As I've been trying to think of what I want to write about next, I decided to write about
Why?
Of course we all know why this is important, so I won't go into that too much. But briefly, setting realistic, measurable goals helps students to SEE their progress, which helps them stay focused and interested. They stay motivated and become excited as they get smaller gratifications and incentives along the way to bigger, long-term goals such as passing of or performing a piece from memory.
What type of goals are we talking about here?
I would say there are a couple types of goals to keep in mind: long-term and short-term goals.
- Long-term Goals
It's important to set long-term goals, because the short-term goals you set with the student each week will be stepping stones to reach the long-term goals. It helps if they have a bigger picture in mind. This could be something like preparing to perform a specific piece on a specific date. Or long-long-term goals, like studying music in college for the long-long-long term goal of teaching music in a school (depending on the age of the student, they may or may not have these long-long-long-term goals in mind yet, but I mention this because I feel strongly that a very important part of our role as a teacher involves career prep and teaching about options).
- Short-term Goals
The short-term goals would be the practice goals each week which help prepare for the long-term goal. I like to set a couple different types of practice goals with my students. One would be the amount of time and frequency of practice, such as 30 minutes a day/6 days this week. If they reach this goal, they get "Music Bucks", which you can find here. But I also think it's important to not overemphasize the QUANTITY of time practiced at the expense of the QUALITY of practice. The other type of short-term goals addresses this, and involves the practice tasks and assignments for the week.
For some reason, if I ask the student to set a goal for how much of the piece they want to memorize by their next lesson, rather than me giving an assignment, the student is much more happy to do it. It is suddenly the student's idea, and he or she is much more willing and likely to actually do it! (And to remember to do it!) So, rather than giving an assignment, I recommend asking the student to set a goal for the piece. This may require some guidance from you ("Let's set a goal for memorization this week. How much can you do each day until I see you again?"), but it really is best if the student chooses the goal himself. Even if the goal is not exactly what you would have chosen for the student, it is more beneficial if the goal is actually accomplished, due to the student having a choice in the matter, rather than you picking the absolute "perfect" goal for the student, which never actually gets done. This also teaches the student the importance of taking charge of their musical education and they can gain important practice and goal-setting skills for the future when they don't have a teacher or parent guiding them.
So, there are just a few thoughts on goal-setting with students. Remember to keep the following things in mind about setting goals:
1. Keep the goals realistic. This allows the student to be successful, which obviously helps with motivation.
2. What: Make the goals specific and measurable. "Memorize some stuff" is neither specific nor measurable. "Memorize the first four lines of this piece by memorizing 'on purpose'" (as I call it...instead of memorizing 'on accident' - playing a piece so many times that you feel like you know it from memory...) is both measurable and specific. It's very obvious whether or not it has been accomplished.
3. When: Set a realistic time line for accomplishment. "Memorize the first four lines of this piece before my lesson next Thursday." This creates a deadline, which is important for reevaluation, self-assessment, and future goal setting.
4. How: Help the student outline and understand how the goal will be accomplished. It does no good to set a goal to memorize a piece "on purpose" if the student has no idea what that means. Solidifying a specific passage in a piece is really hard to do if you don't help the student understand what types of drills, etc. could be used.
I hope this helps your students to set and reach practice goals. Let me know if you have other ideas to share!
UPDATE 12/22/13: HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN THE MOST IMPORTANT PART?!?!
5. Follow up, follow up, follow up. Make those kids accountable. Trust me, kids learn quickly, and if they see they're not going to have to account for what they've been doing, then they will very VERY quickly just not do it. If they know you will follow up with them every week without fail, they are much more likely to actually do it.
And finally:
6. Reevaluate and set new goals, adjusting anything where necessary. As you follow up with the student, you'll both be able to see areas where improvement can happen. Ask things like "What held you back from being able to do it last week?", and "What can you do differently this week so you can reach your goal?" You can tweak anything that is not realistic and set new goals for improvement.
I hope this helps. Let me know any other ideas you have to help your students set and reach goals.
