Music teacher

I'm taking a break from studying for an assignment for my online class.

I spent some time this afternoon processing with Dawn about what being a music teacher could be like. I often wonder:

• What kind of band director will I be?
  
• How will I treat the students?
• Will they think I'm funny?
  
• Will they think I am really uncool?
• Is it possible to have the kind of instrumental music program that I'm hoping for or will I lose my sense of idealism after a couple of years?
• Can I be a better band director than the one I had in high school?
• Am I going to have time for family and church activities, or will I end up working my butt off and get burned out?
• Will it take me a while to get over looking stupid in front of a crowd?
• Do I have the confidence that it takes to teach?
• Will this be a career that I stick with for decades or will I only last a couple of years? The odds are not in my favor.
• Am I organized enough to do this job or will I fumble my way through and pray that students get something out of it?

I guess mostly I'm wondering, "do I have what it takes?" I will never know until I give it a shot. Most of my friends who have been in band or know anything about music think that I would do a really great job, and I don't necessarily think they are wrong. I'm starting to become eager at the chance to get in front of a classroom and really put to work all of my ideas. I have no doubt that it is much harder than it looks and it will be a while before I'm comfortable in the role.
Here are my predictions so far:

• What kind of band director will I be? Probably a lot like my high school band director, Mr. Cruse (pictured right), but less hard-working and perfectionistic about some things. Hopefully, I'll live a more well-rounded life than he. Mr. Cruse didn't have a wife or family and often spent 60-80 hours working per week.

• How will I treat the students? I will probably treat them with lots of respect and will try never to yell, shame, or guilt them into cooperation. The worst I imagine being towards them is a little passive-aggressive and unclear about my intentions.

• Will they think I'm funny? Sometimes.

• Will they think I am really uncool? Yes, but maybe that won't matter.

• Is it possible to have the kind of instrumental music program that I'm hoping for or will I loose my sense of idealism after a couple of years? A. I'm sure its possible, but I might lose some of my idealism. But, hey, a guy's gotta have goals, yes?
  

• Can I be a better band director than the one I had in high school? I think so.
  

• Am I going to have time for family and church activities, or will I end up working my butt off and get burned out? I think both might happen sometime in my career. The danger is making teaching an idol in my life. We'll have to see about this one.
  

• Will it take me a while to get over looking stupid in front of a crowd? Most definitely, but its good for me.

• Do I have the confidence that it takes to teach? Yes, I have a great education and lots of support.
  

• Will this be a career that I stick with for decades or will I only last a couple of years? The odds are not in my favor. I think that if the organization and time factors don't overwhelm me in the first couple of years, than I can imagine sticking with it for a long time.
  

• Am I organized enough to do this job or will I fumble my way through and pray that students get something out of it? Not sure.
  

I know God's got things under control in this area. The prospect of being a teacher is becoming more and more real, however, so my need to trust him is also more real these days. Thanks for reading. Time to go back to working on my assignment.

Literacy in music class?

I don't have time to write this morning because I have an assignment due today by midnight for my Content Area Reading online course. I thought it might be fun to post my prereading activity, for your enjoyment (or not). Please feel free to comment. My question to you is this: do any of these activities sound like they could actually be applied in the classroom?

PREREADING ACTIVITY

Before you read, write down 3 to 5 ways you can activate and assess the degree and accuracy of your students' prior knowledge on a topic specific to your discipline. Email the topic and the suggestions to your instructor.

1. As an introduction to a general music course: Consider this quote displayed on the wall of a prominent German opera house:

Bach gave us God's word.
Mozart gave us God's laughter.
Beethoven gave us God's fire.
God gave us music so that we might pray without words.

Give examples from what you already know about these composers for how these descriptions are accurate and why.

Example: Bach and God's word:

Low level of appreciation might be that Bach used text in his music that was taken from the bible.

Medium level of appreciation might be that Bach composed church masses, oratorios, and sacred cantatas.

High appreciation level would substantiate specifics such as how Bach wrote 300 cantatas containing Biblical text (in the vernacular) while in Leipzig, Germany, three masses, and two passion-oratorios which were similar to Italian opera, but with sacred text as the subject instead of secular.

2. In a concert band rehearsal after sight-reading a programmatic piece: This piece of music is programmatic, meaning that it was composed to illustrate, in musical terms, a specific storyline. Before I read the story to you, write down some ideas you have for what this story is about. Be specific; include measure numbers to correspond with your events.

Low level of appreciation for the piece might include a general description of the character of the piece and the mood with an event or two.

Medium level of appreciation for the piece could include more specific characters and situations, linking them to each section in the music, perhaps drawing a connection to real-life experiences or other literature of the time.

High level of appreciation for the piece would demonstrate a summary of the actual storyline for which the piece was composed and any other literary devices, the piece's general form, and some background knowledge of the composer.

3. Again in a concert band rehearsal, when learning a piece by Dimitri Shostakovich: Write down everything you already know about this composer. If you have no prior knowledge, feel free to speculate based on they way this piece sounds to you.

Low level of appreciation might include knowledge that Shostakovich was a twentieth-century, Russian composer.

Medium level of appreciation for Shostakovich might be that he wrote operas, symphonies (11), band repertoire, that he was born in 1906 and died in 1975, and that the general character of his pieces ranges from very cold and dark to funny and sarcastic.

High level of appreciation would be able to name several of his works and know a lot of biographical information such as his experience under Stalin and the Soviet regime in Russia and how it stifled Shostakovich's artistry because they forced him to write patriotic pieces under the threat of death.

Google game, etc.

Dawn forwarded me this really fun game this morning:

Rules: Google Game: Go to Google and type in quotation marks your name and then "likes to" (eg. "Georgina likes to"). Type in the first ten things that come up and repost in your own note.

1. Justin Likes To Say Hi.
2. Justin likes to do graffitis and Jonathan fully supports this.
3. Justin likes to watch basketball, but his favorite thing to do is swim.
4. Justin likes to write poetry and fix and build computers.
5. Justin likes to play soccer and swimming is his favorite summertime activity.
6. Justin likes to play with his rattles and vibrating toys.
7. Justin likes to go snowmobiling and they also go to Keystone, Colorado whenever they can to go snowboarding and skiing.
8. Justin likes to be busy and does not like sitting without anything to do.
9. Justin likes to play pool at his house with friends.

And my personal favorite:
10. Justin likes to color, draw, play outside, look for bugs (especially roly polies and lady bugs), and play video games on his Game Cube.

Also, I'm obsessed with weather. I woke up this morning to the sound of thunder and it was still dark outside at 7:00. I got up to open the blinds and saw the lightning and was quite excited. Of course, the first thing I did was log on to weather.com to look at the radar. I love watching the storm approaching and seeing its path. Or maybe I just love all the pretty colors. Anyway, I did all of this before taking my bath. Dawn noted that there are few things that will get me excited enough to do before I get clean in the morning. Lately it has been the weather and a finished Drum Corps DVD. I am a total dork, but at least my wife thinks I'm cool.