Intermediate Mentor Teaching Ideas Options

[Ajmurrell]

Just wondering what peoples thoughts were about the Syllabus guidelines and how that fits in with everyones ideas for lessons?

I've decided to give Bondy two activities a week (plus a warm up routine that I will create soon...) which include the recommended lessons from Smells' post, and more personal specific lessons that are linked to requested skills where he wants improvement. I'm going to make a few SI type, lessons because it will be fun , and find some GMC lessons as well from the archive as this is the way I think we're supposed to go from what I've read in the guidelines.

It's all getting started now! Good luck guys It's going to be a blast.

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[Vaialation1232]

Just wondering what peoples thoughts were about the Syllabus guidelines and how that fits in with everyones ideas for lessons?

I've decided to give Bondy two activities a week (plus a warm up routine that I will create soon...) which include the recommended lessons from Smells' post, and more personal specific lessons that are linked to requested skills where he wants improvement. I'm going to make a few SI type, lessons because it will be fun , and find some GMC lessons as well from the archive as this is the way I think we're supposed to go from what I've read in the guidelines.

It's all getting started now! Good luck guys It's going to be a blast.

I think thats about what I am planning as well...give some exercises (maybe 1-2 new a week) i like that he should just do on a daily basis, and then the syllabus lesson as well as something else (GMC lesson, my own personal lesson, etc.)...however, i am wondering about how the workload will be because learning two lessons and posting videos of them may be a little much depending on how difficult the lessons are.. i'll just have to get his input and see what he thinks after the first week

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[enforcer]

Well I am seriously thinking of dividing the lesson to two parts, like part 1 a la syllabus and part 2: my suggestions. As recommended lessons for first and second weeks are quite easy for our mentorees, there is no harm in adding some more work to do. I'll get feedback about that from Jer in a few days I believe. Then, it final decision can be made.

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This post has been edited by enforcer: Jan 9 2009, 01:07 AM

[Velvet Roger]

Well, I have discussed with Ben about the workload and because he has limited time available (which is definitely not a problem ), we will work on one lesson at the time (which will follow the syllabus more or less, but not exact due to the fact that Ben already did all those lessons in the MTP pilot program), supplemented with some theory/small exercises over the coming weeks.

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[wrk]

Hm, honestly, i expected the Syllabus more as a list of example lessons to cover basic technics and not to be a structure. The pilot program of Smells and Kris were having quite different approaches to each other and i took more Smells Agenda as an example.

At first i was not sure how to read this Syllabus. Maybe my english is not good enough to read the guidelines right. In one way it sound kind of strict to me but there is space of modification ... so i'm not sure (?)

Basically i have had the same topics (rhythm, timing, solo, workouts) in mind. I have had prepared my structure a bit before, to change everything in the last minute would not lead to something good, so i hope i'm not completely wrong the way i started.

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[Chris Evans]

The pilot program of Smells and Kris were having quite different approaches to each other and i took more Smells Agenda as an example.

At first i was not sure how to read this Syllabus. Maybe my english is not good enough to read the guidelines right. In one way it sound kind of strict to me but there is space of modification ... so i'm not sure (?)

See if I can shed some light on this for you

Perhaps worrying about it a little too much, the guide is what it is, a guide, but it has areas that you should look to cover

For a "beginners" MTP we discussed what factors are important for someone in the early stages of playing to concentrate on to have a reasonable grounding on in order to progress in their playing career.

In order to get an effective program running we needed a syllabus for the program as a starting off point so that beginners are given the same basic grounding, (we used Kris`s MTP pilot as the basis because mine was directed at a more intermediate level player), similar to main stream education, there is a syllabus for teachers to follow throughout the year, obviously different teachers have different approaches, but the topics are covered.

The syllabus here is more of an example (although can be used as it is), I think it is perhaps more useful in the case where you have more members to mentor as they will be of varying levels to a degree and you need to keep everyone on a level playing field, at the moment you only have one for a 4 week period and yes, this way it is much easier to tailor lessons etc to suit that one persons level of playing ability, if you had 5 or more then you would be creating far too much work for yourself to create lesson plans for each individual member, they would all need to do the same exercises etc at the same time.

