Music for All - Viva Musique! Teaching Style

I believe anyone can learn music! I have had beginning students start at the age of 4 years old, all the way up to 86 years old. If someone has desire to learn how to play music, I will teach them.

My teaching styles and personality are guided by my experiences of being a professional musician, private teacher and guided by the continued development of successful learning models, I currently use at Summit High School.

Expert level experience: I am a highly trained musician who is well versed in multiple areas of music education. I use my educational experiences from Crafton Hills College (Associate's degree), UC Berkeley (Bachelor's degree) and the University of Redlands (Master's degree) in trumpet performance and music composition to provides insights on aspects of music education, not taught in general music education courses.

Formal Authority: Teachers who have a formal authority teaching style tend to focus on content-centered instruction. I understand my responsibility for providing and guiding the flow of the content and the student is expected to receive the content (according to their individual skills level). This style of teaching may seem controlling. However, it is important music fundamentals are taught to all students. This provides each student the understanding of musical concepts and skills necessary to scaffold their prior knowledge towards future lessons.

Personal Model: This teaching style incorporates blended teaching styles that match the best techniques with the appropriate learning scenarios and students in an adaptive format. By using this dynamic model, I am able to address individual learning needs and modify my instruction to provide additional activities, like collaborative learning and the use of alternate formative assessments. This could be in the form of games like musical telephone or charades. Additionally, I explore creative writing assessments such as: creating poetry, acting-out techniques, drawing a picture or student suggestions.

Facilitator: All daily instruction uses participatory learning activities and manages classroom projects while providing information and offering feedback to facilitate critical thinking.

Delegator: The delegator style is best suited for curricula that require lab activities. All music performance classes are considered laboratory settings, because it requires the students to create. By guided discovery and inquiry-based learning, teachers act as observers who inspires students by working in tandem toward common goals.

Conclusion: I believe it is important to use a combination of all of these teaching styles to address the changing needs of my students. Incorporating these styles assist with the various learning activities in music performance classes, from direct teaching, collaborative learning and the actual playing done in my classes.

Works Referenced:

Grasha, A. F. (n.d.). Teaching with Style : A Practical Guide to Enhancing Learning by Understanding Teaching and Learning Styles. 1996, Pittsburg: Alliance Publishers.

https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/5-types-of-classroom-teaching-styles/