Hello Team,

We are now a number of weeks into our beta test of the homework posting system, and there are a few areas to talk about, review, and just inform you about.

Cotap Funky

I’ve recently made some changes to the website which appear to be making Cotap funky for some of you.  I am working on fixing this.  Please stay on top of your email for the foreseeable future, and I will use both for now.

Posts vs. Reports

Whenever we test a new system, there are two things that we should keep in mind.

  1. The test is an opportunity.
  2. The test will affect other, existing systems.

We already do intensive reporting twice a year, and the new posting system will undoubtedly affect the way we do this reporting in the future.  Because we are testing, we have the opportunity to see where the systems are complimentary, and where they are not.  The end result may be two very different systems, the emergence of a completely new system altogether, or some other alternative we haven’t yet conceived.

Keeping the Posting and Reporting systems concurrently running for a time gives us the opportunity to not make too sudden a change, and to lose some valuable aspect of an existing (and student-expected) system.

Procedural update for posts and posting

So far we’ve had pretty good posts, so thank you for your efforts.  To recap, here are the original guidelines on posting:

  • A summary of the work assigned to the student How much time is practical to spend – daily – on assignments
  • Any direction to the parent that will help reinforce good student habits, and encourage consistent improvement week-to-week.
  • Choose constructive language, use good grammar, and be encouraging.

On average, the first two items are weakest, and the language is generally best.

Now, however, we’ll add one more important guideline to the list (based on some very helpful feedback from Brenna! Thank you!):

  • No judgement or evaluation of abilities, performance, or personality should be included in homework posts

This is a very important addition, and fundamental to basic concern (and our dedication to) personal privacy.  Because this is a public forum, the message needs to be limited to facts, instruction, and advice.  We have our Student of the Week cards for more personal remarks.

Likewise, the way in which you are presented online is of important.  Avoiding assessments that evaluate abilities, performance, or personality keeps your presence professional, while enhancing your professional profile.

Here is a good sample (generic) of what a basic student post should look like based on the above:

J.Student

This week J. needs to practice song123 and song456, for 10 and 15 minutes respectively, at least 4 days that they are not here during the week.
Mom and Dad should make sure that this practice occurs at the same time every day, and be uninterrupted by siblings.  Please come and see me next week at the end of the lesson (save 5 minutes), so I can go over some basics you can help with on individual songs.

As you can see, that covers a lot of ground in a short amount of text, and there is a lot of variation that can be inserted.  Here’s a variation that includes a little more personal touch:

J.Student

This week J. needs to practice song123 and song456, for 10 and 15 minutes respectively, at least 4 days that they are not here during the week.  There was some improvement over last week, but the inconsistency combined with infrequency require parent support to improve the feeling of accomplishment that J. will have with better results, which will lay a better foundation for self-directed practice habits.
Mom and Dad should make sure that this practice occurs at the same time every day, and be uninterrupted by siblings.  Please come and see me next week at the end of the lesson (save 5 minutes), so I can go over some basics you can help with on individual songs, and using a metronome properly.  Even if you don’t read music you can do this, your involvement can help, and sends the message to J. about the importance of the activity.  I look forward to chatting with you next week!

This is more involved, and is what I would suggest as a target standard for posting (at this time).  This is positive, but more directed, without any judgement included.  This will vary from student to student, and week to week.  You need not stretch yourselves to make the involved posts unless they are necessary, or in the interest of improving the support system and results for your student.

Lastly, here are two more acceptable uses for your posts which have been added to the ops:

  • Informing parents of an upcoming absence
  • Informing parents of a performance you have (be clear if the performance is child friendly, or not).

Reporting

Reporting is now active, and you can submit your reports by clicking here, or by visiting Teachers Only>Quick Links and clicking on the Lesson Reports button.

Reports are Due 21 NOV, by 11:59:59.

Studio Week

As we mentioned before, we’ll be starting an informal parent-teacher meeting during the last week of lessons before the end of autumn (10-16 DEC) , and the end of the school year (with pre-spring break under consideration, as well).  This is simply an optional drop-in for parents (which you can suggest in the previous week’s post) that will allow you to make a more personal connection with parents, for those that care to show up.  You’ll invite them up to the studio for a chat (with or without the student – your call – but student recommended to be with you, so there are no perceived secrets or the illusion of them being in trouble).The basics of this should be taken from the Homework Posts, but with a greater emphasis on the parent:

  • Are they helping structure practice time, and should they be?
  • Is it time for a new/larger instrument?
  • Is it time for a longer lesson?
  • Is there anything you can do as a teacher that they might be interested in?
    • This is a great question to ask, and one that I would love to get feedback on.  Maybe there is something we all could be doing to make things better for parents and students.  There may also be some very simple things that they feel shy about, so encourage them to feel safe and express themselves.  Remember the line ‘we can only fix what we know about’.  On the off chance you get some upsetting (personal) feedback, put your poker face on, and we can figure it out together.
  • You can also ask them to do more as a parent, but keep it as simple as possible, you can always bump up the request at the next meeting
  • Thank them for their time, and remind them how much we rely on their support at home to help the kids grow

I’ve been working on an article called ‘The True Benefits of Music”, that I hope to have ready for you to give to parents that show up.  It will be very helpful for non-musical parents, and reinforce the importance of our programs for other parents.  This, like the Posts, is in a test phase, and will be updated as we go through the academic year.

Music Together Teachers’ Update

Lisa and I are working on updating the way we do pretty much everything with respect to Music Together Teachers, now that we have a team of you!  This will cover the very different things that MT teachers do, and need to do, from our regular teachers.

I am not sure of the details of how that will come together, but it should be a separate section of the Teachers’ Operations Manual, which we will review once it is completed (likely over a pizza lunch, or something).

Sing-Through of Winter Collection

We are hoping to do a sing-through of all the winter collection music in early January (8th, or 15th).  Location TBD.

With any luck, we’ll be able to meet with some of our local MT neighbouring studios, and make some new friends, and get some fresh ideas.

Winter Collection Materials

We hope to have the new books by the end of the first week of December.