Practice requirements in 5th and 6th Grade

Practicing requirements usually fall somewhere on a spectrum. On one end, there are no practice requirements, and students are not required to take their instruments home. On the other end, the students are required to take home weekly practice sheets, log their times and/or exercises, and return the slip with a parent's signature. There are many different views on this subject.

For teachers who do not require practice time from their students, there can be several reasons, such as assessing students in class. Students who excel naturally do not need to take their instrument home to learn the part, while students who are struggling will receive a poor grade unless they take their instruments home. Thus the students are not graded on their practice, but on their performances. A poor reason is that the teacher does not have the time, organization, or support from parents and administration to require at-home practice. Perhaps the teacher innocently believes that the students should want to practice, and that requiring students to practice goes against the teacher's philosophy. Also, a new teacher may hold a position where students are combative about practice requirements. Combined with an unsupportive administration and community, it may be in the teacher's best interest to leave this battle for another day.

Teachers who require students to log their practice time and return signed practice logs at regular intervals have several approaches. The simplest approach is to assign a regular amount of practice time for each week, such as the 45 minutes that are required here in Dutton, and to reward those students who practice with stickers and good grades. The philosophy is that practicing something is better than practicing nothing at all. Other teachers make specific assignments each week, requiring the students to practice certain exercises at home. In theory, this would be the best practice because the students would know exactly what was expected of them. However, in practice it is very demanding to create new practice assignments each week and assess whether they have been completed. The previous method takes much less effort, but it is also less effective.

Here is a third alternative which has just occurred to me: at the beginning of each midterm, the students are tested with a sight-reading exercise of appropriate difficulty. If they pass their sight-reading, their practice requirements are lowered for that term. For example, if all students are required to practice for 45 minutes each week by default, but Student X passes a sight-reading test, then Student X is either excused from practicing for that term, or has their requirements lowered to 30 or even 15 minutes a week. At the beginning of the next term, Student X is given a more difficult sight-reading exercise (if the student is progressing enough in class, then they would not be required to take their instrument home). Student Y, who is not as talented, does not pass the sight-reading test at the beginning of the term, so they are required to practice for 45 minutes each week until the next term begins, at which point they will have another opportunity to sight-read.

This model requires less work than assigning specific exercises each week and accommodates students who are either struggling or gifted. It also requires some thoughtfully chosen or created assessment materials, as well as some means of assessment. One final thought that just occurred to me: the 6th grade students should be given the second year book as well as the first year book. In rehearsal, they use the first year book. While practicing at home, they use the second year book.