Perspectives in Pedagogy
Kathleen Murray, Editor
I posed this question because I felt the need for some new ideas to use in my dealings with adolescents and emerging adults. Well, I feel like I hit the jackpot with these responses provided by Yu-Jane Yang and Karen Zorn. I hope that you, too, will find lots of ideas here to incorporate into your teaching in the coming year.
from Yu-Jane Yang's article
Who is this teenager we're trying to teach??
Can you think of three adjectives to describe teenagers? Moody, silly, self-conscious, egocentric, peer-centered, rebellious, confused, awkward, temperamental, inconsistent, unpredictableand the list could go on and on. I think dealing with teenagers can provide as much variety as offered by the weather reports on television's weather channel. The main difference is that with teenagers, we may experience every weather condition imaginable all at once on the same day!
Characteristics of adolescents
The many changes adolescents face during teenage years include sudden physical growth, sexual awareness, escalating psychological/emotional needs, intellectual augmentation, and social development. Rapid physical growth can make teenagers feel uncoordinated and even embarrassed. Their unanticipated sexual awareness accompanied by swift hormone changes triggers feelings ranging from guilt to amazement. The chemical oscillation in their bodies takes them on an emotional roller coaster ride that often causes exaggerated feelings, uncontrollable mood swings, and illogical behaviors. Teenagers can be full of excitement at one moment and then suddenly lose all their energy the next. The tendency to use "emotional reasoning" frequently results in erratic, unpredictable, and overly dramatic reactions. They are very self-conscious and extremely concerned about their appearance.
Adolescents start to acquire the ability to think more abstractly. Their new mental evolution also helps them learn to think for themselves, which often results in a constant questioning of authority. "Why?" becomes their favorite word! Teenagers quite commonly demonstrate poor communication skills; they frequently feel misunderstood and become terribly frustrated by their inability to express their thoughts clearly. Adolescents also develop increasing peer awareness and sense escalating peer pressure. They need frequent validation from others and are often desperately searching for peer acceptance. Peers' opinions become most influential to them. Teenagers show much greater interest in and a heightened desire to interact with the opposite gender. They frantically long for independence and often try to imitate "grown-up" behaviors to signify their wish to be treated as "adults." They experiment with "rebellious" activities to search for their own identity and to find their answers to the question, "Who am I?". . .
Dr. Yu-Jane Yang was recently awarded a full professorship in the areas of Piano/Piano Pedagogy from Weber State University in Ogden, Utah where she also serves as Director of the Piano Preparatory Program. She currently also serves as the State President of Utah Music Teachers Association. Dr. Yang received her Ph.D. degree with the highest honor from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, in 1994. She was one of the three national winners of the distinguished D. H. Baldwin Fellowship for Teaching Excellence in Piano in 1991, and was selected and listed in "Who's Who Among America's Teachers" in 1996 and 2002. She is active as a performer, adjudicator, clinician, and workshop presenter nationally and internationally..
from Karen Zorn' article
Give up, give in, get even!
Teenagers are going through one of the biggest transitions in life. In a matter of a few years-or for some, only a few months-they move from a child's world toward the infinite possibilities of adulthood. Each week as our teenage students arrive for their lessons, we never know just who might appear. Is it the adoring student who hangs on our every word as she plays with perfect hand position, or her nasty twin, silent and sullen, and, by the way, growing out her fingernails-if they don't break off first while playing volleyball!
While the kind of "bait and switch" we have to put up with when teaching teenagers can be downright annoying, I sayembrace it and learn to love it! My mantra: give up, give in, and then, of course, get even!
GIVE UP
During my first few years of teaching, I noticed a pattern of behavior in those students transitioning from childhood to adolescence. Students who had always been so conscientious about practicing their whole assignment started picking and choosing, practicing some parts and not touching the rest.
Natalie comes to mind. Natalie turned thirteen and completely stopped practicing her scales. She seemed to have no interest in pieces unless they were in a minor key, preferably morose in character, à la "Moonlight Sonata (first movement)." "Well," I thought, "who does she think she is to make these decisions on her own? Does she have the years of training in pedagogy that enable me to shape a picture perfect curriculum for her? I'll show her."
And show her I did . . .
Karen Zorn is the Associate Provost at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Previously, she was the Director of Instruction at the MacPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis. She had taught piano for 20 years to students of all ages. Karen holds degrees in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Missouri's Conservatory of Music and Goshen College. Her teachers included Marvin Blickenstaff, Joanne Baker, Carol Winborne and Keiko Utsumi-Grosgurin
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