Leonard Slatkin from his hospital bed

[Belle]

http://www.leonardslatkin.com/notes-fro ... diversion/

[barney]

A fine pedagogue. I would not have had the imagination to answer that way, I would just have talked about musical notation (and probably made the comparison with letters). She would have had an answer but no chance of being inspired. That's why I am not a great teacher.

[Belle]

A fine pedagogue. I would not have had the imagination to answer that way, I would just have talked about musical notation (and probably made the comparison with letters). She would have had an answer but no chance of being inspired. That's why I am not a great teacher.

It's a gift, isn't it; being able to simplify complex things so that others can understand. And it's testament to the fact that most excellent musicians are also very intelligent people. One of the difficulties I experienced in teaching English was in simplifying things for the students; one reason why I fared better which high-performing/top classes. With middle to bottom students I grew bored with finding the basics, but I had some absolutely brilliant colleagues who nailed it every time and helped those kinds of students really achieve. I don't think teaching should ever be underestimated in terms of difficulty. They absolutely ran rings around me in that respect.

By the same token, a lot of students are patronized with material which is much too easy. I used to say to the Year 7 and 8 kids (12-13y/o) "what I'm going to teach you today would probably be difficult for many 15 year olds. Are you up for it?" Naturally they eagerly said "yes" and away they went. Then I'd write out my registrations as though I'd taught them the same as everybody else (which is what the H/T wanted). At 14 many of them had expanded vocabularies (Words for the Week) and they understood about values in texts, themes, metaphor and subtexts. One girl rioted one day, "Miss; I can't understand this and I'm afraid of being left behind" (she was lazy). I said, "Oh yes, you need to keep your wits about you to keep up with your classmates but if you think they're smarter than you then best to tell me now and I'll give you easier work"!!!