Rohrs, Bobbi - PBlog

Why does society hold teachers to higher standards of moral and ethical behavior?

Parents trust teachers to take care of their children up to 8 hours a day, five days a week.  Teaching is a job of great responsibility.  

We expect police officers to follow the law--to see them break the law is an outrage.  Similarly, we are concerned when we see people in jobs of power and great influence abusing their power.  Example: abuse and clergy.

We teach students lessons.  Many of these initial lessons in early grade school are simple life lessons and etiquette.  Teachers must be good models for their students.  A teacher will be most successful in teaching students if he or she practices what they preach.

Teachers have the power to directly affect students for life.  We always hope that a teacher will positively affect a child.  This is why society expects a teacher to follow the rules that they teach.
A teacher should be a positive role model at all times.  Of course, teachers are human..and will make mistakes from time to time.  To expect perfection from teachers is an unrealistic expectation.

10. As a future teacher what do you see as your main weakness (or weaknesses) and how will you work on improving this (these)?

Both of my weaknesses are actually fairly positive traits taken a little too far.

Weakness #1:  I am honest.  I am honest nearly to a fault.  OK, I'm honest to a fault.  I dislike small talk and many formalities.  I tell it like it is.  I feel that to dance around something is a waste of time, I'd rather get to business and make things better since I won't frequently(or ever) feel as though I have enough time in a class period.
 
This is where my problem comes in.  I need to gently articulate the negative.  In sectionals with my horn section I'm the most likely to say, "Wow, that sounded terrible.  Let's do that better this time." 

    This is fine and fairly acceptable at a collegiate level among musician friends who I have known for as long as five years.  This is NOT OK talk when approaching a delicate 11 year old who is struggling with a scale on clarinet.  I realize this and I'm aware of this.  Still, I feel that being an honest and direct person will make my students stronger and more successful.  One technique for critiquing is starting off with a positive comment before tackling the "problem."  I try to use this when I evaluate my peers in my studio performance class.  There is always a place where someone plays well, and they deserve to be aware of what that they play well.

Weakness #2:  I can be a slight perfectionist.  This may hurt me when it comes to pacing  my class periods.  Demanding excellence isn't a fault, but not knowing when to let things go or come back to something later, letting something incubate, will cause problems.
  I will student teach a UWSP ensemble next semester so I can gain more practice with pacing of a lesson.  My teaching rounds last year were successful because I planned out how much time I would allow myself to spend on each goal for the lesson.

4. What things would you change about schools and why?

    As a teacher of a subject included in the "fine arts",  I’d like to see other teachers have an openness of integrating their curricula to include subjects like dance, art, and music.  A goal of mine is to teach all core subjects in my music class to help students succeed.  I hope that other teachers at the school I teach at will share an openness towards this idea of curriculum integration.

    I would change the force of standardized testing if I had that power.  Testing ability is fine, but putting so much stress on testing that we end up teaching how to take exams is a perilous mistake.

    I’d like to see schools focus on creating well rounded students who have been exposed to a variety of subjects and experiences during their school days.  I would like for students to participate in field trips that interest them.  I’d also like to see community members of various professions visit classrooms to share their knowledge with students.

    Teaching practical life skills* should be a heavy focus of administrators.  I’d like to see relationship classes in the junior high school level and a finances course taught at the high school level to help students be set up for success in life. 

    *I include the arts as practical life skills because often these activities can be participated in throughout the entire life span.  The arts teach us about the world around us and teach us about communication—an essential life skill.

    I’d like to see more flexibility with school scheduling.  Too often we see situations where block scheduling or similar scheduling hinders student course choices because there are less course spots available.  Freedom for teachers to spend a little less or a little more time on a particular concept or lesson would be fantastic.  But I realize we can’t all have what we want.  A more flexible schedule would be much more likely to happen in a small school where there is frequent communication between teachers.

Why do you want to be a teacher?

