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From Novice to Master - an article about moving towards mastery of skills

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From Novice to Master - an article about moving towards mastery of skills

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The Journey from Novice to Master: Navigating the Four Stages of Skill Development

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The Journey from Novice to Master: Navigating the Four Stages of Skill Development

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Mastering a complex skill is a challenging but immensely rewarding journey. Whether you aspire to become a virtuoso musician, a world-class athlete, a master craftsman, or a top professional in your field, the path to expertise follows a common progression. Understanding this progression, known as the Four Stages of Competence model, provides a roadmap for navigating the long and winding road from novice to master.

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This type of assessment has been shown to have a number of benefits including increased motivation, engagement, and understanding of the material. Mirror Mirror… I think my work is a lot better than…

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Effective Feedback in Music: A 7 Step Guide for Teachers

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Assessing student progress and providing effective feedback is an essential aspect of music education.

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The power of emotional connection in learning

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The power of emotional connection in learning

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The Power of Emotional Connection in Learning: From Beginner to Advanced - Balance Your Life.

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At its core, an emotional connection in learning means linking feelings or personal experiences with the subject you’re studying. When we connect emotionally

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Emotional attachment and emotionally driven willingness to learn

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Emotional attachment and emotionally driven willingness to learn

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The brain, emotions, and learning - THE EDUCATION HUB

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An introduction to role of the emotions in the cognitive process of learning.

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Emotions and Learning: How feelings shape educational experiences

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Emotions and Learning: How feelings shape educational experiences

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Emotions and Learning: How Feelings Shape Educational Experiences

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Explore how emotions impact learning outcomes, from positive and negative effects to emotional intelligence and digital age challenges in education.

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How teachers can help students find purpose and passion

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How teachers can help students find purpose and passion

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Discovering your passion in life is not easy for many people. In fact, it often takes years of struggle and hard work to figure out what truly brings us joy.

When we're given opportunities to explore our interests and talents at a young age, it's usually much easier to choose a career that makes us happy. As a teacher, here's how you can tap into your students' strengths and encourage their curiosity, which may guide them towards more fulfilling lives.

Prioritize Motivation Over Achievement

Our school systems are designed in a way that prioritize academic achievement over intrinsic motivation. It matters more that a students does well on a test than if the topic was interesting or motivating.

Promoting student passion requires teachers to rethink this method, says Patrick Cook-Deegan, founder of Project Wayfinder. "Students who show a sense of purpose have a deeply developed intrinsic motivation to achieve a goal or take part in an activity," he writes in Greater Good Magazine. When unengaged students discover a topic that interests them and they find pleasurable, they are internally motivated pursue it, regardless of external motivators such as grades.

Helping students find their passion creates a new generation of people who are genuinely interested in the work that they do. Liz Dwyer, managing editor at Shondaland, explains that this helps change the conversation around college as well, allowing high school students to find and pursue majors that bring them joy, regardless of societal expectations. When people are engaged in work they don't enjoy - even if it's a high paying career - they likely won't achieve true success because it simply doesn't make them happy.

Build Teacher-Student Trust

We've discussed why strong teacher relationships are important for student success when it comes to special needs students. But can trusted bonds also help students of all abilities find their purpose? According to Search Institute, students who have strong relationships to their teachers are more likely to be motivated and engaged.

Specifically, it was found that middle school students who had strong developmental relationships with their teachers were eight times more likely to persevere through challenging tasks, enjoy working hard, and be willing to make mistakes. Since making mistakes is a key part of finding one's purpose, a classroom environment that encourages exploration is conducive to developing passionate, purpose-driven students.

Strong student-teacher relationships also help create a safe environment for students to explore and fail. Learning and growing takes risks, and students need to be in an environment where they feel safe to do so, writes 2017 National Teacher of the Year Sydney Chaffee. Additionally, Chaffee says that relationships are at the center of everything in her classroom. Interactions among students, and between students and teachers, are based on trust, and is the key to helping students thrive.

Foster Collaboration

Collaboration in the classroom helps students feel more involved in their learning process while exposing them to new ideas. One way to involve students in a collaborative learning process is to have students design their own learning environment.

Vicki Davis at The Cool Cat Teacher spoke to creative learning strategist Barbara Bray of Rethinking Learning, who encourages giving students some voice, which allows them opportunities to explore their passions. Bray gave the example of how she stripped the classroom bare, then asked her students to redesign and decorate the space. This rare opportunity let the students express their own interests and change the culture of their own learning environment.

Bray explained that creating a more autonomous classroom with such activities builds a culture of learning, helping each person's interests become valued. To get a feel for student interest before changing around the classroom, school administrator Derrick Meador recommends sending out student surveys. These surveys can assess what students are excited and curious about. Then, teachers can use this information to create creative, inspirational lesson plans that are directly tied to students' personal interests.

Share Personal Passion

When students see that their teachers are enthusiastic about learning, they'll feel more excited to engage with the work. This is why teachers can act as mentors, showing students how to pursue hobbies and passions.

Media and communications manager Natassa Manitsa writes that when teachers share their enthusiasm for a subject, the positive energy is picked up by students. Whether incorporating musical passion in a classroom singalong or enthusing about a birding hobby in biology lessons, there are many ways teachers can share their enthusiasm.

Additionally, thinking about why you decided to become an educator can reignite your passion. Spanish teacher Annabelle Allen explains that she has a domino on her desk as a reminder of why she started teaching. To Allen, the domino symbolizes the idea that teachers all have a domino effect on their students, propelling them forward to pursue a bright and passionate life.

Promote Exploration and Failure

Exploration is essential for discovering new things and finding one's passion, but trying new things also opens up room for failure.

Deborah Song, who founded the blog WorkLifeParent, says failure helps children discover what they like and don't like. Trying something new that they find they don't like or enjoy, still leads children to discover what they do like. Teachers can follow this same idea by helping students explore new and challenging activities in the classroom, even when failure is inevitable.

