My curriculum resume has the following statement at the top of it: “In my life long search for the boundaries of my students’ learning capabilities, I only ever found the limits of my teaching abilities.” How did I come to realize this? Just like the Chinese proverb says, “If you would be a teacher, by your students you will be taught.” LEARNING LIMITS. Back when I discarded the erroneous belief about students being “haves” or “have nots” with music talent, I uncovered another paradigm I had to dismantle in my general music classes. I wrongly believed that some music was beyond my students. I thought certain skill levels were too difficult for them and they would never be able to learn hard music. So, even before allowing them to prove themselves, I wrongly judged their abilities and confined them to lower levels of artistry and musicianship. My turn-around did not come all at once in a startling epiphany, but inch by inch, and I realized my wrong judgment as I reflected backwards. SMALL ATTAINABLE STEPS. It began when a veteran teacher one day expressed the thought that any time students “didn’t get it” and “I lost them,” it was my duty as their teacher to search out the pedagogical steps I missed in my teaching process. So I began to divide huge projects into small attainable steps. Wow, what instant success! With proper sequencing, the students from then on never failed to learn any music I chose. (“How does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time!”) While planning each new project, I would look for a step beyond what they accomplished before. This was easy to apply to each grade I taught. With each amazing advance on the students’ part, I looked for something harder for them. In no time at all, they were singing and playing Orff-Schulwerk arrangements of classical masterworks, not school music fluff. Reflecting backwards, I realized their learning limits were closely bound by my teaching inabilities. And when I released them from all limitations of my belief system and corrected my inabilities, they soared like eagles. AUTOMATIC ADVOCACY. With this kind of music program, many parents came up to me and asked, “What exactly do you do in music class? Music is the topic of conversation every night at our house. It’s as if the rest of the school died. What’s going on?” I also found out realtors were advising prospective homebuyers to purchase within the boundaries of my school. They would tell parents, “You should buy a home near this school. The music teacher there runs a program that is so fantastic you’ll want your children to be a part of it.” Pastor, do you have limiting beliefs over your congregation? What would happen if you operated a church program to such a level that community members came to you and asked, “What goes on in your church because it is the major talk of the community? Can you imagine realtors advising prospective homebuyers, “This church is so fantastic, you definitely need to purchase a home as close to it as possible!” If this was done in a public school with street-wise kids who came to school fighting each other, why cannot it be done in a church where everyone is already singularly focused on the Lord and spiritual matters? If public school students were taught to respect me as their teacher, respect music and love it, and respect each other to make music together harmoniously, then why cannot the same be done in any church focused on the Lord? Your Belief System and Your Church: (1) Introduction Your Belief System and Your Church: (2) Your Paradigms Your Belief System and Your Church: (3) Bondage or Freedom Your Belief System and Your Church: (4) Gateway Skills Your Belief System and Your Church: (5) Teacher Accountability Your Belief System and Your Church: (6) Talking About vs. Doing Your Belief System and Your Church: (7) Student Accountability Your Belief System and Your Church: (8) Assessment Your Belief System and Your Church: (9) Bury Dead Tradition Your Belief System and Your Church: (10) Teaching vs. Learning Your Belief System and Your Church: (11) Teachers' Three Phases Your Belief System and Your Church: (12) Excellence is NOT a Goal Your Belief System and Your Church: (13) My Teaching Limits Were Their Learning Limits Your Belief System and Your Church: (14) Unlearning Creates Success Your Belief System and Your Church: (15) Pioneers vs. Settlers Your Belief System and Your Church: (16) Real and Lasting Learning Your Belief System and Your Church: (17) Problems With Memory Your Belief System and Your Church: (18) Ownership Creates Success Your Belief System and Your Church: (19) Not Perfect, But Honest Your Belief System and Your Church: (20) Take Risks and Give Away Control Your Belief System and Your Church: (21) Out of a Job Your Belief System and Your Church: (22) KCAASE and Proverbs 24 Your Belief System and Your Church: (23) Responding vs. Reacting Your Belief System and Your Church: (24) Only When Performed Your Belief System and Your Church: (25) A Supervisor's Vision Your Belief System and Your Church: (26) Glimpses Into the Spiritual Your Belief System and Your Church: (27) One Reason Alone

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  • Here's the formula for active participation. (1) What is the activity you want your "students" to learn? (2) Know where your "students" are right now regarding it, i.e. their entry level skills. (3) Envision where you want them to be. (4) Determine the teaching steps to be engaged to fill in the distance between (2) and (3).
  • Ummm..... it gets rather dangerous when I create storms... I'm too good at the stormy thing. I suspect you can be also. Be careful what you wish!

    So how would a pastor break things of the word into little doing steps? How would they communicate to the congregation that they have no preconceived limits regarding what any member can achieve? How would they draw out the one who self limits because life has taught them that they can't achieve, learning is too hard, and no one notices what I do right?
    One of these last thoughts are very real for myself. I have a friend who I suspect stuggles with all of them. So pastor/ teacher how would you encourage and demonstrate to us that these mindsets are wrong and help us to want to try? Ex. I do much better when someone tells me what I am doing right.
  • In the intellectual sense--YUP! That's the basis of "insightful." This is in the same way Peter write to "stir up the gift within us." Let's do a LOT of stirring--maybe even create a real good storm.
    Blessings, Dave
  • Dave,
    As for messing with you I am assuming that you mean that in the intellectual sense. You will be see that I have been having fun with comments to you or pastors on your various threads.
    Lisa
  • Dear Lisa,
    Please don't think anyone is above anyone else in learning how to be a teacher. Don't be deceived by the appearance of "having arrived." I'm good only because I unfortunately made every mistake in the book. But was wise enough to tear each one apart in a forensic manner to learn from it to avoid repeating the same thing again. I love your messing with me. Don't stop now. You're an exceedingly insightful people person.
    blessings, Dave
  • Messing with you and seeing how you answer is fun! Christians are supposed to be focused on one thing. Some days I think we are all over the map. It's as if that lack of society thing crept into the church. Then again that could be another discussion.

    On another note, I really appreaciate you sharing your teaching experiences and the stages a teacher goes through. You don't realize how much good it has done for me to discover the things I went through as an uncertified teacher are not much different than what any beginning teacher would experience! IE I'm sure the training would have helped but the daily nuts and bolts, sink or swim feeling appears to be the same. I too made every mistake in the book and created a whole mess of new ones. Thanks for sharing!
    Lisa
  • Hi Lisa,
    Not to infer that church members DON'T ever fight with each other, but at least they're generally focused in the same direction. I had to teach kids the think and act ensemble-wise as in a group. We have a splintered, individualistic society. Come to think of it, the word society may even be on the way to extinction. It was an accomplishment to get the students to think cohesively.
    Dave
  • And Christians don't come to church fighting with each other...? Sometimes we aren't so different from the world!
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