Tuesday in Texas - Teaching In Theory

I had other thoughts rolling around in my head for today's post, but since Tracey mentioned that today is Teacher Appreciation Day, I decided to play piggyback onto her post.

I have been a teacher since I was twenty one years old, beginning as a graduate teaching fellow and ending up where I am now, as professor of music theory and composition at the community college level.  The route I have taken is not one that I chose, but one that chose me.

I began college at age 17 as a music education major.  As an eighteen year old sophomore in college, I took my first music education courses, courses that involved going out into the schools and observing.  It was terrifying!  I was young and the thought that in two years I would be in a band hall all by myself with 70-80 students only a few years younger than I was did not warm my heart.  All of the band directors that I had ever had were older and male.  Mentally,  I could not put myself in that place.  And I was fairly certain that I did not want to be an elementary music teacher so I was left in a quandary.  Fortunately, at the same that  time I was taking this Foundations of Music Education course, I was also taking the final course in music theory, required of all music majors, with a professor who ultimately changed my life.  Mr. Searl is responsible for the teacher that I am today.  First of all, he is the one that first told me that I could actually major in music theory!  He had a more profound impact on me than any professor that I worked with in graduate school.  That doesn't seem right, but it is the way it is. 

What was it that made Mr. Searl different from other professors?  He genuinely cared.  He cared about teaching and he cared about me.  He recognized something in me that made him willing to invest time and energy in me.  Over my final two years as an undergraduate, he became my mentor.  He taught me how to read critically, how to write intelligently, and how to apply those skills.  His expectations  were high and his criticisms were “thorough.”  He helped me grow not only as a musician and a scholar, but also as a human being.  For all of that, I am eternally grateful.  

I was well prepared to begin graduate school when I left East Carolina University.  I was accepted into one of the most well-known schools of music and was awarded a graduate teaching fellowship.  Despite still never having had a young or female teaching role model, standing up in front of a classroom of 25 freshman music majors did not elicit the same degree of fear that standing in front of a high school band had just two short years before.  I was only a few years older, but I was much more confident as a musician and human being.  I knew the kind of teacher that I wanted to be.  I also knew that it would take time to become that person.

While in graduate school, I also learned about the kind of teacher that I did not want to be.  This too is an important lesson, but painful experiential learning!  Just last week, my office mate from graduate school, whom I have not seen since we finished 23 years ago, and I had an opportunity to see one another.  We relived all the miserable experiences that we shared in classes with those professors who hopefully were never considered by anyone as role models!

Just after finishing my doctoral coursework, I got a job teaching Foundations of Music at the local community college.  At the time, I viewed it as a resume builder, a job while I was working on my dissertation, a stepping stone to bigger and better things.   In school I was being trained as a researcher and scholar.  Teaching students to read music at a two-year college is certainly not what my major professors wanted to say that their students were doing.  We were supposed to get tenure track positions at prestigious universities.

As has probably become obvious, I never left that first  position.  I quickly realized that I loved teaching at the community college level.  The primary reason for this is that the focus is the students.  Student outcome rather than amassing personal recognition and research dollars was our goal.  I like having the privilege of working with students who are first generation college students, or who are coming back to school to begin a second career, or who are retired and just want to learn more.  In my years of teaching I have met some amazing people who have been successful despite a mountain of odds.   I have also had students who have become some of my best friends.  (This is OK in college:-))

When I am asked what I do, I always say first that I am teacher a second that I am a musician.  The fact is that my passion is teaching.  Music just happens to be the vehicle through which I get to share my passion.  Don’t get me wrong, I love making music, but something would definitely be missing in my life without the opportunity to share a love of learning with others.

Last week the school newspaper carried and article about me.  I knew what I had said in the interview, but I was touched by the comments made by several of my students.  If I can leave the same kind of mark on even just one of my students that Mr. Searl at East Carolina University left on me, then I will be satisfied with the work that I have done.  Mr. Searl taught me well as to what a good teacher is.  Let's hope that I learned as well as he taught.

Teaching is not easy.  It is not lucrative (at least in the humanities).  It is not glamorous.  But, if it is your calling, it is one of the most rewarding jobs there is.  I often refer to myself as a missionary to the field of education.

Don't forget that you can enter on each post for a chance to win the gift basket that we are giving away this weekend.  Just leave us a comment, or leave only your name in the comments section of each post.  At this point, you can have three entries.  Surely you are feeling lucky!!!