From what I`ve read in the MTP posts so far they all look fine, adding extra small homeworks that maybe cover something that your current mentoree would like to begin looking at or improve upon is perfect (but to begin with they shouldnt be the focal point), again this wont be so easy to do with more students, and you need to keep that in mind.
With more mentorees this is something that you will probably need to approach more collectivly than individually.

Lastly (as I`m rambling on now ) remember this is the second phase of the mentor selecting process and not the full blown MTP, so this is more of an assignment for yourselves at the moment to help us choose the 5 who will be mentored by Muris, so use the syllabus as a guide only and just do your best

hope that helped a bit, sorry for rambling on

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[Velvet Roger]

This makes all sense, thanks for the clarifications Chris.

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[wrk]

Thanks Chris, i see what you mean ...

Obviously everybody tries now to create the best program for his specific mentoree by now. If you have a group of 5 with different levels, these programs are maybe not suitable for everybody, too difficult for some or too easy for others.

A development i see at this early stage of the 2nd phase is that we will have a few different program approaches/examples which could be followed after each other instead of running parallel. It's maybe an interesting result at the end. There are so many topics around the guitar, hard to define a beginner level or to find the right order to start with.

Anyway, this MTP well worth it to put some energy in and at this phase everybody does .. good luck by doing a selection at the end

Thanks again to clarify a few points

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[David Wallimann]

Great thread, also a great way to know what you guys are interested in. It helps to prepare new material!

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[Chris Evans]

A development i see at this early stage of the 2nd phase is that we will have a few different program approaches/examples which could be followed after each other instead of running parallel. It's maybe an interesting result at the end. There are so many topics around the guitar, hard to define a beginner level or to find the right order to start with.

Absolutly! and if theres things we spot as great potential to help this run smoothly then they will certainly be accomodated/integrated

As a new concept theres certainly room to build on, we just needed a starting point to kick us off with

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[Ajmurrell]

Personally I think the syllabus really helps in terms of having a structured plan for each area to improve. So, for example, knowing that Rhythm/timing are things to focus on for weeks 1 and 2 makes it easy to manage different GMC lessons if the mentoree's ability is above the playing standard in the suggested video.

What might be a good way to approach a future syllabus is to have "key areas", for different weeks, that we should aim to focus our lesson recommendations around.

So if it works out that a mentor, mentors a certain individual for lets say 2 months the syllabus would guide you through the key areas to work on each week - making sure by the end of the mentor period, everythings been covered!

Absolutly! and if theres things we spot as great potential to help this run smoothly then they will certainly be accomodated/integrated

As a new concept theres certainly room to build on, we just needed a starting point to kick us off with

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[Boson]

Personally I think the syllabus really helps in terms of having a structured plan for each area to improve. So, for example, knowing that Rhythm/timing are things to focus on for weeks 1 and 2 makes it easy to manage different GMC lessons if the mentoree's ability is above the playing standard in the suggested video.

In "education speak" we call this differentiation.

Everyone is working within the same topic but each has different desired learning outcomes based on their starting knowledge/ability. The idea is that each starts from a different starting line but all progress. The end point will not be the same for every student.

At the end of the topic

All of you should be able to ........
Most of you should be able to .......
Some of you should be able to .......

The topic areas of the suggested syllabus provides a good structure. Within this the job of the mentor is basically to identify the starting level of their mentoree for each of the key skill areas outlined in the syllabus and communicate to them a desired learning outcome and how they might achieve this. In GMC terms this might be directing them to a particular lesson which is appropriate to their ability and which will allow them to progress in a partiucular skill area.Of course an element of challenge is desireable in this respect. Even though different mentorees are working under the same topic or skill area, each will have individual goals and individual learning experiences depenndant upon their starting point. My personal view is that the current mentors are almost trying too hard and being too personal. A more detached, focussed and analytical view is needed. However I do recognise the tremendous enthusiasm and commitment they have brought to the role. The beginner mentorees should consider themselves very fortunate.

Good job guys!


Hope this helps

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[Ajmurrell]

Thanks for that Very interesting to read. Am I correct in presuming you teach?

I personally find it quite hard to be a bit detached at the moment, its quite exciting and very fun! Rewarding too! Am I trying to hard? Maybe

In "education speak" we call this differentiation.

