The Four Pillars of Music Education
Critical Thinker
I believe that no assumption is beyond questioning. The field of music education comes with a host of built-in biases and assumptions. One that might easily come to mind is that of the gendered instrument, the assumption that students of a particular gender fit better with a particular instrument. In my classroom, I will make efforts to break down those assumptions and be sure that students know that their instrument choice should not be determined by societal expectations.
Students may often look to a teacher as a font of knowledge and as someone to prescribe the best way to operate in their field. Any good educator could tell you, however, that a teacher learns just as much from their students as the students learn from them. Especially in music, it is essential to break down the barrier between all-knowing teacher and ignorant student; a teacher must be willing to admit when they don't know something and to learn with or even from the student. I strive in my teaching to make sure students view me not as an enforcer, but as a collaborator in their own personal journey to musical success.
Arts Education Philosophy.pdfNYS Teaching Standards Element VII.4.c
CR-SEF: Ongoing Professional Learning
The Arts Education Philosophy is an artifact tied directly to SUNY Potsdam's Literacy Education in the Arts course. This course entirely changed my perspective on the meanings of words like "literacy" and "text" when applied to music, and in turn has changed a lot about my teaching philosophy in general. This document outlines both the views that I had about these things coming into the course, many of which have stayed consistent, and also describes the ways my perspectives have changed after not just taking the course but also spending four years in Potsdam. It can also serve as a snapshot of where my values were as a pre-service educator only months before beginning my student teaching and getting my first practical experience. These are some of the philosophies I carried into my first ever teaching experiences.