Failure also allows teachers to demonstrate grit to their students. Sociologist Christine Carter, author of Raising Happiness, writes that grit is the ability to persist in the face of challenges in order to learn and grow. Grit is our ability to cope with difficulty after tragedy and remain resilient despite the inevitable setbacks of life. When students learn to understand that failure is inevitable, and that it can lead to new and exciting paths when overcome, they will work harder to find their passion and purpose.

Career Exploration

Career exploration is another great way to help high school students uncover their passion. One way to test out possible careers is to have your students take a career quiz.

Sydnee Lyons at HerCampus says a career test can help students with self-discovery. The questions on the test are meant to evaluate how personality traits and interests would lend themselves to certain careers. While the results may not be a career that the student is particularly interested in, the process of thinking about their own characteristics and applying them to professions, is a helpful skill that can make students more career-minded.

You can also engage your students in group exercises that ask them to ponder questions about their experience, interests and future careers. McGill University professor Karl Moore outlines a few of these questions:

"How have your passion and interests evolved to shape your purpose?

"How do they connect to your interests and dreams from your early days?

"What pursuits would inspire and give meaning to you?

"What impact would you like to make on others?"

Asking students to answer to these questions and discuss them with peers can generate excitement about the future. And set them on a path for a lifetime of pursuing their passions.

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How Teachers Can Help Students Find Purpose and Passion

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Discovering your passion in life is not easy for many people. In fact, it often takes years of struggle and hard work to figure out what truly brings us joy. When we're given opportunities to explore our interests and talents at a young age, it's usually much easier to choose a career that makes us happy.

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Fostering curiosity and a love of learning

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Fostering curiosity and a love of learning

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Curiosity and a love of learning are essential traits that help children thrive academically, emotionally, and socially. These traits not only foster a lifelong passion for discovery but also equip children with the skills needed to navigate an increasingly complex world. But how do parents and educators encourage curiosity in children? And how can they cultivate a deep, sustained love of learning? Below, we'll explore practical strategies for nurturing these qualities in children and discuss the long-term benefits of fostering curiosity and learning engagement.

1. Create a Stimulating Environment

A child's environment plays a critical role in shaping their curiosity. The more stimulating the environment, the more children are encouraged to explore, ask questions, and learn. Providing a variety of age-appropriate resources, such as books, puzzles, educational toys, and interactive games, sparks children's interest in learning.

Home Learning Spaces: At home, create dedicated spaces for reading, experimenting, or building. A small library or reading nook can encourage children to explore books on their own. Likewise, a simple science corner with magnifying glasses, plants, or rocks invites children to engage with nature and scientific principles.

Interactive Learning Tools: Digital platforms like educational apps, YouTube channels, and documentaries can also pique children's interest in subjects like science, history, and geography. The key is to introduce tools that match your child's interests and allow them to dive deeper into topics that fascinate them.

2. Model Curiosity and Lifelong Learning

Children are natural imitators. They observe and mimic the behaviors of adults, particularly those closest to them, such as parents, caregivers, and teachers. One of the best ways to foster curiosity is to model it yourself. Show enthusiasm when you learn something new and demonstrate the value of curiosity in everyday life.

For instance, if your child asks a question you don't know the answer to, embrace the opportunity to research the topic together. Instead of brushing off complex questions, express excitement at the chance to find out more. This models the idea that learning is a continuous process, and that it's okay-and even exciting-not to know everything.

Teachers can model curiosity by expressing wonder during lessons. For example, saying things like, "I wonder what would happen if we changed this variable in the experiment?" shows students that learning is about asking questions and seeking answers.

3. Encourage Open-Ended Questions and Exploration

Curiosity thrives when children are given the freedom to ask questions and explore topics of interest. Encourage children to ask "why," "how," and "what if" questions, even when these inquiries seem trivial or repetitive. Responding positively to their questions helps reinforce the idea that their curiosity is valuable.

Encouraging open-ended exploration is also key. Rather than focusing solely on providing direct answers, guide children to discover the answers on their own. Ask follow-up questions that prompt deeper thinking. For example, if a child asks, "Why do leaves change color in the fall?" instead of giving a straightforward answer, ask, "What do you think happens to the leaves as the weather changes?" This method keeps the conversation dynamic and fosters critical thinking.

4. Provide Opportunities for Hands-On Learning

Children often learn best when they can physically engage with the world around them. Hands-on learning experiences, such as building projects, science experiments, or art activities, allow them to apply theoretical knowledge and observe real-world outcomes.

Science Projects: Simple science experiments, such as creating a baking soda and vinegar volcano or growing crystals, are excellent ways to engage children's natural curiosity. Science kits that allow kids to explore concepts like magnetism, electricity, or biology can also be fun and informative.

Art and Craft Projects: Art encourages creative thinking and problem-solving. Let children engage in projects like painting, sculpting, or creating simple DIY crafts. Artistic activities not only foster creativity but also teach children to approach problems from different perspectives.

Outdoor Exploration: Nature is one of the best classrooms. Encourage children to explore the outdoors-whether it's a garden, park, or forest. Activities like birdwatching, hiking, or even stargazing at night can spark a child's interest in biology, ecology, and astronomy.

5. Encourage a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset-the belief that abilities can be developed through hard work and effort-is essential for fostering a love of learning. Children with a growth mindset are more likely to embrace challenges and persist when faced with difficulties, which is key for sustaining curiosity over the long term.

When children encounter challenges, encourage them to see mistakes as learning opportunities rather than failures. Praise effort rather than intelligence or innate ability. For instance, instead of saying, "You're so smart," try saying, "You worked really hard to figure that out!" This helps children understand that learning is a process, and improvement comes with effort and persistence.

