Response to Fumbling Towards Vulnerability: Moving Out of the Familiar for Music Education’s Sake1/25/2018 Dawe, L. (2016). Fumbling Towards Vulnerability: Moving Out of the Familiar for Music Education’s Sake, Canadian Music Educator, (57) 2, pp.22-24.
Through reading the article I found it evident that Dawe was extremely committed to giving her students a great musical experience. In little time, Dawe was able to reconstruct the musical program in her school in order to better suit the desires of the students. Dawe structured the improved program around the student’s behaviour and their likes. By adapting her style of teaching Dawe was able to capture the student’s enjoyment and passion of music. Through my experience with children at camp I know that giving a large group of kids too much freedom can result in a loss of respect. Therefore, I think this was very courageous of Dawe to share the responsibility of teaching with the students. I think this is what keeps so many teachers from straying from what is typical as Dawe stated, “It does not feel natural, and if we are honest with ourselves, it can be downright frightening”. This article provides me with hope that positive change can be made to enhance the student’s experience without changing the focus of the course. Dawe highlighted that her student’s obviously enjoyed listening to music as she noticed them listening to songs on their phones in the hall. Through looking at the experience through the perspective of the student’s she was able to establish a more interactive environment in the classroom. Dawe used her position of power to benefit the students she taught and to encourage and inspire them to become more curious about music. The author noted examples of student’s showing her different, more complex skills that they taught themselves based on knowledge first gained in class. Furthermore, this demonstrates how interactive teaching can incite a greater sense of motivation in the student’s to practice and grow their foundation of knowledge. Through placing herself in an uncomfortable position Leslie was able to increase the student’s sense of fulfilment and motivation to learn. When I was in elementary school I wish that I had a teacher as interested in student growth as Leslie. I think I would of become more motivated to learn from the teacher’s at my school if I was surrounded by music that I was interested in playing. Fortunately, I was able to sing music that I enjoyed in private music lessons; this is where I really began loving the process of making music. Had it not been for my private lessons I do not think I would of pursued music past high school. Future teachers take note - motivating your students is as simple as giving them the chance to learn and play music that they like. At the end of the day, music making should be fun.
1 Comment
Eric
1/26/2018 11:32:11 am
Thank you for your thoughtful response. How are student freedom and respect for the teacher connected? Is it really as simple as too much freedom leads to not enough respect? Or are there more factors at play? Similarly, what about the relationship between student motivation and repertoire selection? Is your message to future teachers really that simple, or again is it more complex? What other factors do you think are important to motivate students, considering that music experiences should be fun and educative, among other things as well?
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