Welcome to the October NewsLink!

from your friends at MENC

October is a great month for enjoying the beautiful fall leaves, dressing up in crazy costumes, and ... celebrating National Arts and Humanities Month on your campus!

This month’s feature article explains how to use journaling to maximize your student-teaching experience. Read on to learn about the challenges one first-year teacher faced, including budgets, classroom management, administration, and balancing teaching with personal time.

As always, if you have comments, questions, or would like to share your chapter’s activities or recruitment strategies with us for publication in a future issue, e-mail annew@menc.org.

Happy Halloween!

Journaling: A Student Teacher’s Lifeline

Norma McClellan, Ph.D., is a professor and coordinator of music education at Missouri State University, where she specializes in elementary general music teacher preparation. McClellan has served as faculty advisor to the MSU CMENC chapter for 14 years and is immediate past Southwest Division CMENC chair and past CMENC chair for the Missouri MEA. A former music teacher in Springfield Public Schools, she is the recipient of several teaching awards and numerous grants.

 
The adage “learn from your mistakes” propels many individuals into productive, successful lives and prevents the unproductive cycle of repeating errors. A lengthened version of the adage for educators might read, “Learn from your mistakes, your surroundings, your students, your coworkers …” That list could get pretty lengthy, but the point is: observe, experience, and adjust! In 1803, noted educator and psychologist Donald Schon coined the term “reflective practice” for such behaviors. The process involves studying our own teaching methods and determining what best facilitates students’ learning.

Keeping a written account of teaching experiences provides a thread of continuity for measuring progress. Journaling can be a way of expressing frustration, celebrating success, describing teaching strategies that worked or failed, and pondering adjustments for future lessons. Typically, preservice teachers learn about journaling early in their teacher preparation courses and continue to practice it throughout their student teaching assignment.

The purposes of journal-writing include:*

• To encourage active rather than passive classroom observation by the student teacher

• To ensure that the student teacher observes and records information about teaching techniques, student behaviors, students’ individual differences, and routine procedures for future reference

• To reinforce both effective and ineffective techniques and teaching procedures

• To encourage student teachers to record suggestions and comments provided by supervising teachers

• To encourage student teachers to engage in active self-evaluation of their own techniques and classroom behaviors

*From the Missouri State University Student Teaching Handbook, authored by supervisors in the Field Experiences Department of the School of Teacher Education.

Observation skills are essential for preservice teachers to absorb the dynamics of the classroom environment. According to the book Prelude to Music Education (2003), “ ... active engagement of all sensory modalities—hearing, seeing, feeling and smelling is necessary so that the observer is able to gather information about the classroom that is as holistic as possible” (Erwin, Edwards, Kerchner, & Knight, 2003, p. 8). Student teachers must observe not only the model teacher, but also the classroom setup and the students’ behaviors and responses. Erwin points out the following specific facets to focus on while observing

• Physical arrangement of the classroom, including lighting and ventilation.
   
• Verbal interactions between students and teacher, including quotes.
   
• Vocal expression and inflection used by the teacher.
   
• Nonverbal communication between students and teacher; facial and body expression, including use of the hands.
   
• Teacher mobility—moving about the room.
   
• Modeling—demonstration of a specific skill or desirable result.
   
• Musical content—composing, improvising, singing, playing, listening, moving, reading, analyzing, or critiquing. 

Effective and ineffective teaching techniques modeled by the cooperating teacher should be recorded and explained in your reflective journal. The description provides you, the prospective teacher, with a memory prompt for application (or avoidance) of similar techniques during your own teaching. Noting the instructor’s use of questioning, demonstration, verbal imagery, visuals, and the general pacing of activities will help you plan for successful teaching. Although you should be yourself and not attempt to be a clone of your cooperating teacher, you shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel, either. You can capitalize on and profit from your model teacher’s experience.

Suggestions and comments from supervisors provide you with valuable feedback about your teaching skill and growth. Thoughtful analysis of written feedback and verbal coaching from your cooperating teacher will enhance your development. Use the teacher’s comments and your reflection to guide future lesson planning. This information can help you avoid problems and improve your technique, so analyze and, if appropriate, implement any useful suggestions you receive or discover.

Active self-evaluation should be documented in your reflective journal so that the journal becomes a measurement of your growth and progress. Journaling usually begins in your education classes, and for the highly effective music educators, it continues for a lifetime. The habit of recording your personal teaching experiences and thoughtfully examining the “who, what, why, when, where, and how” of those experiences may be your most effective teaching tool and ultimately, life skill. Assessment is a basic component of every lesson plan. Your reflection on that assessment and evaluation of what goals were met during a lesson is journalworthy whether it’s formal or informal, student-focused or teacher-focused. You may suggest adjustments for future lessons. Such adjustments may include but are not limited to altering your lesson objectives, adding or deleting certain activities, changing the physical arrangement of your room, and/or modifying your assessment strategies.

