Do the hard stuff first, then do the easy stuff when your tired.

Actually, this is a lesson I learned from my brother-in law, the carpenter. While working with him, he taught me how he puts the tasks of his job in order. He does the hard stuff first, then does the easy jobs when he is tired. I used this stroke of genius in band practice, then in my classroom.

I used to start practice off by just running through the set in order. We'd play 10 or 20 songs then start to learn new ones. By this time most of us were toast. We were ready to go home. Learning was impossible. The band would get frustrated and leave feeling terrible about the practice.

After learning this lesson, we changed our practice so we were better able to learn. First we'd play an old favorite to knock the rust off and get our confidence up. Then we would tackle the new songs while we were fresh and confident. Two or three songs could be learned quickly, easily and with little frustration. The band would then run through our old set in order. We could play it in our sleep, and after a long day of work or dealing with our family we did.

In school we often build lessons so the kids have to do the most challenging work at the end of the lesson. Once they have read, listened, worked in a group, learned a ton of new facts, we ask them to do higher level thinking skills. Just like in practice, they are toast, meet with frustration and end up feeling terrible.

Lessons need to be reorganized to be most beneficial to the learner. Try having the kids do the hard stuff first. Save the practice and reinforcement of old knowledge to the end.