SAA Practicum Units

Description

The SAA Practicum Unit™ is an important component in the SAA’s system of level-by-level unit training. While unit core training mainly focuses on Suzuki repertoire and instrumental technique, the emphasis of the Practicum is upon developing the art of teaching. Topics include communication skills, teaching strategies, diagnostics, and observation. In a nurturing and supportive environment of peers, using video footage from their home studio and on-site teaching, participants will practice self-assessment skills to identify their strengths in teaching and those areas in need of improvement. In keeping with the SAA’s commitment to life-long learning, the Practicum will provide teachers with an invaluable opportunity at any stage in their development.

Overview of Policies & Procedures

1. SAA Practicum Units™ are instrument-specific and considered core courses.
2. Class size – minimum of 2, maximum of 5.
3. Course must be offered over a minimum of 5 days.
4. 15 hours of class time and 8 hours of observation are required. Observation is not necessarily instrument-specific.
5. Participants must have a current Suzuki studio and have taught Suzuki students for a minimum of one year.
6. Participants must have completed and registered Every Child Can! and Unit 1 (or Units 1A and 1B). Beyond this required minimum level of training and experience, the Practicum unit is appropriate and beneficial for any Suzuki teacher and may be repeated as often as desired.
7. Activities in SAA Practicum Units™ consist of a combination of discussion of participants’ videoed lessons of his/her home students, teaching exercises, and on-site teaching. On-site teaching is to include volunteer students who would receive extra lessons. Volunteer students may or may not be students from participant’s or trainer’s own studio.
8. Minimum Requirement*: Video lesson segments should include a complete 30-minute private lesson working on Suzuki repertoire and one 30-minute segment of participant’s choice. Possibilities are a consecutive lesson of the same student, a group lesson, a reading lesson, a challenging student, a behavior-issue lesson, a parent-issue lesson, a lesson at a different book level, a student recital, etc. More footage may be prepared, but amount of viewing will depend on time constraints, class
   size, and other factors.
9. Requirements for preparing video material for class:
   a. DVD format
   b. Angle of the camera must show the student’s hands. The closest possible camera placement should be used, including the student’s entire body. It is important that the teacher be visible during the lesson, and when possible, the parent also is in view.
   c. Participants should check DVDs in advance to be sure all are working properly.
   d. Participants should record many lessons over time and select from them the portions to bring to the Practicum course.

Institute Directors Offering the Practicum are expected to:

• Consult with trainer in arranging on-site lessons with student/parent and Practicum participants
  • Accommodate trainer’s preferences for participants’ on-site teaching opportunities length of lessons, number of days, same or different students, etc)
  • Instruct student to play a different piece than the one they are studying with their institute master class teacher.
  • Options for securing students: volunteer sign-up sheet, verbal announcement, or request to fellow institute faculty.
• Check that participants have taken the prerequisites of ECC! and Unit 1 (or 1A and 1B), have taught Suzuki students for a minimum of one year, and have a current Suzuki studio.
• Consider charging higher tuition fees for the Practicum than for other units since the classes are significantly smaller.
• Schedule the Practicum during the student portion of institute (portion in which student classes are taking place). At institutes offering 9-day sequences of training, 4 of the 5 days of the SAA Practicum Unit™ must be taught on days in which student classes are taking place.
• Not permit participants to take other training units simultaneously.
• Limit class size to 5, minimum of 2.
• Schedule lecture times in 3 hour blocks, if possible.
• Provide an appropriate classroom with proper DVD playing equipment and appropriate-sized monitor for viewing lessons

Suggestions for a successful Practicum

Recommended ideas for teaching the Practicum are provided below, as a resource for all trainers

Structuring the Course

The Practicum is driven by the participant’s needs, not by a specific agenda. Any structure you have in mind at the beginning of the course will need to be flexible to accommodate the individual needs of the teachers in the group.

Some options:

• Start the course with an initial presentation to create a supportive environment. During this
  introductory session, assess the desires and needs of the participants, and decide on a structure
  or time frame for DVDs, lessons, and discussions.
• If the course is set up for 3 hours per day, it’s easy to complete one hour of viewing (including
  discussion time), one hour of exercises/activities/discussions, and one hour of on-site teaching
  (including discussion) after the first day’s initial presentation.
• Each day could be based on a general topic such as “How to involve the parents”, “The onepoint lesson”, or “Communication: the words you choose.” DVDs and lessons could be viewed
  and discussed with a specific topic in mind. Observation assignments could also be made
  according to the day’s topic. See the list of “Discussion Topics” at the end of this document for
  further ideas that may be incorporated into the class, depending upon the individual’s needs.

