Our newly designed homework diaries have arrived! For those that don’t know, the idea is that in the lesson the teacher writes down what the student needs to practice and any helpful tips, and during the week the student makes a note of when and what they practiced. Every week that they practice they merit to earn a stamp and when they reach 10 stamps they can choose a prize from the coveted prize bag!
Why go to all this hassle? Printing books, making students fill them in week on week, spending money on prizes etc. Well, it is not for my benefit. I can tell whether a student has practiced by the way they enter the lesson, by their attitude to the music, by whether they know what page to turn to (I kid you not) and by how they first play the piece they have, or have not, been practicing all week.
The reason for using this system is many fold. Firstly, it encourages students to take charge of their own learning. They get a sense of achievement out of recording their practice routine and can compare week to week how much time they are putting in verses how much progress they are making. It gets them involved in the process and gives them ownership over it.
Another benefit to writing down when you practice is that it often sparks a conversation about practice habits, for the good and the bad. If no practice is happening, we can see that from the lack of ticks and the low sticker count. We can discuss why that might be and try to come up with a practice plan. On the contrary, if the student is practicing but progress is not moving as we might expect we can discuss why this might be. Is it how they are practicing? Are they over estimating how much time they are spending on their practice? Do they need more guidance about how to structure their practice time? Are they simply not practicing for long enough?
The conversation that comes from having an ongoing visual dialogue about practice habits is priceless. So much so that I am willing to spend good money on keeping my prize bag fully stocked!
Last year I found that there were some exceptional students who practised fervently without the need for the homework diary. There were also some students for whom the homework diary didn't make any difference, and all the encouragement in the world didn't lead to more practice. However, for the vast majority of students the introduction of the homework diaries really helped to spur them on , keep them focused and motivated and allowed them to take ownership over their progress.
I am looking forward to getting started with this years students!
