How do you teach a new idea?
I’m learning all sorts of strange sentences right now in Italian – sentences about witches, monsters, and creepy old mansions. Before that, all sorts of things about influencers. While part of me thinks it’s not very helpful to learn ghost stories before I learn expressions I’m likely to actually use, another part of me thinks that this makes sense.
My Italian course is built using the idea that sticky lessons are effective. Ghost stories are memorable, quotable, and repeatable – meaning they’re more likely to stay in my head. And while I’m learning these silly sentences, I’m also practicing fundamental grammatical concepts that will serve me throughout the language.
And it makes me think about ways to make music education stickier. Memes, silly stories, weird and catchy songs…how do you teach concepts in ways that ensure that your students will continue practicing them?
I think a lot about my high school biology teacher, winding up and throwing a handful of chalk at a “cell” circle on the board while shouting “Organelles!” It might not have been the most stately educational strategy, but it was effective…more than thirty years later, I can hear it and define the word.