Reflective journals can provide an objective record of some of our teaching experiences. Teachers must learn to notice and monitor both learning and a myriad of accompanying behaviors. We improve when we identify areas of weakness or strength and adjust to eliminate or increase specific behaviors. Journals are one of the tools to help us identify where adjustments need to be made.
 

References

Erwin, J., Edwards, K., Kerchner, J., & Knight, J. (2003). Prelude to music education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

 

The First Year

Adam Strock is the director of bands at Highland Park and Canyon Rim Elementary Schools in the Gilbert Public School District in Gilbert, Arizona. He earned his bachelor of music with an emphasis in music education from the Arizona State University School of Music. He currently plays tenor saxophone with the Arizona Wind Symphony. Adam and his wife Andrea currently reside in Gilbert, Arizona.

Like many of my peers, I looked forward to my first year of teaching with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Would I be a good teacher? Would my students enjoy band? Would they perform well? The questions running through my mind were endless. When all was said and done, my first year of teaching beginning and intermediate band to 5th- and 6th-grade students was filled with successes and failures—all culminating in a first-year experience that I wouldn’t trade for the world. Each moment provided a unique opportunity to grow as a teacher and improve my students’ classroom experience.

As a first-year teacher, you’re fortunate in that all of the great pedagogical knowledge you’ve acquired over the last few years is still fresh in your mind. I’m going to talk about some areas of teaching that are critical to successful teaching but that don’t necessarily focus on pedagogy.

In the Classroom

Classroom management is one of the biggest factors in determining how successful you and your students will be. What will your policies and procedures be? How will you teach and reinforce these policies and procedures? How will you respond when it all goes wrong anyway (as it inevitably will at some point)? Will you view it as a “bad rehearsal,” or will you view it as a “non-music teaching moment”?

For example, I share my room with the art teacher, so our storage space is very limited. At the beginning of the year, the students were trained on where to store their instruments. At first, the students were great about it! As the year went on, though, they became lazy about instrument storage, and the room became cluttered.

To remind the students about appropriate storage, we spent an entire rehearsal putting instruments in their correct places, taking them out again, and putting them back in again. Though we never played our instruments that day, it was a great “non-music teaching moment.” We never had a problem with instrument storage again that year.

• Use positive reinforcement. As musicians, we are trained to find errors and fix them. To us, this is growth and progress. Pointing out errors to students, however, can be interpreted as a message that they are doing a bad job. Positive reinforcement is much more effective. Point out the good things they are doing. “Susie, you’re doing a great job playing that song! Keep your chin flat and you will sound like a pro!” Susie heard that she was doing a great job. The positive reminder about her chin will greatly improve her clarinet embouchure, and she’s going to be that much more motivated to fix her chin simply because you showed her how much you appreciate her work. Now consider the result if you approach Susie by saying, “Susie, you need to keep your chin flat.” Though there is nothing inaccurate about this statement, Susie would likely interpret it as “Susie, your chin is bad.” Susie would then start to shut down, at which point your instruction fails to impact her. The positive approach, at least for me, has been a much more effective instructional technique than simply finding and fixing errors.
   
• Take time to reflect on your teaching and classroom management. What went well? What didn’t go as well as planned? What would you do differently (if anything)? I kept a simple spiral notebook and made little notes as the year went on, and over the summer, I sat down and reviewed my notes. It didn’t take much time during the school year, and the positive impact has been amazing! See the above article on journaling for more ideas about reflective practice. Modeling is by far the best teaching tool you have, because it accesses all of the varied learning styles—some students do well with written instruction, some do well with verbal instruction, some do well with visual instruction, and some do well simply by trial and error. Modeling reinforces written instruction and encourages students to listen and watch. It is easily coupled with having the students perform a portion of their task, such as air playing and fingerings.
   
• Make sure you model on a variety of instruments. If you always model on clarinet, your clarinets will sound amazing—the rest of your band will not. Modeling demonstrates a good characteristic sound for each instrument and is the most effective way to teach new music concepts like articulations, phrasing, and correct breathing.
   
• Incorporate as many cross-curricular items as you can. For example, my 6th-grade students have a project during the second semester called World Fair. Each student must do a report on an assigned country and develop a presentation on that country. All the 6th-grade students then converge in the multi-purpose room for an evening of country presentations (set up like a science fair). To help support this, I incorporated music from different countries and cultures into the second semester concert program. The students loved it because they could relate to it, and the 6th-grade classroom teachers loved it because I was reinforcing their curriculum. It was a huge success!

