Methods

The Suzuki Approach

• An Early Beginning. Children should start listening to great music at birth - or before! Formal training often begins between the ages of 3 and 5, although it is never too late. An early beginning takes advantage of the young child's ability and eagerness to absorb music and develop the mental processes and physical coordination needed to play music. It also solidly establishes music as part of the child's life.
• Music Immersion. The easiest way to learn anything is to have acquired a love for what you are learning and to be immersed in what you are learning. Suzuki children are immersed in the joy of listening to and playing music, just as they are immersed in language. This helps children absorb the language of music and motivates them to play.
• Step-by-Step Teaching. Skills and musical concepts are introduced slowly and in a step-by-step manner to ensure that the child acquires a strong musical foundation.
• Graded Repertoire. Suzuki students all over the world follow the same sequence of repertoire. Each piece contains a new skill and builds upon previous skills. This repertoire also motivates students as they hear older students play the pieces.
• Repetition. Constant repetition is critical to mastering and internalizing skills and concepts.
• Praise and Encouragement. Parents continue to celebrate and encourage each small success, just as they did while their child learned to speak. Cooperation, not competition, is emphasized and the accomplishments of all children are praised.
• Performance. Children are encouraged to share their music and use it in a meaningful way, including individual and group performances.
• Individual and Group Instruction. All students receive private instruction. In addition, students attend group classes, which allow students to perform and master repertoire in an informal setting, learn from other children and socialize. In addition, valuable ensemble skills and other musical skills are learned in group class.
• Consistency and Mastery of Skills. Students master skills and keep them current through review and careful teaching. With solid fundamentals, students are able to acquire more advanced skills and enjoy their music throughout their lifetime.
• Parental Involvement. Parents complete the Suzuki Triangle with teacher and child. Parents motivate their children and create an enjoyable learning environment. Parents take notes at lessons and serve as the child's teacher at home. Parents commit themselves to their own on-going education about the Suzuki approach and creating an environment of affection, encouragement and faith in every child's ability. Parents also are crucial in creating a supportive and inspiring culture within the Suzuki program. Through Suzuki, parents have the unique opportunity to be intimately involved in their child's education on a daily basis.

Reggio Emilia

The following overview of the Reggio Emilia Approach was taken from a packet of information available at The Hundred Languages of Children traveling exhibit: Hailed as an exemplary model of early childhood education (Newsweek, 1991), the Reggio Emilia approach to education is committed to the creation of conditions for learning that will enhance and facilitate children's construction of "his or her own powers of thinking through the synthesis of all the expressive, communicative and cognitive languages" (Edwards and Forman, 1993). The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education is a city-run and sponsored system designed for all children from birth through six years of age. The Reggio Emilia approach can be viewed as a resource and inspiration to help educators, parents, and children as they work together to further develop their own educational programs. The Reggio Emilia approach is based upon the following principles:

Emergent Curriculum: An emergent curriculum is one that builds upon the interests of children. Topics for study are captured from the talk of children, through community or family events, as well as the known interests of children (puddles, shadow, dinosaurs, etc.). Team planning is an essential component of the emergent curriculum. Teachers work together to formulate hypotheses about the possible directions of a project, the materials needed, and possible parent and/or community support and involvement.

Project Work: Projects, also emergent, are in-depth studies of concepts, ideas, and interests which arise within the group. Considered as an adventure, projects may last one week or could continue throughout the school year. Throughout a project, teachers help children make decisions about the direction of study, the ways in which the group will research the topic, the representational medium that will demonstrate and showcase the topic and the selection of materials needed to represent the work.

Representational Development: Consistent with Howard Gardner's notion of schooling for multiple intelligences, the Reggio Emilia approach calls for the integration of the graphic arts as tools for cognitive, linguistic, and social development. Presentation of concepts and hypotheses in multiple forms of representation -- print, art, construction, drama, music, puppetry, and shadow play -- are viewed as essential to children's understanding of experience.

Collaboration: Collaborative group work, both large and small, is considered valuable and necessary to advance cognitive development. Children are encouraged to dialogue, critique, compare, negotiate, hypothesize, and problem solve through group work. Within the Reggio Emilia approach multiple perspectives promote both a sense of group membership and the uniqueness of self.

Teachers as Researchers: The teacher's role within the Reggio Emilia approach is complex. Working as co-teachers, the role of the teacher is first and foremost to be that of a learner alongside the children. The teacher is a teacher-researcher, a resource and guide as she/he lends expertise to children (Edwards, 1993). Within such a teacher-researcher role, educators carefully listen, observe, and document children's work and the growth of community in their classroom and are to provoke, co-construct, and stimulate thinking, and children's collaboration with peers. Teachers are committed to reflection about their own teaching and learning.

Documentation: Similar to the portfolio approach, documentation of children's work in progress is viewed as an important tool in the learning process for children, teachers, and parents. Pictures of children engaged in experiences, their words as they discuss what they are doing, feeling and thinking, and the children's interpretation of experience through the visual media are displayed as a graphic presentation of the dynamics of learning. Environment: Within the Reggio Emilia schools, great attention is given to the look and feel of the classroom. Environment is considered the "third teacher." Teachers carefully organize space for small and large group projects and small intimate spaces for one, two or three children. Documentation of children's work, plants, and collections that children have made from former outings are displayed both at the children's and adult eye level. Common space available to all children in the school includes dramatic play areas and work tables for children from different classrooms to come together.