Knowledge of Self; Knowledge of Teaching

When it comes to building on self-knowledge, I view it as an ongoing cycle. This is partly because we start the world in a state that it not self aware, and then build out of it as we exit childhood. However, the behaviors, emotions, and habits of childhood are ingrained in us. Adding to this is the ever-increasing change of our person over time. This change occurs day by day; rarely is there a "come to Damscus" moment in our lives. This makes change creep up on us. Change in motivation, change in habit, and change in desires can build slowly and subtly.

Self-discovery is understanding just what we want, why we want it, and what has changed about ourselves. Additionally, at a certain point self-discovery crosses with self-creation, where desire comes into contact with will and we overtly change behavior - self knowledge leads to change, which in turn leads to more self-discovery. This is why those who are much older, though they may be able to understand the younger, are not operating in similar modes.

I try to make adding to self-knowledge a conscious process. I am always polling myself for the desires of end-goals. How much do I want my house in order? vs. How much do I want to finish my next book on time? How much do I want to play video games? vs. How much do I want to read? How good am I at each of these things? Do they net me products I want? Eventually, through such polling (as well as experience) I learn not only my true preferences, but how well I perform at a given task.

Application to Teaching and Music

My own preferences have changed in the last ten years; likewise my skills have also changed. I would prefer to teach at the secondary level, but my skills are primarily concentrated in those that I used teaching at the college level, specifically guitar. If I want to meet my preference for teaching band and orchestra, I will need to develop knowledge of the curriculum.

I know, because of my lack of experience, my primary shortfall is in knowledge of educational literature for music. Most of my current knowledge is focused around guitar literature, and of that most of it is advanced because of the students I have served over the last ten years. This is teaching knowledge that I need to acquire, but I will also need to acquire some self-knowledge, particularly as I enter the secondary market. I need to know what music I prefer to instruct as well as what is best for the students. I need to come to know student preferences as well as what they excel at.  I need to know how I best learn this knowledge as well. I have many resources at my disposal for this purpose, but I know that learning the literature will be a learning about learning experience for me as well.

Field Testing of Affective Response In Teaching the Tonal System

I. Lesson Format

            The lesson chosen for field testing is the first lesson in a one to two week unit whose instructional goals include knowledge, understanding, and application of music theory relating to the tonal, or major and minor key, system. This first lesson, because it uses theory and focuses on aural response, was well-suited for testing because of its application to a wide variety of students in terms of skill, age, and experience.

A. “Hearing the System”

            The lesson consists of three parts: a listening exercise, a short explanation or lecture, and another listening exercise intended to apply concepts discussed and discovered earlier in the class session.

1. Pre-assessment. The pre-assessment is an informal assessment of the students’ abilities to hear and recognize the differences between pieces of music in major and minor keys. It was performed by having the students listen to recordings selected by the teacher and respond to them through description. As part of the assessment, the active learning technique of affective response was used.

2. Ongoing Assessment. The ongoing assessment took place during the lecture and class discussion following the recorded examples and is informal and formative in nature. The instructor polled the class for understanding using “muddiest point” as an active learning technique and by asking students to state the concept in their own words.

3. Post-assessment. The post-assessment took the form of a formal learning activity in which students were asked to listen to more recordings and make a guess to whether the piece was in a major or minor key. They recorded their answers in written form. For this field test, since there was no need for grading or other ongoing measures, the answers were checked at the end of class.

B. Participants

            The participants for the field test were five individuals, all of whom are involved in private guitar lessons. Their ages were 12, 14, two 15, and 22 years, respectively. Their experience levels ranged from three months of instrument experience to four years of private study. They were tested in two different groups receiving the same instruction due to time constraints and the schedules of the participants.

C. Materials

            The recordings used in the pre-assessment were as follows, in the order presented: Wolfgang Mozart, Symphony 25 in G minor, mvt. 1; Beethoven symphony 9, mvt. 4; Heitor Villa-Lobos, prelude 5 for guitar; Francisco Tarrega, “Los Recuerdos de la Alhambra” for guitar; J.S. Bach, Art of the Fugue, contrapunctus 1 for organ; A.S. Weiss, Lute Sonata 25, Presto. Only the first one to two minutes of each recording were used in the interest of time.

            The lecture and discussion phase of the lesson re-used two pieces: Heitor Villa-Lobos, prelude 5 for guitar; Francisco Tarrega, “Los Recuerdos de la Alhambra” for guitar. Sections from these were performed by the instructor at differing speeds to demonstrate features of the tonal system in each.

            The recordings used for the post-assessment were as follows  (note: not in order): F. Chopin, Nocturne no.2 for piano; L. van Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 5; Isaac Albinez, Leyenda (Asturias) for guitar; Francisco Tarrega, LaGrima for guitar; G.F. Handel, Suite for a Musical Clock (for guitar), mvt. 2; Gaspar Sanz, Canarios (for baroque guitar).

