The more I prepare for my ultimate goal of becoming a teacher, the more I realize that I was preparing for such a career since fifth grade. It isn't that I wanted to become a teacher that long, in fact that is a very new development in my life, and I kinda fell into it by chance. Well it wasn't even a thought until my chemistry professor at the county college I attended for a semester suggested it. Actually he merely said that a teaching certification would be a great backup to whatever I decided to do with mathematics. I took his advice, but a short year and a half later, that was were my sights were set.
You are probably wondering that if I haven't wanted to be a teacher since fifth grade, how have I been preparing for that career since then!? It was in fifth grade where I picked up my first instrument, and being in the school band was something I did until I graduated high school, as well as being in the marching band starting in eighth grade. This brings me to the whole point of this entry; teaching has consistently reminded me of music.
When listening to a composition, whether it is the classical music that you tend to play in school bands or songs from pretty much any genre; there is an intro, a build up. As the listener feels the beat, and gets into the song, a transition occurs and we get into the meat of the piece. In a song the singer will come in and bring in the lyrical aspect of the tune, many instrumentals add more instruments and change the sound. Yet there is a familiar backdrop, a consistent theme through out. This could be a repeated melody, or the chorus of the song, either way the tune comes back to the main theme. Lastly there is an outro that sums up the song and brings it to a close.
Lets think of the our times back in school. How did the class start!? The teacher poses a question or gives out a "DoNow" and you get started into the rhythm of the class. Then there is a transition from quiet seat work into the main instruction. The teacher (like the singer) joins into the orchestration and takes the "DoNow" work and weaves it into the main lesson and sets the theme for the class. The students find out the topic that they will learn and the teacher will show the ideas and land back to the main topic. Then the lesson covers something additional, and the teacher brings it back to the main idea, the chorus. Lastly as time starts running low, the teacher brings the class to a close by summing up the main ideas and letting the students leave with a conclusion.
But there is one thing wrong with that comparison, there is more to music then it's organization, the volume and tempos make enormous contributions to the song. Where are these seen in the teacher's lesson? Tempo is easier to see, cause it directly relates to the pace of the lesson it self. how fast do you go through this idea, how long does it stay at that pace, is the whole lesson the same pace or do you change it up for different topics. These subtle differences are needed if the teacher expects to keep the students engaged.
Volume of a song is related to how the teacher delivers the instruction. I don't mean the volume of speech necessarily. I mean think about it, how weird would it be for the teacher start talking with a whisper and slowly increase their volume to shouting. It wouldn't make much sense. However, the teacher will need to make variations in their speech, who wants to listen to Mr. Monotone!
The different instruments of the song is like the different teaching techniques and tools the teacher can use. Should the topic be taught with lecture, group work, maybe have the class act something out...(to name a few ideas).
And the teacher is the conductor who coordinates all the aspects of the "band" into one coherent fluid idea, one lesson. The effective teachers use the various styles and techniques to create variety and excitement in each lesson. Their students may dislike some "songs" the teacher "composes", but none should hate them all. A challenge that I can only work toward accomplishing.
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