Teaching Philosophy
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As a student of both music and collegiate pedagogy, I often notice methodologies of teaching that appear to be unique to the music discipline. In my personal experience, many music programs fail to place adequate consideration and time into the concepts of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. It is my goal to take the unique methodologies of music pedagogy and align them with the proven, evidence-based practices of SoTL in order to create life-long learners and musicians.
At the University of Arizona, I act as the instructor of record for MUS107, an introductory music appreciation course. While many institutions treat their course equivalent as a music history survey, we have retitled the course “Understanding Music Through Listening,” and seek to teach students how to analyze and discuss their reflections on music. In this environment, students learn more than dates of composer births and composition premieres. They are actively encouraged to go beyond the surface facts of a composition in order to understand deeper implications and functions of the music. I guide students through active learning exercises as a team during face-to-face meetings and later assess their abilities through listening assignments and presentations.
As a direct result of my enrollment in the University of Arizona’s Certificate in College Teaching program, I integrate pillars of learner-centered teaching into every planned lecture and activity. These pillars include the establishment of student learning objectives, integrated class environments, universal and backward design, formal and informal assessment methods, differentiation between assessment and evaluation, and many more. The program has taught me that I too have to act as a life-long learner, continuously researching and updating my course design to reflect the needs of my students. Perhaps most importantly, I have acted to create inclusive learning environments by offering multiple methods of learning and assessment as well as the addition of diverse content pertaining to composers and music genres of multi-cultural backgrounds.
A memorable and effective style of content delivery is required in order to impact student learning and create life-long learners in music. Some methods of my effective teaching style include: employing listening examples from modern and popular music genres to maintain course content familiarity among students; allowing students to establish the structure of various assignments and presentations as an inclusive measure; and providing multiple means for student feedback throughout the semester, allowing students to have active participation in course improvement. As a lecturer, I continuously create excitement and humor through my animated presentation style and use of relevant music “memes” in my visual resources.