Failure as a Learning Tool: Emphasize that failure is a part of the learning process. When children make mistakes, encourage them to analyze what went wrong and how they can improve. This attitude helps eliminate the fear of failure, which can stifle curiosity and risk-taking.

6. Cultivate Intrinsic Motivation

While rewards and praise can be helpful motivators in some instances, it's important to cultivate intrinsic motivation-where children engage in learning for the sake of learning, not for external rewards. Intrinsically motivated children are more likely to sustain their curiosity and continue learning even when there are no immediate rewards.

Allow children to pursue topics that interest them, and give them the freedom to explore those areas in depth. For example, if a child is fascinated by dinosaurs, provide books, documentaries, and models related to dinosaurs and encourage them to investigate further. This personalized approach fosters a sense of ownership over their learning and taps into their natural curiosity.

7. Limit Screen Time and Encourage Unstructured Play

Although technology can be an excellent tool for learning, excessive screen time can stifle creativity and curiosity. Encourage children to engage in unstructured play, which allows them to use their imaginations, experiment with different scenarios, and solve problems independently.

Unstructured play could involve building with blocks, drawing, role-playing, or simply spending time in nature. Play is an essential component of curiosity because it allows children to explore ideas without the pressure of rules or objectives.

8. Create a Safe Space for Questions and Exploration

Children need to feel safe to ask questions and express curiosity without fear of being judged or dismissed. Whether at home or in the classroom, cultivate an environment where asking questions is encouraged, and there are no "stupid" questions. When children feel respected and heard, they are more likely to engage deeply in learning.

Similarly, foster a classroom or home environment where it's okay not to know the answer right away. Children should feel comfortable experimenting, making mistakes, and asking for help. This safety net allows them to take intellectual risks, a key ingredient in fostering a love of learning.

Fostering curiosity and a love of learning in children is one of the most valuable gifts parents and educators can offer. By creating stimulating environments, modeling curiosity, encouraging exploration, providing hands-on experiences, and nurturing a growth mindset, adults can ignite children's innate desire to discover the world around them. This foundation not only leads to academic success but also ensures that children grow into lifelong learners, equipped with the curiosity and skills necessary to thrive in an ever-changing world. By encouraging exploration, embracing mistakes, and cultivating a passion for learning, we help children unlock their full potential and foster a lifelong love of discovery.

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Fostering Curiosity and a Love of Learning in Children: A Guide for Parents and Educators

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Fostering Curiosity and a Love of Learning in Children: A Guide for Parents and Educators

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Key points

Lifelong learning is crucial in today's dynamic world, allowing children to adapt, innovate, and thrive.

Passionate learners experience personal growth, increased confidence, and a sense of purpose.

Love of learning equips children for career success, fostering inventive problem-solving and adaptability.

In this rapidly evolving time, it is essential to instill a lifelong love of learning in children, as they are the architects of our future. Alvin Toffler aptly declared, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

Genuine curiosity and an insatiable thirst for knowledge empower children to adapt, innovate, and thrive in an era marked by unprecedented technological advancements, growing global interconnectivity, and shifting societal norms. Nurturing a passion for learning enables the young minds of today to navigate the dynamic landscape of tomorrow, deftly embracing change while forging a brighter, more inclusive world.

Children who harbor a love for learning are more inclined to find success in their academic pursuits. Their inherent motivation to learn drives them to persevere through challenges, leading to enhanced academic performance and higher levels of achievement. The process of learning serves as a conduit for personal growth and development. As children pursue knowledge, they acquire new skills, insights, and a profound understanding of themselves and the world surrounding them. This self-discovery ultimately bolsters their confidence, self-esteem, and sense of purpose.

Furthermore, in numerous careers, continuous learning and professional development are indispensable. Cultivating a love for learning in children equips them with the necessary foundation for future career success and satisfaction, giving them a competitive edge in the job market and empowering them to excel in their chosen fields. Children who relish learning are prone to ask questions, seek new information, and engage in inventive problem-solving, fostering a lifelong passion for learning and self-improvement. This passion often translates into a source of joy and fulfillment. Children who love learning are likelier to experience positive emotions and derive a greater sense of purpose and meaning, improving well-being and overall happiness.

Nurturing a love for learning in children is crucial for their academic, personal, and professional success and their general well-being and happiness. As educators and parents, we must establish an environment that encourages a love of learning and inspires children to explore the world around them.

10 ways to encourage children's love of learning

Here are 10 evidence-based strategies to foster a passion for learning in children:

1. Provide autonomy support: Autonomy support provides choice, flexibility, and opportunities for self-directed action. Providing children with autonomy support can increase their motivation, engagement, and love of learning. For example, allow children to choose their learning activities, set their own goals, and make decisions about their learning.

2. Cultivate a growth mindset: Encourage children to see learning as a process of growth and development. Teach them that abilities can be developed through effort and practice and that mistakes and failures are opportunities for learning and growth.

3. Foster competence: Help children develop a sense of competence in their learning. Provide them with opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge, and give them feedback that supports their learning and growth.

4. Create a sense of relatedness: Foster positive relationships and a sense of belonging among children. Create a supportive learning environment where children feel safe and connected to others. Encourage collaboration and social learning opportunities.

5. Provide structure and clear expectations: Children benefit from clear expectations and structure in their learning. Provide them with clear goals, feedback, and expectations for their learning.

6. Use intrinsic rewards: Encourage children to focus on intrinsic rewards, such as the enjoyment of learning and the satisfaction of mastery. Avoid relying on external rewards, such as grades or prizes, which can decrease intrinsic motivation.

7. Offer choice and variety: Provide children with various learning activities and opportunities for choice to help them find interesting and engaging activities that can increase their sense of autonomy and control over their learning.

