My life changed when I decided which pocket my every day carry items would always go in.

I only have two pairs of paints. One is my nicer pair of wool dress pants. The other is a pair of REI work pants. Both have two pockets in the front and two in the back.

One day, inspired by Tynan, I picked one pocket for keys (front left– I’m left handed), one for wallet (front right), and one for phone (back right if carrying). My back left pocket is left empty for handkerchief, headphones, or any other miscellaneous item as needed.

This might sound like a ridiculous level of detail to you– or something you already naturally do– but for me it was a game changer.

Before I would root around in my backpack searching for my phone. Then just throw cash in any pocket, but later not be able to find the money when it wasn’t in my wallet. I would search for keys on an entire walk from the front door of school out to my car because I didn’t know exactly where they were.

Now needing something and having something is instantaneous. I have no anxiety moving through a line at the grocery store or walking up to my car with friends. It takes no more effort than just throwing the item in a random pocket, and yet I’m completely saved of the hassle of guessing where anything is. There is zero friction.

In teaching we have (or need) every day carry items as well. [Read more…]

See this post for a definition of elements and their extenders. These are a collection of extenders I’ve picked up from many brilliant Suzuki teachers over the years.

Each line is an extension of the ‘It,’ which is the element: piece, game, exercise, etude, etc.

REPETITIONS
1. Do it X number of times: parent counts aloud while student does
2. Do it X number of times: parent/student drops an object (penny/marble/pebble) in a cup
3. Do it X number of times: parent/student slides beads over on an abacus
4. Do it X number of times: parent/teacher does something silly (face, sound, pose) between each one
5. Do it X number of times: parent/teacher draws part of a picture each repetition, student attempts to guess what the picture is
6. Do it X number of times: parent/teacher spells out one letter of the student’s name for each repetition

CORRECTLY
7. Do it X number of times CORRECTLY: parent slides object over to the student side if correct, or over towards an inanimate object if incorrect
8. Do it X number of times CORRECTLY: student chooses whether it counts or not, parent keeps count
9. Do it X number of times CORRECTLY in a row: teacher/parent chooses low number and keeps count for student. Be careful with this one, can lead to crying. Ask for it only if you are confident the student can do it, and they have a nice reserve of grit.

AT RANDOM
10. Random number of times: roll the dice
11. Random number of times: student picks from a deck of cards (either stack the deck to only have numbers, or the teacher does a rep if student pulls a face card)
12. Random number of times: teacher asks student how many times they think they should practice it for it to feel easy (this is a very revealing question)
13. Random rep: in the middle of another activity, or at a transition, ask the student to do one random repetition of an earlier element practiced

CHALLENGE
14. While standing on one foot
15. While sticking tongue out
16. With eyes closed [Read more…]