Sensitivity, Building Trust, Communication

Every teacher trainer interviewed about their Practicum courses mentioned how important it was to create an environment that allowed all the participants to feel comfortable and safe. Here are some ideas for doing so:

• Share a life experience that has had a profound impact on you. Relate this change to the fact that concepts explored in the course involve change, and sometimes this change is immediate and sometimes it takes longer to incorporate.
• Closed door policy – a promise that nothing will leave the room and be discussed with others outside the class so the participants can feel free to open up within class time. Confidentiality is key.
• Being receptive to a suggested idea is important. Create a community of harmony, honesty, open communication, and trust in the group.
• Clarify at the beginning of the course that we’re here to learn from each other, not to judge each other. Teachers need to feel they’re being coached rather than evaluated.
• Make sure each participant feels good about where they are in that development process, and emphasize the importance of life-long learning and growth. Teaching is an art, a skill developed over time, so no one should expect to already have developed those skills. When introducing the teachers to the live students, introduce them as “experienced teachers.”
• Be sure to use the same positive approach and specific praise with the teachers that you use
  with students.
• Start by determining participant’s strengths. This begins building the trust necessary to make the week work.

Recordings / Videos

Ideas regarding types of lessons to bring, both by the teacher workshop participant (TWP) and the
trainer, and how to evaluate, are listed below.

• For adequate preparation, recommendations for appropriate lesson material should be sent to TWPs well in advance. This can be done by the trainer in a “welcome email” for precourse contact with each participant. Recording possibilities to bring include: a complete 30-minute private lesson working on Suzuki repertoire and one 30-minute segment of participant’s choice (e.g. a consecutive lesson of the same student, a group lesson, a reading lesson, a challenging student, a behavior-issue lesson, a parent-issue lesson, a lesson at a different book level, a student recital, etc.)
• It is recommended that the trainer allows for each TWP to show a minimum of two lessons during the course. More may be viewed depending upon time and number of TWPs in course.
• Starting with a recording of the trainer teaching one of their own students is often effective. If shown first, followed by a descriptor evaluation activity with the trainer pointing out effective areas and their own areas needing improvement, it sets the stage for the TWPs to feel more comfortable when showing their recording. When viewing participants’ lessons, it is highly recommended that the trainer is the only one offering the point of suggestion or improvement, while the fellow TWPs in the class only comment upon what is working well. By the time on-site teaching begins, the participants should have reached a higher level of confidence and have specific points of focus for their “live” teaching opportunities.
• Sometimes it is useful to have participants watch an entire lesson without writing down anything. Many people tend to be so detail oriented that they miss the big picture. Discussing the general feel of a lesson, its effectiveness, the atmosphere, can be very beneficial.
• Pedagogy Descriptors: Many trainers find that the SAA Pedagogy Descriptors are the best way to view and discuss the recordings. To be useful, the participants need to be very familiar with them. They are copyrighted material, located in the Teacher Trainer Manual, and can be circulated to participants either before class or at the first session.
  • Possible options for using the Pedagogy Descriptors:
    • Start by using the Descriptors as a discussion topic. Then use them as a point of reference while viewing videos.
    • Discuss them in detail, but as a tool for continually improving teaching after the Practicum. Find specific ways that participants can use them in their own studio.
    • Condense them, or only use major topics. Choose just 3-4 or one group to concentrate on in one session or focus upon while watching one DVD.
    • It can be useful to start with a topic and have the participants generate their own list of
      descriptors within that topic. This can alleviate the feeling that participants are being
      “tested.” Compare this list with those on the actual SAA list.

