Reflective Journal #2: Thinking About Location

You hear it all the time, "location, location, location." Lately I have been thinking about this phrase as it relates to my teaching future. I'd like to start today's REFLECTIVE WRITING out with some thoughts about "location" (I guess that would be obvious my looking at my title). I hold such high esteem for the west suburban schools that I grew up in, and to contribute to that area as a teacher is something I am very interested in. However, when I learn about urban city schools and the need they have for strong teachers and the development of strong programs, I wonder if it is my calling to teach in St. Paul, Minneapolis, or Chicago. Talking to Danny Lee has really put into perspective the inbalance of resources that inner-city schools have in comparison to suburban ones. "Do the thing you think you cannot do," you sometimes hear. Teaching in a familiar environment where I can learn through modeling how to teach effectively would benefit me a lot early on in my teaching career. But what about the notion of "flooding," being tossed into an experience without anything but your own resources to help you? What if on the first day of teaching you walked into a wild classroom that was behind academically to their peers? What if you were the one who needed to revolutionize the school and turn the student body around? I think of movies like Sister Act and Lean on Me and the amazing work that teachers are capable of.
I actally had a discussion about this with my friend Ryan at lunch yesterday. I'm going to cite parts of our conversation for my INTERVIEW section. He told me "there is no doubt in my mind that I am supposed to live and work in the Iowan Midwest when I'm older." We talked for a while about having this mind-set of wanting to stay where you are comfortable. "Is it close-minded?" we wondered. I know that I want to stay in the suburban suburbs of Minneapolis to teach. But would it be worth it to see the world and experience different atmospheres before deciding on the ideal? Ryan said there is something romantic about moving all over the country or world to experience and learn and grow. But is it fair to say that remaining where you grew up to build a career and a family is boring? I look also to the director of Nordic, Dr. Craig Arnold. He worked at Luther in the 1980's, and left for the East coast for fifteen years before returning again to the top post. Should teachers be able to build their program (and I'm talking specifically music teachers here...) elsewhere before they return to their ideal location? These are the thoughts that have been running through me lately. OK, finally we'll go to my INTERNET SITE REVIEW. I visited nea.org, the website for the National Endowment for the Arts. I read a lot about No Child Left Behind legislation in this website, and their call to reform the laws relating to education. As future teachers, all Ed Psychsters need to be informed about NCLB and how it will affect their jobs and their students in the future. I know I don't know enough about NCLB to have a strong opinion. Here's what I have observed. Most teachers do not support the law- why is this? My boyfriend, a College Republican and a conservative, claims that teachers do not support the legislation because teachers become more accountable and are under more pressure to deliver results. My opinion on it is this: why wouldn't teachers want their students to succeed? Why wouldn't they want to deliver top notch test scores and successful student reports to their states? I can't name a teacher who doesn't want this. I think the problems arise when testing and standardization become the MOST important thing in a school system. Standardized testing is not everything. Also, fun fact. Under the current expectations for the law, did you know that every school in the United States will be labeled "failing" by the year 2012? Food for thought. Ciao.
Oh PS- I went to a phenomenal poetry reading by Carol Gilbertson. Her language and her words really spoke. NOW I know the woman on the main page of the Luther webpage! Does anyone know any symptoms of a stress fracture? (Quite the subject switch, but I'm worried and wondering).

Reflective Journal #1: A First Attempt

Today is my first attempt at this Ed. Psych journal thing. I guess I'll do this in order, so I don't forget anything. So, first off, INTERNET SITE REVIEW. Well, with the recommendations of Paige Brandt's blog, I visited ArtsEdge, a site on the music links page of educationindex.com. This site was created by the Kennedy Center in DC, and it seems to be a really great resource for teachers. I visited the teaching section and was able in seconds to look up complete lesson plans and search for them by age and subject. I flitted around the site and became more and more impressed with the design and the offerings it boasted. I read about National Standards and their levels of achievement. I found a great article not just for music teachers about the ways that music can be integrated into other parts of the school day. I would definitely recommend this website to new and old teachers alike, as well as the developing ones in Ed Psych! Check this one out, people. There is lots of information on all forms of art education including theater, dance, and the visual arts. I could use this information to help my classroom stay focused on National Standards and to keep classroom ideas fresh and meaningful. REFLECTIVE WRITING (sorry, no fanciful transition here). I think all the time about my future classroom and how I want it to run. More importantly, I think about the students inside that classroom and the skills and values I want them to take from my teaching. I want to be a choir director; some might think that there are only limited skills to learn and teach as a choral director. I obviously disagree because I have experienced firsthand the amount of growth and development that accompany being part of a choir. Being in a choir teaches the importance of dedication, practice, and self-discipline. It places people inside of a community where the group is more important than the individual. A choir encourages responsibility and feeds an enjoyment of aesthetic experiences. I really could go on and on with the value and worthiness of skills learned in a choir (bands and orchestras too). This summer and when I was home during my first year of college, I helped the WMEB (Wayzata Music Education Boosters). Our school district's elementary band and orchestra program was cut recently, and the booster group's cause is essentially to bring back an expectation for children to be a part of music. After three years of hard work, fundraising, and advocacy, in the fall of 2006, the elementary orchestra program will be reinstated in Wayzata schools. Woohoo! Music is for everyone, they say. It is not for the people who have perfect pitch or have been taking viola lessons since birth. The brain that develops with the company of music is more logical, is more spatially intelligent, and ingrains basic learning and comprehension skills. I wrote my senior paper on all this in high school, but that's for another entry, I think. I just want to introduce y'all to my passion that music education is for EVERYONE and is vitally important for our learners, thinkers, and culture of today and tomorrow. Last, but certainly not least, I take you to the INTERVIEW SECTION. I discussed with a few of my residents this week about their 9/11 experiences, similar to the discussions we had in class the other day. Every person knew exactly where they were on that morning, and could tell me in great detail about what they had experienced. I asked them about the ways their teachers dealt with the day, and for the most part, the girls had good experiences. Most teachers allowed the students the rest of the day to reflect and watch the news, a select few used the the incident as a tool for discussion and questioning, and only one teacher I heard about tried to ignore the situation and brush it aside until the students left for the day. We can compare our experience during 9/11 with the experiences, perhaps, of our grandparents during Pearl Harbor. I have asked my grandma about this day, and she can tell me in detail where she was and what she thought about. For major traumas like these that happen during a school day, children will not only remember what happened, but how others around them reacted. It's really important for us as future teachers to think about the ramifications we will have on students' memories and what lessons they will be learning from us as we react during stress or trauma. This is just a reminder for myself to write about Danny Lee, Eric, and my conversation from Wednesday for next time (purpose of education and effective evaluation of students). Peace out! "Out of tune to singing is like bad breath to conversation. The content may be good, but it still smells." -Dr. Arnold, 9/8/05