I want to be a teacher because it's part of who I am. Teaching is just what I do. I have an uncontrollable desire to help people learn. As I've experienced being a tutor outside of my major study of music, I've learned that I love to teach no matter what the subject is. It means a lot to me that I can make a positive impact that may last a lifetime on a child. I remember back to my second year of high school. I spent my free hours in the music room helping other students on instruments I didn't even know how to play. It didn't matter so much that I didn't know how to play their instrument. I gave them ideas or suggestions to focus on. If my ideas didn't sink in, I was able to present those same ideas in a different way where the student would understand. What made me feel even better is that my fellow students had trust in me to help them. Friends sometimes sought me out to help them with their music. I've always had a knack for helping others improve. Helping others learn makes me feel great. I have a desire to help others succeed, and that's my main motivation as a future teacher.

23. What is an important part of your professional training where you feel you need more training?

This is an easy question for me to answer. Overall, UWSP has done a quality job in training me to become an effective, competent music teacher. However, one part of the puzzle is missing. That piece is jazz education. This genre isn't a total blank area for me, because I've played in jazz ensembles for about 6 years. I also actively listen to jazz daily. But, I don't have any experience or training how to teach this genre. I'd like to know some ideas on how to teach a beginning jazz ensemble and how to teach students how to read jazz music notation. I find it almost hard to believe that no time was spent in our music education sequence classes on this area. I heard that this was addressed in past years, but our class just missed out. Jazz education is very important! Like barbershop quartet/choruses, Jazz is a cornerstone genre in American music. Even though its roots stem in Africa, Jazz is pretty widely accepted as an American tradition and genre of music. American music teachers should promote American music. That's something we should be able to do in the classroom. I worry for future music educators who have no experience at all in the field of jazz. To fix this issue before I student teach, I will seek out the Jazz ensemble director and ask him his thoughts on how to teach beginning and intermediate jazz ensembles. In fact, I'm going to get in for an office hour with every music professor I can to ask some final questions and get suggestions on issues specific to their respective instruments.

12. What makes me marketable as a teacher?

12. What makes you marketable as a teacher? Why should a district hire you over someone else?

    I am well-rounded musician. I believe that is a huge selling point for me as a music educator. Having studied as a choral, general, and instrumental major, I have additional performing and classroom experience that many of my fellow music education majors have not experienced. I have years of experience performing in choral and instrumental ensembles in both classical and jazz genres. I participated in four years of field show marching; two of those years I was leading and directing my peers. These experiences have given me a deeper understanding of each of these branches of music. Experience doing is often the catalyst for success.

    I have a genuine passion for all types of music, and I believe that openness to all kinds of music will be passed onto my students. I believe that music in all forms is valuable and can be used to teach another. I will expose my students to many different kinds of music. Additionally, I will respect fellow teachers and the subjects that they teach. We can accomplish more when we work together!

    I am a competent performer and teacher. I perform in the top ensembles at my university while playing in a very competitive horn studio. Instead of talking about a musical concept or idea, I can demonstrate by singing or playing on an instrument. I continue to take private lessons on my main instrument after I completed my performance requirements of an education major because I want to become the best musician possible.
I have spent my time in college diversifying myself as a musician. I have done as much as I can to perform in as many ensembles on as many different instruments as I can. I joined the non-music major campus band on both clarinet and bassoon, because I desire to be a proficient performer on a variety of instruments. Ideally, I’d like to be able to play alongside my students on their main instruments in private lessons. I believe this extra experience will make me a stronger music teacher.

    Music is something that I believe in. I am naturally passionate and excited about my field. People can’t fake enthusiasm. I teach music because I believe music has profound educational and emotional impact on people. Music is much more than a hobby. Music betters quality of life. The explosion of the musical therapy field is only one example of the benefits of music.
 
    As teachers, I hope we strive to show our students ways that they may experience happy, fulfilling lives. Ultimately, I believe that’s the way we can help our students be productive and healthy individuals in society. I am honored to share the power of music’s positive influence with others.