Direct relationship believe practice

Value and Curriculum

Creed- Serves as a personal reflection checklist

Writing this makes you reflect on your believes and identify what they are. spiral or recursive process

The power of opportunity and multiplicity

Inspiring and Encouraging

Resonance

Inspiring and encourage- A Pedagogy of hope

Honesty with ourselves (our beliefs and what we value)

Transforming our images of music- The may different ways we can be musical

“Inspire students to be innovative, creative, curious, and compassionate” 

Renewal

Mark Twain, “I never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

I believe…

… education is an active process and often collaborative.

… the desire to learn is an intrinsic value but it can be encouraged and fostered through asking questions.

… education begins with life and ends with death. It is not limited to what happens in schools.

… curiosity should be the main motivator behind learning. A need to know is essential to discovery and un-coverage. 

… every individual has the ability to be creative and it is my job as an educator to guide them to a role in which this creativity can flourish.

I learned that it is important to consider student interests and to implement them into my curriculum. The aim of general music is to provide a musical environment that focuses on discovery and un-coverage of music through the student’s perspectives that is guided by their interests and is driven by their curiosity. I think that we as an education system should be moving away from standardized testing and move to constructivism and creativity.

I have learned that there should not be a separation between school music and “other” outside of school music. I think that in order to be respected and influential to my students I need to understand the culture they are growing up in and stay updated on the newest technology and incorporate it into my curriculum. I have learned that I not need to know everything to be a teacher and that my students are resources, they know things that I don’t and vise versus.  

There are many different approaches to teaching i.e. the Executive, the Facilitator, and the Liberationist. Each teacher embodies one of these types of different approaches. Many teachers embody a combination of these approaches. I learned about Modernism has very clear-cut and hard boundaries. I learned about Post Modernism and how there is no real “definition” for it although we can describe it.

Estelle R Jorgensen states that “Curiosity- an inquisitiveness concerning peculiar phenomena, wondering about why things are as they are- is one of the drivers of imaginative thinking and creative action. In the territory between fancy, abstract thought, perception, one imaginatively explores the terrain of the might-have-been or might-be and wonders what if such-and-such were the case. The music maker spins out musical and other ideas in a variety of ways and, in the process, discovers new insights and creates new music that also threatens to break the past.” “Music thus reenacted is not only rediscovered in some respects but discovered anew in others. Such curiosity, a love of wisdom and a desire to know better and more fully, is the lifeblood of transforming music education.” (Jorgenson)

I wonder what is the driving force behind students in the education system today? If there is direct instruction and lecture for the model of most of the classrooms then what motivates them? My thoughts are that students are motivated by a grading system. I believe that this system is problematic because it causes students to focus only on grades. For example a student studies and crams for a standardized tests and then once it is over drops that material out of their mind and starts studying for the next test. I think that we need to move away from focusing on standardized tests, as music educators and for all education in general because the end result of these tests is not long lasting residue.  We as educators have tried to quantify qualities… and this simply does not work.

As the teacher of my classroom I want to have many resources to help spring my students curiosity. An article titles “How to Ignite Intellectual Curiosity in Students” on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas foundation, was especially helpful in the expansion of my ideas about curiosity. This site explains that human beings are hardwired to be curious and often school tends to suppress this. This website suggests that if the students are not curious in the classroom than the educator needs to examine their classroom with questions such as Looking at our lessons, in general, is the student doing most of the talking and working? And as we teach, do we go to great lengths to include all students and not just the few who raise their hands?. I think that it is important for me to consider the fact that if my students are bored than I need to change something. I do not however agree with everything that is on the Edutopia website because they still promote standardized testing. I think that our push for standardized testing is just as problematic as the standardized test. I think that there is a better way but I am still investigating the idea of where education is and/ore should be going. I think Sir Ken Robinson has many relevant views of education at this time and will be investigating more of his work.

My favorite part of the Jorgensen quote about is “The music maker spins out musical and other ideas in a variety of ways and, in the process, discovers new insights and creates new music that also threatens to break the past.” A classroom should be a constant expansion off of an idea or insight from the students. The teacher guides them into discovering different avenues to take the idea and helps ask more questions in which the student will react to, and then generate their own questions. Discovering new insights should be the goal of all education.

