Hello, and welcome to Music 3630!
I am very happy to meet you and to have you in our class. I want you to know that I value you as students, as potential influencers, and contributors to the world of music. I value your abilities, your talents, your craft, your opinions and insights. I promise to give you the best instruction that I can, and I request the best from you.
I have, as of yesterday, posted the syllabus to Canvas on the USU website. Please let me know if you are not able to see it, and I can get it to you by other means.
This blog, wowpedagogy.blogspot.com, is the place where you will post your reading assignments/chapter summaries and reactions, as outlined in the syllabus. I am interested in how you assimilate this information and how you think it will help you in your future teaching endeavors.
Class will consist of discussions the material and group activities.
Yes. they are fun activities, but they are directly related to the material and your teaching skills. You are, after all, teachers. I want to get you "on your feet", teaching as soon as possible.
If you need to contact me, for whatever reason, here are my coordinates:
Thomas Glenn
Office: FM200
thomas.glenn@usu.edu
415-216-3317
Logan Kelley-Coyle-Ch 1-2
ReplyDeleteChapter 1
Key terms and concepts:
Chicken-wire Harvards- A designated place where you can engage in deep practice to bring about optimal learning.
Talent hotbeds- a place where there are many people with what seems like natural talent but is really a result of effective practice to build skill
Deep practice: practicing in a way to most effectively build memory. This involves some form of test and recall, as well as practicing for perfection.
Sweet spot: The optimal spot between what you know and what you are trying to do.
Summary:
A person will most effectively improve in a skill if they can practice deeply. Like Brazilian soccer players, this involves finding a sweet spot, or practicing in a way so that the most difficult and important skills are condensed. The best performers work on challenging sections until they get them right. They don’t let themselves solidify any habit that is not worth keeping. The best kind of practice consists of recall and an empathy toward failure. Once a person can combine these attributes, they will be most able to grow in their skill.
Application:
I need to plan my own practice in a way that results in deeper learning. I will be more effective if I can set goals and make plans to achieve them while still having sympathy with myself during the learning process. As a voice teacher, I will demonstrate principles of deep learning in my lessons, and help the students develop plans to practice in similar ways so that they can best improve.
Chapter 2:
Key terms and concepts:
Myelin- the insulation wrapping nerve fibers that increases the strength, speed, and accuracy of nerve signals.
Skill- an attainable attribute that is built through fortified myelin wrappings.
Memory- a scaffolding that can be improved with training.
Summary:
Myelin is the key to improving our skill. Repeated mistake-focused practice begins the process of wrapping myelin along the nerve fibers that are necessary for our success. This process of wrapping takes a long time, so it takes consistent effort and practice done in an accurate way. Otherwise, the neurological pathways will be created in the incorrect fashions and it will be hard to refocus the myelin sheath. You must struggle in order for the brain to fire in the ways it needs to wrap the myelin and build the habits.
Application:
Being conscious of myelin firings can help me practice more effectively. Engaging in deep practice and using memory recall will help trigger wrapping of the myelin sheath in my brain. I need to focus on small, problematic sections of the music until I can consistently execute them perfectly. If I am able to do this, I will build skills that will be healthy and long-lasting. Once I am comfortable with this pattern, I will be able to pass on this pattern to students that I teach.
Courtney- Coyle- Ch. 1
ReplyDeleteSummary
Chapter 1 discusses what Coyle calls “The Sweet Spot.” This is a state of practicing where one is operating at the edge of their ability; working on something that is challenging but not too challenging. In the sweet spot one can make mistakes, think, and struggle through them, and try again slower or in a slightly easier way. Despite what one might thing, struggle and mistakes are an essential part of learning.
Application
In my practicing This means that in my practicing I need to approach mistakes with curiosity rather than frustration. It is also important to make the thing I am working on reasonable. I should not try and work on too many things at once as that would be too far outside my current level of capability. At the same time, I need to make sure I am focusing on something specific so that I can observe and catch mistakes.
Courtney-Coyle-Ch. 2
Summary
According to Coyle, one of the major goals in practicing is automaticity. Chapter 2 focuses on the role myelin plays in deep practice and the eventual automaticity of essential skills. Each time a circuit fires, it is wrapped in myelin which not only protects the circuit, but makes it fire more quickly and in better timing with other circuits. By practicing deeply, we are making it more likely that our circuits will fire without the same level of mental focus and at the same time as other essential circuits.
Application
In my practicing I need to remember that there are a lot of circuits to myelinate and therefore it is not plausible to deep practice them all at once. As I focus on one skill or phrase, I am helping myelinate that skill so that eventually it will become automatic and I can combine it efficiently with other skills/circuits.
Kaylee Borchert—Coyle—Ch.1-2
ReplyDeleteChapter 1:
Targeting your practice and slowing it down will help your abilities and make you smarter because as you break it down you will be able to focus and correct any mistakes. This kind of deep practicing and targeted practicing will produce much better and longer lasting results. We wouldn’t think twice about meaningful practicing in dangerous jobs so why should we not apply that concept in developing other skills?
Application: I think I can apply this by taking my practice and slowing down. I often rush through just singing my songs through so that I can say I’ve done it, but I really need to take my practicing slower by breaking down my songs and listening for mistakes and fixing them immediately so I don’t build bad habits.
