ones that don't practice [Bob asks]

[Bob]

What do you do with these kids?  esp if you're in a situation where you can't let them go?

I'm teaching in a public school.  Lots of kids.  No one practices.  I feel my efforts are fairly wasted, but that's how it is.  For some reason, they pick up the instrument, but never bother with the practicing part.  Nothing I'm doing is unusual or out of line.  I wish I could let the kids who don't practice go, but that's not possible.  I end up producing "half" music students -- ones that struggle to play Mary had a Little Lamb.  It's frustrating and I'm stuck in the situation.  I've done the 'song and dance' and tried to bribe them with stickers and candy and praise.  I think I'm making progress, but it's very slow.  I can't stop teaching them because I wouldn't have a job.  I don't understand why some of these kids never have practiced, haven't gotten beyond the first part of their books...  Nothing I'm doing is unusual -- If they wanted to progress, they could.  I've held their hand and basically done their practicing for them during many lessons.  It's not a great situation and it's very frustrating.

Any suggestions?

(or any ideas of how to stay sane with this situation?)

[anda]

unfortunatelly, i know too well what you mean...

are you want they (elders - we call them dinosaurs ) name "debutant teacher" - meaning in your first years? and where (country/continent) are you teaching?

i also teach in a public school. my 1st year was catastrophic - of course i was awarded with the worst students in the school, the students other teachers dropped (cause they were such good kids and practiced too much  )

so, what i did: offered all students (no matter how lazy or couldn't-care-less were) my complete undivided attention during their 2 one-hour lessons i get paid for by the state. you have to admit that's far from being enough - so i work extra only with those worth my time.

have patience, don't despair. somewhere during the next few years you will be able to get rid of all these pricks who waste your time, and will get to choose your students. reputation is everything in this business. (it took me 3 years to get rid of any student who had nothing to do with music, and now i can afford to decide who stays and who goes - basic criteria, for me, being the interest in piano&music shown by the kid).

best luck

[Bob]

(graceful debutante bow)

 

[Bob]

(more griping and frustration over the situation....)

How can I push (or coax) those kids who aren't practicing?

I want to move ahead in the method book, and really I want to move ahead regardless of whether they've practiced or not.  How can I do this without making the student feel bad and drop out?  I'm really resenting these students for causing me so much stress and anxiety -- It's a simple situation, but if they don't do any work, then it becomes a lot more complex (if not plainly impossible).  I don't understand why they started if they aren't going to put any work into it.  Maybe I can find pieces that are all on this same level and just keep feeding them the same level until they finally are stable there.  Except they probably won't be happy with that after awhile.  Argh!  Frustrating.... I even had one student tell me I should be paying them money if they're practicing.   

[lostinidlewonder]

I know it is sad to say this, but BRIBERY

Offer a point system where once they get 5 stars or stickers or stamps or slaps on the head or whatever, they get a prize. Sure it comes out of your pocket but it is better than teaching a lessons which just runs like a snail, and repeats what you did last week and the week before etc.

If that doesnt work you can be a hard teacher and dont teach them. Use the lessons to set out what you want for them again and allocate however many x minute piano study time chunks for the week. Continue that process till they can come and show you something the following lesson.

That may get parents pissed off becasue their money is for nothing, but they should realise it makes no difference at all! If they come to the lesson not knowing anything more than last week they might as well go home and work until they have something to show. That is what piano lessons are about! The teacher doesnt make them a pianist in the lesson, they just mould what work has already been set and done. People have to get that through their head and I've said this to many parents who call me up and are baffled, "Why did my child come home already?" They end up agreeing with me and i still have student who i have sent home come to me happily

It is how you do it, i dont take anything personal when they dont study but i say to them very clearly and without any hint of annoyance, there is just nothing we can do if you havent done what i set you. You dont want to have to teach them which note to press and which finger ALL the time. Some of the times ok, but all is just useless, they have to have at least something to work with.

and one last note. When you teach kids you should always be happy to teach them even if they dont do the work. Because I have taugh adults who told me when they where young they didnt do much piano etc and where forced, but now they regret not doing it. So it is the nature of children not to do the work! I have found all of my little students, and some older ones ahahha, enjoy getting prizes and reward for their efforts. I think anyone would enjoy that.