The idea of one right and correct answer stifles this process and ultimately ends it. Standardized testing stifles this idea and ends it. A student does not need to expand on any knowledge that isn’t contained in the test. We are educating a nation to be good test takers and one-sided thinkers. To quote a fellow graduate student “Students are the only consumers that demand less for their money”. We are creating a generation who jumps through hoops with little care of what experience that they get from education. When did the test become more important than learning. “It is not the destination but the journey” is a quote that should embody education but the journey is not valued. This is something that I hope changes, because I feel the current model of education must change.

Jorgensen states that “At the heart of transforming musical education are the people involved in it, particularly students and teachers. Teaching and learning are human endeavors, holistic experiences that are construed intellectually, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. A dialectical view of the relationship between the curriculum and the student suggests that the human dimensions of music education are just as important as the material to be learned and taught and cannot be separated from it.(Jorgenson pg. 124).

One may argue that there should be objectivity in music education such that the teacher should not be imposing their ideas on the students but alas this is impossible. Even an educator’s view of not imposing ideas is an idea. As Jorgensen states, music is a holistic experience or at least it should be. I cringe at the thought of standard repertoire lists being formed because this is narrating what music should be valued instead of helping students formulate a list of criteria on what music is. I wonder why we as educators continue to take songs, musical terms, and dances out of their original contexts.

In the past, when I prepared for a 1^st grade lesson I would typically select two songs and two games to play per class period. The children would usually imitate what I was doing and I would teach the songs by rote. Where is there creativity in this? The music classroom is unique in the fact that there is no true set curriculum by the schools(I am not complaining) but as an educator I have often been confused by this freedom. It would much easier if someone told me what to teach because I have been told what I needed to learn since I entered the school system. I am a product of our traditional and industrial school of education. I desire to change. I want my classroom to be a place of discovery, frustration, curiosity, creativity not one that creates robots that are being fashioned for the ensemble machine. I mean no disrespect with describing ensembles this way but it is a fact that most elementary music teachers are educating in a way that prepares students for future ensembles.

Although the vision for my classroom may seem admirable to some educators it is seen as threatening. My philosophy challenges the way that music has been taught for many years and although I wish to embrace all music for what it is, this is not the case with most music programs. There is an elite air that can be found in a very well developed music program. In this program you will find many talented performers. In this program there is very little room for various musical roles such as the listener, the composer, or the improviser. The music teacher may be relieved when students drop from their program because a smaller ensemble is more controllable. This description bothers me greatly because there should be a place for the students who are not talented performers in school. The majority of the students(who are not I music) will end up with a tainted view of music and may grow up to be the principal, the parents,  and the community of the school district that I work in. Their thoughts and experiences of music education will be carried with them throughout their lives. This is secondary to the fact that they may never experience music education in a positive light.

The general music classroom has always been centered on activities. I even think that most regular classrooms focus on an activity based classroom. This type of learning keeps children busy focused on learning, which perhaps is the goal of the teacher however it would be much better and more long lasting if the child was involved in this process.  I wonder why we are focusing on this type of learning when it is not the “best practice”.

When I enter my first education job I would love the support of my colleagues, the administration,  the community, the parents, and the students.  This scenario does not happen naturally. I am responsible for keeping these individuals informed about what we are doing in the music classroom and presenting it in a way that really highlights the achievements of my students. I hope to bring these new ideas and philosophies with me and continue to expand my ideas. 

Chapter one states what the problems are in education. Jorgensen did not sugar coat the issues that are in education. We could hear her and heard her opinions. This is a dialogue… Political and opinionated. Know those ideas that are opposing forces… understand them before you engage in an exchanging of ideas. We need to understand formalism, praxialism etc. before we have a conversation with people who believe differently than you believe. We(the current body of music educators) appreciate ratings and rankings… we exclude literature that do not meet the “standards.” What does MENC do nationally?- NYSSMA, All State. What are the other subjects that implement quality control? The idea of excellence is different from quality control. Quality control- you are looking at a product and get rid of the imperfections(i.e. getting rid of people who don’t make the cut, auditions, rating and ranking). Excellence means you are working towards the best that your ensemble can achieve. Chair Challenges- what is the motivation behind this… competition. This is not civil. It is not the aim of education. Think about the moral and ethical thing to do. It creates an animosity within the section. It teaches students to compare themselves to other students. 

