Sharing Insights and Becoming a Resource for Others

The purpose of this post is to articulate a plan for how I can influence and be a resource for other music educators.

How will I share my project with other music educators in informal and formal settings?

The importance of a learning community of professionals prompts me to find ways of collaborating and communicating with my peers, both my project and teaching ideas in general. I would like to be a more active member in such a community. This would include a few different venues. One might be as simple as getting together with my music department and music department staff in my area to workshop my project or to just talk about ideas for learning and improving our teaching. Talking could be in person, during a conference-like setting, or online via email, forum, wiki, blog, etc. This week has made my feelings of isolation as a teacher melt away (though this heat may have helped) and I’m really dreading going back and feeling like I am teaching on an island. I really want to make the extra effort to stay connected with the teachers I have come to know, and be able to bounce ideas off of them as well as be there if they want to run something by me.

A second way might be to attend a bigger conference, or a national convention, participating in workshops etc dedicated to project learning, sharing experiences with other teachers and learning from their experiences. Another way might be to write up a paper about the project and submit it to an educator’s publication.

I am already planning on sharing my project with audience members at a concert during the year, but it could be highlighted in a school newspaper, a local newspaper, or a district newsletter.

Students could also communicate with parents via letters about what they are working on in class and how it will improve their thinking etc.

I could also let students observe my classroom and see how the project works in action, either in person or via webcam.

In any form, communicating about projects, teaching ideas, or ideas in general are important to foster a community of professionals learning together.

How will I publish my project via electronic form for both preservice and inservice music teachers?

I have already been posting on my wiki (wikiminda.wikispaces.com) and here on this blog about what I am working on. I plan to continue sharing my work in this format, I think it is a great and convenient way to share ideas and projects as well as monitor my own progress and thinking. I am willing to share my learning progress and struggles/successes with my peers, and hope they will respond and share thoughts and ideas, as well as have their own ways of sharing information that I can partake in as well.

I’ve also been using a website (mindasmusic.com) now for a year with my private students, and am starting to consider putting more into the private lesson area of sharing ideas as well. I have had the fortune of working with my childhood piano studio teacher, and have learned so much from interacting and observing, and would love to expand that learning to a larger group of fellow piano/private teachers via the internet.

Another thought I was considering was having a side-blog on my experiences in learning to teach beginning band. I’m excited for the process, but I know a lot of teachers that are put into positions where they are teaching outside of their “forte” and are fearful of how they will do. It would be nice to share how I adapt and still teach music, regardless of the medium. It will be interesting to monitor progress, and I would love to get reactions from teachers in similar situations, talk about what we did, what worked, what we want to do, and any thoughts we might have. Again, becoming involved in a learning community.

How does project learning (both its theory and practices) address contemporary learners’ musical interests and social-musical involvements in the 21^st century?

Project learning has the capability of addressing multiple educational goals within a single project. I find truth in what Boss and Krauss say in their opening introduction: “I’ll never go back” [Boss & Krauss, 3]. Once your eyes are opened to the possibilities and value of project learning, it’s near impossible to close them. Here are some reasons why:

Project learning addresses the many roles of music, and allows everyone to experience these roles. Music as listening, Music as creating, Music as performing, Music as an experience, Music as a business. Students explore all areas of music, enriching their musical lives and bringing the meaning they experience outside the classroom into the classroom setting. Project learning involves all learners, from the professional to the passive observer. Each individual experiences music within their own context, revisiting and relearning ideas and concepts in a spiral-like fashion, adding on and deepening the role music plays to them.

Project Learning addresses the needs of the modern learner, adopting and cultivating 21^st century skills and learning dispositions. The outcomes of projects are not limited to the realm of music. Students develop higher levels of thinking, develop communication and cooperation skills, listening and questioning skills, problem solving, persistence, and the ability to think flexibly. Students learn to take responsible risks in a safe environment, learning to think independently while still functioning within a community group. Their creativity, imagination, and innovation are cultivated and inspired through project learning. Students learn to be self-motivated, and self reflective. They learn the value of looking back over their progress to help them gauge the future. To all this, they improve their understanding and use of technology in the modern world. [Habits of Mind, 30-31].

Project Learning Creates Generativity, Vibrancy, and Residue.

Generativity is the music or educational experience that has the “ability to produce, originate or generate additional or new experiences” [Campbell, Thompson, & Barrett, 2010] The students learn within the ‘need to know’ rather than the ‘told to know.’ Vibrancy is the “educational experiences that resonate with personal meaning and musical significance.” [Campbell, Thompson, & Barrett, 2010] It is the engagement of the mind and the hands on/minds on environment that stays with the student. “Residue is the ‘stuff’ that remains after an experience is over or long gone.” [Campbell, Thompson, & Barrett, 2010] It can be positive or negative, and may remain for life. We want to create positive residue that resonates with them for life, prompting them to seek out and experience music in new ways, far beyond the school classroom.

Project learning prepares students and teachers for the future of teaching. It revisits and re-invents what “preparing our students for tomorrow” means? The amount of knowledge in the world is ever growing, increasing in speed through the global network. Students can no longer survive on memorization of facts and regurgitation of information bits. The idea of project learning helps students to not only learn the information, but to incorporate self-motivation and empowerment in their everyday lives. It teaches them to seek out and solve questions of today’s world, and helps them prepare to solve the unknowns of what tomorrow may bring.