            Guitar selections were used throughout because the participating class was made of guitar players.

II. Findings

A. Assessments

1. Pre-assessment. The results of the pre-assessment are more thoroughly explored in a different document, but in general students were able to comprehend the difference between tonal areas and use their own words in affective response exercises to describe the effect of the music. There was a single student that struggled initially with comprehension, skewing the results of the mastery rubric (fig. 1) because of the small sample size.

2. Ongoing Assessment. During the lecture and discussion, all of the students were involved in commenting and asking questions, though part of this may have been the result of the small size of the groups.

3. Post-assessment. Each student was asked to write “major” or “minor” for each piece of music played as the post assessment. Afterward, I shared the answers with the class. Of the five participants, all five were able to get better than 50% of their answers correct, making the class as a whole better than basic. One student got 50% of the answers correct, while the other four got five or six out of the possible six, meaning that the one low score skewed the results of the post-assessment when using the mastery rubric. Without this outlier, the group would have been proficient.

B. Student Feedback

            Student feedback was generally positive, with one exception. Students felt that they would have enjoyed the lesson more if it had made use of more than just classical music or had also included popular music that they listened to on a regular basis. Most students conveyed that they felt like they had a better understanding of major and minor after the lesson.

III. Reflection

A. Lessons Learned

            One of the first lessons I learned was in grouping classes to heavily together when considering progress toward mastery. In the small test group one student who had a harder time than the rest might have, if using the mastery rubric I had designed beforehand, caused the class to be slowed down beyond what would have been preferable. It is important to consider individuals and their abilities, not just the class as a whole when designing instruction. Differentiation of instruction could have potential to close this gap.

            The second lesson was a general revelation about students’ attitude toward music and being exposed to it. Most of the students conveyed they would have been more interested in the lesson if it taught them things about music they liked to listen to or were otherwise already interested in. While I think it is important to expose students to good art, it is also important to engage them by offering application of concepts to things they deem relevant.

B. Possible Changes and Revision

            The first revision I thought of involves a change to the mastery rubric to better address individual progress. The proposed change would, instead of using guidelines for the whole class at once that could be skewed by either lagging or exceptional individuals, judge individuals. That data could then be used to judge mean and median scores to determine the class’s movement toward mastery. A revised mastery rubric has been included (fig. 2)

            The next change I would make is in the music used. I tried to use a fair amount of guitar-specific pieces, since all of the participants were guitar players, but according to student feedback popular music would have been more relevant than music on their own instrument. In the future, I will likely include some recordings of popular music, perhaps one or two at the beginning and the end, to help with interest. Potentially, students could suggest what music they would like to analyze in this method.

C. Personal Experience

            The experience was generally enjoyable and rewarding. I particularly liked seeing how classical music that I enjoyed affected (or in some cases, didn’t affect) students and getting to hear what novices thought about it. This was especially true with the baroque music used in the examples, which I thought might be over-complex for the students. Instead, they found the baroque music the most interesting because of its complexity. They also seemed to have an easier time discerning the key on the other, more polyphonic, music.

            Overall, I think it is a lesson I would use in a larger class as well, and might provide a needed break from playing. I could also imagine the same technique, affective response, being used on younger groups to help them listen to music and communicate their feelings about it as a valuable preparation for later study.

Figure 1

Mastery Rubric

This rubric is intended primarily to be used by the instructor to gauge how the class is progressing along technical lines toward mastery of concepts and state standards.

	Beginning	Below basic	Basic	Proficient	Mastery
Techniques	A few students are able to perform the technique, but most have difficulty performing it on command. Using the technique in time is very difficult.	Less than half the students are able to perform the technique, with or without prompting from the instructor. Using the technique with rhythmic accuracy is difficult.	More than half the students can perform the technique with prompting. Using the technique with rhythmic accuracy is possible, but some students still struggle.	At least have the students can perform the technique without prompting, and almost all of the remainder can perform it with prompts and corrections. Very few, if any, students struggle. The technique can be performed well with rhythmic accuracy.	Almost all of the students can perform the technique without prompting. Using the technique in time is very easy for the class. Few, if any, students require any sort of prompting.
Theory and concepts	Very few of the students are able to define concepts in their own words or correctly apply theory.	Less than half of the students are able to define concepts in their own words or correctly apply theory.	More than half of the students are able to define concepts in their own words and many students can correctly apply theory.	The majority of students are able to define concepts in their own words. They are able to draw connections to other concepts and can apply theory to music well through composition and performance.	Almost all of the students are able to define concepts accurately as well as draw connections to other concepts. Those who cannot are able to define terms well enough for examinations. Almost all of the students are capable of using music theory in their own performances.
Performance pieces	The class cannot yet play the piece with rhythmic accuracy or may need frequent prompting to get the music right. They may be playing one note at a time.	The class can play the piece very slowly, with some prompting from the instructor to assist in accuracy. They cannot yet play dynamics.	The class can play the piece with rhythmic accuracy, though slightly slower than indicated. There are few missed notes. Dynamics, if present, are inconsistent.	The class can play with both pitch and rhythmic accuracy without prompting and at an appropriate tempo. Dynamics are used, but expression is limited.	The class can play the whole piece accurately in terms of pitch and rhythm at performance tempo. There are few missed notes. The ensemble is able to use dynamics and other expressive techniques to full effect.

