Habits of Mind: Persistence is Key
Once upon a time, in a fairy tale land lived a young girl named Cinderella and her two ugly step-sisters. We all know they were invited to a ball for the handsome young prince to find a wife. The prince sat through many hours of meeting eligible young ladies and engaging in banal small talk. All that changed once he met Cinderella. He was captured by her beauty, charm, and wit, but when she unexpectedly departed he was left with only a slipper. No name, no family association, or clue to who she might truly be. That she was there in disguise was certain.
The young prince undertook a time-consuming quest to find the girl who fit the slipper. Eligible young ladies would do anything to fit the slipper, as would their parents, and the prince had to go through all the ladies of the area to find her. Such a daunting task, asking hundreds of ladies to try on a shoe! But through his persistence, Prince Charming found his true love Cinderella and lived happily ever after.
Persistence is everywhere from fairy tales to classrooms, basketball courts to concert halls. It is the cheerleader in the back of our mind saying, “Don’t give up. You can do it!” The teacher who says, “How else could we solve this problem?” is encouraging persistence. The persistent coach tells his team, “We may be down by five, but we can still come back to win this one.” It is what I believe to be the single most important habit of mind.
“People persist because they can draw on multiple ways to solve problems,” (Kosta & Kallick, p. 74). Without persistence, the light bulb would never have been invented, great music would be lost, and students would quit at the first difficult concept they come across. Edison had many trials before he was successful with the light bulb. “He filled more than 40,000 pages with notes before he finally had a bulb that withstood a 40 hour test in his laboratory. In 1879, after testing more that 1600 materials for the right filament…Edison and his workers finally figured out what to use for the filament--carbonized bamboo,” (http://invention.smithsonian.org/ centerpieces/edison/000_story_02.asp). Edison had multiple plans and strategies that allowed him to continue experimenting and eventually create a functioning light bulb.
Children are taught persistence from an early age. It is easy for parents to encourage a child who is learning to walk to try again after they fall down. The encouragement and attitude of our parents keep us trying time and again. This should be carried into education from preschool to college. “It is better to teach students three ways to solve one problem than it is to teach them one way to solve three problems,” (Kosta and Kallick, p. 74). What works for one person may not work for another. When I teach note-reading on the staff, there are three ways to figure out a new note. You can count lines and spaces from a known note, use a pneumonic device, or look it up on a fingering chart. For some students memorizing a pneumonic device makes it harder, while others get mixed up with counting lines and spaces. It is imperative that different strategies be employed for success. We need to give students ample opportunity to attempt concepts, find which strategy works best for themselves, and learn from mistakes.
My best classroom example for teaching persistence is learning a new concert piece. Students are learning new concepts and building on previous experience daily in orchestra. A whole piece of music is daunting to middle school students. I show my students step-by-step how to break down a large piece of music into small, manageable chunks. First, they need to pick a small section of no more than 8 measures that will be the focus of their practice. The next step to learning a new piece is to know the rhythm, so they have to clap and count it correctly before moving on. Students have to be very self-aware and make sure they are actually doing what the composer wrote. Once they can clap and count the music, note names are said out loud in rhythm. If there is a particular measure that is difficult, it is okay to practice that tiny section out of context, and then put it back in. Step four is to finger the passage with the left hand only. It must be done in the correct rhythm with the fingers going to the correct place on the fingerboard. Students are training their fingers to go in just the right spot, in a particular order, at a particular time. After fingering the music, pizzicato and make adjustment based on what you heard yourself play. Lastly, you add the bow. I point out how to make sure your bow is going the correct direction. For pieces that require fast tempos I have the students to start at a slow tempo and incrementally work the tempo up. They have to play the passage 100% correct five times in a row before they can increase the tempo. If they make a mistake, the count starts over at one. Eventually they will reach the desired tempo. Some students can skip certain steps above, like saying note names out loud because they automatically process that step. Having these strategies in place has helped my students become successful sight-readers, and earn high marks on concert performances.
At the middle school level it is easier and “cooler” to give up than to persist because they only know one way to do something. Unlike parents who are focused on their baby learning to walk, teachers are looking at thirty personalities who all need their attention. Invariably, someone gets left in the cracks. If that student knows how to persist, then they will still succeed at the task.
One of my students, we will call her Bunny, is just learning how to be persistent. In her first year of orchestra she lacked any strategies for persistence. Bunny is one of those shy personalities who will never say much in your class and can easily fall under the radar. She struggled in nearly all subjects, especially when assigned a large project or lengthy paper. One day she asked me for help on an essay; she was not comfortable asking her English teacher for help. We applied the music learning strategy to her English paper and broke it down into manageable sections that afternoon. The next day, she was so excited to have completed the first part of the plan. She continued working on her paper systematically, and turned it in on the due date. She was so excited when she got the paper back with an “A” at the top! Her persistence had paid off and it also built her self-esteem. Now she is applying it to other subjects (orchestra included) and has a more positive outlook about school.
