Challenging my teaching philosophy during Lockdown - MOOC
Published: Apr 28, 2020 | Category: Composition, growing knowledge
LOCKDOWN!
I looked at this blog this morning, another day in lockdown, and was disappointed to see that my last post was a few years ago. Unfortunately my life of teaching took over. As well as teaching private students I also teach Y7-Y13 classroom music and NCEA Music and Y1-Y8 as a release teacher in a country school, as well as being an ORS Teacher for one young man. I also direct a choir, small vocal group and a jazz group at the college.
WAKE UP CALL!
I love doing all this but realised at the end of last year that I have very little time to set aside for my own creativity, practise and reflecting on my teaching philosophy and lifelong learning.
Lockdown came, and although it took a while to get use to having hubby around all day, constant online learning, grieving to see my students face to face, I suddenly found time for composition, practising and upskilling.
UPSKILLING!
Lockdown saw a flurry of music programmes being offered free of charge for 1, 2 and sometimes 3 months. I found I had time to join read blogs and take advantage of the resources offered by national music bodies. When listening to MENZA Music 19 Keynote speaker, Dr James Humberstone and then reflecting on a selection of his blogs I realised that I was once again challenging my own teaching philosophy. His blog challenged the music teaching practices in the 21st Century in our students technology- infused lives. This was particularly of interest to me, as I was finding it hard to bring the college girls up to speed with technology, mainly because of internet speed and ancient hardware. With better internet speed and up-to-date hardware I am excited that the girls are slowly learning the possibilities of music making in the modern world.
In this particular blog, there was an offer of rethinking different teaching styles by taking part in a MOOC, (Massive Open Online Course, offered by Coursera. More about this course can be found on https://www.coursera.org/learn/music-education.
I looked at this blog this morning, another day in lockdown, and was disappointed to see that my last post was a few years ago. Unfortunately my life of teaching took over. As well as teaching private students I also teach Y7-Y13 classroom music and NCEA Music and Y1-Y8 as a release teacher in a country school, as well as being an ORS Teacher for one young man. I also direct a choir, small vocal group and a jazz group at the college.
WAKE UP CALL!
I love doing all this but realised at the end of last year that I have very little time to set aside for my own creativity, practise and reflecting on my teaching philosophy and lifelong learning.
Lockdown came, and although it took a while to get use to having hubby around all day, constant online learning, grieving to see my students face to face, I suddenly found time for composition, practising and upskilling.
UPSKILLING!
Lockdown saw a flurry of music programmes being offered free of charge for 1, 2 and sometimes 3 months. I found I had time to join read blogs and take advantage of the resources offered by national music bodies. When listening to MENZA Music 19 Keynote speaker, Dr James Humberstone and then reflecting on a selection of his blogs I realised that I was once again challenging my own teaching philosophy. His blog challenged the music teaching practices in the 21st Century in our students technology- infused lives. This was particularly of interest to me, as I was finding it hard to bring the college girls up to speed with technology, mainly because of internet speed and ancient hardware. With better internet speed and up-to-date hardware I am excited that the girls are slowly learning the possibilities of music making in the modern world.
In this particular blog, there was an offer of rethinking different teaching styles by taking part in a MOOC, (Massive Open Online Course, offered by Coursera. More about this course can be found on https://www.coursera.org/learn/music-education.