ST4: Am I Even Teaching?

Doubt

When I was in high school I had problems with authority. My biggest issues with teachers and the education system were doing arbitrary work. “Busy work” is something I’m still suspicious of as a college student. I was also keenly aware of “fairness” as most students are. I was grade-hungry though and would tolerate just about anything for that sweet numerical validation. During the most difficult times of student teaching and trying to enforce discipline I began to doubt again.

Welcome to Public Education in America

Am I just forcing students to do things they don’t want to? How do I make classical music and learning musical basics meaningful to their life? Am I just some attention-hungry teacher who needs to be obeyed? Is it really fair that they are being graded on their learning ability? Am I teaching music or am I teaching rules? Is this fun anymore? How do I teach music to students who don’t care about grades and don’t want to learn?

But Rachel, You Did College!

Flashbacks of my past 4.5 years in college come to my mind. Do some research. Read this article. Engage. Connect. Student-centered. Hands-on. Practical assessment. Make it relevant to their lives. Be this kind of teacher. Do this kind of thing. So yes, the answers to all my prior questions exist, but I don’t think I was ever prepared for the emotional fortitude needed to deal with it all at once.

Putting the “Fun” in Fundamental

So on Monday, my Phase 3 starts. A minimum of 20 consecutive days of complete classroom responsibility and control. All classes, all week, all month. I need to find myself again as a teacher and make sure that I am above all:

• Teaching music

• Making it meaningful

• Having fun

Somewhere along the road of handing out flags, sending students to suspension, guilt-tripping the bad behavior, and time-outs I had forgotten what’s important.

I will teach something to these students, they will learn it and do it well, and some of them will find meaning in it and some of them will enjoy it.