Inside the music classroom, teaching the art with heart.

Hello and thank you for joining this conversation of Patricia Bourne's: "Inside the Music Classroom".  This title stood out to me on the music room bookshelf as a resource that I desperately needed in my life, especially as our 2019 school year came to a close. Between the normal insecurities of imposter syndrome and the added job insecurities of teaching in a time of pandemic, these chapters reassured me of why I teach and how I can improve upon it. 

In the first chapter, "Going inside the music classroom" we are faced with a deep sense of responsibility to our students. Bourne suggest we self-evaluate using the 15 P's: Personality, Perspective, Patience, Predisposition,Priorities, Preparation, Passion, Preference, Practice, Prediction, Positive Outlook, Participation, Perseverance, Playfulness, and Professionalism. After completing this exercise I came to the realization that who I am will always be apart of my classroom, and that's great! I don't need to be closed off and in survival mode, instead I can feel grateful to be sharing my time and talents with a vulnerability that is both mature and honest.

Later in the book, Patricia shares her research from various child-development studies to inform and explain how this looks in her practice. In particular, I'd like to share Dr. Jerome Bruner's findings: "Children are capable of learning anything at any Time if presented in a sequential and age appropriate manner". This matched well with my own philosophy of education, which seems to be unique to many mainstream general music pedagogies. The stages to achieve mastery include: Enactive (engaging with new music), Iconic (representing concepts visually) and Symbolic (independence of western notation). I will be referring back to this chapter often as I find myself planning units from now on. I think this approach is so clear cut, and yet it allows for flexibility to adapt for teacher preferences. Like Ms. Bourne, I use long and short-short for quarter and eighth sounds, next I introduce them with beat based pictures and lastly apply numeric count syllables as the students interpret the symbols on their own.

When someone as reputable and experienced as Patricia Bourne tells her readers that she has to repeat mantra's as reminders to be her best teacher-self, it is humbling and reassuring that we are not alone in our journey. Here are a few reminders that I know have shaped my goals for this school year "I am the adult in this situation", "bad days are not personal failures", "slow down and practice patience", and "fine one thousand ways to teach a single concept." My desire is for you all to share your take-aways from this text in the comments below. I truly believe we are blessed to have professional networks that exist online to facilitate meaningful discussion, please do not hesitate to share your classroom tips and tricks!

Musically,

Elia Sophia