Administrative Issues

Organization is paramount to being a successful teacher. Develop a system and stick to it, but don’t be afraid to change the system if it isn’t working. Each of us is different, and we all work in different ways. What works for me may not work for you. My office is probably the most organized space on the face of the earth. Everything has a place, and everything is in its place. Whatever your style is, organization is key. The greatest piece of advice I ever heard about organization was, “Never look at a piece of paper twice.” Never leave work to do tomorrow. It’s only going to stack up.

Budgets are an important part of your job. You are likely to have several different accounts to budget: M & O (maintenance and operations), capital (major purchases such as instruments, music, and equipment), and probably a club account (tax credit money, field trips, student accounts, and fundraising). You will be responsible for all of this. Keep a detailed record of all monetary activities. Never handle school-related cash yourself. Always have the students deposit monies at the front office or at the bookstore. Have students bring you receipts so that you can update your records. Never handle the money personally, never handle the money personally, never handle the money personally. Get the point?

Get to know your principal(s). The principal will be your greatest ally. More important, get to know the principal’s secretary—this is who really controls the school. Make this person your best friend! If you ever have a question, need advice, or need a purchase order pushed through quickly, this is your number-one go-to person.

Get to know the other members of your department. The other fine arts teachers understand your class more than any other teacher on campus. Eat lunch on campus, and get to know these people on a professional-personal level. This is a great time to get feedback on your teaching and the way you are running your program. No other person on campus can give you the type of feedback these teachers can. This is also a great time to collaborate with other teachers.

Don’t let the horror stories of rotten parents scare you. Most of the parents you will interact with are going to be fantastic. Almost all parents want the same thing you do: they want their children to be successful. Occasionally, you will run into a parent who is simply inappropriate toward you. The best way to handle that situation is to inform the parent that you don’t appreciate the way you are being treated, and you would like to continue the conversation in the presence of the principal.

If you are not making any headway, end the conversation. You don’t deserve to be treated with disrespect. Immediately call or e-mail your principal and explain the encounter, including as many details as you can remember. Your principal will appreciate this a lot more than only hearing the parent’s side of the story, and it will save him/her the frustration of having to track you down to get the other half of the story.

You are going to make mistakes. You’re going to say something in class that you didn’t mean to say, or you’re going to do something you didn’t mean to do. That’s okay. That’s part of learning and growing as a professional. Be up-front about it, and tell your principal right away. Your principal will understand and will appreciate hearing about the incident from you first, rather than from a parent or student.

Personal-Professional Issues

Be flexible. Things are going to happen that are out of your control. Getting upset or trying to stick to your guns is a waste of time and is only going to make it worse for you.

My biggest panic moment was when one of my 6th-grade percussionists did not show up to the winter concert. Of course, this was also the student who was playing snare on the most difficult song of the night, and the other two percussionists were not familiar enough with the part. There is always a plan B even if you did not plan for a plan B. I had my wife play the snare part on that song, and it went fine.

Take advantage of your school and/or district’s staff development opportunities, especially pertaining to special education students. I didn’t have any special education training prior to graduating from college; I really wish I’d had some. I had three high-functioning autistic students my first year of teaching. I participated in my district’s staff development program and took some special education classes with a special focus on autistic students. It helped me tremendously.

Join a community performing ensemble. I play with the Arizona Wind Symphony, and it provides me with a great opportunity to keep up my chops and interact with other musicians—many of whom are also music teachers. Playing in an ensemble also gives you a great supply of music to practice before or after school. When your students see you practice, it motivates them to practice!
 

The Work/Life Balance

Find time for yourself. Being a music teacher is not a job; it’s a lifestyle. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in your teaching that you don’t allot time for yourself. Find time to do stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with teaching. I love to read, for instance, so I set aside reading time every night. My wife and I enjoy working out, so we set aside time every morning to work out. Friday night is date night for my wife and me. It’s very, very easy to get so wrapped up in your teaching that you run out of time each day to do anything else. However, I strongly urge you to make time for yourself.

My first year of teaching was a great experience and I hope that some of the items that I presented help you to have a great first-year experience as well. Good luck!
 

Member Benefit Spotlight

MENC’s “Ask the Mentors” Forum

Do you have music education questions? MENC’s mentors have the answers!

Each month from September to May, the “Ask the Mentors” forum features a different mentor for band, orchestra, chorus, general music, and mariachi. The mentors are veteran teachers who provide advice in response to your teaching questions. Visit www.menc.org/mentors to post questions and read responses.
 

Meet the October mentors:

Band mentor Kevin Mixon teaches instrumental music at Blodgett K–8 School, Syracuse City Schools, New York. His ensembles consistently earn the highest ratings at regional festivals and are widely recognized for achievement. He regularly presents clinics and in-services internationally, including at The International Society for Music Education Convention and MENC events. Kevin is also an accomplished composer and arranger, with several acclaimed works for band and orchestra available through Alfred Publishing. 
 

