The newly minted teacher LOVES music. Music is a very important part of his life, although he does not play any instruments. In his early childhood, his caregivers used music to teach him new vocabulary, how to move gracefully, and how to cooperate with others. So, when he arrived at his first teaching placement and found out that the school had its own contract-out music teacher, he was devastated. "You mean I'm not allowed to teach my class the 'Reindeer Gallop' for the Winter Pageant?!" he cried.
Reflection
Hackett and Lindeman write, "Most educators believe that the best instructional format is one in which music specialists have the primary responsibility for teaching music but work in close collaboration with classroom teachers, who have the unique opporuntity to make music a part of the daily life of the students and integrate music into the total curriculum" ("I Music in the Elementary School Classroom" in The Musical Classroom: Backgrounds, Models, and Skills for Elementary Teaching 7th. Ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall 2007.)
Reading this segment caused me to reflect on both the worth of specialist and generalist educators, and on the importance of an integrated curriculum. Why do schools hire specialist music and visual arts teachers but not literacy or numeracy experts? Is it appropriate to plan lessons in discreet subjects, as we have been doing in our methods courses or would it be more appropriate to plan interdisciplinary projects? Is the specialist teacher more capable of developing lessons to cognitive abilities?
Text
During the last term, we studied the foundations of educational history and philosophy, discussing topics such as "Critical vs. Creative thinking", "Is Every Subject Appropriate for Every Student?", and "Who is a Good Teacher?" As I began reading this textbook for our music education class, I saw the need to revisit some of these topics. I think that Hackett and Lindeman's ideal general classroom teacher can take courses to develop cognitively and apprentice-teach or participate in workshops to develop psycho-motor skills, but also needs time and fora to maintain ongoing professional dialogue to renew his or her affective competence.
Major Concepts
Musical Training prepares the teacher to set specific goals for students. According to Hackett and Lindeman, it is not enough for a teacher to be familiar with a body of knowledge. He or she must also have gained some mastery in the symbols system of the subject to be taught. The teacher's role (in any discipline), is not merely to prepare students for the performative aspects of life, but to familiarize the student with the texts, symbols, and abstract notions of that subject. This should enable the student to solve problems independently (of the teacher). A teacher will recognize when a student is an effective problem-solver when he or she works with a team, listens carefully, and demonstrates sensitivity to the aesthetic qualities of the subject.
Developmental Theory should dictate to the teacher how he or she should plan, structure, and evaluate lessons. Hackett and Lindeman have prepared this text specially for students of elementary education and their instructors, however I think that an educator will encounter differential abilities among any group of learners. Differential ability is complicated by differential aptitude. Hackett and Lindeman argue that people have giftings in spatial, kinaesthetic, linguisitic, logical-mathematical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligence. The role of the specialist teacher is to develop musical intelligence, but the generalist is equally important in using music to have each individual reach his or her potential through disciplined study.
Quality of Life, through a matured sense of "self-worth", is thus the ultimate goal of music education, according to Hackett and Lindeman. The teacher should facilitate critical thinking, shared understandings, and comprehensive knowledge through choral ensembles, dance, musical games, and concerts, but not as ends to themselves. Hackett and Lindeman argue that the cognitive and psychomotor learning in music should not be divorced from affective learning. Hackett and Lindeman write about what it means to be engaged in music culture. On one side, music to gives joy, provides an outlet for overwhelming emotions, and reflects the nature of humankind. On the other side, the fully-developed human is one with a positive attitude towards learning and music and one who values how music contributes to all learning and expression. This is why the generalist classroom teacher needs to love both music culture and children.
Implications
I found this interesting quote at www.quotationspage.com:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Excerpt from the notebooks of Lazarus Long, from Robert Heinlein's _Time Enough for Love_
I think that Lazarus Long's attitude towards being human differs slightly from Hackett and Lindeman. While Heinlein's character believes that to be fully human is to be able to do all things, Hackett and Lindeman seem to allow for individual achievements and specializations. Their motto, "Music for Every Child - Every Child for Music" means that music mediates all kinds of learning to all kinds of learners.
Both _Time Enough for Love_ and this introductory chapter explore the concepts of life worth living. A life worth living is one in which one is fully aware, fully engaged, and fully free. Hackett and Lindeman's requiste for a classroom where children succeed is a teacher who is fully human: in full possession of his or her perceptive abilities, participatory sensibilities, and personal liberties.
Questions to Ponder
- Are subject knowledge, understanding of developmental theory, and a "personal love of music and children" all of equal importance to the generalist practitioner?
- What other characteristics or educational experiences does a good teacher possess?
Are "meaningful musical experiences" created only by the teacher or do students contribute to group learning scenarios? - Does a good teacher address each of the three domains of learning (and/or others) in every encounter with students? (Or does it depend on whether the teacher is evaluating a specific skill, leading formal lessons, or prividing individual tuition, for example?)
For information about the book, please see:http://vig.prenhall.com:8081/catalog/academic/EZPrint_Product/0,2989,0131346032,00.html
