On Monday I had the pleasure of teaching Brandt, a 4 year old boy attempting to learn the clarinet.
The catch: I only had 5 minuets to teach him.
The catch: I only had 5 minuets to teach him.
I should also probably mention, it was my professor doing a pretty accurate impression of a 4 year old.
When writing my lesson plans for this lesson, my two goals were:
1. Teach him how to put the clarinet together.
2. Attempt to see if he can play an open G (not nicely, just some screech of a G. After all there is only 5 minuets.)
Upon sitting down with Brandt and talking to him briefly, I realized "There's NO WAY I'm going to be able to have this kid able and ready to assemble his own clarinet and play a G in 5 minuets."
So I had to make a quick decision, "Do I teach him how to play a G? Or, do I teach him how to get the instrument ready so he can be taught to play a G at any time."
Well I went with the latter. I figured " You've got to learn to walk before you can run."
So, reflection:
I think young Brandt walked away knowing you definitely need to put "chap-stick" or cork grease on the clarinet before putting it together if its dry. He also knows that you must be gentle when putting it together. Other then that, I'm not really sure if Brandt walked away knowing anything else. I didn't have enough time to finish showing him how the clarinet goes together. Luckily, the pieces only fit one way. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time for Brandt to learn how to put on the reed so the instrument was pretty much useless. I guess long story short, in terms of lesson plan goals: Mission failed.
Would I change anything?
The only thing I would go about changing is finding a better more child friendly way to set up the clarinet. Something easy to remember, such as a rhyme. Everything else other than that (my stretching warm up, keeping him engaged by asking him questions in-between steps) I would not change. Hopefully, I'll never have only 5 minuets to teach a lesson again. If I do, were cutting straight to the point.
No regrets, just new life notes.
Would I change anything?
The only thing I would go about changing is finding a better more child friendly way to set up the clarinet. Something easy to remember, such as a rhyme. Everything else other than that (my stretching warm up, keeping him engaged by asking him questions in-between steps) I would not change. Hopefully, I'll never have only 5 minuets to teach a lesson again. If I do, were cutting straight to the point.
No regrets, just new life notes.
I really like the idea of finding a kid friendly way to remember assembling the clarinet. This inspired me to do a google search for ideas, but I couldn't really find any. I found a few straight forward videos and diagrams, but nothing fun. Have you had any ideas since writing this post?
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