Chapter 2:
Myelin wraps around nerve fibers and builds stronger and more accurate signals that improve the fluency in our movement and thoughts. Being aware of the mistakes in our practice helps us to “fire” the myelin in our brains, fix the mistakes that we make, and then continue firing and fixing the problems building the skill we are working at. One of the ideas discussed in this chapter that stood out to me the most was when it talked about how if you dont love what you are doing, then youll never truly be great at it. It is the idea that you wont work hard enough at it, and put in the time required, if you aren’t willing to dedicate yourself to it. I loved this idea and found it hionestly very inspiring!
Application: I would apply this chapter similarly to how I applied the first chapter by breaking down my practice but then also practicing my songs —correctly— over and over again so that I can really build good habits!
Amelia Kearl- Coyle-Chapter 1 and 2
ReplyDeleteChapter 1.
In the first chapter of “The Talent Code”, Thomas Coyle talks about his travels around the globe collecting stories of “chicken-wire Harvards”, places that despite all odds produced extraordinarily talented people. In these places ordinary people have learned how to practice efficiently, turning their teams, schools, and even cities into “Talent Hotbeds” (somewhere phenomenal amounts of skill is being produced). As Coyle observes these people he is stunned. About half the time they move through their practice with superhuman speed. The other half of the time they struggle and miss something, and then stop, think, and try it slowly again. Coyle explains that while learning, struggling is actually very beneficial. Engaging in activities just difficult enough helps you remember what you learned better.
Chapter 2.
Coyle suggests that myelin may be the secret to these people’s success. Myelin wraps forming a protective sheath around a circuits of nerves called neurons. Myelin sheaths reinforce these pathways making it faster for us to do things like recall information to perform technical motions quicker. These skills become easier and even automatic, he says. A researcher (Fields) suggests that people in talent hotbeds have more myelin than average. Anders Ericsson later explains that savants (someone with extreme skill in one area) don’t have a special feature that ordinary people don’t. They usually have had a large amount of exposure and have a limited area of expertise. He mentions Mozart who he said by age 6 had listened to and studied 3,500 hrs of music. No wonder he was so amazing! He has myelin to thank!
Application
While reading these chapters I realized that I should be practicing in a different way. I need to be more aware when I practice and focus on correcting mistakes and perfecting passages instead of just doing it to do it. In these chapters I learned that mylien only wraps, it doesn’t unwrap; so I want to make sure it’s wrapping up the right things, not my mistakes. I think this applies to teaching voice as well. In my experience at least, voice teachers normally focus on short phrases and sometimes even a single note. When you are a teacher, you don’t want to let your student keep making mistakes; you need to catch the mistakes and correct them.
Patrice-Coyle-Intro-Ch2
ReplyDeleteIntro: Honestly, the introduction got me really intrigued. I loved the example of Clarissa, sharing both deep practice and "wasting time" as McPhearson described. This introduction instilled a new sense of dedication and commitment to my practicing and efforts in all skills I am striving to develop.
Chapter 1: The biggest takeaway for me in chapter 1 was embrace your mistakes. Thrive in the struggle. Strive for failure. Without these goals we won't improve or grow. Progress cannot and will not come without opposition. I also really liked the story of Edwin Link. My takeaways from it were one- be open to new and different ways of learning, even if is unconventional, and two- allow a setting for deep practice, both physically and mentally.
Chapter 2: Understanding myelin and the process that happens in the brain helps me know why deep practice works. If I personally understand the how of something I am more likely to dedicate my time to make sure I do my best. I liked the part where he said every expert is the result of 10,000 hours of committed practice, or deliberate practice. I do think there is more than 10,000 hours of practice, like we discussed in class, however the hours combined with deep practice can make all the difference.
Sarah King – COYLE – CH1
ReplyDeleteSummary: Talent is created in small, intimate places that require the player to carefully observe their actions and mistakes to correct them. Failure is paramount to improvement. Deep practice leads to better overall success.
Key terms and concepts:
Chicken-wire Harvards (similar to talent hotbeds) – Tiny places that produce a lot of talented people.
Deep practice – “where you’re forced to slow down, make errors, and correct them”
Sweet spot – “the gap between what you know and what you’re trying to do”
Application: In my own practice, I can find the sweet spot and apply deep practice techniques (that is, start slow, stop when I encounter an error, fix the error, start again while applying the correct changes, etc.). I can look at failure as something constructive, NOT destructive.
Sarah King – COYLE – CH2
Summary: All actions are results of electrical brain impulses sent along nerve fibers. The more we use a skill circuit the less we are aware that we’re using it. By correctly repeating an action multiple times we essentially hardwire it into our bodies.
Key terms and concepts:
Automaticity – the process of making skills automatic through repetition in order to make it feel completely natural.
Skill – a form of memory that comes from repeated practice.
Myelin – a microscopic substance that wraps around nerve fibers to increase signal strength, speed, and accuracy
Application: In my own life, I can take more time to practice correctly. It’s not just the how long you do it, it’s HOW you do it that really counts. Repetition makes permanent, so making sure I’m repeating it correctly will make all the difference.