Feb 6, 2020
Parent Classes at OPSA
As part our program, we hold parent classes for all of our new Suzuki families. These meetings occur during the beginning group class so as to facilitate parent attendance. Having families in our program who are familiar with the Suzuki method and philosophy not only strengthens our Suzuki community, but also increases the joy and success our students experience with their music lessons. We are grateful to parents for partnering with us and creating the time to be present.
As I was sending out emails to the parents in this class, I thought it might be helpful to simply post these resources here for everyone to benefit. Here are the resources and assignments from our first and second parent classes. I will post the resources discussed after each class.
Session One:
The Suzuki Association has a lot of useful information for parents. You can become a member and support the work of the SAA as well as receive the Suzuki Journal which includes lots of helpful articles. Coming up soon is the SAA Parents as Partners event. This is an online event that you can check into when it is convenient for you and watch many videos made by teachers and parents offering advice regarding practice, etc. Here is more information.
Also mentioned in our session with regards to the SAA are the Suzuki summer institutes around the country (and Belize and Canada!). Here is the link to the page about these options.
Here is the Beyond The Music Lesson podcast
There is also this podcast: Building Noble Hearts.
Quick recap of assignments: 1. Read Pages 1-36 in Nurtured By Love, available in many places, including the op public library.
2. Place post it notes around house/car or set an alarm on your phone to remind you to turn on the Suzuki recording. (Make sure YOU hear the recordings, too, not just the child—not with headphones, for example).
3. Reflect on your ”Why?’ (Simon Sinek: https://youtu.be/2Ss78LfY3nE). Why do Suzuki lessons? What do you hope your child (and you) will learn?
Session Two:
Growth mindset resources:
Knowing about and/or believing in growth mindset is a good start, but living it and making it part of our daily and regular language especially with our kids is another. These resources can help.
1. Book by Carol Dweck: Mindset. And more follow up info for parents/schools.
2. Podcast for kids re growth mindset.
3. Podcast re growth mindset pitfalls. (Stefanie, the host, is a brilliant local Oak Parker!).
4. “Kan“: p.46 in NBL. “Without stopping, without haste, carefully taking a step at a time forward will surely get you there. To commit oneself to untiring patience and strong endurance, what we call kan—intuition or sixth sense—is an absolute necessity in education”.
5. Article about Tiger Woods and how his father taught him (a lot of parallels with the Suzuki philosophy). An excerpt: ”For a dad so involved in his son’s sports life, Earl saw golf as merely a vehicle to teach life lessons. ‘My purpose in raising Tiger was not to raise a golfer. I wanted to raise a good person.’ Golf was a way to learn about personal integrity, focus, commitment (it’s the only sport where you have to call penalties on yourself). His greatest thrill was not seeing Tiger win the Masters; it was seeing the Tiger Woods Foundation open the $25M Tiger Woods Learning Center, an institute for inner-city kids. Unlike so many parents, Earl didn’t see sport as a way to earn a good life; he saw it as a way to learn one.“
