I would love it if you would address how you deal with students who consistently forget their assignment books! I have started keeping large sticky notes on hand to stick right on the front of their book, but it’s very frustrating when this also doesn’t return! It impedes progress. My students who always bring their notebooks manage to keep their practicing moving right along and their is no question of what I assigned or where we are!
Honestly, I don’t have any students who consistently forget their assignment books. I think a huge part of this is the fact that I custom design assignment books to correspond to our practice incentive program every year. Their assignment book includes not only the assignment pages, but all of the supporting material and tracking information for earning points, Diligence Dollars, balls, etc. If a student forgets his assignment book, he gets nothing for that week because I have no alternative method of tracking his progress.
Now, this is not to say that all of my students faithfully refer to their assignment book throughout the week, but it does almost always make it to the lesson. 
In the past, before I started doing my yearly practice incentive programs, I remember hearing a suggestion that I used a couple of times. Write a short note and “embed” it among the other assignments on the page…”If you circle this sentence, I’ll pay you $1.” Or something like that. The student was always mortified if they arrived at their following lesson and discovered that they could have earned $1 just by reading their assignments!
I think the key is to give the students a reason to read and bring their assignment books. Some students are naturally inclined to practice systematically, following each assignment step-by-step. But others are convinced that they can remember everything perfectly and never need to refer to their assignment book. Also, if it’s a serious problem and is affecting the progress of the student, I wouldn’t hesitate to enact a policy that students who forget their assignment book will have to call the parent and ask them to retrieve it for them or will forfeit the lesson. A one-time lapse of memory can be excused, but when it persists from week to week, you have to let them know that you’re serious about the importance of bringing it.
Those are a few of my thoughts. I would love to have some advice from others, though. How do you deal with students who forget to bring their assignment books? Or do you use something else in place of assignment books?
Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!
I also have this problem from time to time. It used to be much worse before I started keeping my own journal a few years ago. At the end of each lesson I jot down page numbers, scales, recital pieces and my feeling about each assignment. (this can be detailed, or just a ={) Something to let me know what was going on that day. When a student forgets his assignment book, I just read from my journal the assignments. Once they realize that I have all of their assignments written down they realize that this won’t work! I do have one little girl who consistently doesn’t practice and doesn’t bring her journal. I had to e-mail mom about the situation…now the journal makes it..but she still doesn’t practice. My journal also helps me in situations like this! Since I write details down at every lesson, I know exactly how long a student has been working on (or ignoring) an assignment. This particular little girl who doesn’t practice was very surprised last week when I asked her how long she has had her piece! She said 2 weeks…but my journal shows that I gave it to her mid February! When I let her read from my journal all of the dates where I commented that no work had been done on her recital piece, she burst into tears saying she has been practicing 30 minutes every day. I know better than to believe this, but anyway, we stopped the tears and spent the lesson time practicing…again. I fear that I may have to talk to mom about her progress again. She doesn’t pass any pieces until I break down and practice with her in lesson. I feel like each week, I am just teaching her to practice again…and she never applies it at home.
Anyway…that’s a new problem…but my teacher’s journal has solved soooo many!
The format is simple, it is just a page of paper with 10 rectangular boxes and lines for student’s name and semester of study. Each box represents a lesson. This is VERY helpful when talking about a student’s lack of progress with a parent! It is so nice to be able to glance at the whole situation of a student’s semester. I keep up with NO Call No Shows, excessive tardiness, and anything else I may need. I hope this is helpful!
elizabeth
I’m addressing this problem in a couple of ways. First, I’m using one of Natalie’s incentive plans, Climbing the Ladder to Success. You can read about how I’m implementing it here: http://lowepianostudio.blogspot.com/2009/08/this-years-practice-incentive.html One of the things that my students earn music bucks for is bringing all of their materials, including the notebook.
I have another trick involving “mystery cards” that deserves a post at my blog. When I get a chance, I’ll write it up!
Thanks for all the ideas! I also am having problems with 2 of my students. They not only often forget to bring their theory books, they lose their music books at home, or leave them in their Dad’s truck, ect. So frustrating! Those two girls REALLY love their lessons though, so maybe the problem is more absentmindedness? Anyway, I think I’ll give them less or no Beethoven Bucks if they forget again! That should help.
I don’t use assignment books. I date each piece and we mark it with a post-it flag-the plastic kind, not paper. The flags are reusable and last for quite some time before the sticky wears out. The students know that they are to practice every page that’s been flagged. I write the date of the lesson and other information directly on the page of the music. It’s easy to see how long the student has been working on the page and any other specific instructions for that piece.
About a year ago I started doing what Karen does. Of course I prefer notebooks but some students can’t seem to manage them. I have noticed with my own children that they practice better if they can quickly open to their song and get started without having to consult a notebook so I started using post-its for students who have a hard time practicing and it has really helped.
I really like the idea of using post it flags in the books of my beloved absentminded students! I already use them weekly to mark a start and stop place in whatever book they are borrowing for sightreading…so I already have plenty. I really think writing assignments directly in the book and flagging the pages for the student i mentioned earlier will help! It seems so simple…I don’t know why I haven’t tried this! thanks Karen!
I don’t have this problem too often, but if it is shopping week, which is the week to spend our points, and they walk in without and assignment book–then they automatically know that they do not get to shop and have to wait another whole month to get to shop. It only takes one time for a student to learn that lesson the hard way. AND, mom or dad has to sign the assignment book each week, or no shopping either.
One more comment – I like to assign my students “sight reading” songs–songs that we do not go over at their lesson. If they do not read their assignment book, then they miss out on those extra songs and extra points for completing the assignment. I don’t assign SR songs every week, just like to keep them on their toes.
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I give every student a 3-ring binder and have assignment sheets that I insert every week.
The assignment sheets are double-sided, hole punched 8.5/11 pages that I’ve custom printed.
I carbon copy their assignment (yes, Staples still sells carbon paper!) and use scrap paper for my copy. I have a folder in my file cabinet for very student.
My piano pedagogy professor introduced me to this and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I can make notes to myself on my copy (like, “reinforce Maj/Min/Aug/Dim” or “introduce circle of 5ths next lesson”) and use it as a lesson planning sheet for the following week. The more I teach, the shorter my memory is! It also impresses the students if I can ask them as they sit at the bench how a piece is going – before I even look at the assignment page in their binder!
I have recently started using the Notes section in Music Teachers Helper as a digital journal for my students.
I have my laptop set up next to the piano, and take notes throughout the lesson, just like I did in their physical notebooks.
There is a private area where I can leave notes for myself that the students don’t see (i.e. Remember to order XYZ music, or start with technique next week).
There is a checkbox to email the lesson notes to the parents, which I do at the end of each lesson. I have asked the parents to print out the notes and give them to the student at home.
For those parents who can’t or won’t print them out, I write down the page numbers on a sticky note and put it on the front of the student’s lesson book so they have a handy quick reference.
I have loved using Music Teachers Helper this way, because even if the student loses their sticky note, I have an accurate record of what their assignment is, and we don’t lose ground because they accidentally “forgot” their notebooks!!
I have a question: How do you help your students when they keep playing the same mistakes? I tried different method and section or so-called “smart practice” with him, but somehow, he still makes the same mistakes even though I have said that for thousand times!
I FINALLY got up my post about mystery cards! I’ve found this to be a successful and positive way of addressing a variety of problem behaviors, including forgetting assignment books. http://lowepianostudio.blogspot.com/2010/05/mystery-cards.html