Once upon a time, in a fairy tale land lived a young girl named Cinderella and her two ugly step-sisters. We all know they were invited to a ball for the handsome young prince to find a wife. The prince sat through many hours of meeting eligible young ladies and engaging in banal small talk. All that changed once he met Cinderella. He was captured by her beauty, charm, and wit, but when she unexpectedly departed he was left with only a slipper. No name, no family association, or clue to who she might truly be. That she was there in disguise was certain.
The young prince undertook a time-consuming quest to find the girl who fit the slipper. Eligible young ladies would do anything to fit the slipper, as would their parents, and the prince had to go through all the ladies of the area to find her. Such a daunting task, asking hundreds of ladies to try on a shoe! But through his persistence, Prince Charming found his true love Cinderella and lived happily ever after.
Persistence is everywhere from fairy tales to classrooms, basketball courts to concert halls. It is the cheerleader in the back of our mind saying, “Don’t give up. You can do it!” The teacher who says, “How else could we solve this problem?” is encouraging persistence. The persistent coach tells his team, “We may be down by five, but we can still come back to win this one.” It is what I believe to be the single most important habit of mind.
“People persist because they can draw on multiple ways to solve problems,” (Kosta & Kallick, p. 74). Without persistence, the light bulb would never have been invented, great music would be lost, and students would quit at the first difficult concept they come across. Edison had many trials before he was successful with the light bulb. “He filled more than 40,000 pages with notes before he finally had a bulb that withstood a 40 hour test in his laboratory. In 1879, after testing more that 1600 materials for the right filament…Edison and his workers finally figured out what to use for the filament--carbonized bamboo,” (http://invention.smithsonian.org/ centerpieces/edison/000_story_02.asp). Edison had multiple plans and strategies that allowed him to continue experimenting and eventually create a functioning light bulb.
Children are taught persistence from an early age. It is easy for parents to encourage a child who is learning to walk to try again after they fall down. The encouragement and attitude of our parents keep us trying time and again. This should be carried into education from preschool to college. “It is better to teach students three ways to solve one problem than it is to teach them one way to solve three problems,” (Kosta and Kallick, p. 74). What works for one person may not work for another. When I teach note-reading on the staff, there are three ways to figure out a new note. You can count lines and spaces from a known note, use a pneumonic device, or look it up on a fingering chart. For some students memorizing a pneumonic device makes it harder, while others get mixed up with counting lines and spaces. It is imperative that different strategies be employed for success. We need to give students ample opportunity to attempt concepts, find which strategy works best for themselves, and learn from mistakes.
My best classroom example for teaching persistence is learning a new concert piece. Students are learning new concepts and building on previous experience daily in orchestra. A whole piece of music is daunting to middle school students. I show my students step-by-step how to break down a large piece of music into small, manageable chunks. First, they need to pick a small section of no more than 8 measures that will be the focus of their practice. The next step to learning a new piece is to know the rhythm, so they have to clap and count it correctly before moving on. Students have to be very self-aware and make sure they are actually doing what the composer wrote. Once they can clap and count the music, note names are said out loud in rhythm. If there is a particular measure that is difficult, it is okay to practice that tiny section out of context, and then put it back in. Step four is to finger the passage with the left hand only. It must be done in the correct rhythm with the fingers going to the correct place on the fingerboard. Students are training their fingers to go in just the right spot, in a particular order, at a particular time. After fingering the music, pizzicato and make adjustment based on what you heard yourself play. Lastly, you add the bow. I point out how to make sure your bow is going the correct direction. For pieces that require fast tempos I have the students to start at a slow tempo and incrementally work the tempo up. They have to play the passage 100% correct five times in a row before they can increase the tempo. If they make a mistake, the count starts over at one. Eventually they will reach the desired tempo. Some students can skip certain steps above, like saying note names out loud because they automatically process that step. Having these strategies in place has helped my students become successful sight-readers, and earn high marks on concert performances.
At the middle school level it is easier and “cooler” to give up than to persist because they only know one way to do something. Unlike parents who are focused on their baby learning to walk, teachers are looking at thirty personalities who all need their attention. Invariably, someone gets left in the cracks. If that student knows how to persist, then they will still succeed at the task.
One of my students, we will call her Bunny, is just learning how to be persistent. In her first year of orchestra she lacked any strategies for persistence. Bunny is one of those shy personalities who will never say much in your class and can easily fall under the radar. She struggled in nearly all subjects, especially when assigned a large project or lengthy paper. One day she asked me for help on an essay; she was not comfortable asking her English teacher for help. We applied the music learning strategy to her English paper and broke it down into manageable sections that afternoon. The next day, she was so excited to have completed the first part of the plan. She continued working on her paper systematically, and turned it in on the due date. She was so excited when she got the paper back with an “A” at the top! Her persistence had paid off and it also built her self-esteem. Now she is applying it to other subjects (orchestra included) and has a more positive outlook about school.