While celebrating piano student achievements is valuable, recognizing their efforts is even more important. Why? Because praising effort encourages the development of something called “growth mindset”.
Growth Mindset is a catch-phrase used in education circles that is important to acknowledge in the piano studio. Piano students who develop a growth mindset learn to believe that they can achieve anything so long as they put in the necessary time, effort and energy.
While you likely have already been fostering a growth mindset among your piano students, it’s always helpful to have a visual, kid-friendly tool to show your students that perseverance and hard-work contribute to their results. Progress is easy to recognize, celebrate and track. Effort can be a bit trickier to acknowledge…
Until now! Because today we’re sharing a set of Piano Lesson Brag Tags; mini, collectable accomplishment cards that you can give to your students to celebrate those moments when they actively participate in their own learning process.
How To Use Brag Tags In Your Piano Studio
Piano Lesson Brag Tags contain encouraging statements that are effort-based, rather than achievement-based. They are awarded to your students and are hole-punched so that they can hang on a chain. You can display your students’ chains on your studio walls, or have your piano students keep them in their binders. Kids absolutely LOVE to build their collection of Brag Tags!
Today’s set includes 18 different Brag Tags (see download instructions below). Print off several sheets of Brag Tags, laminate them, cut them out and hole punch the top of each tag (through the gray circle). Your students will each need a chain that they can use to collect their tags (search for “beaded ball chain” to make your own).
Our Piano Lesson Brag Tags Look Like This:
Steps For Using Piano Brag Tag Tips
- Discuss the entire set of Brag Tags with your student. Ask him questions like, “What would using a good strategy in a piano lesson look like?” or, “Can you think of a time when you did more than was expected”? This helps your student to understand the “why” behind the Brag Tags and aids in guiding him toward thinking about his learning as something he has control over.
- Each time you observe one of the behaviors found on a tag, give your student the corresponding Brag Tag to add to his collection. As you reward your student with a Brag Tag, be sure to discuss what you observed and why it was valuable. For example “That scale was really difficult, I liked the way you kept trying until you got it right.”
- Celebrate each time your student earns a Brag Tag by taking a photo to send to his parents and posting the success on a bulletin board in your waiting room (obtain written permission to take photos).
- Occasionally discuss the Brag Tags your student has not yet collected. Then, consciously create moments during lesson time where your student has the opportunity to earn the tags while practicing good learning habits.
Where To Find The Brag Tags?
You can find our set of Brag Tags in the Level 1+ section of WunderKeys.com (although you can use them with any age!) Click the image above or click here and then scroll down to “Level 1”.
While you’re there, be sure to join our WunderKeys Facebook Group! You’ll be the first know when our brand new Primer Level method book is released… plus you’ll have access to all sorts of freebies and support in this bustling community of close to 3,100 teachers!
We’d love to see these Brag Tags in action! Be sure to tag us @WunderKeys or #WunderKeys in your photos!
Christina says
August 29, 2017 at 6:02 amAndrea, these are perfect!!! I’m doing brag tags in my studio this year :)) I hope you make more! 😀
Andrea says
August 29, 2017 at 10:09 amSo glad, Christina! 🙂
Lindsay says
August 29, 2017 at 10:29 amLast year I taught elementary music in a public school, and one of the 2nd grade teachers used Brag Tags to reinforce positive behaviors in her class. I also participated. Every Friday the students got to wear their necklaces all day at school! It really worked for their class, and I appreciated the physical reminder to be watching for desired behavior. When you’re looking for positives, you don’t notice the negatives so much!
Thanks for making these brag tags, I’m looking forward to using them this year with my private piano and violin students!
Andrea says
August 29, 2017 at 12:13 pmHi Lindsay – so glad you’ll use them happily! You’re right, watching for positives is really a great way to operate in a classroom and in a piano studio! 🙂 Thanks for commenting.
Morgan Weisenburger says
August 29, 2017 at 5:14 pmI love the necklace idea! I wonder if that would still be fun for private lessons… what do you think?
Nancy Hiatt says
August 29, 2017 at 6:29 pmWhat material do you use for the “necklace?”
Andrea says
September 4, 2017 at 9:54 pmIt’s called “Beaded Ball Chain” – you can find it in craft stores. Another easy solution are “book rings” – you can get them in packages on Amazon (look like a keychain, but easy to open and close).
Morgan Weisenburger says
August 29, 2017 at 11:53 amOkay, Andrea. You’re going to be so proud of me. This is the FIRST time I’ve ever immediately printed a new resource and cut it out right away. Just yesterday, my student, Kate (well, her mom) told me that she’s working on a Growth Mindset. When I read your email, I was like, “hey! Growth mindset!”
When I saw the brag tags, I got so excited (and not even because of the “growth mindset” connection… I would’ve jumped on these right away anyway!).
So I printed the brag tags and made them small (printed two pages per sheet) on glossy cardstock. Then I cut them out (obviously) and put them on a mini book ring. They’re so cute! I’ll have to send you a picture. I plan to make a checklist of all the different ones they can earn (or maybe you can create a matching checklist for cutes?) and then they can work toward earning all of them. Once a brag tag is earned, they’ll get a little sticker on the back of the tag to keep track of how many times they’ve accomplished it! This will keep them constantly working on all of these goals.
Great idea!!! I’d love to see a matching checklist! Let me know what you think of that idea.
Thank you so much!!!
Andrea says
August 29, 2017 at 12:30 pmHey Morgan! So happy to see your enthusiasm for these! Yes, I have a chart I can share with you. Just emailed it 🙂 Would love to see a picture of how they turned out.
Torey Zachary says
September 4, 2017 at 4:15 pmHi Andrea! I would love to see this chart too! Is it possible to email it to me also? Thanks so much!
Andrea says
September 4, 2017 at 9:50 pmJust emailed you, Torey 🙂
Nancy Hiatt says
August 29, 2017 at 6:21 pmMorgan, can you post a picture somewhere? That is such a darling idea – and it’s cheap!! How do you plan to do the :”checklist?” Are you doing it on something like a table or spreadsheet? Andrea, I’d like the chart also!
Andrea says
September 4, 2017 at 9:54 pmJust emailed it to you Nancy 🙂
Doreen says
August 30, 2017 at 12:35 pmHey! Love this idea! Any chance you have the brag tags but are blank in the bubbles?
Andrea says
September 4, 2017 at 9:52 pmHi Doreen – we don’t have blank ones right now, sorry! 🙂
Meg says
August 30, 2017 at 11:46 pmThank you so much,Andrea for another wonderful
idea!
Andrea says
September 4, 2017 at 9:40 pmYou’re so welcome, Meg! 🙂
Eveline says
August 14, 2018 at 8:28 amHi Andrea!
Thank you for an awesome idea to reward students’ efforts. Could you email me that chart that you mentioned earlier? I would love to implement that in my studio for sure.
Andrea says
August 14, 2018 at 11:11 amJust set it to you 🙂
Angela Lloyd-Mostyn says
August 31, 2018 at 10:19 amHi Andrea,
These are super! I don’t suppose you could also email the chart to me please could you? I’d love to start using it this year!
Andrea says
September 5, 2018 at 8:57 amHi Angela – absolutely!
Jan says
November 9, 2019 at 10:07 amHi Andrea! I know this is an old post but it is timely for me today! I would also love to have that chart. Can you please send it to me? Thank you!