My Thoughts about Class.
I'll have to admit this class took me for a surprise. I fully expected to go in and just be taught how to teach, a concept which was disproven on the first day. I feel as though it's hard to pin point exactly what I am learning. The class flows like a constant stream of conscieness, constantly trying to connect to my life and the concepts from the previous classes. It's a constant line of thinking, in fact most of the time I feel as though I'm not thinking deeply enough. Most of the time I don't realize that I've learned something. It's not like a "normal" university lecture that can be broken into topics and headings and subheadings. If anything this class doesn't "teach you how to teach" rather than lay all the cards out on the table to let us decide how we want to teach.
The most obvious place I can notice this class has affected the way I think is when I'm watching other teachers. I feel as though I'm analyzing their approach to teaching and discovering what works and what I like. So much so that certain approaches upset me quite a bit and, in the most respectful way, I'm now starting to speak up about it. For example, the other day in a choir rehearsal my conductor was trying to quiet us down to start the rehearsal. Granted it's a little difficult because half the choir is highschool and university girls. The other half, however, is primarily made up of elementary school music teachers, one of which yelled over us to be quiet and then called over to the conductor that she "a little to nice with these ladies sometimes". That got me quite upset and I ended up responding to her that kindness if a better motivator than authoritative fear. Later during that rehearsal, my conductor kept stopping us because we weren't getting a staccato correct in a certain measure. The girl beside me quietly said that she didn't like the way it sounded and I encouraged her to suggest it to the conductor. She said no because it doesn't matter what she thinks compared to the conductor. I guess this was the first time that what we are talking about in class, about the teacher's answer or stripping the creatively from music, really came to life for me.
I can see this more with the people around me in school as well. I think that need for us to please and our ability to do what is asked of us is part of the reason we all got here. The music department is funny because we tend to get to know each other well due to having all the exact same classes. When entering this class I thought I knew about 1/3 of my year quite well. This too was disproven. The kind of conversations I'm having in this class is crazy. On a daily basis these topics don't usually come up so it's nice to dig deeper with the my classmates in a controlled environment. I've gotten to know people's view on heavier topics, usually they aren't to far off of mine but they have a different way of wording it that is really interesting. I also like the fact that are forced out of our comfort zone. Myself, being an introvert would rather not have partner/group discussions but once I do it I get to know people that I may have only known their name. I like when I am the one deciding what group to be in or who to ask to be partners, I don't like when the groups are made for me or I am added to a group that I didn't choose.
Some other potential down sides about this class is that I feel like sometimes we speed through content. I understand that this is an INTRODUCTION to music education but even so I feel like sometimes we are given 30 seconds to talk with a partner about something before moving on. I would also like to have more group discussions that involve the entire class talking together rather than a partner or group of four.
The most obvious place I can notice this class has affected the way I think is when I'm watching other teachers. I feel as though I'm analyzing their approach to teaching and discovering what works and what I like. So much so that certain approaches upset me quite a bit and, in the most respectful way, I'm now starting to speak up about it. For example, the other day in a choir rehearsal my conductor was trying to quiet us down to start the rehearsal. Granted it's a little difficult because half the choir is highschool and university girls. The other half, however, is primarily made up of elementary school music teachers, one of which yelled over us to be quiet and then called over to the conductor that she "a little to nice with these ladies sometimes". That got me quite upset and I ended up responding to her that kindness if a better motivator than authoritative fear. Later during that rehearsal, my conductor kept stopping us because we weren't getting a staccato correct in a certain measure. The girl beside me quietly said that she didn't like the way it sounded and I encouraged her to suggest it to the conductor. She said no because it doesn't matter what she thinks compared to the conductor. I guess this was the first time that what we are talking about in class, about the teacher's answer or stripping the creatively from music, really came to life for me.
I can see this more with the people around me in school as well. I think that need for us to please and our ability to do what is asked of us is part of the reason we all got here. The music department is funny because we tend to get to know each other well due to having all the exact same classes. When entering this class I thought I knew about 1/3 of my year quite well. This too was disproven. The kind of conversations I'm having in this class is crazy. On a daily basis these topics don't usually come up so it's nice to dig deeper with the my classmates in a controlled environment. I've gotten to know people's view on heavier topics, usually they aren't to far off of mine but they have a different way of wording it that is really interesting. I also like the fact that are forced out of our comfort zone. Myself, being an introvert would rather not have partner/group discussions but once I do it I get to know people that I may have only known their name. I like when I am the one deciding what group to be in or who to ask to be partners, I don't like when the groups are made for me or I am added to a group that I didn't choose.
Some other potential down sides about this class is that I feel like sometimes we speed through content. I understand that this is an INTRODUCTION to music education but even so I feel like sometimes we are given 30 seconds to talk with a partner about something before moving on. I would also like to have more group discussions that involve the entire class talking together rather than a partner or group of four.