Final Reflection on my personal goal
I have always seen music as a vehicle to teach every subject, from math to social studies and history and art. I do not always agree with my colleagues, who believe, most of them, that music is a language that should be taught, and taught exclusively, as a separate and distinct subject, without combining it or connecting it to anything else. That makes sense, perhaps, (although I still don’t agree) in a vocal performance class or an instrumental class, but in a class that has been titled “general music” it is unfair to believe that music is unconnected to all the other subjects, or should be separated from them.
I share my opinion here, because although all my SMART goals this year reflect my opinion on this subject, and reflect the school-wide initiatives of asking and answering questions, and reading and writing across the curriculum, I have felt pressure, intense and uncomfortable even at times, from my colleagues, who believe I am “diluting” my program. They do not support in any way my projects that include writing about Aaron Copland’s life and his role and requirements of a musician, despite the fact that it is one of the Maine learning results. They do not support my longtime, ever-changing, complex and all-encompassing opera project, that creates a place for many types of learners, and allows creativity to work hand in hand with music technique, and allows for cooperation with a partner, and for imagination as well as history, drama, art, dance and language, both English and musical literacy. I do not complain about this, but I feel pulled and splintered at times, and wonder where my focus SHOULD be. I believe I am exciting and engaging my students, and I believe they are getting what they need to be successful in the next years of their classes, both in music and other disciplines. On the other hand, in several meetings in the last many years teaching at this school, I have been challenged and, recently, berated about my work in these areas. I used to do so much more writing, I want to tell them, I used to have music journals that I read closely, and graded on their thoughtfulness and use of musical language. I do not have the time now, and I let those go, because I was pressured into doing more music theory, note learning, and rhythm assignments.
I share all this because I want to know from the administration where their philosophy begins and where I can find a more comfortable place in my work. I want to be continuing the support that I believe is essential to the other disciplines, because if a student can write about music, that student can write about anything. I want to continue doing dance projects that utilize a student’s imagination and get them moving around the room, and I want to continue having students work together on creating a story that could be turned into a musical play. I don’t want, on the other hand, to create animosity with my colleagues, and I don’t want to be in a confrontational place with any of them. I am hoping there is some kind of happy medium where music teachers feel so secure about their work that they can see the connections between what they do and what all the other teachers in this school do.