Justifying Transformation. Why do we have classicism in music? Are we afraid to speak up or are there specific things that make classical music better? What are we using to justify our actions? legality, products… etc. We give a rationale for acting the way that we do. If the teacher is saying this is what we are reading… so when we choose pieces for our students to do it is bullying. Don’t assume we know what the students will like. We are the point person for music. We are the icon for music education. We are serving interests. Whose interests are we serving? It’s OK to be a name dropper… this is good in a scholarly profession. We don’t operate just on our own whims and it transforms our thinking. We are educating our colleagues, the parents, the community. NYSSMA alternative- there is a different and a better way. In house musical celebration. Students cry at NYSSMA and compare themselves to others. Competition replaced with sharing. We are a mix of many of our beliefs(Post modernism). 

pg. 114- Amateurism

Elementary- the prime age for teaching notation so that the students will be in an ensemble. The idea that Amateurism is becoming acceptable. It means you do it for the love. 

pg. 124- Hollistic experiences and Curriculum

pg. 68- Flexibility in Teaching

We will never be a perfect teacher. Teachers get burnt out when they start doing the same thing every day. How do we prevent students from slipping through the cracks? What does this mean? Old school of thought versus the new school of thought.(pg. 9)

pg. 29- Justifying Transformation. Be the change you wish to see in the world.

This can be scary. Ken Robinson- his presentation on schools still being in the industrial model. Music is an experience, it is a verb. It can be difficult to teach the students in this new collaborative model when all the other teachers are still in the industrial model.

pg. 125- The “life” of music education. meaning of music education

The Art of Possibility. by Benjamin Zander

pg.32-40- Are we conditioned to promote the idea that the emperor is in fact not naked…. when he actually is. What is “good” music.

We should be familiar with all musics but we get to pick one. There isn’t really a way of predicting the success of a music artist. All music stems from classical music? Classical music is organized and was promoted by the educated and the rich. Are we being bullied into valuing classical music over all others? Is it the same as the imperialist going to Africa and forcing them to sing hymns instead of their traditional music? The younger generation of music teachers are less likely to force classical music on their students. 

Side Note

Ask your students to write a “Musical Bucket List” Everything they’ve ever wanted to do in music(see a certain band, learn the drums etc.)

Liberationist- “Free your mind”

Who said that you are in the position to bring these things to awareness?

Constant reflection of bias and perspectives

Constant focus and large body of writing on how to do something. 

Saying something is “legitimate” is always saying that something is “not legitimate”

What is informing your idea?

“Quest for certainty” John Dewey We are questing for uncertainty

Contemporary views of curriculum are centered around questions

Executive(M and K)

• The focus is on the task written content(task driven). Behavioral objective.
• There is one answer
• There is a set of knowledge and content that must be taught
• Teacher has the most knowledge
• Specific learning usually occurs to one exam or performance
• Sequential
• The student is a blank slate, tabula rasa
• no need to be bonded with the students

Facilitator(E and R)

• Awareness on student knowledge
• Self- actualization is the goal along with self understanding and personal growth.
• teacher is the helper
• motivational displacement
• emphasis on the students prior knowledge

Liberationist(K and E)

• Great books, content becomes vehicle through which you develop a critical perspective
• What informs the liberationists content? Pre-determined content. Critical pedagogy. They would problematize the content.
• Un-peeling, unpacking the content i.s unpack creativity.
• Student must embody manner of teacher(assume dispositions and approach of teacher). i.e. model asking questions in your classroom… why do you think shakespeare chose to approach the rivalry of love in Romeo and Juliet?
• Looking for 16 plus different answers.
• They care what the students bring to the classroom.