Nordic

Today was my first rehearsal with Nordic choir, an ensemble of 72. After a week (well, actually 4 months) of callbacks and stress, I was finally and unbelievably there, among others who shared my passion for choir.
Long story short, I was overwhelmed by the amount of engaged participants in the room. Dr. Arnold commanded attention and respect, and we were drawn into his world of vowel shapes and beautiful diction. I loved the way he said in so many words, "I am not Weston Noble. This choir will be different, and I do not wish to compare it to what some of you have known. Let's accept that fact right now." I admire the way that he won't accept less than exellence; we discovered that as we warmed up on do-re-mi-fa-sol and "My country 'tis of thee." "Think of the possibilities," he told us, "if we set our bars high and understand that we can ALWAYS improve." It charged me to know that I was in a room with enormous potential, more than I had perhaps ever experienced, and I will be a part of that for an hour five days a week.
We began with a piece by Z. Randall Stroope, material that had been used in callbacks. It must be for Christmas at Luther or something. When he (finally) asked us to read our own parts, I had to stop singing for a moment. It was unbelievably gorgeous, and a first-time read through like I had never experienced. A high-school performance times 10 on the first go.

"You are the choir I will remember," Dr. Arnold said. I didn't think about it too much, but it's true- we are part of a historical premiere that will be remembered in the choral community for many years to come. I am so blessed to be a part of this.

Visit to Big Birch

Today we visited my grandfather in his nursing home, St. Benedict Center, in St. Cloud. When we arrived my grandma was in the middle of telling him a story from his childhood that had been reprinted in the Chisolm Times. Hail the size of men's heads had fallen from the sky over 70 years ago. My grandpa was commenting about how big the hail actually was, and how he hid from the hail in his cellar. To give a little background, my grandfather has had multiple strokes, and he simply is not the same sharp witted man that he used to be.
I was looking at the sheets and pictures posted around his room. Instruction sheets that said things like, "Richard swam for 35+ years at the veteran's center (VERY STRONG)" or, "Andre Boccelli and classical music will calm him" also, "Once a fighter pilot in WW2, crashed his plane in the South Pacific." Although I turned toward this wall to avoid crying in the cramped and awkward space, I noticed that his whole life seemed to have marginalized into a page of statements of these kind of facts- good conversation points and distractions, it seemed, to help with difficult patients.
My family was visiting my grandfather before taking my grandmother to her family's lake home, a place she had not revisited for any length of time in the past five years. It was a favorite place of my grandpa's. When he found out where we were going, he spoke incoherently, and asked questions about going home, coming with us to the cabin, and always referred back to the head-sized-hail. "Can I go home?" he asked. I remember when my grandma told him that they were moving from their home in the historic district of St. Cloud; he cried and cried, he loved his house so. His children grew up there, he built and painted and fixed. I know when he asked to go home he was asking to go to 223 South Street, not the new townhouse that my grandma now lived in. Grandpa asked where the group of us was going. We told him, and he said, "Well, I'm not doing anything..." "I could go with you..." Although he seems emotionally unattached, I think he is very present and aware that he is left out a lot of the time.
The day at the cabin was like usual- mowing the long grass, repairing the dock, reconstructing the beach, and then after an afternoon of work, a picnic lunch and windsurfing. We taught Phe how to run and jump off the dock after a stick. After a while, she started to jump off the dock for the heck of it; like a little kid off the diving board.
I kept thinking back to my grandpa- how much I miss the old him, and how much it hurts to see him deteriorate. I guess you'd have had to know my grandpa when he was well to understand how hard of a situation this was, He is so dependent on others now, something that I know he doesn't like, but really can't help.