January 6, 2026: Tuesday Upbeat
Teachers: Happy Tuesday!
Helping Students Track Assignments & Practice Plans: How to Help Parents
When parents ask us what their students are working on or should be practicing, we want to help them understand, and at the same time, we want to strive to maintain student autonomy and responsibility.
Assure parents that the student knows both what and how to practice.
Show parents the tabs on the pages of their books, the stickers they are earning for memorizing pieces, and the penciled-in notes you are making on their music. Tell them how much you enjoy teaching their child how to practice in their lessons! They are encouraged to play their songs and pieces, to memorize their music, and to do at home the things we do in our lessons.
Communicate our studio philosophy and teaching strategies to parents, especially about how we encourage students to take responsibility for their learning, to set and achieve personal goals, and to develop their ability to take charge. Our long term goals include strengthening student autonomy, and developing self-confidence and a can-do attitude.
Even very young students can do this!
In general, always strive to answer parent questions by communicating our studio philosophies and teaching strategies. If this ever becomes difficult, or if you ever would like help, it’s perfectly acceptable to tell the parent that as a teacher of the studio you are striving to teach all students according to the studio philosophy and guidelines, and that if they have additional questions beyond what you are able to answer at this time, they are encouraged to contact the office who will answer questions and provide further explanation, as needed!
Keep learning as much as you can about our philosophies, strategies, and policies so that you can execute them and talk about them. At the same time, as you are learning and growing, always be confident to ask us for help, for clarification, and to ask parents or adult students to give us a call.
You’re not on your own; we’re a team!
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Have a magical Tuesday, a musical week, and enjoy happy, healthy and tension-free teaching and learning with your students.
Thank you,
Dennis Frayne
"Dr. Dennis"
Laguna Niguel School of Music
Dennis Frayne Music Studios
30110 Crown Valley Pkwy, Suites 105/107/108
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
(949) 844-9051 (office cell)
(949) 468-8040 (personal cell)
www.lagunaniguelschoolofmusic.com
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