Journal of Music Teacher Education 2015, Vol. 24(3) 8–10 © National Association for Music Education 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1057083715578843 jmte.sagepub.com From the Editor On Assignments and Learning Janice N. Killian 1 While others might be satisfied if students perform well on the examinations, the best teachers assume that learning has little meaning unless it produces a sustained and substantial influence on the way people think, act, and feel. —Ken Bains (2004, p. 17) Sometimes a student says something so enlightened, so unexpected, and so signifi- cant that the comment has the potential to change the way that we as instructors view teaching. Or perhaps I am just speaking from my own recent experience. Here is my story: In preparation for attending an address by the author and educator Ken Bains on our campus, my Graduate Seminar students read and responded to the introduction to his book, What the Best College Teachers Do. Responses during Grad Seminar often come in different forms (e-mail, essay, Facebook post, etc.) but are all designed to lead to the discussion of ideas. One popular way to respond to the weekly reading is to cite a passage from the readings and then react personally to the author’s words. One stu- dent (one of our brightest and most thoughtful) cited the Bains excerpt I’ve placed at the head of this essay. I found it interesting that she had chosen this quote because it seemed to me (and you experienced educators might agree) that most teachers and students know that the purpose of educational activities, including assignments, is to learn something. Even the idea of “to learn something” implies some sort of change in the learner. But this student went on to specify just how new this idea was to her: I find this very eye-opening. As a student I always approach assignments as a checklist and view them as something that just needs to get done. I do not view it as a learning opportunity. As a teacher we need to view this in the opposite way. We need the students to gain from the class and not just check a list for completion of assignments or to get a grade that they need. 1 Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA Corresponding Author: Janice N. Killian, School of Music, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-2033, USA. Email: janice.killian@ttu.edu 578843JMT XX X 10.1177/1057083715578843Journal of Music Teacher EducationKillian research-article 2015