"Teachers training for independence should 1) assess specific values and arrange these values in a hierarchical order from the most to the least important. The next step is to 2) define specific behaviors that relate to each of the abstract values, and then 3) teach these behaviors (values) following the behavioral model. Regular routines to occupy one’s time can be developed in advance and be readily available when a person needs to be self-reliant. (80)"
Perhaps you may clarify your values and include them in a personal mission statement. However you choose to determine your values, you must apply them by specifying things you will actually do - and doing them. Teachers will have practiced techniques to prepare their students for academic transfer, but should also prepare their students for autonomy. Behavioral techniques used to teach a child to use the toilet on their own may be more similar to those used to prepare a graduate student to conduct research independently following graduation than you think. Those same techniques to modify a student's behavior will effectively shape your own behavior and prepare you for newfound abilities, interests, and domains of self-reliance.
Madsen, Charles H. & Madsen, Clifford K. (1998). Teaching / Discipline: A Positive Approach for Educational Development. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, Inc.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
Hot Potato (just got hotter)
So... Hot Potato. Here we go! The group forms a circle and passes a safe object around while music is playing. But, when the music stops, the object stops with the person holding it. Here are some twists:
- Patient-preferred music - Import songs from iTunes into Garageband and edit them to varying length snippets. I like to edit most track lengths to stop at the end of phrases or at predictable musical breaks, entraining musicality, while cutting a couple tracks at surprising moments to make the game fun. Leave 10 seconds of silence after each track to stop the iPod or CD player between rounds. Send the snippet to iTunes.
- Winners - Depending on the setting you're facilitating within, you may make the person left holding the object a winner, i.e., interpersonal reinforcement, a reward, or empower them to start the next round by saying, "Go!"
- Communication - Instead, you can have the winner respond to a question or prompt you provide. This can be something neutral, self-expressive, social, or treatment oriented. After you have modeled multiple good questions, the winners of some groups may be able to instead ask a new question themselves.
- Body percussion - Be sure to make Garageband snippets using music with a strong beat; once the group is comfortable with whatever rules you're using to play Hot Potato, you can now remove the object, and instead use body percussion to play. With everybody sitting down, tapping their thighs to the beat with both hands, now pass a hand clap around the circle! Individuals can only clap their hands once the person next to them already has, and only as quickly as the group's thigh-slapping beat!
Friday, August 17, 2012
Lie Down, or Knock On Doors
Cyborg galactic cytoplasmic bob-head
Fab-four intrinsic nucleonic pop is dead.
Left in their dusty trails are the tinnitus symphonies.
Out of silence come these imaginary melodies.
The Garden of Eden wasn’t too shabby,
And then there was philosophy.
Thirteen Fridays my elders, and never old enough.
Somebody examine my life and might it be worth living.
Lie down and cry on the pavement, or knock on doors.
There better never be agreement in the coffee shop.
I’d stop ordering the collected-unconscious-ideas-and-emotions soup.
Lately I’ve been fixating on living out near Jupiter, so soon as this quarter’s over,
I’ll launch my small business towards that Great Red Spot before going under.
The constitution once blinded me.
The visible universe may contain hundreds of billions of galaxies.
At once (and once again [and again] and again) I realize
Our eyes can’t open wide enough.
-MANGO
Thursday, August 16, 2012
(Make your own) Music BINGO!
I have made a BINGO template (for Mac users through Pages, and Windows users through Word) so that it very quick and easy to plug patient preferred songs into 26 different but equal BINGO sheets. Whenever you use the template, the document will automatically save as a new document; you may want to change the bottom left numbers to signify alternate versions.
Spend a few minutes compiling a playlist of 52 songs set on shuffle and then Find and "Replace All" AAA with, i.e., "Break On Through To The Other Side" through replacing 026 with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." If playing with a manipulative crowd, you may also want to bring the front page and mark which artists/songs have been played.
Spend a few minutes compiling a playlist of 52 songs set on shuffle and then Find and "Replace All" AAA with, i.e., "Break On Through To The Other Side" through replacing 026 with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." If playing with a manipulative crowd, you may also want to bring the front page and mark which artists/songs have been played.
Friday, August 10, 2012
"Blackbird," by the Beatles
Let us explore "Thirteen Ways of Looking at 'Blackbird'":
I
"Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird."
II
Our flight began with a piece by J. S. Bach, "Bourrée in E minor," a common piece for the lute. Paul McCartney and George Harrison tried to learn the song as children.