[willcowskitz]

How can I do this without making the student feel bad and drop out?

Every child is different, there don't exist a single pattern by which you can make them learn best. This also applies to their interests, everyone can't be interested in everything, they have different preferences and different directions to develop their talents to. Until 20th century children were treated and thought of as small adults, the balance between discipline and love playing an even more crucial role in their growing processes, when nowadays some people seem to think that children are really little angels that only need a smile and a lollipop to be raised straight. Children are beasts, unless we give them thought-evoking and imagination-inducing guidance and bless them with our own wisdom which they simply haven't had a chance to acquire yet. Children don't always know what they want, and that is why a good teacher reads his students' minds and reactions efficiently enough to know to provide the child with more of that which he desires and helps him construct and define his own preferences this way. Teaching adults is way different from teaching children, because adults have the responsibility and level of consciousness about themselves and their likings and abilities, whereas children are more comparable to empty heads possessing magnetic force to certain things and you can only find them out by trying them out.

I think that if you're a teacher, your students must respect and trust you, and feel comfortable around you. If you're teaching a group, these aspects are what centralize the focus on YOU, so that kids won't play their own games (due to respect, which you extend to authority and discipline), and because you're the one that creates the tolerable atmosphere through trust. When you possess this positive authority, it should be easy to find out what each child wants from the instrument. For an example, I quit piano lessons in elementary because of vague, meaningless, pointless, and simply irritating children's lullabies that had zero musical content, but which I was forced to play for some retarded reason. How I wish my interests had been 'probed' by the teacher back then, instead of forcefully stuffing stupid *** down my throat, and I would probably had found all this beautiful music so much sooner.

[anda]

(graceful debutante bow)

 

welcome to the hell of first years teaching.

hey, if i lived to tell about, so will you.

[rhapsody in orange]

Hello!
I've only started teaching last year and am having quite a bit of problem with my students as well. For one, they may no respect me because of my age (I'm only 19 and that student of mine is 15). This student of mine stopped learning piano for a year and came to me last year and told me that she wanted to learn the instrument for fun. And therefore I was not as demanding and gave her the not-so-technically demanding pieces so as not to turn her off. At the end of last year she told me that she's taking music at 'O' Levels as she struggling with her academic subjects and her high school teacher advised her against taking other subjects like Literature/Physics.
So now I've got a student who doesn't take piano seriously and does not practise constructively. Students taking music at that level usually play pieces that are around grade 6-7 or above. But this student of mine is probably of a grade 4, can't even play Fur Elise (she hardly practices, and don't even know the notes). Tried talking to her, she merely nodded her head, went back and did nothing. And then there was this time i ended up making her do 8 bars of mozart for 40 minutes. Is that advisable? Or is that merely just a waste of time since in that case it's equivalent to her practising during her lesson time instead of me working on other aspects rather than getting her to know the notes? What kind of teaching method would be suitable for such a student? Sorry I'm still a newbie in this field =| Kinda exasperated now

[ChristmasCarol]

This is the tradeoff for compulsory schools.  If you have to be there, and have to do what they say, then the only way to express one's individual choice is to not cooperate.  Tis the human condition to want to make choices.  I wish for you Bob a place to teach where the attendance is optional for you and the student.  What would happen if you just focused on the students who are digging it?  Let the deadbeats make their choice of inaction.  I reminded of first year college courses.  The professor must review certain basics to make sure everyone is on the same page.  Then they take off and many get left in the dust.  Tis the reality of life.  Some people get it, some people don't.   

[anda]

i suppose you are right - i mean, everyone knows you shouldn't "force" a kid do anything. on the other hand, i started practicing willingly only after 3 or 4 years of piano (and before that, my parents forced me to practice). i guess sometimes you have to make the kid practice (especially if you believe it's a talented one) before s/he begins to understand what's really good for him/her. imo.