This past Monday night we had the pleasure of conversing with Luther Alumni who are now teachers in the "real world". There was a 5th grade teacher, high school choir teacher, and a elementary special education teacher. I really appreciated the fact that there was a music teacher in the mix, because I feel like we (as music educators) get forgotten at times.
It was refreshing to hear that not everything is perfect about the profession, but that all three of them are still motivated to continue. Their ideas get shot down a lot, you have to keep your energy up, and are always needing to meet state requirements and expectations.
The most interesting pieces I took from the conversation were their answers to the question:
"What do you wish you knew when you started, that you know now?"
Their answers were as follows:
-Ground work must be layed down first, before you can add emotion.
-Parent Communication is huge!
-Discipline should be building relationships with those students.
-Life affects students, and you have to be involved in that.
These pieces of advice also go hand in hand with what I have been taking to the book "The Freedom Writer's", where Erin Gruwell takes a courageous stand on education in her english classes.
From this panel, I am realizing the best way to learn to teach is to be taught, and to talk TO teachers.
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1 comment:
I also found the answer to that question very interesting and helpful. And I also agree that it was good to hear from an music educator since we don't always get included in every aspect of education, including the NCLB stuff.
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