III
"Blackbird" was modeled from the Bourrée's simultaneous bass and melodic notes. In the spring of 1968, Paul composed the song as a reaction to the escalating racial tensions in America.
IV
"A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one."
V
"I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendos,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after"
VI
Paul not only wrote and recorded the vocals and guitar accompaniment, Geoff Emerick designated a mic to record Paul's celebrated foot tapping. The birdsong was overdubbed just after (And not credited to Paul.)
VII
Paul published a book of poetry and song lyrics titled, "Blackbird Singing."
VIII
You have probably listened to countless guitar players around campfires, amateur videos on YouTube, Sungha Jung, Glee, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, many other professional performances, or Dave Grohl's teasing;
IX
Thanks to on-line guitar tabs and YouTube videos, you too can learn to play this beautiful song, using this (self-acclaimed), "ultimate Blackbird lesson ever made." Or you can just blast the stereo and sing karaoke.
X
My personal three favorite covers are performed by Herbie Hancock and Corinne Bailey Rae together at the White House, Brad Mehldau - who first caught my attention with his Jazz trio's Radiohead covers, and a stirring, solo a cappella arrangement, Bobby McFerrin, the virtuoso vocalist.
XI
If you sit still and listen to any dark black night
You might hear the refrigerator, or the bugs outdoors.
I like to pretend they are blackbirds,
Singing us to sleep, into the light of hopeful dreaming
And as my heartbeat taps,
A guitar sounds in my ears
XII
"The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying."
XIII
Written for the Civil Rights Movement,
Paul, reflecting while performing the 2009 Coachella, "It's so great to realize so many civil rights issues have been overcome."
Still, a timeless song lives on in the hardships, and in the victories, for all generations of dreamers.
I
"Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird."
II
Our flight began with a piece by J. S. Bach, "Bourrée in E minor," a common piece for the lute. Paul McCartney and George Harrison tried to learn the song as children.
III
"Blackbird" was modeled from the Bourrée's simultaneous bass and melodic notes. In the spring of 1968, Paul composed the song as a reaction to the escalating racial tensions in America.
IV
"A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one."
V
"I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendos,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after"
VI
Paul not only wrote and recorded the vocals and guitar accompaniment, Geoff Emerick designated a mic to record Paul's celebrated foot tapping. The birdsong was overdubbed just after (And not credited to Paul.)
VII
Paul published a book of poetry and song lyrics titled, "Blackbird Singing."
VIII
You have probably listened to countless guitar players around campfires, amateur videos on YouTube, Sungha Jung, Glee, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, many other professional performances, or Dave Grohl's teasing;
IX
Thanks to on-line guitar tabs and YouTube videos, you too can learn to play this beautiful song, using this (self-acclaimed), "ultimate Blackbird lesson ever made." Or you can just blast the stereo and sing karaoke.
X
My personal three favorite covers are performed by Herbie Hancock and Corinne Bailey Rae together at the White House, Brad Mehldau - who first caught my attention with his Jazz trio's Radiohead covers, and a stirring, solo a cappella arrangement, Bobby McFerrin, the virtuoso vocalist.
XI
If you sit still and listen to any dark black night
You might hear the refrigerator, or the bugs outdoors.
I like to pretend they are blackbirds,
Singing us to sleep, into the light of hopeful dreaming
And as my heartbeat taps,
A guitar sounds in my ears
XII
"The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying."
XIII
Written for the Civil Rights Movement,
Paul, reflecting while performing the 2009 Coachella, "It's so great to realize so many civil rights issues have been overcome."
Still, a timeless song lives on in the hardships, and in the victories, for all generations of dreamers.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
24/7: Body Music
In honor of the seventh of this month (see also Twenty-For Seven: 7/7/12), here is a list of body percussion options and several other musical activities you can facilitate for free anytime, anywhere, and with most anybody:
1) Hand clapping
2) Fingertips clapping against palm
3) Thigh slapping
4) Butt slapping
5) Chest thumping
6) Toe tapping
7) Foot stamping
8) Finger snapping... and knuckle cracking
9) Hand rubbing
10) Jeans rubbing (done on side of legs)
11) Whistling
12) Beatboxing vocal percussion and miscellaneous vocal effects
13) Rap/Spoken word freestyling or a cappella singing
14) High-fiving, and clapping games, i.e., Mary Mack, Slide, Pat-a-Cake, etc.
15) Environmental sound orchestras, i.e., basketball bouncing, card shuffling, cup games, etc.
