PIANO
PEDAGOGY
FORUM
v. 1, no. 3/September 1, 1998

FORUM ON KEYBOARD EDUCATION

by Gail Berenson

Teacher Talk

Indirect Influence

ACCEPTS FEELING: accepts and clarifies the feeling tone of the students in a non-threatening manner. Feelings may be positive or negative. Predicting and recalling feelings are included.
PRAISES OR ENCOURAGES: praises or encourages student action or behavior. Jokes that release tension , not at the expense of another individual, nodding head or saying "uh-huh?" or "go on" are included.
ACCEPTS OR USES IDEAS OF STUDENT: clarifying, building, or developing ideas or suggestions by a student. As teaching brings more of his own ideas into play, shift to category five.
ASKS QUESTIONS: asking a question about content or procedure with the intent that a student answer.

Direct Influence

LECTURES: giving facts or opinions about content or procedure; expressing his own idea; asking rhetorical questions.
GIVES DIRECTIONS: directions, commands, or order with which a student is expected to comply.
CRITICIZES OR JUSTIFIES AUTHORITY: statements, intended to change student behavior from non-acceptable to acceptable pattern; bawling someone out; stating why the teacher is doing what he is doing, extreme self-reference.

Student Talk

STUDENT TALK-RESPONSE: talk by students in response to teacher. Teacher initiates the contact or solicits student statement.
STUDENT TALK-INITIATION: talk by students, which they initiate. If "calling on" student is only to indicate who may talk next, observer must decide whether student wanted to talk. If he did, use this category.
SILENCE OR CONFUSION: pauses, short periods of silence, and periods of confusion in which communication cannot be understood by the observer.

The Role of the Teacher in the Classroom by Ned A Flanders, Ph.D. and Edmund J. Amidon, Ph.D. Paul S. Amidon & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, MN.