Emily Hornbake

When student teaching at North Central High School, we gave our first concert one week before a week-long fall break. This meant that students received new music on Tuesday and we only had four days to work on it before their break. I was worried that when they came back, much of our work would be forgotten. In order to help students practice effeciently over break, I created a "Fall Break Practice Guide" (below). This asked them to identify challenging spots in each piece and strategies they would use to practice them. On the back I listed various practice strategies, many of which I modeled in class. Throughout the week, students made notes on this sheet during class, and we discussed which strategies would be most appropriate. I was unable to monitor students' use of these at home because North Central does not use practice charts, however there was notable retention of information upon return from fall break.