Guide to Becoming an NCTMAfter the previous two projects, this one should be a cinch!  Project #4 is “Share Information About Your Teaching Environment.” an includes three parts:

1.  Describe how you encourage a positive teaching environment in your studio.  This should be pretty easy, because I know you are all wonderful teachers :).   All you have to do is talk about all the things you do to make your student enjoy coming to lessons.  You only get 150-300 words, so you can’t go into too much detail.

2.  Show at least three resources you use to promote this positive learning environment.  This is basically pictures of your studio and studio aids.  Here’s some of the pictures I used:

studio

Here’s the piano in my studio.  I store flashcards, games, my prize basket, and other teaching aids in the cabinet next to it.

studio2

Another angle in my studio.  I have extra chairs for parents who like to sit in the lesson and a small TV tray type table that I can quickly pull over by the piano to use for worksheets or theory pages.studio 3

This was my summer incentive program chart (see more info here).

Definitely not professional photos, but it gives you an idea of what my studio looks like.  I also included some photos of specific teaching aids such as floor staff, floor keyboard, etc.

3.  Describe how you use the resources pictured above.  Pretty simple, just talk about how you use the resources in your studio.

So that’s it!  Just one project to go and you’re done.

Other posts in this series:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Author: Spring

Spring Seals, NCTM, teaches 60 piano students ranging from age 3 to 70 in Fort Worth, Texas. She also serves as the Director of Certification for TMTA. She is passionate about helping teachers become more effective in their studios through professional development, new resources, and fresh ideas.