Learning plays a vital role throughout our life, we are constantly learning from the moment we are born to the moment we grow old. Therefore, to ensure the efficiency of learning, in the beginning, clearing our learning motivation, and mastering the learning methods and strategies to solve the problems we meet are very important.
In the past, I always preferred the teaching model similar to behaviorists. It’s like a self-discovery process, which pays more attention to cultivating students’ learning initiative. And the learner designer observed the learner’s reaction to determine what works for different people.
However, in one of my Zither lessons, I found that I was wrong– common progress of teaching and learning cannot be parted. In the past, I always blindly accepted the music theory that my music teacher exported to me. I practiced my zither day after day, but it never reached the standard that she expected, I was so down at that time since I made every effort to do the hard work but it doesn’t work. But one day, my partner inquired me something about music knowledge, I found that it is difficult for her to comprehend the knowledge by simply talking to her about theories. Therefore, we practiced the tough part many times together, each time getting better and better than before, and finally, she could play a piece smoothly. From then on, we often practiced zither together. We could learn each other’s advantages together, pointing out each other’s shortcomings in time and putting forward appropriate methods to solve them. In this way, we enjoy the good time that music brings us every day and without a doubt, we both made great progress! What’s more, We became the best of each other and even started our own little band, playing pop music in the park from time to time. That was the best and happiest learning experience I ever had!
Thank you for sharing your personal learning experience! Oh, wow, you can play zither! That’s so impressive and must be difficult to learn! It is so true that learning how to play musical instruments requires continuous practice! Moreover, learning from each other and with each other maximises successful outcomes. What learning theory(ies) did your teacher and yourself use?
Yes, it was difficult to learn at first and took a lot of time to practice. In the beginning, the teacher taught me by direct introduction, but it was obvious that was not enough. So after the class, I practiced with my peers. Combining cooperative learning and direct introduction and the results were unexpectedly good! I find that this combination of learning methods is more suitable for me.