Why

When my students haven’t mastered things I’ve been teaching, I always assume it’s for one reason.

I haven’t convinced them of the value of mastering that knowledge.

If I don’t know why something is important to know, I personally have trouble holding onto it. I assume it’s the same for my students. So I need to explain why.

When I talk about sight reading, I say clearly “The better we can sight read, the more and more interesting music we can do!” When I talk about singing vocal jazz, I don’t start with how much I love it. I start with explaining tangible whys – the value that singing this music gives to the singers.

Students today are not impressed by a mindset of “Learn because I told you to.” And they shouldn’t be. That mindset betrays a lack of respect for the student.

Make sure you’re prioritizing the why in your teaching.

(Not just for music! Math teachers, history teachers, English teachers – we should all be trusting our students enough to give them a why.)