80% of what you teach is who you are

The Sistema Fellows had the great privilege of observing Lorrie Heagy teach this week. She is a trained primary school teacher and pianist, and one of the first class of Fellows. Eric Booth (an El Sistema and teaching artist consultant) holds that the fundamental principle of teaching is that "80% of what you teach is who you are". Lorrie Heagy distills her love for children and passion for teaching into highly thought out lessons packed with purposeful activities, meaningful language and positive behaviour management.

Here is an attempt to summarise how Lorrie has created a curriculum for social change:

• Each lesson involves the 5 ways of engaging the brain for optimal learning - Movement, Curiosity, Emotion, Relevance & Patterns.
• Storytelling combines all 5 ways and is a useful tool to link different activities in a lesson together, and to motivate children to complete potentially uninspiring activities such as developing instrumental techniques and skills.
• Constant praise of positive behaviour.
• Lessons should involve a mix of 'breathe in' and 'breathe out' activities to give a balance of acquiring new information and consolidating skills. 
• Transitions between activities and rituals of coming in and out of the classroom should be made into musical events which flow into the next section of the lesson.
• Activities are broken down into 'levels' of adding more complexity steadily and gradually, and always starting from a point of familiarity. This means that the children experience constant learning successes, are motivated to learn more, and practice the same activity in numerous ways which promotes expertise.

The Western music education ecosystem currently has a dilemma about the identity of music educators. There are private tutors, public school teachers, in-school, out-of-school ensemble directors, full-time and part-time teaching artists - teachers who are first and foremost performers and teachers who are first and foremost educators. I personally hope that this dilemma will be resolved by the presence of quality music education lead by teaching artists within already existing educational institutions. Training programs like the Masters in Teaching Artistry at Longy School of Music, Bard College will create music educators who are skilled in both their teaching and artistic skills, and who have a fundamental place in the educational environment a child experiences. I hope that Music Education policy makers and managers of schools will hold higher expectations of what can be achieved and support teachers to help realise the musical potential of children. Lorrie Heagy shows us that it is possible to be that teaching artist and that the purpose of her profession is to focus on the social and emotional development of the child and the unity of her community.

Find out more about Lorrie Heagy here:
http://blog.tedprize.com/meet-the-sistema-fellows-lorrie-heagy-develops-active-citizenship-through-music-education/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=meet-the-sistema-fellows-lorrie-heagy-develops-active-citizenship-through-music-education

http://juneaumusicmatters.blogspot.com/