Orchestra mentor Jeffrey Anderson is a high-school band director; his responsibilities include concert, jazz, competition field band, and winter guard. He is also a general music classroom teacher, grades preK–8, and a middle school chorus director. He has been an educator for 43 years and is the recipient of the New Jersey “Best Practices in Education Award.” Jeff serves as a professional music adjudicator for Performing Arts Consultants, a judging affiliate with East Coast Judges Guild, and an adjudicator for fall field band competitions.
 

Chorus mentor Mary Jennings teaches general and vocal music at Hammond Middle School in the Howard County (MD) School System. She also directs four choirs comprising 180 singers at the school. She has written music and choral curriculum at the state and county levels and is an ongoing contributor to the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum Project. She has presented workshops at the state and national levels on a variety of topics such as National Standards in the Arts and Differentiation and Assessment in the Music Classroom.
 

General music mentor Nancy Parent teaches K–2 music in Gunnison, Colorado. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. She has taught music in one way or another since 1981, including public (K–12), private (4–12), voice, piano, and composition. She also has a performing career as an accompanist and singer.
 

Mariachi mentor Mack Ruiz is a founding member of world-renowned Mariachi Cobre, and has been a part of the Orlando, Florida-based Walt Disney World Entertainment along with other founding members of Cobre for 26 years, performing at Epcot and promoting music education nationwide. He is the educational coordinator for the Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference.

Conn-Selmer’s Words of Wisdom

from “Dr. Tim” Lautzenheiser
Executive Director of Education, Conn-Selmer, Inc.

The following quote from the noted philosopher/futurist R. Buckminster Fuller spotlights the important role every teacher plays in the positive growth and development of his/her students. The student-teacher relationship is the gateway to the ultimate learning experience. Here lies an opportunity to explore the unlimited possibilities of the creative mind.

“When the National Science Foundation asked the ‘breakthrough’ scientists what they felt was the most favorable factor in their education, the answer was almost uniformly, ‘Intimate association with a great, inspiring teacher.’”
— R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983)

The recipient of numerous awards, Lautzenheiser is a national spokesperson for MENC: The National Association for Music Education’s “Make a Difference with Music” program. He is also a featured clinician at the Conn-Selmer Institute, the preeminent educational workshop in the music industry. For more information, visit www.csinstitute.org.

 

Current News and Announcements

MENC’s latest specials and news

October Member Special:  Spread the word throughout the year!

The October monthly special features the new 2008 MIOSM memo pads. Use this 5”x8” lined paper with blue border and colorful MIOSM® logo to send notes around the school and through the community to raise awareness of music in your school!

In October only, MENC members can purchase the new MIOSM memo pads (3 per set) for only $3.00! There is a limit of 2 packs per member. No additional purchase is required. Item #6003R. This special is not available at state conference resource shops. Call 800-828-0229, or visit www.menc.org/specials to order. 
 

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month on Your Campus

September 15–October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month! Visit www.menc.org for information on different countries and MENC resources on multicultural music education.

October is National Arts and Humanities Month

Coordinated by Americans for the Arts, National Arts and Humanities Month is the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the nation. Have your campus join the thousands of communities celebrating this year—visit www.americansforthearts.org for ideas on how to take action and participate locally.

October 8–12 is PTA Start the Art Week. PTA recognizes that an arts education is important for students’ cultural and intellectual development and overall achievement. Visit www.pta.org to learn more.

BMI John Lennon Scholarship
Deadline: December 3, 2007

The BMI John Lennon Scholarship is back for 2008! This program offers one $10,000 scholarship and two $5,000 scholarships for original compositions with the broadest popular appeal. For more information, visit www.menc.org or talk to your Collegiate advisor.

Collegiate Chapter of Excellence Award
Deadline: January 1, 2008

In national conference years, MENC awards the Collegiate Membership Chapter of Excellence recognition for successful chapter activities that develop a school’s CMENC program. Activities completed in the 2 years prior to January 1, 2008, are eligible.

To apply, submit a description of your chapter’s project, program, or recruitment technique along with an application form. 

Feeling Stressed?

Try music therapy! Music has proven health benefits, such as
 

• promoting relaxation
• lowering blood pressure
• improving mental state
• reducing the effects of stress, such as muscle tension.
   

Music therapy is increasingly being recognized as an important aspect of health care, and is used as a treatment for diseases and disorders such as cancer and ADD. Read more about music therapy at www.about.com.

Question of the Month

Each month, MENC gets feedback on music education issues from members. October’s questions are about ensembles outsides of school, teaching loads, topics of concern, and the October Teaching Music magazine. Visit www.menc.org/question to contribute.