8. Encourage self-reflection: Encourage children to reflect on their learning and set goals to help them develop a sense of ownership and investment in their learning.

9. Support self-regulation: Help children develop self-regulation skills, such as goal-setting, planning, and self-monitoring, to help them become more effective learners and increase their motivation and love of learning.

10. Make learning meaningful: Connect learning to children's interests, experiences, and goals. Help them see the relevance and importance of what they are learning and how it can apply to their lives to increase their motivation, engagement, and love of learning.

Light the fire

Education is often associated with filling a child's mind with information, but it should be more than that. As W.B. Yeats once said, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." Education is not just a one-time event but a continuous journey of self-discovery and personal growth. By nurturing a love for learning early in life, we set the stage for a future where our children can flourish, adapt, and find joy in the ceaseless quest for knowledge as they navigate the ever-evolving tapestry of our world.

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Cultivating a Lifelong Love of Learning in the 21st Century

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Embark on a journey to ignite the fire within the young minds of today, and shape a brighter future for us all.

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Growth mindset is a popular theory used in many schools – but the wider evidence base for its effectiveness is limited

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Becoming a professional musician requires an incredible amount of work, and having a passion for music can help motivate the many required hours of practice. But can a passion for music also be destructive?

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Make Better Music 3: 5 Ways to Re-Ignite Your Passion for Making Music

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Make Better Music 3: 5 Ways to Re-Ignite Your Passion for Making Music. Lessons in music composition, song writing, artistic motivation and making better music from David Graham.

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Harnessing the Power of Failure in Your Music Classroom: Grit, Growth Mindset and Resilience

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Harnessing the Power of Failure in Your Music Classroom: Grit, Growth Mindset and Resilience

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Magazine article about emotional attachment to your job

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Magazine article about emotional attachment to your job

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Although this article is aimed at adult women and is not about music, it clearly lays out the pros and cons of a strong emotional attachment to a job, which can be easily translated to musical engagement. Also contains some practical coping strategies that could be useful in teaching students whose emotional attachment negatively impacts their learning or mental health

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It's Time To Talk About Emotional Attachment At Work

Many of us have a work-first mentality, but is it pervading your personal life too? Christobel Hastings looks at what happens when the boundaries start to blur...

Five years ago, a few weeks before I left my full-time job to go freelance, I read a piece of advice that would change the course of my life. The advice in question was slap-bang in the middle of a Sunday newspaper supplement that I was flicking through absent-mindedly: "Don't become emotionally attached to companies that don't care about you". The words had been highlighted in bold for a very good reason: the more I stared at them, the more they seemed to address me directly from the pulpy page. You there, they shouted. Why are you giving your all to a company that doesn't care about you?

For the next week, I contemplated the question. Then, having failed to come up with decent answer, I handed in my notice, and started pursuing the thing I actually wanted to do in life: writing. Over the next few years, that advice served as a North Star whenever I was uncertain about the direction of my career. It helped me detach from office politics, embrace new and sometimes scary opportunities, and invest more time in my personal life: reconnecting with old friends, crafting with zeal, and finally reading the tottering stack of books on my bedside table.

As time went by, I assumed that I'd well and truly grasped the advice. But recently, I realised that it had not, in fact, burrowed itself lastingly into my brain. That moment came when I was let go from a freelance job at the start of the first lockdown. The news was swift and unexpected; the pandemic had affected the company's income, and sadly, I was the first casualty. Even so, it was hard not to take it personally: not only was I proud of the work I produced, but my boss felt like a genuine friend, and I'd grown fond of the camaraderie of the small team. As emotion gave way to clarity in the weeks that followed, it became clear that despite my best intentions, I'd got too invested.

"Five years ago, a few weeks before I left my full-time job to go freelance, I read a piece of advice that would change the course of my life. The advice in question was slap-bang in the middle of a Sunday newspaper supplement that I was flicking through absent-mindedly: 'Don't become emotionally attached to companies that don't care about you'."

Christobel Hastings

Like most things in life, emotional attachment is not a black and white concept. While some degree of emotional attachment to your work can give you a sense of belonging, stability and happiness, becoming too emotionally attached can actually impede your growth, consume your identity, and convince you that your dedication protects you from change or adversity. At that point, your attachment becomes a forcefield that prevents you from seeing the reality of a situation - often until it's too late.

Chances are, you're already familiar with the tell-tale signs. If you find yourself thinking about work in your free time - or worse, obsessively checking emails - you're too emotionally invested. If you internalise criticism, or find it hard to accept feedback, you're in too deep. The same goes for feeling overwhelmed by change or panicked when something goes wrong. Making individual sacrifices without getting anything in return? You're too wrapped up in your job. Then there's the question of hinging your self-worth on your professional identity. If you've ever launched into an exhaustive list of work-related complaints when some unsuspecting person asks how you are, then you're definitely too emotionally attached. You know what I'm talking about.

If you found yourself nodding at some (or all) of those red flags, you're not alone. We live in a society that glamorises an always-on work culture. Success is routinely defined as excelling in our professional lives. The majority of our hours are dedicated to work, and the spare time sandwiched either side of the week is spent preparing to repeat the cycle. Despite this, we continue to be burdened with the expectation that you're to love your job. Is it any wonder work is intricately tied to our self-image?

Things get thornier when you consider the way women have been socialised to work. According to a 2019 Totaljobs survey exploring the emotions of UK workers and managers, women were 25% more emotional than men about stress and frustration. In a reflection of the pervasiveness of gender norms, the research also showed that while women experienced relatively the same levels of sadness and fear as men - emotions typically associated with a lack of power - they were far more likely to disguise it. Little wonder, then, that women are more likely to experience burnout.

