Final Blog Post

As we have discussed, music is not an area of study that people generally equate with "literacy." Before taking this class, I would have fallen neatly into that category as well. As I have considered music through a more inclusive perspective of literacy, I have discovered that music is not as different from other subject areas as I thought.  In my mind, a more cognitive, critical approach to music is not only possible, but extremely desirable. The concepts we have discussed have affected the way I think about music, and they way I teach my students.

One aspect of teaching I feel particularly strongly about is critical literacy. I feel like this is where students really come into their own as readers/thinkers. It goes beyond comprehension, knowledge, and analysis, and enters a realm where students are challenged to develop independent thought. To see past the text to the intent behind it. I fully intend to challenge my students on this level in my own classroom, and I believe that that starts with me. As I mentioned during the Final, I believe that the first step in fostering critical thinking skills in students is to admit to them (and to yourself) that you don't know everything. That you are biased, that the student's have opinions as valid as your own, and that you are not the only voice that matters in the classroom. You cannot ask students to challenge authority figures or question sources of information without allowing them to challenge and question you. I can feel myself starting stepping up on my soap box now, so I'll stop myself now before I get ahead. Suffice it to say, I see it as my personal mission to show my students how intelligent they are, and that they are entitled to an opinion and a voice. I know these sound like lofty goals. Let me share a few thoughts I have on the day to day approach to these ideals. I want students to have a knowledge of score analysis and be able to critique a song, but I want them to maintain the idea that music is art - it is subjective - and what they feel or think about it is as valid an evaluation as any music critique's. When grading, I want to give students opportunities to defend and explain their answers. In my opinion there are no right and wrong answers, there are only logical and illogical ones. If I can find a way, I want to assess my students with that philosophy in mind. I really feel like I could talk about critical literacy all day, but I will move on for the sake of time...

I am particularly fond of the before, during, and after reading activities we discussed. Although I feel like many teachers do these things instinctively, I have a better understanding now of their importance and how to implement them most effectively. For example, doing activities to get students' brains going and activate what they already know about a subject. Like beginning a lecture about rhythmic notation by talking about ratios, measuring units, or coinage. I also appreciate our discussions on during activities. All too many times, teachers have instructed me to sit quietly and read from a textbook, and although I am a competent reader, this is never very effective. Students need something to watch for, some guide for drawing information out of the material. You see the very same thing with music. During activities make the difference between passively and actively listening to a piece. For example, students could be listening to a programmatic piece, and could be drawing or writing or acting out what they think the music is portraying. I believe they will get a lot more out of their listening this way than if they just sit and let the music glaze over them. After activities are a new and welcome addition to my teacher repertoire. I feel like I often just give the students information and then leave it at that. I know my students will do better if I pay more attention to summarizing/evaluating the text after we go through it.

Vocabulary is a large part of what we learn in the early stages of musicianship. I really liked and will use a lot of the vocabulary activities that we learned about in class. I also intend to take to heart the advice not to teach more than eight or so terms at a time. My favorite chart was the semantic feature analysis chart. This would be so useful in a guided listening activity!

Differentiation. Now this is a topic that I feel I cannot tie into a neat and tidy bow at the end of this course. I will need to study it further. My instinctive response to differentiation is that separate is not equal, it is only separate. I think that treating students differently will only reinforce and emphasize those differences. And I don't believe for a second that the students won't catch on to what I'm doing. How can they not take "I have a different assignment than my peers," to "I have an easier assignment," and from there to "I am not as smart as they are." I just can't abide that. On the other hand, I want my students to be successful, and if they need additional support I want to give it to them. So you see, I am really confused on this one. The scenario where ELL students are given a multiple choice test rather than doing a more involved activity... well I think that sounds like a horrible idea. What do you learn from a multiple choice test? Very little! I think that part of the reason that struggling students don't improve is that they are given given devastatingly boring course work that doesn't stimulate them! I don't think that I want to give my students different assignments or evaluate them on different scales. I do think that I can offer extra scaffolding to students without crossing these lines. For example, helping them take an assignment apart into small steps that are more manageable. Again, this is one of those dilemmas where it is extremely difficult to strike a balance between being helpful, and facilitating dependance. The only think I can do is keep an open mind and see what works in practice!

Using multiple languages in the classroom setting is easily accomplished for a choral director. Learning music form different cultures is a great way to celebrate those cultures. Students who speak multiple languages will have the advantage in this setting. I feel I really must learn Spanish. I have had students who speak spanish and they are disappointed when they find that I do not.

I feel like I could go on for a very long time talking about all I've learned in this class. But my blog post is starting to get really long, and so in the interest of my time and everyone else's, I'll leave it at that.