Alternative instructional time:
Families will contact me or you directly if they need to miss their lesson. If they contact me, I will put LV or WF next to their name in the google calendar. Be checking the calendar often to check for absences. :) If they are a “no show” , you are not obligated to provide alternative instructional material. Please note: If you’d like an example of any of these, please let me know, I’d be happy to send over material. Your alternative instructional material should take their lesson time to put together and send over.
Lesson videos-Pre recorded video sent to the student. Usually about 15 minutes (or 30 minutes for hour students) This should be sent over the day of the missed lesson. Please use their lesson time to record lesson videos.
Directions: 1.) Record using your phone or iPad
2.) Upload to YouTube as unlisted
3.) Send link to student (parent if under 18) all contact information should be on Google docs, if you can’t find someone on that list, please let Sarah know.
Lesson video parts: (Each lesson video will look slightly different depending on what each student is working on. This list is general, please do what is best for each individual student)
Scale, etude, exercises
Song(s)
Rhythm or note reading work
You can do “practice” with them in lesson videos too. (ex: We are going to do this scale at 60 on the metronome 3 times) This works great for younger students, especially if they are doing the video without parent help.
Depending on the age/skill level of the student, you can also say “we are going to do this scale once together, and then rewind the video and do it by yourself” this is a great strategy to get as much into the video as possible.
Note: If you have an hour student feel free to do a combination of a lesson video and written feedback or 2 15 minute lesson videos.
Written feedback-Student sends the teacher a recording and the teacher sends back written feedback. Videos need to be submitted to us before their scheduled lesson time, please remind parents of this if they request this option (if you would rather say and show your feedback in a video, feel free to do that instead, sometimes it’s easier to demonstrate this way). Listening to the video, writing or recording feedback and emailing it should take their lesson time.
Facetime/Zoom lesson-If a student is sick, but they are feeling well enough to do a virtual lesson, this is a great option! You will be responsible for sending over the Zoom link if using Zoom. (I usually prefer FaceTime, we’ve had better luck with technology using FaceTime)
Virtual lesson/video lesson hybrid- If you have a little student who cannot sit through a half hour Zoom lesson, we can do a little “check in”, they can play their songs and you can work with them until they become unfocused and then you can send a little video recap. Great for snowy days if they don’t want to come out to the studio.
Find an article-If you have an adult student who isn’t comfortable with technology and doesn’t want a lesson video. Take their lesson time to find an article about the history of the composer their piece is written by, the history of their violin maker, the period that their piece was written during, a theory concept that you’re talking about, etc. etc. You can print it out for them and give it to them at their next lesson. (Or email it over)
Mini videos- Do multiple little videos. Do one video for each song. Play the song, talk about key concepts and then play it again. Great for young students who can’t sit through an entire video or if you’re working ahead in the book with the intent that the student is going to use these videos for the next few weeks to come. Here is an example of what that email format can look like. (All together they should add up to half of their assigned lesson time)
The absent family is paying for their lesson time, so it’s important we use the missed lesson time to benefit them as much as possible. Since make-up lessons are not an option at the studio, I strive to make our alternative instructional time as worthwhile and easy for parents as possible. Please suggest the option that you see working best for the specific student. :) We can be flexible with the kinds of alternative instructional material we offer to cater to each student’s specific needs.
If you find that you have a family who is missing a lot of lessons due to schedule conflicts, please point them in my direction so we can do a schedule change for them. Alternative instructional material is meant to be used “here and there” and not a week after week option.