Musings from the Front Lines No. 1: My Lesson with Jason
Saw “Jason” last week after an absence of several weeks. Jason who is only eight years old has more than a little problem staying focussed. If he loses interest he becomes a drooping vine.
A solution that has been: I present him at the beginning of the lesson with a detailed lesson plan. The plan is divided into three segments of 12 minutes (our lesson is scheduled for 45 minutes so, if needed, we have little breaks).
Each 12 minute segment is then divided into 3 sub-segments that addresses a different activity. For example, at the last lesson they were:
- reading
- pattern (rote) learning
- ensemble
I set my timer at the beginning of each 12 minute segment.
SIRI on my smart phone is a big help: “Hey SIRI, set my timer for 12 minutes” and it is done.
This approach goes a long way towards keeping him in focus and interested and SIRI keeps me on schedule.
It becomes a challenge to try to cover all the items in a segment — my planning is pretty accurate and we usually stay on track.
I prepare these plans on my computer. In this way I have a record of what we have done which helps me fine tune my planning from week to week.
