INTASC 1 - Knowledge of Subject Matter
The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and the structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.
The first part of this principle basically says, "know what you are teaching." This sounds simple and obvious enough. The second part of this principle basically says, "make it meaningful". These seem like bare minimum requirements of a teacher. In many ways, there is a lot more to teaching than the simplicity of these statements, but in many ways, these guidelines are a great place for any teacher to start with when reflecting upon their personal practice and philosophy or return to when paring down the high demands of this field.
I consider myself as much of a musician as I do an educator. Having the skills I need to conduct, sing, play, arrange, improvise, listen, analyze, etc. at a proficient level gives me the freedom to be a confident and competent educator who can focus on his students and their learning. Staying a page ahead is no way to teach. I have worked tirelessly during my time as an undergraduate to sharpen my vocal skills (I am confident modeling and instructing in any musical genre), my piano skills (to assist in the learning of new music and accompaniment), my ear training (to assess and diagnose issues within a choral ensemble), and many other musical skills. I also have excelled in music theory and history, soaking in these subjects to make informed musical decisions and build curriculum plans around.
Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance grounds my teaching philosophy, as I have become a comprehensive musician through my own performance experiences. Creating meaningful content will be done by synthesizing my knowledge of and skills in music performance, theory, and history to allow students to create, perform, and listen within the three learning domains. I always have and will continue to seek out new musical opportunities for growth. The more uneasy they make me, the better I become, for myself and my students. Whether it was traveling around the country by myself to attend a professional choral directors conference, being a first time musical director with over 50 kids, or always branching out as a musician into opera, rap, country, jazz, or whatever, I am always exploring and jumping at the chance to say "yes!"
I consider myself as much of a musician as I do an educator. Having the skills I need to conduct, sing, play, arrange, improvise, listen, analyze, etc. at a proficient level gives me the freedom to be a confident and competent educator who can focus on his students and their learning. Staying a page ahead is no way to teach. I have worked tirelessly during my time as an undergraduate to sharpen my vocal skills (I am confident modeling and instructing in any musical genre), my piano skills (to assist in the learning of new music and accompaniment), my ear training (to assess and diagnose issues within a choral ensemble), and many other musical skills. I also have excelled in music theory and history, soaking in these subjects to make informed musical decisions and build curriculum plans around.
Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance grounds my teaching philosophy, as I have become a comprehensive musician through my own performance experiences. Creating meaningful content will be done by synthesizing my knowledge of and skills in music performance, theory, and history to allow students to create, perform, and listen within the three learning domains. I always have and will continue to seek out new musical opportunities for growth. The more uneasy they make me, the better I become, for myself and my students. Whether it was traveling around the country by myself to attend a professional choral directors conference, being a first time musical director with over 50 kids, or always branching out as a musician into opera, rap, country, jazz, or whatever, I am always exploring and jumping at the chance to say "yes!"
Artifact 1 (Choral Library)
My choral library is one of my favorite organizational tools. It is an ever increasing database of repertoire for all different levels of choral groups. It identifies the basic identifying information of each composition, but then delves much deeper and identifies musical skills and concepts that can be taught through the piece as well as potential problems. It will help me choose repertoire that is appropriate for a choir's skill level, performance occasion, physical vocal development, and more. This library will serve as my guide to choosing repertoire that will allow me to teach diverse musical concepts, history, and style and develop students into comprehensive musicians.
Artifact 2 (Musical Production Plan)
This project required me to plan out the whole production of a high school musical. Using the show "Bye Bye Birdie", I constructed a production timeline, full rehearsal schedule, auditions process and forms, budget, set designs, sounds design, equipment needs, props list, costume and makeup items, and more. A lot goes into the production of any musical "show", be it theatrical or on a different kind of stage. I know how to cover every angle and detail of the process with a budget in mind!