July was a rich month, pedagogically speaking. While I didn't make it to the biennial Suzuki Conference at the end of May, I did teach at two Suzuki institutes in July. While I was there to teach, I couldn't help but be inspired by my colleagues. The colleagues who inspired me have many, many years of experience. Some are Suzuki parents or even grandparents. A short list of the ways they inspired me: They...
-helped me stick to my convictions both musical and pedagogical
-opened my mind to new ways of thinking and acting and to new pedagogical and musical ideas
-forced me to think outside the box (or to explore that box a little more carefully)
-listened to me and offered sincere, down-to-earth advice and feed-back
-played music with me
-discussed pedagogy with me and one another
-offered respect, support and compassion to those around them
-behaved in the true Suzuki spirit in and out of the lesson studio
-allowed me to observe their inspired teaching
-gave my young daughter their patience, friendship and enthusiasm
I could easily go on, and in light of the pedagogical boost I received, I am very excited to be teaching at a third institute later this month. I'm sure I'll have more to learn.
All this said, I had some surprising pedagogical revelations in a completely different arena this past week. My 2.5 year-old loves the water. I've been taking "Parent and Tot" swimming classes with her since she was an infant. The most recent class (of five consecutive days of 30 minutes a day) ended a few days ago. The teacher did NOT impress me at first. During the first class, she exhibited an off-putting brusqueness I had not observed among my daughter's previous swimming teachers. Also, she kept looking away from us (the parents and tots), and toward the pool office, or some far-off location. It was weird and unnerving. Also, when first introducing herself to my child, she asked what her name was. My daughter, being 2.5, doesn't always answer in a full and articulate voice when interrogated by a stranger. She mumbled her name, keeping her hand in her mouth. In an echo-y pool environment, the teacher heard nothing and retorted: "You have a name, don't you?!" I was pretty taken aback. I did, though, keep my cool, and made an effort to reserve judgement. My daughter was pretty clingy (not a word I like...) during the whole class, and asked for her previous teacher, several times. This was just the first class, maybe things would improve.
During the course of the week, I did notice encouraging changes in both my daughter AND the teacher. The teacher seemed to relax a great deal. She also told us, that without her glasses, she had trouble reading the clock on the pool's wall, and therefore had trouble telling what time the class should end. (That could explain her shifty gaze on the first day.) What I noticed most, however, is how subtly my daughter adapted to her quick style of teaching. She (my daughter) displayed a HUGE leap in independence in this class, compared to the last class she took earlier in July. I realized that this teacher had some pretty strong priorities in what she wanted the children to be able to do. She clearly WANTED the tots to progress and evolve over the course of the week. While my daughter's previous teachers have been sweet, kind and ever-smiling, they haven't really pushed my daughter very much. Now, I realize the goals of these classes are to give the child ease and enjoyment in the water, so concrete, achievement-type goals are not really de rigueur, but I found it refreshing to have a teacher who had clear objectives for the children. And, in the end, those objectives would lead to them enjoying the water more, and learning to swim and be safe in the water. As a result, my daughter grew very fond of this teacher, talked about her at home, and though she found some of the tasks difficult, and a little out of her comfort zone, she made true efforts to accomplish them. Among these, was putting her face in the water -- which she did manage to do by the end of the week, if only for a few short seconds. She also improved dramatically in her back-floats, bubble-blowing and going underwater. I was thoroughly impressed with such dramatic progress in such a short time-span.
I am not sure that this young teacher -- who is going into her final year at university in politics and something else... I forget -- had necessarily thought through her pedagogical approach. Or had she? She told me that after university, she plans to attend teacher's college. She wants to be a teacher. And, she already is a teacher.
So, after this month of pedagogical vitamins, what do I take away? What do I add to my toolkit? Sure, I've accumulated several new tools for my teacher toolkit. But, it's as a parent that I've learned the most. Above all, I've learned to allow my daughter to learn from others, unhindered by my re-interpretation of their words. Unless the (pool's) acoustics truly prevent her from hearing the teacher, I will keep my mouth shut. She and I have already refined our communication skills. What she needs from me, is my silent, supportive presence as she refines her communication skills with others.
We're definitely signing up for swimming lessons in the fall.
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