My Teaching Philosophy

I want to be a music educator because music is something that I am very passionate about and I would not have this passion if it were not for my own music educators. However, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher before I knew I wanted to be a musician. I can remember critiquing my second grade teacher and thinking, “when I am a teacher I will do things differently.” Of course I went through a myriad of career choices between second grade and high school, but when I got to high school I fell in love with choir. Choir was a place where I wanted to ask questions and understand how everything worked. My senior year I took on the leadership role of choir president, a role I had never desired in any other area. My goal is to inspire my students to fully delve into the world of music and also find traits, such as leadership capabilities, that they did not know they possessed.
I come from a long line of teachers: I have family members that teach everything from English to music to math to special education, and who teach every age group from kindergarten through college. However, I have never felt pressured from my family to become a teacher; if anything, I do not hold any illusions about education being a perfect or easy career. My other influences are my piano teacher and my high school choir director who gave me the tools to become the musician I am today.
Throughout my educational career I have critiqued my teachers, both musical and non-musical, and have incorporated and adjusted their teaching styles into my own. I found that the classes that were the most effective were the ones where the teacher was more respected then liked. The respect has to be reciprocal: I cannot expect my students to respect me if I do not respect them. Part of respecting my students is picking appropriate yet challenging music for my ensemble. One of my goals is to expand my students’ musical knowledge, but to do so in a manner that is manageable and not overwhelming.
Music teaches everything from math to history and it is important that each student musician understands all aspects of a piece from its key to its historical context. I want each of my students to leave my class with a basic understanding of music theory, ear training, and music history. These concepts can seem foreign to students who are used to a more traditional lecture style class. This is why I believe that it is important for me as a music educator to be an approachable non-threatening figure. My students will know that they are encouraged to ask questions of me inside and outside of class and that I will respond in a helpful, non-condescending manner. My students will also be encouraged to ask questions of each other. The advanced students will be expected to further their own knowledge by leading the beginning students. I believe that each student has the potential to succeed and that it is my responsibility as a teacher to give them the tools that they need. I will incorporate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles into my teaching. It is important for students to discover for themselves why a composer wrote the music the way he or she did or why I conduct the music a certain way. My classroom will involve discussions about the music and the way we perform it. Finally, I expect a high level of quality and professionalism from my students and they can expect the same from me.
Currently I have had the most experience in a choral classroom setting. I have participated in high level choirs for almost five years now, and I feel as if I have observed and can incorporate many different choral teaching strategies into my own philosophy. My musical performance education has not been limited to vocal music. I took piano lessons throughout my childhood and I have played in various handbell ensembles. I believe that I would be very comfortable teaching a piano lab class or a handbell ensemble class. My experiences with band and orchestral music are more limited. Since entering the University of Redlands I have taken several techniques classes that have broadened my understanding of instrumental ensembles. Also simply attending orchestral concerts and having friends who are studying to be professional instrumentalists, has exposed me to a new side of music. It is my goal over the next two years to learn everything I can that will make me a confident instrumental ensemble teacher.
I recognize that there are other teaching strategies such as Power Teaching. I would use this as an effective way to model concepts for my students and have them mirror me. For example, I think an important tool in learning choral music is to have my students conduct with me. The established philosophies of education that I find most effective in my teaching philosophy are essentialism, behaviorism, and multi-culturalism/socio-culturalism. I can use essentialism ideals to teach the long tradition of music and its history. With multi-culturalism/socio-culturalism students are able to learn about their own culture and then the culture that the piece they are performing comes from. Finally I think my teaching style is most akin to behaviorism. My classroom will be individualize and controlled by me as a teacher, and I think and will therefore teach in a linear manner.
My classroom will be a friendly environment for special needs students as well as English learners. Because music is a non-academic subject, I think that music class can be an outlet for students with learning disabilities. I can give them an environment where they can learn and have fun at the same time. My class will also be an outlet for GATE students. GATE students tend to think of the world in different ways then other students; they tend to be more creative and thoughtful. I will make sure to challenge my students in ways that will interest them and broaden their musical and creative understanding. I believe that music can pose non-traditional challenges which can spark students’ imaginations. Finally in terms of English learners, I will encourage them to use their native language as a tool rather than a hindrance. Many musical terms come from Latin, Italian, and French which are romance languages like Spanish. Spanish-speakers can use their native language to more fully understand the musical vocabulary. Also I can pick repertoire that is in the native language of my students, such as Japanese or Hungarian. Then the students can use their language to teach the class the diction for the piece. A second language is so useful and I will never tell my students that they are not allowed to speak any language but English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuTbM0R0ADQ
As a teacher I will constantly be changing, learning, and adapting. Every school year, every class, and every student will be unique and will demand something different from me. My students can always expect me to be able to answer any of their questions and to provide them with appropriate challenges. Each of my students will be taught in the learning style that is most suitable to them as an individual, but they will learn to work collectively as an ensemble. While I desire each of my students to leave my class with a passion for music, it is my goal that each of my students leave my class with a more extensive knowledge of the world of music then they had when they entered.

