Purpose of the Resource Notebook

Remember to use this resource notebook!!! You worked hard on it, and now it will help you out! Three ways that this is going to help you are:


1. It is going to show Dr. Stark what you learned in Instrumental Methods. This means that you have taken in the information that was presented and processed it and are able to assimilate it into your teaching

2. This resource notebook is a fabulous showcase of your work that you can present to a prospective employer! Many of your best projects and writing samples are already organized so you can focus on rocking that job interview!

3. Having many of these materials on hand is going to make your first year of teaching just a tiny bit easier. Already having a document, lesson plan or idea will be a better starting point than having nothing!

My Core Values

It is important to have clearly articulated core values as a teacher in order to justify the importance of your program and to create a program that is beneficial to all of your students in multiple ways.

My Top 6 Core Values:

1. “One of the greatest accomplishments of the human spirit is music and an education that lacked an experience with this elemental part of humanity would be incomplete.

2. All students have the right to a safe environment in which to learn to express themselves

3. Every child has the right and the ability to learn 

4. Everyone has some amount of musical aptitude that can be nurtured and developed
5. Success in music as well as in life is much more due to dedication and effort than innate talent
6. Exposure to and involvement with music should not be limited based on perceived talent.  
 

Observation 1-17-12: SMS Concert

1.  I observed Sacajawea Middle School's 6th grade concert at 7:30 pm. Three ensembles performed: orchestra with Hollie Sexton, choir with Charlotte Colliver and Jacob Malcyk, and band with Laurie Hickman and Susan Wadsworth.
2. The students were quite well behaved and the concert was organized very well and ran smoothly. I thought it was a good idea to have all the students sitting in the place of their performance the entire time in order to cut back on transition time, but also I think that since the students were in front of the audience the whole time even when they weren't playing they were less likely to misbehave.
3. The two most obvious learning goals I saw in the music that was performed were the variety of styles and cultural contexts and a strong emphasis on developing rhythmic accuracy.
4. I thought that the selections of repertoire were great! All of the pieces were different and allowed the students to make discoveries about different styles and different technical challenges
5. After seeing this concert I think I understand how important it is to make concerts an enjoyable event for the parents as well as the public. The key points involved in this were having a variety of repertoire, keeping the concert short enough, and having minimal transition time between ensembles.

Hello Future Me! :)

Hello Ms. Lee!

Congratulations on your  first real, grown-up job! This is a big step! Remember that you decided to become a music teacher because of your wonderful experiences working with students at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and because of both the exemplary and not-so-exemplary teachers you have had both as private instructors, ensemble directors, and teachers in the classroom.

Remember that all students are in the process of becoming. Very few, if any, will pursue music as a career, however, all of them deserve to be challenged, accepted, and offered opportunities to discover more about themselves and the world they live in. There is a difference between giving students attainable goals and stifling their personal and artistic development. 

Instrumental music belongs in the schools because it is essential to the well-being of humanity that students learn to appreciate beauty, think outside the realm of a language, and develop a deeper respect of and appreciation for the human spirit and the great deeds it can achieve. One of the greatest accomplishments of the human spirit is music and an education that lacked an experience with this elemental part of humanity would be incomplete.

Remember as you start of this year that all large wholes are composed of smaller pieces. Take all large obstacles one piece at a time and the whole will turn out well. Remember that your responsibility is great, but it is worth it to provide students with experiences like the ones that have formed you into who you are today. Remember that all students are in the process of becoming, don't judge the results too soon or too harshly. 

Sincerely,
 Kira Lee (2012)