Although everyone's relationship with work comes with its unique drawbacks, what I do know is that the main purpose of a job is financial stability. And once you can be clear-eyed about that, you can begin to divest from the background noise and take back control of your life. As Sarah Jaffe, a labour journalist and author of Work Won't Love You Back recently noted, we need a "political understanding that our lives are ours to do with what we will" in order to sustain ourselves against the pressures of work. "While we have to do our jobs for a living," she writes, "we should always be making demands to reclaim our time."

So, in a post-pandemic world, imagine yourself at a dinner party. You strike up a conversation with a mutual acquaintance, and they ask you this: what gives you a sense of meaning in life? It's time to start considering your response.

Career coach Sarah Clarke on how to emotionally detach from work

Be intentional about objectivity

We're more likely to react emotionally to situations that don't align with our values and beliefs, or when things go wrong or feel beyond our control. When this happens, force yourself to stop, take a step back and look at the big picture. Consider objectively the logical facts of the situation. This way you will re-engage your slower, calmer, less emotional thinking style.

When your brain goes into panic mode throwing up statements like "if I don't hit this deadline, they'll fire me" or "the way they signed off that email proves that they don't like me", stop and take a step back. Ask yourself, what evidence do you actually have that this fear is 100% true? Are your worries completely valid or are you perhaps catastrophising? The same goes for when things go wrong. Instead of beating yourself up and wallowing, reframe the situation and consider what you've learned from the experience and what you could do differently next time.

Find value outside of work

It's so important that we invest time in developing other non-work sources of value and identity in our lives. When we invest time in pursuing our own personal interests and in developing fulfilling relationships with our families, friends and community; our identities become multi-faceted and our happiness becomes less reliant upon solely our work lives. If you can learn to derive satisfaction from other things in your life, as well as your work, you'll be more likely to achieve a healthier blend between your personal and work lives.

Evaluate what you need out of your job

It's so important that we gain awareness of what we truly want and need out of our work lives, not to mention what would make us happy and fulfilled. Take the time to define what success and happiness at work means to you personally so that you can then start to take intentional action towards that vision.

Once you have clarity on your own work happiness vision, you'll then need to get clear on your non-negotiables and priorities so that you can protect them with boundaries. The next step is to communicate them clearly and assertively to others and then, of course, stick to them! If your employer truly values and trusts you as an employee, they will respect your boundaries. If they don't, then perhaps it's to find somewhere you can be true to yourself.

For further information visit Shine Brighter Consulting

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It's Time To Talk About Emotional Attachment At Wo... | Post

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Many of us have a work-first mentality, but is it pervading your personal life too? Christobel Hastings looks at what happens when the boundaries start to ...

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Social Support as a Facilitator of Musical Self-Efficacy

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Social Support as a Facilitator of Musical Self-Efficacy

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How does support of parents and carers, tutors and peers affect students' musical self-efficacy?

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Social Support as a Facilitator of Musical Self-Efficacy

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Previous research has shown that musical self-efficacy is one of the predictors of academic achievement, but few studies have analyzed the function of social support in the construction of musical self-efficacy. In this study we analyze the…

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Heather Nelson Shouldice, PhD, is Professor of Music Education at Eastern Michigan University, where she coordinates the music education program, teaches graduate and undergraduate courses, supervises student teachers, and directs the early childhood music program through EMU’s Community Music Academy. This section of her website breaks down different music education research papers and details how they might be relevant in your own classroom.

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﻿Rather than assuming we know what is effective or doing something because 'that's how we've always done it,' music teachers can advance their teaching practice in an evidence-based way by reading current music education research" (Shouldice, 2016, p. 25). SHOULDICE, H. N. (2016). RESEARCH TO 'REAL LIFE': IMPLICATIONS OF RECENT RESEARCH FOR ELEMENTARY GENERAL MUSIC. MICHIGAN MUSIC EDUCATOR, 53(2), 23-26.

That research stuff only matters in the "ivory tower" and has nothing to do with real music teachers, right? Wrong! This blog will share findings of recent research studies that are relevant for music educators and can inform our teaching practice. Instead of focusing on jargon and statistics, we will look at how these research findings can be applied in practical ways to improve the experiences we provide our students.

Recent posts on the "Research to Real Life: Practical Applications of Music Education Research for Teachers" blog:

The Association Between Music Aptitude of Elementary Students and Their Biological Parents (Guerrini, 2005)

Role Stress in the Professional Life of the School Music Teacher (Scheib, 2003)

The Effect of Movement-based Instruction on Beginning Instrumentalists' Rhythmic Sight-reading (McCabe, 2006)

If I Can Be an Athlete, Anyone Can Be a Musician!

Announcement: The "Everyday Musicality" Podcast is Coming Soon!

Improvisational Practices in Elementary General Music Classrooms (Gruenhagen & Whitcomb, 2014)

Who Enrolls in High School Music? (Elpus & Abril, 2019)

Singing Ability, Musical Self-concept, and Future Music Participation (Demorest, Kelley, & Pfordresher, 2017)

The Influence of Beginning Instructional Grade on String Student Enrollment, Retention, and Performance (Hartley & Porter, 2009)

Developing a Culturally Responsive Mind-Set in Elementary General Music (Kelly-McHale, 2019)

Facilitating Music Learning for Students with Special Needs (Gerrity, Hourigan, & Horton, 2013)

Nurturing Safety for LGBTQ Students (Palkki & Caldwell, 2018)

Teachers' Interpretations of Music Aptitude (Reynolds & Hyun, 2004)

School Music Participation and Lifelong Arts Engagement (Elpus, 2018)

Tonal & Metric Variety In Elementary General Music Textbooks (Lange, 2009)

Male and Female Photographic Representation in 50 years of Music Educators Journal (Kruse, Giebelhausen, Shouldice, & Ramsey, 2015)

Successful Sight-singing Strategies (Killian & Henry, 2005)

Adults' Recognition of Young Children's Musical Behaviors (Reese, 2013)