Observations

Structuring of the required 8 hours of observations may be done in various ways:

• Make specific assignments, geared individually to the areas seen in the recordings as needing the most work or awareness
• Look for elements of the Pedagogy Descriptors in the observation
• Compare/contrast same teacher teaching two different ages/levels
• Compare/contrast two teachers teaching a group class
• Compare/contrast three teachers teaching at the same level
• Watch a lesson observing the parent and his/her role
• Watch a different instrument area and observe visual, aural, kinesthetic ways of communication (this allows observer to focus on style, rather than content)
• Watch a lesson noting various types of feedback, positive, negative, constructive or otherwise
• Other observation formats of trainer’s choosing

On-site Training

On-site teaching is a very valuable component of the Practicum course. Lessons can be arranged in different ways, though some communication with teacher workshop participants and institute directors needs to be done to successfully arrange the format and frequency.

• Before the institute begins, discuss with the institute director the preferred process for obtaining live students, sharing any special needs or requests for the lessons (e.g. length of lessons, number of days, same or different students, etc.)
  • Options: post a volunteer sign-up sheet (with time, location, age, book level), make a verbal announcement at opening ceremony, or make a personal request to fellow institute faculty regarding recommendations of students from their master class or home studio.
• Determine on the first day what level and ages the participants are comfortable teaching. Participants may prefer to teach their own students, or trainers may opt to provide students from their own studio, if available.
• Lessons may be structured in a variety of ways, according to the TWP and trainer needs:
  • One 10-15 minute lesson, demonstrating a teaching segment
  • Two lessons during the week, 10-20 minutes each, followed by discussion
  • Three, 12-15 minute lessons during the week, followed by discussion. Using a timer is essential to fit these in without losing discussion time.
  • Above scenarios could involve the same student (for follow-through of a concept) or involve different students each day
• Discussions following the lessons should be done without the student and parent present. One way of making the teacher at ease and open to having their teaching discussed is to start by having each participant say one thing they really liked about the person’s teaching. Then ask the teacher for his/her perceptions of what was good about the lesson, what perhaps felt a little uncomfortable, or if there was any area where they felt their ideas were not getting across to the student. Trainer then shares positive feedback, and is the only one who addresses areas in need of improvement.
• Students need to be told:
  • That these are extra lessons, not to take the place of any of the classes they’re signed up for at an institute.
  • That the lessons will be taught by experienced teachers who are taking the course to hone their teaching skills and share their ideas with other teachers.
  • To play a different piece from the one they’re studying in their master classes.
  • That if there are any differences in what their institute teachers tell them and what the Practicum teachers tell them, that they should go with the institute teachers’ ideas, since the Practicum lessons are experimental.

Assignments: written and reading

Written assignments and reading of books/articles are not required for the course. However, they do provide an enriching experience for the participants to further ponder their own teaching and can serve as beneficial discussion topics.

Written assignment options:

• Self-reflection sheets, listing one’s strengths and weaknesses, identifying desired goals
• What makes effective teaching? How do we identify an effective lesson?
• How are you establishing a successful Suzuki triangle within your studio? What areas are working and what areas would you choose to improve upon and how?
• Think about your most/least enjoyable lesson, explaining why it’s a positive experience and why it is more challenging.
• Keep a journal throughout the course, making reference to helpful points you noticed, observed, discussed, and any specific suggestions to your own teaching. How do you plan to address these recommendations in the next semester?
• List your upcoming goals for professional development, after taking the Practicum.

Books, articles, resources:

• Robert Duke: Intelligent Music Teaching
• Ed Kreitman: Teaching from the Balance Point
• William Ury: The Power of a Positive No
• David Coyle: The Talent Code
• Philip Johnston: The Practice Revolution
• Carol Dweck: Mindset
• Alfie Kohn: Punished by Rewards
• ASJ articles, Ethics articles in ASJ, other music publications article
• Ask each TWP to bring one or two relevant articles to share
• TED talks
• Other resources of trainer’s choosing

Consultations (optional)

With Practicum being such an individualized course, consultations provide an excellent way to mentor the teacher workshop participant (TWP) further. A few ideas for approaching this optional meeting are: reinforce the positive aspect of the TWP’s teaching, identify the one or two important points that TWP needs to improve upon, offer further suggestions on how to develop this point further in the upcoming months, suggest a professional development goal, conduct a role playing activity, watch another recording, allow time for TWP to ask any questions they may not have felt comfortable asking while in class itself, etc. This meeting should be scheduled outside class time, and could even be held informally over coffee or a shared meal.

