STANDARD 3: Learning Environments
The teacher works with others to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning, and that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
A music educator needs to be able to build a learning environment that is suitable for ensemble instruction as well as one on one instruction. The classroom should be a place where students are confident creating music with their classmates and have desire to play or sing on their own. As a teacher, it is important to encourage interaction in large groups as well as independence from the group as an individual musician. Students should be presented opportunities to both play and sing on their own to aid in the development of personal motivation.
Music is a very social subject. It requires being able to work and communicate with large groups as well as being suitable for individual instruction. I have some experience with both but know I am capable of expanding my horizons and gaining more experience in relevance to this standard. In the past, I have participated in many ensembles and held a variety of leadership positions. I have had many teaching experienes in other teacher's well established classrooms. When I lead those classes, it has been in one of two settings, either whole class instruction, or a small sectional of 3-8 people. This has limited my personal experiences at this point. As I work in classrooms on a regular basis, I will be a figure that students can more easily interact with. Since my previous time has been one or two visits for 3-6 weeks, my presence is barely established so exploring this standard regularly feels limited.
In my years at Ball State, I have had many courses intended to teach me how to correctly meet this standard in the classroom. These courses are both music related and generally related to education and both will be put to great use. One course that comes to mind is Educational Psychology 350. This course had many objectives for the semester, but part of this curriculum was understanding the different levels students interact and behave at each age group. This class felt like looking at the answers in the back of the book. Although the application of this information won't be anywhere near that simple, this content gave me the understanding needed to better understand each age group and know how to appropriately plan and prepare for each group.
As a secondary general music educator, understanding what environment students need at that stage is important. Middle school students learn best by doing, therefore the classroom should be welcoming when they enter and encourage creative processes. This includes students understanding what creative processes are, but most likely under a different name. The environment is also in regards to the atmosphere of the room, which is determined by their behavior, and the teacher’s expectations. Being the developing creatures they are, adolescents are fickle and can sometimes be intentionally finicky. By dictating simple rules that ask students to be respectful and understanding, a large amount of classroom management issues can be resolved. Students will still have bad days and disregard this, but that comes with the job. Another part of creating the environment is encouraging students to create within lesson. Building a relationship where they understand if the answer a question incorrect, it really is no big deal. Responding in a supportive manner and leading them to the correct answer establishes a routine of independent learning to assist them in becoming more intrinsically motivated.
Revised InTASC Standards (April 2011)
Council of Chief State School Offices. (2011, April). Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards: A Resource for State Dialogue. Washington, DC: Author.
Music is a very social subject. It requires being able to work and communicate with large groups as well as being suitable for individual instruction. I have some experience with both but know I am capable of expanding my horizons and gaining more experience in relevance to this standard. In the past, I have participated in many ensembles and held a variety of leadership positions. I have had many teaching experienes in other teacher's well established classrooms. When I lead those classes, it has been in one of two settings, either whole class instruction, or a small sectional of 3-8 people. This has limited my personal experiences at this point. As I work in classrooms on a regular basis, I will be a figure that students can more easily interact with. Since my previous time has been one or two visits for 3-6 weeks, my presence is barely established so exploring this standard regularly feels limited.
In my years at Ball State, I have had many courses intended to teach me how to correctly meet this standard in the classroom. These courses are both music related and generally related to education and both will be put to great use. One course that comes to mind is Educational Psychology 350. This course had many objectives for the semester, but part of this curriculum was understanding the different levels students interact and behave at each age group. This class felt like looking at the answers in the back of the book. Although the application of this information won't be anywhere near that simple, this content gave me the understanding needed to better understand each age group and know how to appropriately plan and prepare for each group.
As a secondary general music educator, understanding what environment students need at that stage is important. Middle school students learn best by doing, therefore the classroom should be welcoming when they enter and encourage creative processes. This includes students understanding what creative processes are, but most likely under a different name. The environment is also in regards to the atmosphere of the room, which is determined by their behavior, and the teacher’s expectations. Being the developing creatures they are, adolescents are fickle and can sometimes be intentionally finicky. By dictating simple rules that ask students to be respectful and understanding, a large amount of classroom management issues can be resolved. Students will still have bad days and disregard this, but that comes with the job. Another part of creating the environment is encouraging students to create within lesson. Building a relationship where they understand if the answer a question incorrect, it really is no big deal. Responding in a supportive manner and leading them to the correct answer establishes a routine of independent learning to assist them in becoming more intrinsically motivated.
Revised InTASC Standards (April 2011)
Council of Chief State School Offices. (2011, April). Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards: A Resource for State Dialogue. Washington, DC: Author.