This is about identifying common mistakes which students make because a key element of learning has been missed.
It is also about celebrating these mistakes because they highlight the process of learning.
Ask students to perform a short task – e.g. set them a music theory question, ask them to play 8 bars of music, ask them to set up a DAW in a certain way or ask them to write a journalism headline.
When you mark or assess the work, choose your favourite wrong answer – the one that best shows a process of learning that has been incorrectly applied.
Ask students if they can identify why a certain thing was a mistake. Now see what students can do to improve on that mistake.
Once you have identified the mistake it is important to celebrate it as a learning opportunity and make the acknowledgement of a mistake a positive occurrence.
In Music Theory ask students to build a Bm7 chord. If the answer is B Db Fb Ab this shows that the key signature wasn’t considered first but that the formula for a m7 chord was correctly used.
In a performance the student who doesn’t achieve the fast run because they haven’t mastered a certain playing technique could be a Favourite No as they need to practise a technique you have been focussing on.
With large groups, you could assign tasks to small groups of students rather than individuals.
Students are comfortable making mistakes and see them as a learning opportunity.
You could also just finish a session with the Pièce de Résistance TLA, celebrating the most exciting thing to happen in the session.
Next steps include setting similar tasks and asking students to think about a previous Favourite No and how to avoid the mistake.
Pièce de Résistance TLA: https://www.musostudy.com/tla-piece-de-resistance
This was devised by Leah Alcala, a maths teacher.
Video showing Leah Alcala who devised My Favourite No: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srJWx7P6uLE
