Back in the beginning of my career I used to set weekly goals for my students. I’d write them in their assignment books and at the following lesson, would go down the list, checking if they had completed their assignments.
I thought that’s what it meant to be a responsible teacher…
Until one day, a student who had fell short of accomplishing his weekly goals exclaimed, “Well I didn’t agree to these assignments. You just gave them to me. And I had a busy week in school.”
Some teachers might feel disrespected by this outburst and see it as an opportunity to teach the student about respect and the hierarchy of the student-teacher relationship.
It hit me a bit differently.
The student was right: I did assign the assignments based upon what I thought was appropriate, not based upon the integrated life of my student.
Suddenly, our roles had switched, the teacher became the student.
What I realised, was that for the student to become more responsible for his OWN growth, I had to remove myself from the playing field of his learning. I could coach him, but I could not play his “learning game” for him, because if things didn’t work out when I was on his learning field, he might look at me as the cause, and not himself.
He needed me to be the coach, not another player.
Many of the concepts in Coffee With Ray, a book I authored in 2013 (Ed: highly recommended reading! Read my review of Nick’s great book here – Tim), stemmed from the idea that the teacher is the coach, not a player on the field.
The teacher’s job is to provide the student with the tools to play the learning game most successfully.
We need to teach our students how to set and “get” their own goals. We need to use the right language to motivate and inspire and we need to ask the right questions to deepen their understanding.
Related: What I’ve learnt from asking more questions in music lessons
The following goal setting ideas were adapted from Awesomely Simple by John Spence.
Make sure the goals you set are S.M.A.R.T!
They need to be able to answer five questions, otherwise they are not really goals, they are simply wishes.
Moving ourselves onto the sidelines of our student’s learning field can be challenging. Our egos can easily be bruised. But what tends to happen is that our students’ abilities to learn on their own grow stronger.
And helping them achieve that is ultimately our job, isn’t it?
Do you write all the notes in your student’s diary/assignment book? Do you work together to set goals or do you specify them for your students… or does it depend on the student? Are you on the sidelines coaching or driving the game as a player on the field?
Let me know what you think with a comment below.
Dr. Archie Chen says:
It is important to teach students how to set and achieve their own goals, as this can help them become more self-motivated and independent learners. By using the right language and asking the right questions, we can help our students develop a better understanding of their goals and what it will take to achieve them. For example, we can use language that emphasizes the value of hard work and persistence, and we can ask questions that encourage students to think about their goals in a more detailed and specific way. By doing this, we can help our students develop a more strategic and focused approach to their piano practice and learning, which can help them make faster and more significant progress.
Tim Topham says:
Hi Archie. Thanks for your comment about autonomy and goal setting – these are great points that I hope all teachers consider. Fact is, the role of teachers is changing quite rapidly from director/knowledge-giver to motivator/mentor.
Jonathan Gaertner says:
Interesting, curious as to what age are we thinking about with this? While this can be really useful with teens I can see it be problematic with younger students even with our guiding them to the right goals. I definitely believe in it I am just curious as to how you approach this with students under 10?
Tim Topham says:
Jonathan,
Thanks for your comment and question. Children are never to young to begin to learn how to make appropriate goals/decisions. The key part of this is that they are LEARNING the process of goal setting. (Please see the caps as itals, not shouting, as I don’t have itals access in this post.) In my second book, Lessons With Matt, the first chapter tells a story of exactly how to encourage this process. I start building a student’s decision making “muscle” as young as 7 y/o. This way, in the later years, when their decisions become more critical they have built confidence in their ability. The key is to remember that it is a process you are building.
Nick Ambrosino
Jonathan Gaertner says:
I gotcha, makes a lot of sense. Thank you!
Graham Fitch says:
Excellent post, Tim. Love the idea of SMART goals!
Tim Topham says:
Cheers Graham – if you haven’t read Nick’s books, definitely check them out 🙂