Adults' Anxiety Toward Singing (Abril, 2007)

Intersections of Music Making and Teaching (Pellegrino, 2014)

Gender Representation in Early Childhood Songs (Dansereau, 2014)

The Effect of Instrumental Music Participation and Socioeconomic Status on State Proficiency Test Performance (Fitzpatrick, 2006)

"The Effect of Vocal Modeling on Pitch-Matching Accuracy of Elementary Schoolchildren" (Green, 1990)

"Testing the Beneficial Effects of Singing in a Choir on Mood and Stress" (Linnemann, Schnersch, & Nater, 2017)

"Career Intentions and Experiences of Pre- and In-Service Female Band Teachers" (Fischer-Croneis, 2016)

"An Examination of Music Teacher Job Interview Questions" (Juchniewicz, 2016)

"Teachers' Beliefs Regarding Composition in Elementary General Music" (Shouldice, 2014)

"Investigating Adjudicator Bias in Concert Band Evaluations" (Springer & Bradley, 2018)

"Voice Change and Singing Experiences of Adolescent Females" (Sweet, 2018)

"Exploring Informal Music Learning in a Professional Development Community of Music Teachers" (Kastner, 2014)

"Audiation-based Improvisation Techniques and Elementary Instrumental Students' Music Achievement" (Azzara, 1993)

"Elementary Students' Definitions and Self-Perceptions of Being a 'Good Musician'" (Shouldice, 2014)

"The Effects of Harmonic Accompaniment on the Tonal Improvisations of Students in First Through Sixth Grade" (Guilbault, 2009)

Why "Research to Real Life"?

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Research to Real Life: Practical Applications of Music Education Research for Teachers

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﻿Rather than assuming we know what is effective or doing something because 'that's how we've always done it,' music teachers can advance their teaching practice in an evidence-based way by reading current music education research" (Shouldice, 2016, p. 25).SHOULDICE, H. N. (2016). RESEARCH TO 'REAL LIFE': IMPLICATIONS OF RECENT RESEARCH FOR ELEMENTARY GENERAL MUSIC.

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Mental Health Guide for Freelance Musicians

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Mental Health Guide for Freelance Musicians

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Musicians' Union advice on staying mentally robust whilst working as a freelancer - some useful advice here for students too

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Mental Health Guide for Freelance Musicians

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A Young Freelancer’s Guide to Mental Health and the Music Industry

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How to Develop a Positive Mindset - BBC Teach

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How to Develop a Positive Mindset - BBC Teach

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BBC Teach video aimed at PSHCE Lessons for Key stages 2 and 3

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How to develop a positive mindset | Growth Mindset | BBC Teach

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The magic of music on children's emotional wellbeing

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The magic of music on children's emotional wellbeing

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The magic of music on children’s emotional wellbeing | The Children’s Society

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Music has been proven to have far-reaching positive effects on our mental health. In this blog we explore the reasons why music can be far more than just a melody.

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How students learn (general) self-efficacy through music learning

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How students learn (general) self-efficacy through music learning

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Not about musical self efficacy, but about self-efficacy for learning in a general sense and how music supports the development of this.

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As a parent, one of the best things that I can hope for is that my children have the wherewithal to make their way through life armed with a wide variety of skills and a "can-do" mindset. As a teacher, school leader, and professor, I have seen way too many young adults who are incapable of navigating their way through "real world" problems, and need someone's help (usually mine or their parents') - many times for the smallest things.

Parents protect and handle so much for their children these days that they prevent them from growing into the people they want them to become. Amongst other things, we do math and English homework for our children and call up teachers when the final grade isn't to our liking. Ultimately, however, what we are really doing over time is preventing our children from acquiring "self-efficacy".

Self-efficacy is defined as having the belief in our abilities to complete a task, reach goals, and manage situations. The journey towards self-efficacy for my children began when they were born, of course. But school - and the way I help them (or don't help them) navigate school - is where self-efficacy can truly be learned.

While every subject has its own peripheral life lessons, instrumental music instruction is one of the most incredible ways to learn skills that lead to self-efficacy, and parents would be wise to ensure that their children experience this instruction in their K-12 schooling.

Here are ways that learning to play an instrument builds self-efficacy:

Parents can't do the homework for their child. Whereas parents can build a diorama or part of a science experiment, edit a book report, or do a math problem for their child, they can't play their instrument for them. Parents need to find a "parenting sweet spot" when helping their child with music; they can set high expectations and insist on daily practice, but give their child the freedom to explore, fail, make their own choices, and - most important - figure things out for themselves. We all want our children to develop competencies and confidence, and improving at a musical instrument is an incredible tool to accomplish this.

Children will fail, and that's okay. Parents do a lot - both consciously and not - to prevent their children from experiencing failure. Life is more happily lived when we realize that we won't get things right all the time, but with the "high-stakes" school culture that exists today it is hard to teach this. Learning a musical instrument allows students to accept their own imperfections and gives parents an opportunity to accept theirs as well. It's the one chance during the school day that failure in a safe environment can happen - it's a gift that we all should not overlook.

Instrumental music teaches life skills. Getting to places on time, being in charge of one's music and instrument, and contributing to a larger community are life skills that are taught through musical ensembles. Kids who have their hands held throughout life are delayed in learning these crucial skills. Luckily for parents, student learn that their actions matter and that they control larger outcomes when they play in a musical ensemble. This is quite different from other classes, where if they don't "make the grade" they often hurt no one else but themselves.

Students have to play during the school day. Play is absolutely key to learning, but it is slowly slipping away from our schools. Because of the large amount of time and energy directed toward testing and grading, school leaders tend to see play in school as risky and unproductive. Instrumental music instruction enables students to learn through play while also fitting the bill as far as creating measurable results that school leaders crave. Parents who support their child in instrumental music instruction send a message to their children and their schools that play is an incredibly important part of learning.

