Teaching

Philosophy of Education

What I Teach

I believe that the primary goal of the general music classroom is to provide students a safe environment and opportunities for as much creation as possible – specifically through dance, drama, singing, instruments, improvisation (in all of the aforementioned areas) and composition, for a start. I believe in teaching music from as many world cultures, time periods and musical styles as possible. I believe in utilizing the power of speech and the spoken word to enhance and enrich my instruction. I insist on only teaching the highest-quality repertoire.

How I Teach

I strive to make a difference in my students’ lives through my pedagogy and through my personal relationships with my students, and I strive to be a positive role model in and out of the school environment.

I believe that students express their musicality via a range of media and performance/assessment tasks, and I am committed to providing a wide range of opportunities for all students to express themselves musically in a satisfying way – e.g., through dance, singing, composition, project-based learning, written/drawn work, improvisation, listening, etc. I believe that varied experiences in each music class period best benefit students’ learning and best keep them engaged. I believe that a mixture of movement, imitation, creation, exploration, intellectual investigation, exercises, repetition, performance via singing, performance via body percussion and/or instruments, and a mixture of sitting and standing/moving activities is optimal for learning and for student engagement, and I pledge to try my best to have the largest possible portion of each class period be devoted to students actively making music. I believe that it is my responsibility to help students delve “a level deeper” than they or I might always expect from a given piece of music, to make “just a song” into a genuine creative experience with opportunity for original inventiveness and student contribution(s) to the music-making. Finally, I believe in utilizing technology to the greatest extent possible in my own teaching, to engage students and enrich their experience with and understanding of the materials at hand.

Why I Teach

I believe that the general music classroom presents an opportunity to all students to experience successful music-making, self-expression, and contribution to a whole in a positive way. I love music, and I consider it my task to communicate my enthusiasm and passion to my students, not necessarily with the end goal of creating professional musicians, but with the goal of nurturing students towards loving, appreciating, understanding and creating music in their own self-validating ways.

• I strive to make a difference in my students’ lives through my pedagogy and through my personal relationships with my students. I strive to be a positive role model in and out of the school environment.
• I believe that a teacher’s enthusiasm is contagious, and that teaching without enthusiasm is doomed to failure. I also believe that humor, when used appropriately, can be an excellent tool for engaging students in material and everyday routines.
• I believe that the general music classroom presents an opportunity to all students to experience successful music-making, self-expression, and contribution to a whole in a positive way.
• I believe that consistent, clear classroom expectations, guidelines and rules best benefit children, when implemented consistently and with both positive and negative outcomes for appropriate and inappropriate behaviors respectively.
• I believe in teaching music from as many world cultures, time periods and styles as possible.
• I believe in teaching from the concrete to the abstract (i.e., teaching “the sound before the symbol”); from the part to the whole; and from the simple to the complex.
• I believe in utilizing the power of speech and the spoken word to enhance and enrich my instruction.
• I believe in making cross-curricular connections wherever and whenever possible, but that cross-curricular instruction should never take priority over teaching music.
• I believe in using pacing guides and other county-issued materials in my lesson planning.
• I believe in utilizing any materials that are of high quality, regardless of source, in my own teaching, giving appropriate attribution to teacher creators when possible, and not sharing other teachers’ creations in professional settings.
• I insist on only teaching the highest-quality repertoire. When compromises in programming absolutely must be made, I insist on teaching with the best possible pedagogy, always maintaining the expectation that the students perform in such a way to elevate any sub-par music to a higher realm of musicality.
• I believe in utilizing technology to the greatest extent possible in my own teaching, to engage students and enrich their experience with and understanding of the materials at hand.
• I believe that students express their musicality via a range of media and performance/assessment tasks, and I am committed to providing a wide range of opportunities for all students to express themselves musically in a satisfying way – e.g., through dance, singing, composition, project-based learning, written/drawn work, improvisation, listening, etc.
• I acknowledge that all students learn through a combination of modalities (visual/aural/kinesthetic or kinesthetic-psychomotor/cognitive/affective), and am committed to addressing as many of these modalities as possible within each class period to help ensure that all students will experience success in at least one modality.
• I believe in purposeful, direct, carefully-phrased teacher language.
• I believe in pacing my teaching as quickly as the students can accept without becoming over-stimulated or overwhelmed.
• I believe in purposefully teaching and consistently utilizing routines in my classroom at all grade levels.
• I am committed to assessing students in formative and summative ways as regularly as possible – ideally, every class – so that end-of-term grades are as valid as possible.
• I believe in rewarding students for exceptional work in non-material ways – e.g., through the “Bravo Board,” positive parent communications, private lesson opportunities, performance opportunities, etc.
• I believe in contacting parents as necessary, and commit to expressing positive feedback about each child during each phone call, even (and especially) when those phone calls are for negative reasons.
• I believe in speaking and writing in Spanish whenever necessary to engage parents and community members whom I otherwise might not be able to engage.
• I believe that varied experiences in each music class period best benefit students’ learning and best keep them engaged. I believe that a mixture of movement, imitation, creation, exploration, intellectual investigation, exercises, repetition, performance via singing, performance via body percussion and/or instruments, and a mixture of sitting and standing/moving activities is optimal. I believe that the youngest students need the fastest pacing, the least extraneous “teacher talk,” and the largest number of activities per class period to help them be optimally successful.
• I pledge to try my best to have the largest possible portion of each class period be devoted to students actively doing something, with a smaller percentage requiring them to listen or watch as I actively do something, and with the smallest percentage requiring them to listen passively to my lecturing.
• I believe that positive criticism should be public and out loud, and that negative (constructive) criticism be private and quietly delivered, whenever it is feasible or possible to do so.
• I believe in working constructively with colleagues in my school, in my area of specialization, in my pyramid, in Fairfax County and in the community of educators at large to share materials, share strategies and tips, organize events, and generally work for the betterment of the students and of their music learning opportunities in particular.
• I believe in turning to master teachers for resources and suggestions. I further believe in and commit to attending as many professional development opportunities as funding and time permit, with the end goal of bettering my own pedagogy.
• I believe that students respond best when material is related to their own personal experience in some way, and specifically when that prior experience and knowledge base is purposefully activated before beginning study of new material.
• I believe in never settling for a poor performance, or at the very least, never labeling a poor performance as a good performance. I also believe that constructive criticism, delivered carefully and balanced with positive comments, is necessary for students to increase their musicianship and enhance their own performance.
• I believe that focused, specific praise is more effective than generic praise.
• I believe that carefully-crafted games make excellent pedagogical tools, and I am committed to including them in my own teaching whenever it is appropriate to do so.
• I believe that the primary goal of the general music classroom is to provide students a safe environment and opportunities for as much creation as possible – specifically through dance, drama, singing, instruments, improvisation (in all of the aforementioned areas) and composition, for a start.
• I believe that it is my responsibility to help students delve “a level deeper” than they or I might always expect from a given piece of music, to make “just a song” into a genuine creative experience with opportunity for original inventiveness and student contribution(s) to the music-making.
• I acknowledge that the creative process is a messy one; that I might not always know what the final product of a creative activity will be; and that that’s all right.
• I acknowledge that the creative process takes a great deal of time, and I am unwilling to cheat the students out of a genuine and fulfilling experience by rushing them through a creative process and experience.
• I acknowledge that some students will need more extrinsic motivation than others to participate in a constructive manner, and am willing to provide whatever special accommodations might be necessary to make music class into a successful, enjoyable experience for each child.