PHILOSOPHY
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
In education, I believe in equality, equity, and embracing the whole person. Student perspectives and personal learning strategies help me to guide course instruction. Instruction is approached through a humanistic lens that aims to create a classroom culture built upon trust and community. My classroom instruction strives to establish emotionally supportive learning environments where students are inspired to take academic risks while knowing they are safe and valued. Students are awarded autonomy, independence, and opportunities for ownership within their education. I actively seek current pedagogical practices (including utilizing technology to enhance instruction) and implement them into course instruction.
While music education could be rationalized through a functional lens, the subject of MUSIC wields tremendous praxial and independent value. The curricula in my courses, as well as the repertoire in my ensembles, are culturally responsive to the contemporary needs of society. A variety of learning activities provide students many pathways to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for each class and ensemble. When students experience education in a deep and meaningful way, the capacity for learning is at its greatest.
I am passionate about music making, but more passionate about watching my students succeed. I love what I do and I love to learn along with my students.
LEARNING PHILOSOPHY
The process of learning is an incredibly diverse and complex experience that requires a harmonious blend of cognitive, social, physical, and emotional aspects. Educators are charged with the task of developing a diverse array of learning activities in order to reach an incredibly diverse classroom of learners. As society continues to rapidly progress, acquiring knowledge must also adapt to the changing times. Educators must be cognizant of their teaching practices in order to engage their learners. As a lifelong learner, implementing informal learning, connectivism, and bridging the gap between informal and formal learning experiences while being cognizant of my values will allow me to stay relevant and innovative in the field of music education.
Boileau (2018) defines informal learning as “embedded learning activities that are linked to performance, in the setting of one’s everyday life.” Informal learning champions the individual learner’s capacity to self-direct. Self-direction provides both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and helps to motivate me as an educator and conductor. Many educators have embraced a prescriptive approach to delivering instruction which limits space for learners to self-direct. Instead, educators should be cognizant of their lessons allowing students the opportunity for emergent experiences. Regarding an emergent approach to teaching, Eisner (2002) states that, “the teacher’s task is to be sensitive to the flow of events and to the student’s engagement in those events in order to make appropriate adjustments and, indeed invent activities that are appropriate to the students” (p. 152). Incorporating emergent experiences may empower my students providing them greater autonomy and agency with the course materials. Furthermore, Hess (2019) describes critical pedagogy as active learning, calling upon learners to, “dialogue with each other and with the teacher to co-construct knowledge while fully accounting for learners’ social context” (p. 15). Learners will be provided autonomy during informal learning and therefore become a reflective practitioner—an essential element of learning (Coutts, 2019).
“Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories” (Siemens, 2018). Once upon a time, knowledge gained during higher education used to serve a person throughout their entire career. Times have changed and knowledge can quickly become obsolete. Connectivism allows the learner to synthesize and implement information that could better serve their profession. Learners gain autonomy with the how and what they learn and therefore tailor their learning experiences for their individual goals. Collaboration is a key element in connectivism and a person’s professional learning network will provide an incredible amount of informational resources (Markam, 2018). Those who employ connectivism in their profession may acquire greater efficiency through the implementation of current/best practices in their respective fields.
Fostering lifelong learners require educators to bridge the gap between informal and formal learning (Bull et al, 2008). As a learner, I find that I learn best when provided space to apply knowledge gained from formal education towards informal situations. These scenarios are often full of struggle. Productive struggle suggest that students grow when provided opportunities to struggle (Gersteid, 2019). This concept of allowing students to navigate through a problem provides students necessary critical thinking skills that can positively impact their capacity to overcome future struggles and challenges. Productive struggle also leads to self-regulated learners. In the text book How People Learn II: Learners, Context, and Cultures, it explains that "when learners are self-regulated, they have more control over the strategies and behaviors they use to learn. Self-regulation allows them to more effectively direct their cognitive activity by voluntarily setting learning goals, identifying methods for achieving them, actively pursuing those methods, and tracking progress toward the goals." When students have more agency in their learning, they have the opportunity to deeply connect with the course content which results in a deeper and more meaningful learning experience.
Another strategy to bridge informal and formal learning is to understand the lives of students and connect learning strategies rooted in their perspective—this includes the high-frequency use of social media. Students engage in social media outside of the formal classroom. Bridging the formal/informal learning gap requires educators to connect with the students in the manner in which they feel most comfortable engaging in. Employing social media in curricula can produce greater student engagement and positive student outcome. The current generation that is experiencing both public school and higher education are often described as digital natives and the evolving process of learning music must use technology in order to accomplish deeper and meaningful learning experiences.
What also guides the development of my learning philosophy are the values that I have acquired throughout my life. I have always maintained a deep investment in the emotional-wellness of my students. As a student myself, it was critically important that the learning environment is safe and welcoming to everyone regardless of color, creed, gender, beliefs, or talent level. Learning in a welcoming and supportive environment rooted in empathy develops trust between teacher and student allowing for greater academic success (Markham, 2019). Establishing this relationship of trust and community in an online environment has its challenges. Throughout the semester, the ice breakers and the productive conversations have created a sense of community among the students regardless of a fully remote model.
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the Latin translation for education is educere which literally translates: “to bring forth from within.” As a learner, I want to control and empowerment with the content I am learning so that I can bring forth from within. Reflecting on my perspective as a learner will inform my teaching practice. This semester has presented me with new ideas that will guide my pedagogical approach as an educator. During my lesson planning, I will be intentional in creating opportunities of productive struggle while bridging the gap between formal and informal learning. Furthermore, I will foster lifelong learners through connectivism by assisting in the development of their professional learning network.
References
Boileau, T. (2018). Boileau, T. (2018). Informal Learning. In R. E. West (Ed.), Foundations of learning and instructional design technology. EdTech Books. Retrieved from https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/informal_learning
Bull, G., Thompson, A., Searson, M., Garofalo, J., Park, J., Young, C., & Lee, J (2008). Connecting informal and formal learning: Experiences in the age of participatory media. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 8(2). Retrieved from
Coutts, N. (2019, June 9). Realising the benefits of reflective practice. The Learner’s Way. Retrieved September, 22, 2020, from https://thelearnersway.net
Eisner, E. W. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. Yale University Press.
Hess, J. (2019). Music education for social change: Constructing an activist music education. Routledge.
Kimmons, R. (2020). Lifelong learning. In A. Ottenbreit-Leftwich & R. Kimmons (Eds.), The K-
12 Educational Technology Handbook. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/k12handbook/lifelong_learning
Siemens, G. (2018). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. In A. Ottenbreit-Leftwich & R. Kimmons (Eds.), The K-12 Educational Technology Handbook. EdTech Books. Retrieved from https://edtechbooks.org/k12handbook/connectivism
Markham, T. (2018, January). In our connected world, what if empathy is learning? KQED. Retrieved September 12, 2020, from https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/49934/in-our-connected-world-what-if-empathy-is-learning
Online Etymology Dictionary. (n.d.). https://www.etymonline.com/word/educate