Everyone is working within the same topic but each has different desired learning outcomes based on their starting knowledge/ability. The idea is that each starts from a different starting line but all progress. The end point will not be the same for every student.

At the end of the topic

All of you should be able to ........
Most of you should be able to .......
Some of you should be able to .......

The topic areas of the suggested syllabus provides a good structure. Within this the job of the mentor is basically to identify the starting level of their mentoree for each of the key skill areas outlined in the syllabus and communicate to them a desired learning outcome and how they might achieve this. In GMC terms this might be directing them to a particular lesson which is appropriate to their ability and which will allow them to progress in a partiucular skill area.Of course an element of challenge is desireable in this respect. Even though different mentorees are working under the same topic or skill area, each will have individual goals and individual learning experiences depenndant upon their starting point. My personal view is that the current mentors are almost trying too hard and being too personal. A more detached, focussed and analytical view is needed. However I do recognise the tremendous enthusiasm and commitment they have brought to the role. The beginner mentorees should consider themselves very fortunate.

Good job guys!


Hope this helps

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[lcsdds]

Thanks for that Very interesting to read. Am I correct in presuming you teach?

I personally find it quite hard to be a bit detached at the moment, its quite exciting and very fun! Rewarding too! Am I trying to hard? Maybe

I've been following everybody's MTP threads and I personally think that everybody is doing a good job. Everybody's mentoree is at a different stage in their development and you have to give a good balance between what they NEED to know and what they WANT to learn. I wish I had a mentor when I started. If I did I would be miles ahead of where I am. I had to learn the hard way like many on this board. Keep up the good work everybody, nobody loses in this competition.

Monte

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[enforcer]

I've been following everybody's MTP threads and I personally think that everybody is doing a good job. Everybody's mentoree is at a different stage in their development and you have to give a good balance between what they NEED to know and what they WANT to learn. I wish I had a mentor when I started. If I did I would be miles ahead of where I am. I had to learn the hard way like many on this board. Keep up the good work everybody, nobody loses in this competition.

Monte

Yeah same here, I wish I had a mentor... Someone like... YOU perhaps, you are doing a great job man you know this to the book

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[lcsdds]

Yeah same here, I wish I had a mentor... Someone like... YOU perhaps, you are doing a great job man you know this to the book

Thanks for the kind words Can. It really is true that alot of times the teacher ends up learning more than the student!! This MTP gig has made me totally revamp my practice routine and really commit to trying to fill some serious holes in my playing and knowledge base. BTW Can, really enjoyed your take on Emir collaboration!! I like the long hair as well!! I keep telling my wife that I am gonna grow back my mullet from the 80's. She doesn't think it is very funny.

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[enforcer]

Thanks for the kind words Can. It really is true that alot of times the teacher ends up learning more than the student!! This MTP gig has made me totally revamp my practice routine and really commit to trying to fill some serious holes in my playing and knowledge base. BTW Can, really enjoyed your take on Emir collaboration!! I like the long hair as well!! I keep telling my wife that I am gonna grow back my mullet from the 80's. She doesn't think it is very funny.

Yeah MTP improved my knowledge too and I am glad...

so you may buy a fake long hair, and you can wear it in secret after she goes to bed

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[lcsdds]

Yeah MTP improved my knowledge too and I am glad...

so you may buy a fake long hair, and you can wear it in secret after she goes to bed

She's already wondering where some of here dresses and underwear have gone.

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[Boson]

I've been following everybody's MTP threads and I personally think that everybody is doing a good job. Everybody's mentoree is at a different stage in their development and you have to give a good balance between what they NEED to know and what they WANT to learn. I wish I had a mentor when I started. If I did I would be miles ahead of where I am. I had to learn the hard way like many on this board. Keep up the good work everybody, nobody loses in this competition.

Monte

I too have been following the MTP threads and have learned an awful lot from them. I think the mentors are doing a fantastic job. I was disappointed not the be chosen as a beginner mentoree, hopefully I will be in the next batch.

Please do not misunderstand my post I was not critisising any of them in any way, far from it I waould be really pleased were any of them to be my mentor.

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[enforcer]

She's already wondering where some of here dresses and underwear have gone.

Man, I laughed really loud here everybody around me stared at me like I was a weirdo

you are da man!

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