Activities

These four activities are good starting points for the course. All activities are most useful if they include discussion of how they can be used on a continuing basis for the teachers’ self-evaluation in their own studio:

• Have participants identify a strength in their own teaching and write it down. Then ask them if they can find one thing that they’re hoping to improve and write that down also. The trainer can keep this list and refer to it all week to help direct the class. It is also useful during the optional consultation at the end of the week.
• Start with a DVD of the trainer’s teaching and evaluate it with the group to show how the process will work.
• Have teachers make a list of what they most like about their own teaching, not what they don’t like, as it’s good to be reminded of one’s strengths. Then establish a goal to add several things to that list throughout the next year.
• The trainer can bring a DVD of several of their own students playing a piece in a lesson (just a first run-through, no teaching or commentary, and not performance level). Participants then write down the following for each student:
  • What specific praise would they give the student?
  • List everything they feel needs “fixing.”
  • What one point would they work on first?

Activities that are useful later in the course:

• While watching on-site lessons (or DVDs), each participant keeps tally and marks down how many times certain elements occur in each lesson. The list could include things like specific praise, interaction with parent, humor, etc. Discussion afterward could include how age or level could make a difference in the tallied number in certain categories (or how high/low numbers may indicate areas needing more attention).
• Have teachers teach each other, role playing difficult teaching situations (e.g. interruptive parent, parent not taking notes, etc.).
• Give a chance for a participant to prepare and lead a piece in a group class.
• Brainstorm technical issues of your instrument. Take one thing that is a common problem to many students and discuss first the reasons why it may be occurring. Then come up with as many ways to fix it as possible, with the emphasis on approaching it from completely different directions.
• Encourage thinking outside the box – as these ideas may spark a very workable idea in someone else.
• Have participants teach one of their on-site lessons without speaking (silent lesson).

Discussion Topics:

Depending upon the individual needs of the participants, it may be beneficial to address some of the following discussion topics.

• Recalling teachers that have inspired you, what specifically was it about their teaching that impacted you (positively or negatively)? Generate a list of what makes an engaging teacher.
• Try to remember a specific moment with a teacher that made a difference in your life.
• Vision of Excellence: discuss the definition of excellence and how we create that vision for ourselves and our students.
  • Teaching vision: For every musical and technical point, plan how to get there, being flexible enough to carry out that plan differently with each individual student.
  • Discuss how to appropriately set studio expectations and standards.
• Ask teachers to think of their students’ full spectrum of potential. What is necessary to get to that level? Are there personal limits in each of us that will reduce our students’ ability to reach that potential? Come up with an action plan to focus our own training and education to achieve these goals.
• What level of success do you expect to achieve with your students? What are your goals?
• Discuss the required observations occasionally instead of handing them in.
• Observe how a teacher is incorporating the Suzuki philosophy throughout a lesson.
• What is a one-point lesson?
• Talk about the differences between home teaching (long term) and institute teaching (one small niche) and how the goals and approaches might differ.
• Discuss the topic of parents: How do we include parents? What are their roles? How does the triangle change over time? Why do we want them involved?
• How are we motivating the student and parent?
• Discuss managing behavioral issues at lesson, both student and parent.
• How do we structure a lesson for effective format and flow? How do we follow-up on consecutive lessons? How do we track student assignments from week-to-week?
• Communication and Feedback: Discuss how different words and actions (body language) can be interpreted differently. Assess the clarity of instruction in terms of effective word use.
• Learning styles: Discuss these with self-assessment in mind, then try to apply this knowledge to discussion of the lessons.
• How can we learn to speak the child’s language so they can hear what we’re teaching?
• How we use our instruments to demonstrate a teaching point.
• As the course unfolds, keep an ongoing list of various Teaching Strategies, e.g. dissect-n-stack, imagery, call-n-response, physical molding, etc.
• Explain the components of a Teaching Segment and apply this concept to any on-site lessons.
• How do we use of repetition effectively at the lesson?
• Discuss the purpose of review, analyzing how it is incorporated at lesson and home practice.
• What is the role of listening? What are specific ideas to encourage daily CD listening?
• How do we know when a piece is polished, when to move on, when to preview?
• How are we providing clarity of the practice assignment to the student and parent?
• Approaching transfer students, nurturing these families into the Suzuki journey, including a discussion of the SAA Aspirational Code of Ethics