Invite Your Mom To The Gig

I'm always amazed when I see a local band play, that their parents are in the audience. I don't care if the band is tattooed, pierced and spouting lyrics that would make a sailor blush, there will be a conservatively dressed middle aged couple there supporting their musician son or daughter. They will usually clap, yell and whistle louder than any other fan in the place. They usually know all the words, even to their original songs that now one else has heard of before.

Parental support is important to a band and to a classroom. For most parents, this is exactly the kind of support they want to give. After a student or band has put in hours of hard work learning, practicing and polishing their skills, they want to share it with their parents first and foremost. It's even better if their are others around cheering them on. It really becomes a public celebration of the learning that has taken place.

If students in your classroom do something worthwhile, something they have learned, practiced and polished, invite their parents to the gig. Make it something like a gig. Put them onstage. Have some people applauding them. Let them tell how much work they put into it. Make it a public celebration of learning. This will benefit all parties involved. Their parents will be proud to see their kid show off. The kids will see that learning is appreciated by other and is worthy of celebrating. The school will benefit by seeing that the fruits of their labor (the entire staff's labor) led to something tangible, more than a grade. The school has created an actual product that an audience can look at be entertained by, appreciate and celebrate.