As I reflect about my teaching in 2017, I think I have improved in many areas: my timing, or pacing is better; the topics and themes I focus on are better, deeper level of thinking; I am challenging my students in many musical ways and highlighting some interesting connections to other life interests.
I enjoy the creative segments of the lessons I arrange, where students are challenged to explore, experiment and go past their comfort zone. This semester in particular, working with the Esprit Orchestra outreach program was a great challenge for some of my students to explore sound and the many possibilities they could arrange, as guided by the Canadian composer: Chris Thornborrow and myself! I am always trying to encourage my students to develop range in technique, explore patterns at different tempi, different articulations, different volumes. Of course, I am grateful for the opportunities to connect our daily work to God and other real life situations. For example, the gift of music that we have been given, to learn, share and celebrate together in the classroom is very special. We are fortunate to have a program that supports our ideas and accepts these contributions in meaningful ways. We respect one another and respect the space by helping one another to clean-up, treat our equipment in a caring way and cooperate and work together. Indeed, 2017 was another good year in my teaching. I enjoy trying new ideas and am grateful to have all the wonderful resources, for example, the keyboard lab, the many arrangements of music, and more. I look forward to 2018.
Another area that I think I have extended to greater depth is the "bring theory to life" approach. Play the theory examples, such as chords or cadences, not just on the piano, but on your instrument! Hear the theory, write the theory, see the theory and you are adding to your learning benefit because you are learning through your senses: sight, touch, ear.
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