Reading Assignement Reflections

Today’s Deficit Thinking about Race and Language

Many Americans like to believe that racial and language prejudices have disappeared because these issues are no longer talked about openly. However, once people are given the slightest notion that these prejudices might be accurate, mainstream Americans are quick to voice their biased opinions. In 1994, a book called The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, was published, and this book was widely read and discussed. “Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray’s best-selling book claimed to offer scientific proof that African Americans inherit lower IQs than white Americans and that these IQ differences are virtually impossible to change” (Oakes & Lipton, 2007, p.59). Newspapers, television shows, and radio programs exploded with discussions from people who both liked and disliked the book’s findings. However, “[a] book such as The Bell Curve appears every few decades or oftener” (Oakes & Lipton, 2007, p.59). This book was simply one of many simply meant to spark emotion in the American people. The idea of racial superiority keeps coming back even today
Another way Americans have tried to exert their authority is through making English the national language. This push to make English the national language is not being made only by radicals but also by the public at large. James Crawford has examined this issue and “argues that, rather than being about language per se, the aversion to non-English speaking immigrants reveals conflicts over cultural and material supremacy – that is struggles for social and economic dominance – that lie beneath the surface of the public debate over language” (Oakes & Lipton, 2007, p.60). The campaign to make English the official language is more about power than it is about the national good.

Philosophy in the History of American Schooling

While we have very different views on education and the way students learn today, it is important to understand our roots in American education. The American founding fathers believed in deism. “Thus, education in the United States was influenced by the beliefs that humans, imperfect though they are, can, through science and reason, discover, organize, and control for their own benefit and enlightenment the mysteries of the universe and human existence” (Oakes & Lipton, 2007, p. 76). The American school system was set up so that children would be trained as good citizens who could fully function in a democratic society. Many of the “teachers” at the time had no training, so they drew from works by Enlightenment thinkers. This teaching lead to the idea “0f the ‘mind as a muscle’ and the notion that the study of classical languages, geometry, and so on causes learners to ‘exercise their brains’ and produce stronger, more capable minds” (Oakes & Lipton, 2007, p. 76).
In the next century new ideals on education were introduced: pragmatism and behaviorism. “Both pragmatism and behaviorism saw science as providing benefits to society” (Oakes & Lipton, 2007, p. 77). These ideals meshed with the Industrial Revolution ideas of organization, order, and control. All children were expected to learn this way. Today we recognize that “the ‘scientific method’ as just one of many ways of knowing, not the only way” (Oakes & Lipton, 2007, p. 77). I believe that while American schools are trying to incorporate other learning styles, the styles of learning through order and even ‘the scientific method’ are the most common styles of education today.

I went to private Catholic School for thriteen years. I went to St. Irenaeus Parish school in Cypress, CA, from kindergarten through eighth grade. I then went to Cornelia Connelly School in Anaheim, CA, for high school. Probably my most frustrating school was in middle school, because I felt as though the teachers did not respect the students, so then in turn it was hard for the students to be respectful to the teachers.