Supporting the Reluctant Participant
by Crystal Pridmore
TEACHER GUIDE · ALL AGES
Make participation more possible by looking beyond refusal or hesitation and designing meaningful, lower-risk ways into music-making.
At a Glance
Best for
Teachers working with students who watch, hesitate, avoid, refuse, or aren't yet ready to participate as expected.
Students are
Watching · Trying · Choosing · Sharing
You'll need
No special materials required.
Connections
Inclusion · Belonging · Student choice
Need a place to start?
Choose one student and one moment when participation tends to become difficult.
Rather than redesigning the whole lesson, offer one smaller meaningful invitation: more time, an opportunity to watch first, a choice, a smaller group, or another way to participate.
Decide beforehand what you will count as success. Then notice what happens.
Before increasing the demand, it can help to ask what is making participation difficult—and whether there's a smaller, safer way into the experience.
A practical teacher guide for looking at what participation may be costing a student and designing more possible, meaningful invitations into music-making.
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