How is it possible to teach a band room it's ok to make mistakes and that everyone does it? Everyone makes mistakes but why are we so scared as a society to make those errors in front of people. Failure is how we learn best. It makes no sense to fear what educates us best. I want to destigmatize mistakes and stigmatize perfection with the incorporation of technology. Thanks to the brainstorming of some colleges (thanks Davis!) here is the idea we came up with.
My incorporation of technology will include the use of flipgrid.com. I will challenge my students to go play music on their instrument for a 90 second period. During those 90 seconds I want them to be extremely vulnerable. With only doing one singular recording, I want to see every mistake, rhythmic detail, and tonality they make. I want to see genuine reactions to these mistakes. That is what will show each student they are human but most importantly that everyone makes mistakes. In addition to this, I will be recording a video of myself for an example. They will hear and see me make mistakes as I play. My intention for this is to show my students that even though I have been playing for a long time, I also make errors and that's ok. It's not bad that you make a mistake. It's all about how you react to that mistake. I love to tell my students the only difference between a professional musician and an amateur is that the professional just keeps playing through their mistakes. Will you keep playing through your mistakes?
Hey Cory, thanks for this post! I completely agree that it is critical to teach kids (and even adults) that it is okay and even normal to make mistakes. If everyone is so afraid of messing up, they'll never try new things. I could imagine that this would be especially true in a band class, where your mistakes are on display for everyone to hear (or so you think). The interesting part is that most times, no one will know you messed up unless know the song by heart or they're following along with the sheet music. I think using flipgrid for this is a great idea because it would also allow students to watch each other's videos and see that everyone else also makes mistakes.
ReplyDelete*messed up unless THEY know the song...
DeleteLol, speaking of messing up
Cory, I really like this idea of using technology in your classroom. I feel like I have the same ideas with using technology in P.E. I want to encourage students to make mistakes and learn from them. Technology also allows for the students to be able to reflect on their performance so they can see what they did well and what they need to improve on. I also love the idea of you doing a one-time take so the students can see you make mistakes. It shows that even though you're experienced, you still make mistakes and that's okay. Great insight!
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