Students learn work ethic. Most parents dream of their kids growing up to be hard workers who like to see jobs through to completion; adults who are active citizens who are determined to do a good job. Playing a musical instrument in an ensemble is a transformative experience in this regard. Whereas many kids sigh and fuss when they have to do chores or other school work, they are rewarded greatly when they perform a piece of music as part of an ensemble. In the music making process, students learn:

responsibility for contributing to the work of the ensemble;

autonomy in handling personal practice outside of the group;

accountability to attain a certain level quality in a specific amount of time;

determination to play at a high level;

perseverance when times get tough.

Students learn how to think. We hear schools talk about "critical thinking" everywhere we turn - it's a huge buzz term. Our education system is constantly scrambling to develop curricula so students learn to think more creatively as opposed to following instructions and completing rote tasks. While schools struggle to update this curricula, instrumental music has been there all along - defying the "teach to the test" mentality that has undermined thinking and student growth for years.

All parents want to raise their children well. We want to foster independence and give our children tools to learn self-efficacy in order to thrive as adults. As long as instrumental music instruction is offered as part of the school day, it remains one of the best ways for kids to learn to be great thinkers, citizens, innovators and human beings. Parents who find it challenging to instill these habits of mind in their children will be amazed at the power of instrumental music instruction, and would be wise to support their child's musical studies throughout their school lives.

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How Students Learn Self-Efficacy Through Instrumental Music Instruction

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As a parent, one of the best things that I can hope for is that my children have the wherewithal to make their way through life armed with a wide variety of skills and a "can-do" mindset.

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Teaching strategies to create 'growth' mindsets

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Teaching strategies to create 'growth' mindsets

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As a kid I wanted to become a cliché when I grew up so I bought a guitar and grew my hair. I successfully learnt all the chords but struggled to combine them in a meaningful way (perhaps I should've joined an experimental jazz band instead of churning out 1980s power ballads). When my dreams of rock stardom eventually withered on the vine, I turned my attention to mastering magic, then to conquering chess, and to all manner of other hobbies.

What all these childhood endeavours had in common - apart from their mutual failure - was that I took it for granted that I'd have to work hard at them, I knew I'd have to practise endlessly and that I wouldn't become expert overnight.

I played that old six-string every night after school till my fingers bled, readily accepting that improvement would be incremental.

Most of us feel this way about our interests. We know, for example, that to run a marathon we'd have to train hard for months beforehand (or, in my case, to walk to the pub without getting out of breath I'd have to stop eating chocolate).

And yet when it comes to schooling - to mastering English or maths or science - we often forget the importance of hard work and practice. We assume that academic ability, that one's IQ, is somehow fixed, innate. We might not do it consciously, but we say things like "maths isn't his forte" or "she's not a natural artist". That's why most students who start the year in the bottom set, end the year in the bottom set.

By creating a culture in which students believe that their abilities are preordained, and in which they are either good at a subject or not, we discourage them from taking risks, from making mistakes. After all, if ability is fixed, then if at first you don't succeed, you may as well give up.

Sir Ken Robinson argues that every child starts out willing to take a chance. If they don't know, they'll have a go; they're not frightened of being wrong, he says. However, he contends that by the time they are adults, most people have lost that capacity because in schools we regard mistakes as the worst thing you can make and we educate people out of their creative capacities.

In her book, Mindset, Dr Carol Dweck calls the belief that "your qualities are carved in stone" the 'fixed mindset". But does it really have to be this way?

What if we applied the same mindset to schooling as we do to our hobbies and interests? What if we taught our students that, although people may differ in every which way - in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments - everyone can change and grow through application and experience?

What if we instilled in our students what Dr Dweck calls the "growth mindset", the belief that "your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts"?

Even Alfred Binet, the inventor of the IQ test, believed that education and practice could bring about fundamental changes in intelligence. He said, in his book Major Ideas About Children, that "a few modern philosophers assert that an individual's intelligence is a fixed quantity which cannot be increased. We must protest against this brutal pessimism ... with practice, training, and above all, method, we become more intelligent than we were before".

Practice, training, and method - these three words uttered a century ago - remain the perfect definition of what the best teachers do. They provide a safe and secure environment in which all students can learn without fear of failure and in which all students can increase their intelligence with deliberate practice.

So let us look at five practical strategies which can help instil the growth mindset in our classrooms.

1, Use frequent formative feedback

Dr Dweck's research found that people with a fixed mindset "greatly misestimated their performance and their ability (while) people with the growth mindset were amazingly accurate".

Why should this be? Because, as Dr Dweck says: "If, like those with the growth mindset, you believe you can develop yourself, then you're open to accurate information about your current abilities, even if it's unflattering. What's more, if you're oriented towards learning, as they are, you need accurate information about your current abilities in order to learn effectively."

We should, therefore, ensure that our students are acutely aware of their strengths and areas for development. We should frequently assess our students and give them formative feedback so that they know what they do well and what they can do better. We should dedicate quality time in our lessons for our students to act on this feedback, to redraft work in order to improve upon it.

2, High levels of challenge for every student

Dr Dweck and Binet agree that everyone can improve with practice; they agree that effort is more important than "talent" or "innate ability". Therefore, we must challenge our students to be the best, we must have high expectations of all our students and must encourage them to take a leap of faith, even if that means falling over a few times.

Teachers' attitudes directly affect their students' learning and, ultimately, the grades they get. A teacher who has high expectations of every student in his or her class will reap the rewards: more students will rise to the challenge and succeed.

Many teachers think that lowering standards will give students a taste of success, boost their self-esteem, and raise their achievement. But all the evidence suggests it doesn't work. Instead, it leads to poorly educated children.

Instead, we should believe in the growth of the intellect and talent. We should set high standards for all our students, not just the ones who are already achieving.

