My Classroom Management Philosophy

 

      As a Music educator, I aim to value the individual learning styles of my students and optimize their potential by providing music activities that stimulate kinesthetic, visual and auditory learners, alike.  Although music education naturally lends itself to a multi-sensory experience, my approach aims to help students come to understandings about music theory and performance skills in numerous ways.

     Music class should be both a fun and academic environment that stimulates creativity and encourages risk-taking and independence within an environment of high expectations and teacher encouragement. It is my belief that students will flourish if the teacher not only provides quality repertoire and instruction, but also consistent and clear goals for both behavior and music learning targets.

     Rules and expectations for learning should be clearly articulated, revisited often, and represent a mutual contract of respect, responsibility, safety, honesty, and caring, in the effort to maximize learning and encourage participation. Students should have an active role in understanding the goals of the learning community, but also the impact of poor choices in respect to grades and success of the class.

      Also, my role as a music educator not only includes aspects of the student teacher relationship, but also frequent communication between homeroom teachers, administrators, parents, and other school professionals. I believe that the education of every child is a team effort that begins first with collaboration and communication.

     Whether this communication takes the form of parent to teacher phone calls, consultations with school psychologists and SPED instructors or planning sessions with other teachers, I will use all human resources in the school community to increase my effectiveness as a teacher.