Practice Journal? What’s the Point?
A practice journal? Who needs one? It sounds like more trouble than its worth. But if used properly, it can be an invaluable tool for students, their parents and their teachers.
Trying to remember what was said in a lesson can be quite a challenging for most students. Remembering what to practice prior to the next lesson can be equally difficult. Students frequently ‘conveniently’ forget to practice what was expected. This results in wasted tuition time and money. Since the students hasn’t practiced the skills, time must be spent in the subsequent lesson going over old ground rather than building on those skills to learn new skills.
Keeping a simple journal of key learning points in a lesson and writing down items to include in the student’s regular practice routine can help jog the memory and can also serve as a valuable record of progress. Parents and teachers can build incentive programs for students.
Below is a weekly Lesson and Practice Journal template that can use used by the tutor and student. It documents
- key points taught in each lesson,
- what should be practiced during the following week and
- what the student actually practiced prior to the next lesson.
Download the journal for free by clicking on this link: lesson-and-practice-journal