Practice Makes Progress

Hilary Hahn is an esteemed violinist with three Grammy awards. She has played with the finest orchestras and musicians in the world and was recently interviewed on NPR. My interest was piqued when she spoke about the value of bringing practice into a communal space.

“I think it’s important that people feel like there is a community of practicers out there,” she said.

I couldn’t help but think of our classrooms and how beautifully a literacy-minded classroom meshes with that philosophy. Students in a Daily 5 classroom truly have the gift of being in a community of “practicers.” There is an underlying hum of engagement as students are invested in working toward individual goals.

As the interview continued, I was also reminded of the value of productive struggle. Hilary explained, “I’ve learned that just because you’re having a tough day doesn’t mean you’re not making progress. The tough days are actually when you’re making the most progress because you’re trying the most things, you’re pushing against that wall that you haven’t broken through before and eventually, you will break through because you’re pushing against it.”

Wouldn’t we love it if our students had such a foundational understanding that struggle is a necessary part of growth? It’s a culture we establish when we make it clear that in this classroom, mistakes are expected, respected, inspected, and corrected.

Hilary also said, “Every time I learn something new about the music, I then bring [that] into the next performance.” This is certainly a dream for our classrooms. We are a community of readers and writers. It is my hope that every time we learn something new, we will take it into the next book we read or the next piece we write. Whether in music or in academia, practice makes progress, perfectly pleasurable progress.