When I was in elementary school, my parents thought I should learn an instrument. At that time, I thought the guitar was a great instrument to play, and seeing many singers playing and singing by themselves on stage aroused my interest greatly. Since I didn’t know much about the guitar at that time, my parents looked for an awesome teacher of classical guitar. However, after taking lessons for a while, I found that I was not very interested in classical music, but my parents thought I could not give up easily. Thus, I turned from being excited at the beginning to being annoyed. The regular and boring daily practice made me feel disgusted with the guitar. Then I practiced guitar for almost four years, and after I finished my professional-grade certificate, I ended my guitar journey with the excuse of school.
Until last year, I found out that there was a guitar course in the electives, which once again caught my attention. I decided to choose the folk guitar that I was interested in. This time there was no pressure from my parents, and based on my previous experience, there wasn’t the same kind of oppression I felt as a child. There will be assignments and some exercises, but I enjoyed the learning process. I could play the tunes I liked and the class was not solely for the credits, but to accomplish my goal of learning. I think I fit well with the constructivist theory in this process and found a learning method that works for me based on my own experience in a different learning environment.
June 28, 2022 at 7:34 pm
Hi Isabella,
I love that you got back into playing guitar on your own terms! Passion and interest are what drives learners. Once that is lost the learners motivation starts to disappear. This is why it is so important that educators include students’ interest in what they are teaching. It will result in higher motivation and engagement from students, which will increase their learning. This also goes in students needing a challenge from what they are learning. It the material is not difficult enough for the students they find it to easy a boarding. Just like including students’ interest in learning it also important to include the right difficulty level for each student.