I believe that children long to learn new things.  I believe that music can reach even the toughest of students and give them a purpose.  I believe that students can be molded into lifelong learners who thirst for knowledge to better themselves.  I believe it is my responsibility as a teacher to be a model for my students.  I believe that if we, as teachers, are passionate about our work and demonstrate that to our students, we will instill confidence and motivation within them.  These beliefs are just the tip of the iceberg for I could truly go on and on.  Let’s look a little closer at these beliefs:

1.     I believe that children long to learn new things.  Even the hardest students to reach want to learn new things.  Those students may be going through a tough time at home or may not know where their next home will be.  They may act out and not participate.  Once they decide to try, they will thrive, even if it is not exactly what you would like them to learn.

2.     I believe that music can reach even the toughest of students and give them purpose.  Music is a powerful tool.  It can help with learning other subject matters, clear the mind, lift one’s mood/spirits, and give someone confidence (just to name a few).  Throughout my years of teaching, I have seen some of my hardest to reach students thrive when given a chance to express themselves through music whether it has been vocally, instrumentally or in general music.  Music helps to provide some of these students with confidence to get up in front of a class of their peers.  It has also helped some with behavior issues or anger issues calm down and focus. 

3.     I believe that students can be molded into lifelong learners who thirst for knowledge to better themselves.  As I have started learning about growth mindset within this course, I truly believe that students can be molded into lifelong learners using this mindset.  Will it be instantaneous?  Absolutely not.  Will they always have a growth mindset?  Absolutely not.  However, by steering them into the right direction, they will be able to change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset thus allowing them to move on and keep trying.

4.     I believe it is my responsibility as a teacher to be a model for my students.  I believe that if we, as teachers, are passionate about our work and demonstrate that to our students, we will instill confidence and motivation within them.  These two beliefs go hand in hand.  We, as teachers, should be a role model for our students.  By modeling growth mindset and showing our students that even we fail at things, they will begin to see us in a new light.  They will understand that it is ok to fail as long as they keep trying.  No one is perfect and there is always room for improvement.  If we are passionate about our work, students will become more motivated and confident as will demonstrate that passion as we teach.  As Beethoven once said, “To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.”  This is true with any career, not just performing.  If a teacher does not have passion for his/her subject matter, are they really teaching?  If a painter is not passionate about painting, will they come the next Monet?  If a musician is not passionate about their performance, will they evoke the emotions within their audience that they know they can?

When reflecting upon issues relating to digital learning and leading, I believe many of the issues result from the pace at which technology constantly changes.  Some of the older teachers, for example, are not as tech-savvy.  Once they finally get the hang of something, everything changes.  This also happens to some of our students who have a fixed mindset.  When something changes, they give up instead of trying to figure out a new way around it.  When technology changes so quickly, for school districts it becomes a cost inhibitor.  They sometimes cannot afford to make the new changes and train each teacher to use the newest changes.  

Education today is still within a traditional mindset (or learning/teaching style).  Standardized tests do not help in this problem because teachers are forced to make sure they teach to both state standards and what their students may face when taking these tests.  Memorizing facts is not a bad thing.  Students should be able to memorize facts or what objects look like, etc.  If they did not memorize anything, would they know their alphabet or be able to recognize what scissors are and what they are used for?  Still, teachers who are from the traditional learning style need to open their minds to helping the students of the future succeed no matter what.  This can be done through the COVA learning approach.  According to Harapnuik, COVA is a “learner centered active learning approach that gives the learner choice (C), ownership (O), and voice (V) through authentic (A) learning opportunities.”  This will not only help students be creative, it will motivate them as they realize they have a choice and their choice matters.  It will also give them pride in knowing that they have ownership and voice throughout their learning experiences.

In Stop Stealing Dreams, Seth Godin closes with “ask the question, what is school for…until we can agree what school is for, we’re not going to get what we need.”  I hope to keep reminding myself of this statement so that I may better serve my students both musically and digitally.  Godin also states, “is it’s work, they try to figure out how to do less; if its art, we try to do more.”  This rings true in the standardized test world for students coming in want to know what’s going to be on the test.  However, when it comes to the arts they do not ask to do less, they want to do more whether it is painting, composing, or performing.  My hop is to tap into this within my music courses and use technology to enhance that desire of learning.

References

Harapnuik, D. K. (2019). It’s About Learning. Retrieved from http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6991

Quotes about Passion for Piano. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.quotemaster.org/passion+for+piano

TEDxYouth. (2012, October 16). Stop Stealing Dreams: Seth Godin at TEDxYouth at BFS. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXpbONjV1Jc