Nothing is more important than playing. NOT! The most important is to focus on more important things. When I talk about "things," i like to specify it as jobs, college applications, homework, etc. Lately, there has been a decline in student work as they are doing poorly in their main tasks and don't realize that what they, my students, are learning is a side "job." So, in order to combat this, I came up with the plan to not teach them. Ultimately, this will have consequences on their learning. So, this is not the best punishment. I will try to look for better ways, or if someone offers a better proposal.
This will also teach discipline. It is not all about learning to play. It is a privilege to. For one not to play, it is a nightmare. [At least to me.] Already, a few of my students walked up to me and "beg" me for lessons. "Are your grades better? Then no." It is not always a punishment for them but for me also. This is time spent on how to improve myself through them. So it is not always about them.
On the positive note, I don't have many students who are doing badly. Two of the five, are doing poorly but it is not bad. More than 50%. If it gets any worse, obviously, I will need to find a new set of students who are willing to be disciplined enough to know that this is a privilege.
It is very good of you to take the grades of your students into consideration. At this time of the year,many students are stressed out, have a large work load and hardly get any sleep. It is important that the students learn how to play, but they also need to keep their grades high enough.
ReplyDeleteThey should still have the ability to teach themselves on their own time, but you shouldn't teach them if their grades are bad. If you continue to teach students while their grades are bad, you run the possibility of getting into trouble with teachers.
I honestly am amazed at the discipline you demonstrate by caring about your students academics. Even though teaching the drums is the main component of your project and not doing it might affect your project, you are willing to take the risk to teach your students another valuable lesson. This is leading by example, and ideal that I believe will be crucial for successfully completing our Senior Culminating Projects.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I personally think this is a good punishment that will sort out the true lovers of the instrument from those simply seeking "something cool to do for the hell of it".