When I made the decision to become a certified teacher through an alternative program in 2011, the leaders of my cohort would stress this one seemingly simple idea, “The teacher is the decisive element.”
At the time, it was interpreted as an agency giving mantra; that when I had a group of young learners in front of me, they would listen and follow every directive perfectly, the first time. My initial experiences in an actual classroom were completely different. I felt like I had absolutely no control at all, and was constantly operating at the whim of these extremely dynamic situations.
In these early moments, I was admittedly stubborn and bullish. I wanted to solve the problems that I was seeing in my classroom, and I didn’t want to make excuses for myself or for my students. I started making active ‘decisions’ to remove perceived obstacles, one by one. It may have been a phone call home to problem-solve a behavior or celebrate a student, buying a sewing machine and learning how to mend uniforms, or focusing on sharpening my instructional skills. I was open and curious to find elegant solutions. For me, this was the ‘decisive element’.
As I transitioned out of the classroom and into my role as Director of Curriculum at Austin Classical Guitar, I continued this journey. I wanted the initiatives and projects that I was a part of to help solve common learning challenges. Our first printed method books were a part of that push. Now teachers have a beautifully sequenced resource available in print that carefully guides our young learners through the most critical parts of the curriculum. All without spending precious planning time at the copy machine!
The Student Portal was also conceived to solve an important problem; guided independent practice. Encouraging my students to practice at home was always a scary thought; What if they don’t practice? What if they practice incorrectly? What if they forget their binder? What if they get too good and are bored in class? The GuitarCurriculum Student Portal helps to address these questions, and more.
We’ve created an easy to navigate landing page with videos and PDF parts for many of the most popular pieces in our library; including tutorials and introductions from our team of composers, a performance series by the talented student trio “The Baker 4”, and an introduction sequence of videos in Spanish for students needing language support. We’re adding new content all of the time, and are always open to hearing about the types of content that could benefit your learning community.
Every GuitarCurriculum subscriber has a classroom code located in their profile (top right corner). This is all that your students will need to access the student portal. Just share the address (www.guitarcurriculum.com/student-portal), and your unique classroom code. Your students can access the materials from anywhere, without giving any information or creating an account.
It is our purpose as educators to engage in this everyday practice of problem solving; looking for joyful, elegant and effective solutions to everyday challenges. When we truly engage, the energy that we put in is reflected back to us in the most magical ways. We hope that you and your students enjoy the Student Portal and please don’t hesitate to share how you're using it. You can reach out to me directly (phil@austinclassicalguitar.org).
Happy Teaching!
Phil Swasey
Director of Curriculum