16) Tabletop hand drumming
17) Rhythmic breathing, whereas exaggerating quick breaths in and out are audible and invigorating, counting four “beats” of slow, natural exhalations will be more personal and relaxaing
18) Footsteps while walking to music, or any rhythmic exercises
19) Tap dancing, or any audible dance movements
20) Air guitar, drums, keyboard, saxophone, etc.,
Alright, so you may prefer having a portable stereo to provide recorded music or a guitar to perform live music while groups exercise, dance, or go on world tours with their new air bands, but I contest that boomboxes are easy to transport and minimize additional equipment needed, that the cell phone available in your pocket can probably play music and will sound louder if you simply place it in a bowl, and c’mon! - you can beatbox, rap, sing, or establish a body percussion groove inherent to the activity! There are also always name games, drama therapy, games of charades, storytelling, "I'm going Camping..." poetry, circle games, "Big Booty" or other quick and easy games, 20 questions, and endless possible discussions about music, musicians, culture or society, self, life, memories, special interests, hobbies, dreams or goals, and plans of action.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Transfer, Transfer, Transfer
"Bear in mind that we all are teachers,
we all are students,
and that to “Transfer”
is the process of moving an object, symbol, or idea
from one closed system to another,
when the two systems contain similar aspects or some similar relationship,
yet retaining a similar meaning (Madsen and Madsen, 1998)."
If you move an object such as a cheese grater from the kitchen into the bedroom, you can paint it and create an affordable earring holder. A symbol of the crucifixion has been generalized to represent Christianity. Because you remember memorizing the names of bones by chaining the information, you might transfer that same procedural idea to teach a new song to people and find success by presenting one line at a time and linking the lines together.
The theory concerning transfers of learning originated in behavioralism. A "transfer of practice" occurs whenever past experience informs and influences learning and performance in new and different situations. Slouching over your new guitar at home will later teach your body to sit with poor posture in a guitar class. You might transfer a learned confidence while playing guitar in front of your classmates when later performing publicly at a local coffee shop. Perhaps you observe how performing those different songs affected the audience, and so later choose to sing "What a Wonderful World" rather than "Yesterday" to elevate a patient's mood.
What is learned in one classroom should apply to another. And your life. And your future. Dressed in a suit and tie, Dr. Cliff Madsen grins while stepping through his classroom doorway and says everyday, "Ladies, gentlemen; take out pen and paper. Write a transfer!" Teaching yourself to think critically both in depth and creatively implies the ability to thoroughly understand a single topic and to also adaptively apply that understanding in endless functional purposes and intellectual pursuits. Rather then seeing the world as several distinct textbooks, practice seeing the world as the internet, rich with encyclopedias, video resources, social media and - downloadable textbook PDFs - that inform "vertical" depth with all possible "horizontal" breadth: connections, references, combinations, metaphors, theories, opinions, song lyrics, and so on. Barry Commoner contributes, "Everything is related to everything else."
If you move an object such as a cheese grater from the kitchen into the bedroom, you can paint it and create an affordable earring holder. A symbol of the crucifixion has been generalized to represent Christianity. Because you remember memorizing the names of bones by chaining the information, you might transfer that same procedural idea to teach a new song to people and find success by presenting one line at a time and linking the lines together.
The theory concerning transfers of learning originated in behavioralism. A "transfer of practice" occurs whenever past experience informs and influences learning and performance in new and different situations. Slouching over your new guitar at home will later teach your body to sit with poor posture in a guitar class. You might transfer a learned confidence while playing guitar in front of your classmates when later performing publicly at a local coffee shop. Perhaps you observe how performing those different songs affected the audience, and so later choose to sing "What a Wonderful World" rather than "Yesterday" to elevate a patient's mood.
What is learned in one classroom should apply to another. And your life. And your future. Dressed in a suit and tie, Dr. Cliff Madsen grins while stepping through his classroom doorway and says everyday, "Ladies, gentlemen; take out pen and paper. Write a transfer!" Teaching yourself to think critically both in depth and creatively implies the ability to thoroughly understand a single topic and to also adaptively apply that understanding in endless functional purposes and intellectual pursuits. Rather then seeing the world as several distinct textbooks, practice seeing the world as the internet, rich with encyclopedias, video resources, social media and - downloadable textbook PDFs - that inform "vertical" depth with all possible "horizontal" breadth: connections, references, combinations, metaphors, theories, opinions, song lyrics, and so on. Barry Commoner contributes, "Everything is related to everything else."
Madsen, Charles H. and Madsen, Clifford K. (1998). Teaching / Discipline: A Positive Approach for Educational Development. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, Inc.
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