In addition to good times and rock n' roll, my guitar has taught me a thing or two about teaching a thing or two.
The Guitar Showed Me How Progress and Practice are Dance Partners
I started learning how to play the guitar when I was a junior in high school. Lots of folks, including myself, grow up wanting to play an instrument to join the ranks of the radio superstars that we sing with in our cars. Anytime I talk to someone about their progress in this inspiring task, they usually declare that if they practiced more, they could maybe get better. Practice and experiential learning are totally essential to making progress for any improvement you would like to make.
This ol' guitar taught me that lesson back in high school when I spent hours in my room, callousing the tips of my fingers while attempting to learn new chords and sewing together a ditty about being an angsty teenager. This practice was essential for building the fundamental skills I have when playing the guitar and there is simply no way that I could have improved without putting in the time and effort. Even now, I can't play barre chords. Why? Because I never bother to practice them.
Understanding the relationship between practice and progress is transferable to my journey as an educator because in the same way I learned and continue learning how to play the guitar, I will need to practice being a teacher. I need more practice which is good because where and whenever there is learning, which is always and everywhere, I can flex that educational muscle. Furthermore, I will engage my students in more experiential learning opportunities to grow in certain content area.
