to clarify “how” to do so. [Read more…]

Lessons Learned From Teaching Violin in a Practice Room

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This Tuesday I taught my last University of Texas String Project lesson. String Project is a program sponsored by the Butler School of Music designed to train teachers and develop young talent.

The idea of the String Project came about in the years following World War II when an acute shortage of string players became apparent. In 1948 Dr. William E. Doty, founding Dean of the College of Fine Arts, listened to and supported Albert Gillis’ idea of tackling the problem head-on by developing an imaginative program for the preparation of string teachers. Together they founded the Junior String Project and Professor Gillis became the director, a position he held for the first 10 years. Eight years after its founding, the program was renamed the University of Texas String Project. Professor Phyllis Young joined the staff in its fifth year and began directing in 1958. She was involved with the University of Texas String Project for 41 years, directing it for 35 of those years. In the fall of 2002, Dr. Laurie Scott became the director of the University of Texas String Project.

Working in String Project closely with Dr. Scott and my other incredible teaching colleagues was a privilege. I learned countless teaching skills (including classroom management, lesson planning, and event organizing and many others) through observation, feedback, and practice. Furthermore, I feel I have a network of string teachers who I will reach out to wherever I decide to set roots in the future.

With String Project I taught three group classes every Saturday, attended an organizational faculty meeting every Thursday, and taught 17 private students throughout the week. Though quality of teaching and incredible growth occurred in the walls of the music while group classes, lessons on teaching, and private lessons occurred, it is worth noting that these classes didn’t happen in state of the art facilities. Most of the time our work was done in simple classrooms with rows of desks and a whiteboard, or simply in a practice room.

After teaching hundreds of private lessons to dozens of students over the past three years in a 5X7 foot practice room, I’ve made a few observations. [Read more…]

Keep Your Job: How To Process the Shallow Office Work of Violin Teaching

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“Shallow work keeps you from getting fired. Deep work gets you the promotion.” Cal Newport

Drawing the distinction between depth and shallowness will show you where to maximize and minimize your time, but the role of shallow work in our lives cannot be written out entirely.

The shallow work that surrounds the life of a musician, and especially that of a music teacher, is significant. Most violin teachers who operate in a small organization or completely alone take on roles of work that would be delegated to others in larger organizations. The responsibility of scheduling, billing, planning, organizing, and marketing falls on one person’s shoulders.

I’ve already discussed how I prioritize deep work, and drain as much of the shallow work as I can, but I do want to take time to walk through the system I have in place to make sure the minutiae doesn’t take away from the most important work of my day.

The way I handle shallow work is inspired primarily by David Allen’s system of Getting Things Done. His book by the same name gives a complete, thorough system that will reduce the ambiguity and anxiety that probably surrounds your to-do list.

The system as it applies to the shallow work I do as a violin teacher can be broken down into three parts. [Read more…]