While getting her doctorate in music education as she was a lecturer at the college level, Penny Prince observed teachers in each of her graduate classes and asked herself, “What makes this class work—or not?” She wanted to know why some teachers were excellent role models while others demonstrated what not to do. She aspired to find out what strategies motivated students.

According to Prince, there was one successful “qualitative research professor who demonstrated a desire to build a community in which the students could learn from each other. 

• He arranged the room’s rectangular tables into a mid-room block so everyone faced each other.
   

• With students’ permission, he photocopied everyone’s work so we could see and discuss our peers’ writing.
   
• He sent weekly e-mails saying how much he was getting from the class and how pleased he was with our contributions and progress.”

“This made us redouble our own efforts,” she said, “and the students handed in their work promptly.”

Prince implemented these techniques in her own classroom. “I placed students’ chairs in a circle to encourage eye contact. I instituted sharing sessions that meant each student could introduce a YouTube clip or teach a song to the class. I e-mailed students when a class went particularly well.  E-mailed work got a quick 'Got it!' response, and I asked my students to do the same for my e-mails."

All these ideas helped Prince communicate better with her students and gave them immediate responses from their music teacher.

MENC member Penny Prince is an assistant professor of music education at Lehman College of the City University of New York.

Next week:  Lessons from Grad School, Part 2

--Ella Wilcox, September 23, 2009, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education (www.menc.org)