3, Explicitly welcome mistakes

Teachers must actively encourage their students to make mistakes, they must foster a safe and secure environment in which falling over is not only accepted without criticism or humiliation, but in which it is actively encouraged as evidence of effective learning and of getting better at something.

Every teacher knows that some students do not raise their hands in class to answer a question because they fear they will be criticised or made to feel embarrassed for being wrong. And yet the opposite should be true: students should be eager to raise their hands because to get an answer wrong is to learn from their mistakes; to get an answer wrong is to learn the correct answer.

Equally, raising a hand to say, "I don't understand this ... can you help?" is not a sign of weakness or low intelligence, it is a means of increasing one's intelligence.

Of course, making a mistake - even if you have a positive mindset - can be a painful experience. But a mistake shouldn't define you; it's a problem to be faced and learnt from. We teach this by modelling it, by publicly making mistakes and by making explicit our own implicit learning.

4, Engaging in deliberate practice

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell suggests that as a society we value natural, effortless accomplishments over achievement through effort. We endow our heroes with superhuman abilities that lead them inevitably towards greatness. People with the growth mindset, however, believe something very different. For them, even geniuses have to work hard for their achievements. After all, what's heroic about having a gift?

Thomas Edison is credited with inventing the lightbulb but he wasn't an innate genius who single-handedly, effortlessly discovered his invention in - forgive the pun - a lightbulb moment. This is what Professor Anders Ericsson calls the iceberg effect: beneath the visible tip of genius, Edison had 30 assistants, including highly trained scientists, often working around the clock in a corporate-funded state-of-the-art laboratory.

"His" invention was the culmination of a lot of time-consuming work involving mathematicians, chemists, physicists, engineers and glass-blowers. Yes, he was a genius; but he wasn't born one. He was, according to his biography, an ordinary boy. He just worked hard, tried and tried again. He never stopped being curious, never shied away from taking on a new challenge.

Similar stories could be told of many geniuses such as Charles Darwin - whose Origin of Species was the result of years of research, a lot of effort and toil involving hundreds of discussions with colleagues and mentors, and went through several drafts, taking Darwin half a lifetime to finalise. In other words, his book wasn't created in a big bang, it evolved over time.

Jack Nicklaus, the most successful golfer of all time, famously said: "Nobody - but nobody - has ever become really proficient at golf without practice, without doing a lot of thinking and then hitting a lot of shots. It isn't so much a lack of talent; it's a lack of being able to repeat good shots consistently that frustrates most players. And the only answer to that is practice."

Matthew Syed, author of Bounce, quantifies the amount of "purposeful practice" that is required to achieve excellence. He says that "from art to science and from board games to tennis, it has been found that a minimum of 10 years is required to reach world-class status in any complex task".

Malcolm Gladwell, meanwhile, asserts that most top performers practise for around 1,000 hours per year. We should, therefore, provide our students with plenty of opportunities to practise and perfect their knowledge and skills.

Professor Daniel Willingham says that deliberate practice "reinforces (the) basic skills required for more advanced skills, it protects against forgetting, and improves transfer". Professor Siegfried Engelmann says that students need "five times more practice than many teachers expect".

There are two kinds of practice proven to be the most effective: first, distributed practice which is "a schedule of practice that spreads out study activities over time", and second, interleaved practice which is "a schedule of practice that mixes different kinds of problems, or a schedule of study that mixes different kinds of material, within a single study session" (Dunlosky et al, 2013).

5, Reward effort not attainment

Dr Dweck conducted research with hundreds of students. She gave each student a set of 10 problems to solve from a non-verbal IQ test. Most of the students did well and when they'd finished, she praised some of the students for their ability ("you got a high score, you must be smart") and some for their effort ("you got a high score, you must have worked hard").

Both groups were exactly equal to begin with but, after receiving praise, they began to differ. The students whose ability was praised were pushed into the fixed mindset. When they were given a choice, they rejected a challenging new task that they could learn from, favouring more of the same instead because they didn't want to do anything which would expose flaws in their intelligence and bring their talent into question. In contrast, 90 per cent of the students whose effort was praised wanted to try the challenging new task precisely because they could learn from it.

Dr Dweck concluded that praising ability actually lowered students' IQs whereas praising effort raised them. She also said that praising children's intelligence harmed their motivation because, although children love to be praised, especially for their talents, as soon as they hit a snag their confidence goes out of the window and their motivation hits rock bottom. If success means they're smart, then failure means they're dumb.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't praise children, Dr Dweck argues. But it does mean we should only use a certain type of praise. We can praise our students as much as we want for the "growth-oriented process - what they accomplished through practice, study, persistence, and good strategies". But we should avoid the kind of praise that judges their intelligence or talent, and we should avoid the kind of praise that implies "we're proud of them for their intelligence or talent rather than for the work they put in".

Matt Bromley is an education writer and consultant, and an experienced school and college leader. Find out more at www.bromleyeducation.co.uk. Follow him on Twitter @mj_bromley. Read his blog at mjbromleyblog.wordpress.com. He is the author of The IQ Myth, a book about developing the growth mindset in schools which is available from www booksforschool.eu

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Teaching strategies to create ‘growth’ mindsets - SecEd

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Research has busted the myth that intelligence is fixed and cannot be changed and has put forward a new approach – the growth mindset. Matt Bromley considers how teachers can develop a ‘growth mindset’ culture in their classroom.

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Strategies for promoting self-efficacy in students

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Strategies for promoting self-efficacy in students

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Growth mindset: strategies for the classroom

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Growth mindset: strategies for the classroom

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Growth mindset: strategies for the classroom

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CPD guidance from an expert for teachers on how to use praise, feedback and sharing past mistakes to embed a culture of positive mindsets in the classroom. Includes five tips to share with students from KS3-5.