Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Expectations
I have noticed during my many years in music education both as a student and now as a teacher, that there are varying degrees of expectations. Some music directors have very high demands for students while others simply want the students to have fun and enjoy music and not worry too much about having the best band in the region. Some music teachers are very competitive and judge their program's success on winning awards. Other music teachers are philosophically against competition and stay away from contests. Some music teachers have high expectations in certain areas of their program, for example their marching band, but don't have as high of standards in other areas, say for instance jazz band.
The past few years, I have given my expectations for students more thought. I have considered these thoughts above in trying to do what I feel is both best for the students and what fits best for my teaching style. I have noticed that my expectations for musical success need to be raised. And when thing came to me today as I was focusing on raising my standards: both your level of fulfillment and level of frustration go up. You look at the student that you inspired by telling her how good she is sounding and that you are going to give her more advanced music to work on. You get an e-mail later in the day from her mom thanking you because they were just having the conversation at home about wanting to be more challenged which would lead to more motivation. As a teacher, there is nothing better than watching that all happen. Then there is the student that lets you down because you tried to raise the standards, and she didn't take those steps with you. I wonder that had I just let her keep music in that small level of importance in her life if both she and I would have been just fine to leave it as is. Instead we both walk away frustrated.
I guess I come back full circle in thinking that is why we have teachers that have different levels of expectations. If a student has a ton of motivation and potential, the bar needs to be raised. If the student just wants to play in the band a couple days a week, never practice but have music be a part of their lives for those couple hours, is there anything wrong with that? That student is not going to progress very quickly and is never going to be an outstanding musician, but if that student is learning to appreciate music and is enjoying it, how much do we push as a teacher?
So is the gain in fulfillment worth the gain in frustration? What do you think?
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You just summed it up beautifully Eric! If there really was a right answer there would be no need for good teachers...anyone could do the job. You, however, are a good teacher and I would presume you will struggle with the "right" answer every day. Keep doing what you are doing!
ReplyDeleteI don't know why it came up as "mommy". Sorry?? Jess Zaback
DeleteI think that part of our expectations for students hinges on what we as teachers believe they can accomplish and how high we set the bar for them. As an ESL Teacher, I am working with my students on the basics of Content Area Academic English that they NEED to succeed in school. I need to continually push my students to do better and I need to be the voice in their head telling them they can take it to the next level and expand on what they are doing. I work to continually learn new things myself in order to try to sharpen my teaching skills. It is an ongoing process of learning it seems. When I stop to consider our other specials classes, though...art, music, and phy ed, do all students need to be pushed to the next level or should these disciplines be treated differently? I think we need to allow for diverse abilities but I don't think we should give out false praise and call it a day. I think there is a part of a great teacher that always wants to push his/her students to the next level.
ReplyDeleteSo, Jess I've always wondered this about science in 6th grade. When you start getting a feel for which students really like science and are highly motivated, what extra opportunities to you give these kids? And Kara, I know that we all have kids at a varying level of ability in our classrooms, but I would think you would have some huge differences in your classes ranging from being very fluent in English to hardly knowing the language. How are you able to give each student what they need while keeping the entire class engaged?
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