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The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education defines dispositions as "the values, commitments, and professional ethics that influence behavior toward students, families, colleagues, and communities and affect student learning, motivation and development as well as the educator's own professional growth." In the long run, only through experience in the field of teaching can educators truly begin to understand the teaching competencies set forth by the NCATE. This is not to say that education classes cannot help a student learn by providing certain opportunities, however. While teacher education programs can discuss the competencies, students need the opportunity to put the competencies into practice. For example, we can talk about what it means to be reflective in a classroom, but students should take it upon themselves to be reflective of their own work on their own time. Instead of simply talking about collaborativeness, a professor may ask students to work in groups and discuss how the groups affected student learning. While teacher education classes can help teach and provide opportunities to practice most competencies, they can only be fully understood after a teacher has made an attempt to apply them in his own classroom. Music majors often need to be resilient as there is a great deal of stress involved. However, this stress level will not likely be comparable to the resilience needed in the first few years of teaching. Providing teacher education students with field experience is the best and to prepare students for teaching and putting their competencies into practice. However, there are certain competencies that even field experience will not help a teacher to understand. No one can be taught to be passionate, for example. Either you have that passion or you do not. What we can do is lead students toward an understanding of why passion is important and how they may be able to show passion in their teaching. Yet again, we can only do this by providing certain opportunities for teach education students. There is a Chinese proverb that says, “Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.” As long as we remember this, teacher education programs can be successful in leading students to understanding dispositions. The rest is up to the students.
"In order to succeed people need a sense of self-efficiency strung together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life." Albert Bandura
Every teacher has to be resilient to survive in the world of education. Approximately 22 percent of teachers leave the profession within their first year. Teaching is a stressful job, the pressures of personal goals, school, state, and national standards, difficult children, difficult parents, all of these things add up and can take a lot out of a teacher every day. The important thing is for teachers to push through those stresses and maintain stability. There are many things teachers can do to be resilient. - Develop a network of support and resources
- Remember that you will learn more in the first year or so of teaching than ever in your own education
- Do not try to do everything, but do try to be involved in the community
- Plan ahead, but be flexible
- Do not be afraid to ask for help or advise
- Take time for yourself
- Keep a file of notes and things to brighten your day
- Remind yourself of what teaching is all about
The following are websites with more information on reducing teacher stress:
Advice for First-Year TeachersSurvival Strategies for New TeachersAvoiding Teacher BurnoutWhat to Expect15 Stress-Busting Tips From TeachersTeacher Staff Survival Kits
"...God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6, NRSV
A teacher that practices humility always puts his students first. Only if he has his students' best interests at heart will those students be able to respect him as a teacher. There are many very young children that will believe anything you tell them. Unfortunately, sometimes teachers are wrong. Though it is important that teachers are confident in their subject areas, if a teacher is wrong, he should humble himself and correct his mistakes. This will often be difficult for more egocentric personalities, especially if it is a students that points out the teacher's flaw. Teachers must remember that they are held accountable for what students know and do not know. If a student has learned false information or no information at all, it is the teacher's responsibility to reflect on his teaching and find a solution.
In addition to teaching the facts, teachers are also held accountable for their teaching philosophies and styles. A good teacher must also humble himself by understanding that his particular teaching styles will not always be effective for every student. And again, he must reflection why that may be, and what he can do to change that when necessary. Ethics are also a part of the humility a teacher must accept. Even if a teacher may personally disagree with a school's code of ethics, he must still remember to keep the students best interests at heart. The same goes for other teaching philosophies such as how a teacher chooses to deal with behavior and other aspects of classroom management.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Meade
Collaboration is extremely important for music teachers. Because music is such a progressive subject, it is crucial that music teachers not only communicate with others in the same building, but with all music educators in the district. If teachers of younger students can work toward goals st by teacher of older students, most of the students will be on the same level when they get to the next school. It is important that music educators work toward common goals. This will include planning, implementing, evaluating, and process improving. Also, if the music teachers are unified, the students that come together in high school for music ensembles will be able to be more unified as well. Teachers should also use their peers as resources outside of their districts, by attending conferences and participating in other events in which teachers can share their experiences. In addition t teachers collaborating amongst themselves, they should provide students with opportunities to collaborate. By bouncing thoughtful ideas off of each other, students can both learn more about the subject and the cultures of other students. Collaborating will allow them to use some of the higher thinking strategies.
One of the best things a music teacher can do for his students is to have them play or sing in small ensembles. Aside from learning musicianship, students learn that in these small group settings, the each member of the ensemble depends on everyone else. This helps the students develop independence because there will typically only be one person on a part. Small ensembles also teach students about teamwork. Opportunities for collaboration amongst students and teachers will lead to the strengthening of a music program on all levels, and students' learning will improve.
Collaboration at its finest: Giant Piano
