Comments on: Do It First, Then We’ll Talk

By: 100, 101, 101, 100, 99, 98, 99, 100 | Addison Road

100, 101, 101, 100, 99, 98, 99, 100 | Addison Road — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:16:20 +0000

[...] just finished grading Intro to Music Tech mid-term exams from the inaugural class of the new “Joy First, Theory Second” teaching method. The results were … [...]

By: achilles3

achilles3 — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:20:20 +0000

I love it. I’ve been teaching for 8 years and coached for 7…the more I enter my classroom the more I want to run it like a “practice”. The students need to be DOING and having FUN not listening to me blather on! They need DO. They need variety. They need practice. Just like I do when I learn.

I think the TED style 20 is brilliant and it’s ramifications on the rest of the logistics is also SO important…everything from the rest of THAT class period to just how many hours should a course be??? How does that change BIG schedules??? I hope you can keep us abreast of noticed changes both big and small!

Good Luck!

By: Matthew Penna

Matthew Penna — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:21:09 +0000

Dear Michael,
Your idea is solid. I work for a language training company. Our situation is like yours but compressed into 40-minute blocks of time. Think of it as a micro-semester.
In a lesson, we use the following pattern; fail, present, practice, perform, perform again. This pattern allows us to learn where the student weak points are and then challenge them accordingly and allowing them to fail. Then we show them how to do it in their own way. This last part is how we make it learner centered. If it is not, the meaningfulness will be missing and the chance for long term retention is greatly reduced. Before the end of the lesson, we perform the main task one more time and ask for questions from the student.

Good luck with your class!

Kind regards,
Matthew

By: michael lee

michael lee — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:05:21 +0000

Well, checking in after a few weeks, and the “do first, understand later” approach has worked pretty well in the music technology course, not quite as well in the Music Ethics course.

In music tech, there are still some students who just clearly don’t want to be there, and they sneer or snore the whole time. Nothing I can do about that, although I almost asked one girl to leave yesterday. Nothing I can do will light up everybody, but this new method has a lower miss rate, I think.

I’ll be interested to see how the first exam goes. If the projects are any indication, they should do pretty well.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:44:50 +0000

Hi Michael,

I’m neither a teacher or a musician. But I am an adult student currently, the most ‘adult’ one in the class, if you know what I mean. If only all the instructors I’ve encountered could heed this advice and incorporate it to the best of their ability. Four hours of lecture in medical/anatomical terms is enough to make anyone apathetic and slovenly in their thinking, regardless of age.

The nod from Ted is what brought me here and well deserved. This is a really good approach, especially for educators of the youngest minds. I think if it were implemented, there would be nothing but brilliant minds emerging from schools, for they all started out that way in the first place. If only I were six again and could have a do-over!

Great job, really.

By: On the 8 Spot » EEE Education

On the 8 Spot » EEE Education — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:24:15 +0000

[...] forgetting a semester removed. I read something from a professor I think a canadian school, he said “Joy First Theory Second”. And forgive me for saying this but in eee its, “Theory First, Your lucky if you find [...]

By: michael lee

michael lee — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:48:07 +0000

@Pauline

Nah, general apathy and slovenly thinking are totally sufficient.

By: James

James — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:40:11 +0000

Great idea; it’s an illustration of variation theory. Links to more on that at http://www.doceo.co.uk/reflection/2008/09/on-new-academic-year-resolutions.htm

By: Pauline

Pauline — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:37:53 +0000

Wait….I’m supposed to be curious about what you teach me?

AND ask questions?

oh man…this college thing is too hard.

By: On the 8 Spot » rePost: Hope They Taught Me Like This–Do It First, Then We’ll Talk | Addison Road

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:51:01 +0000

[...] Do It First, Then We’ll Talk | Addison Road. [...]

By: Brandy Ruscica

Brandy Ruscica — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:13:05 +0000

Gretchen,
Tom tried to get us to call him Maestro!
I feel your pain!

By: michael lee

michael lee — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:52 +0000

I never stopped. People just don’t obey me like they used to.

By: Ash

Ash — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:26:02 +0000

“Um, honey, you’re kind of a big deal now.
shoot. Are you going to make us start calling you Master Lee again?”

Gretchen,

Just shot coffee out of my nose!

By: Robert L

Robert L — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:03:34 +0000

I taught a class over the past summer (intro to engineering for 11th-12th grade students) while using curiosity as the main motivator (throw people in to the point they are almost overwhelmed, then stimulate the curiosity that usually flows). This open ended approach seems to work well if you have motivated students without too many standards to keep up with.

Best wishes for your experiment!

By: sharolyn

sharolyn — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:01:09 +0000

O! M! G!

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:56:27 +0000

Um, honey, you’re kind of a big deal now.
shoot. Are you going to make us start calling you Master Lee again?

By: sharolyn

sharolyn — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:16:38 +0000

Wow, what a compliment to Mike.

By: Om att tala lagom och att kasta sig rakt in i saker - Juniper | Juniper [Juniperus communis L.]

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:13:08 +0000

[...] Lee att han ändrar sina musiklektioner denna höst på två sätt. Dels talar han aldrig mer än 20 minuter i sträck och dels låter han eleverna göra först och [...]

By: michael lee

michael lee — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:39:25 +0000

Uh-oh. Baton down the hatches, we’ve been linked to from another biggie. The blog may slow down a bit for the rest of the day, sorry.

http://blog.ted.com/2008/09/teaching_on_the.php

By: june

june — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:18:55 +0000

Indeed. (What Chad said.) Another perk to this approach is that it can be a huge ego boost to the students who have some amount of intuitiveness going on. I remember a prof admiring one of my first paintings that he had required we complete using only two colors. He slapped my piece up on the wall and said “Anyone here see what she managed to create that no one else did?!” (I probably remember this because it may be the only time an art prof said something so positive about my work. The art profs thrived on being harsh and accusing.) We all did (it was a fairly true gray that I had managed to get via mixing…true gray can be hard to come by, as it turns out.) I recall literally starting to sweat as I thought to myself “Oh dear God, please don’t let him ask me HOW I did that…cuz’ I have NO IDEA!” Then he went on to explain to everyone how I had done it. I was probably the one MOST thankful for the explanation.

All this to say, yes, I think you’re onto a good plan Mike. Also, having your students do this will give you/them a built-in “before and after” display of where they started and what they’ve learned by the end of the semester. That’s always an ego boost for anyone!