The premise of my teaching philosophy is that all children
can learn, and that through appropriate and differentiated kinds of instruction
while accommodating learning styles; students can achieve. I believe that
teaching and learning are connected
as learning is the product of good instructions from teachers who apply best
practices to student-centered kinds of learning experiences. The role of the
instructor is for teaching students how to learn and to think critically about
information. The instructor/teacher/facilitator, directs learning to higher
levels of learning including levels of knowledge, understanding, application, analysis,
evaluation, and assimilation. Teachers provide a model for the learner of how
skills are performed while fostering highly skilled learning that requires
highly skilled instructors. Through technology, the world and infinite kinds of
knowledge become available to students while stimulating inquisition and
curiosity. Through other available resources, students will learn to think socratically
as they are free and encouraged to ask the questions for gaining new knowledge
in hopes of finding truth.
My teaching is founded on the belief that all student can
learn. No matter the IEP or the perceived intellectual ability or limitations,
when learning music, many students have a tendency to surpass the confinements
of an IEP. Students will learn at their
own pace and will comprehend on levels that one may not recognize but one
should not restrict, constrain, nor assume that a student is unable to learn
based on one’s expectation because one’s expectations will likely be challenged.
Too often, I have witness where classroom assistants held a child in a chair
because of a predisposed view that proved to have little foundation. One must
be willing to set the learner free to learn and experience all that others are
learning and believe that achieving is possible.
I use approaches
for teaching music that work for accomplishing a particular goal. For building
musicianship and defining intonation, Kodaly has proven most effective.
Students build listening and musicianship as they are intellectually listening
to intervals, and can visualize the contour of a melody, as the hand signals
naturally provide a picture for varying pitches. Orff helps specifically when
creating accompaniments and desiring to incorporate various instruments for
creating ostinatos and using syllables to identify rhythm patterns. The approach
works well and fosters for building of imagination. Reading stories and
creating sounds for the stories with rhythm and patterns derives from the Orff
approach and is successful for eventually teaching literacy.
My
teaching affects my students and strengthens their self-image. In my school
choir, my students allow me to shape their voices and are seeing the benefits
of diaphragmatic breathing. They are singing in tune, singing with head voices
while producing beautiful overtones, and are able to sing in harmony. Building
vocal parts helps them to understand interdependence and that each voice part
plays an integral role of the group. Through singing, the students achieve high
levels of internal satisfaction as they are learning to connect their singing
to their spirits. When the students can sing a simple canon “Like a Bird” and
find joy in singing, then I have achieved a great personal goal; for them to
appreciate and enjoy all styles of music.
