How many times in your teaching day do you ask, “How did your practice go this week?” And how many times do you get the answer, “Fine” or “Good”?
I used to ask every one of my piano students this question as they unpacked their lesson materials. I thought it was a good way to determine whether or not they practiced, if they were stuck on a challenging concept, and if they had enjoyed their pieces (or not).
But I quickly realized that their vague answers didn’t give me any insights at all. I needed a different system.
I’m all about strategies and tools that can claw back even a second of a piano lesson. So I decided that I needed a way to know, at a glance, what my students had found easy (and therefore needed less of our lesson time) and what they had struggled with (and therefore needed more of our lesson time).
I came up with a very simple sticker strategy that my kids enjoy and that provides me with instant home practice feedback. If you also love time-saving ideas, give it a try! Read on to find out how today’s Traffic Lights Sticker Strategy it works.
Home Practice “Traffic Lights”
As I mentioned in the introduction, asking students, “How did your practice go this week?” is not a very effective question. It is flawed for several reasons:
- My students have likely already forgotten about what happened 5 days ago. Their heads are filled with busy school days and a week’s worth of activities. Therefore, their answers to my question likely aren’t accurate.
- The question is way too broad; some parts of their practice may have been fantastic while others may have been a disaster. Young children aren’t ones to self-assess their learning processes easily, and asking such a broad question only complicates the issue.
- It takes a long time to “drag” quality answers out of my students (beyond the “fine” or “good”). I was sacrificing lesson time while not getting the information I required.
The problem is, however, that NOT asking the question is also not a good plan. “Going blind” into my students’ pieces is likely to leave me wondering, “Was that hard for him because he needs help with the concepts or because he didn’t open his book all week?” or, “Was that piece too easy or did he spend hours on it at home?”
Enter My “Piano Practice Traffic Light” System
This sticker system has worked really well for my own students. They enjoy providing feedback on their home practice in a kid-friendly manner.
To make it work, all you will need is a pack of colored labels that look like this. Pop a sheet of these stickers into your students’ piano binders and ask them to do the following during their first home practice session of the week and their last home practice session of the week (so that each home practice piece ends up with two stickers).
- Stick a GREEN sticker to the top of any piece that they find easy/enjoyable to play.
- Stick a YELLOW sticker to the top of any piece that they struggle with a little bit.
- Stick a RED sticker to the top of any piece that confuses or frustrates them.
When your students return to their next lessons you can quickly flip through their books or binders, take note of the different colored stickers and then celebrate the “greens”, zone in on the “yellows” and problem solve the “reds”.
If there are no stickers at all you will likely need to intervene with some home practice suggestions to get them back on track.
If you don’t have access to these kind of stickers, you can also draw two empty circles at the top of each piece for the week and ask your student to color the circle red, yellow or green. However, the stickers do provide an extra bit of motivation to use this system, so hunting around for an alternative (colored smiley faces etc.) is recommended.
Add To Home Practice Made Fun With This…
Join the thousands of teachers who are using our popular book, “Shhhh… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This is Practice” as a way to inspire effective, regular home practice that is absolutely, positively NOT boring! These 88 activities are a fun way to provide some practice focus… and help to turn those yellow and red stickers into greens!
Kelly Koch says
YES! I was just telling a student about this….I spend so much time “planning” for my students, rather than ASKING what they need help with. Thank you for this simple and very applicable idea. Going to get my stickers today.
Andrea says
Hi Kelly – it’s true! I also had a tendency to pre-plan without actually knowing in advance what my students would need. This has helped me do quick mental shifts before the lesson begins and makes for a more productive lesson time (always a good thing!) 🙂
Debra says
Brilliant. Love this idea! Will be starting this right away! Thank you for sharing!
Andrea says
You’re welcome Debra! Thanks for reading our blog 🙂
Sheila says
Hi Andrea,
These “legal dots”are wonderful!
I make sure that I keep a package on hand at all times, and use them faithfully for all students. Although I have not tried your suggestion, I do have students use green legal dots for “go” and red for “stop” to mark a specific passage that needs to be practiced.
As well, one yellow dot is used in the middle of the grand staff to mark the key of the score.
In addition, keeping track of assigned/completed technique exercises is made easy by directly placing these stickers on each exercise for “at a glance” recognition.
Thank you for your many wonderful posts. :))
Sheila
Andrea says
Great “extra” ideas to add to these useful stickers Sheila – thank you!
Laura says
I plan to pick these up (or something similar) at my local dollar store. If I can’t find them I will see if I can pick them up at Staples when I am near one.
Thanks for the great idea! I ask the same question and usually get answers like, “good”, “not very well”, or “ok”… so these should help me monitor progress a bit better. 🙂
Andrea says
Hi Laura – great! Bingo Dabbers would work too, but stickers are tidier 😉 In a pinch I’ve used colored smily face stickers, but these ones should be fairly easy to find as they are Avery brand. You can also get them on Amazon.com here https://www.amazon.com/Avery-Removable-Coding-Labels-Inches/dp/B000BMBU9C/ref=sr_1_15?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1488479094&sr=1-15&keywords=avery+round+labels
Amy says
Love this idea! I think it will help students be more accountable to their practicing. Any motivation techniques are helpful in our profession 🙂 Thanks!
Andrea says
It’s true Amy! You just never know what particular strategy will “click” for students – it’s worth trying multiple things! 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
Carol Pierce says
I adore this suggestion…thank you SO much!!
Andrea says
Glad to hear it Carol! Thanks so much for reading our blog 🙂
Gretchen says
Great idea!
If the song is assigned again, do you remove the stickers, or end up with two sets of stickers on the page?
Andrea says
Hi Gretchen – we just continue on below – so I’ll write “Week 1” beside the first two stickers and then “Week 2” below leaving room for two more 🙂 Our goal is to get to a “green” on every piece.
Gretchen says
Super! Thanks again for the great idea.
Mary Helen says
I love this idea!
Jenna says
Great idea! I have lots of those stickers that did not have a purpose; I know what I’ll be giving my students next week. Thank you!
Andrea says
Hi Jenna – how handy that you already have them! Hope it works well for you 🙂
Drema says
This is a fabulous idea!! Thanks Andrea!
Andrea says
You’re welcome Drema! Hope it works well for you too 🙂