Figure 2

Revised Mastery Rubric for Individuals

	(1)Beginning	(2)Below Basic	(3)Basic	(4)Proficient	(5)Mastery
Identification of Major and Minor aurally	The student is not able to discern the difference between major and minor aurally.	The student is able to correctly identify the use of major and minor less than half of the time.	The student is able to correctly identify the use of major and minor more than half the time	The student is able to correctly identify the use of major or minor consistently, or more than 85% or the time.	The student is able to correctly identify the use of major and minor consistently, and is able to identify when a shift from major or minor to the opposite system has occurred within a piece.
Affective response description abilities	The student is unable to identify any effects of a musical example.	The student is able to identify basic emotions produced by a piece of music, such as happy and sad.	The student is able to identify and describe general effects, such as “dark” and “bright” sounds.	The student is able to identify and describe specific musical effects in his or her own words.	The student is able to tie effects of music to specific musical events and is able to use his or her own words to describe events.

Data gathered can be used to evaluate mastery through evaluation of the mean (average) median (middle score) and mode (most frequent score).

Pre-assessment Field Tests of Affective Response in Music

Pre-assessment is an important tool for educators that allows them to determine a class or individual’s preparedness for a lesson, unit, or instructional activity. It also helps instructors to make judgments about the effectiveness of previous lessons and activities in developing skill sets and knowledge required for future lessons. A pre-assessment can take many forms, from quizzes and tests on the formal side to discussions and observations on the informal side. In music, pre-assessments tend to be informal, but can be of varying degrees of formality for units in which the instructor does not have adequate data to understand the instructional needs of the class.

I. “Hearing the System” Pre-assessment

            The pre-assessment chosen for testing is a pre-assessment used on the first day of a planned two-week (or 5-10 lesson) unit that explores the tonal system, scales, and basic music composition. The pre-assessment is intended to help the instructor understand the aural identification skills of the class as well as prepare the class for a lesson that is listening intensive. It is informal as originally written.

A. Procedure

            The instructor plays recordings, or alternately performs on his instrument, a series of pieces that are in either major or minor tonality. The class is asked to respond to these examples first by identifying the differences between the major and minor pieces and then by describing the emotional effect of the music directly. The instructor will write the adjectives use on the board and follow the students instructions as to which descriptors apply to which pieces.

            By the end of the pre-assessment the instructor should have a general idea of the class’s ability to identify the differences between major and minor aurally.

B. Justification

            Instruction in music is often an ongoing and many-tiered operation, with pre-assessments directly testing (usually informally) the progress of the class in technique and concert preparedness. In this sense a single pre-assessment may not have as much meaning as a week’s worth. The pre-assessment used was chosen because it is a break from the usual warm-ups that are used as music pre-assessments and because it tests a set of aural skills that are not often assessed in the course of ensemble music and might therefore be an unknown to the instructor.

Personality, the Teaching Profession, and Teaching Style

Some typical personality tests:

Team Technology Questionnaire

Kisa Personality Inventory 

Before speaking at great lengths about personality and relationships to life and life goals, I would like to first state that while I find personality tests interesting, I ultimately do not place much value on them. People have a wide variety of behaviors and preferences, but these do not necessarily correlate to particular careers or modes of operating. The human action machine is more elastic than most people give it credit, with people being readily able to change behavior patterns with proper incentive and time. As part of my philosophy, I consider behavior, which manifests itself truthfully in the world the way words or bubbles do not, to be a greater measure of preference than a test.

As an example, somebody classified as an “introvert” might be considered a poor choice as a salesman, due to his preference for alone time. However, if sales as a job is considerably preferable to him in its action and rewards than other things, such as digging trenches, that individual will find the social activity – sales – far more preferable than the alone activity of digging. The dichotomous questions posed by personality tests seem to see preference as some solid, immutable, and “true” quality, but in the real world preferences are assigned based on options available to an individual. The above introvert might find aeronautical engineering to be an exciting field, but that may not be an option to him due to his choices and inherited life situations. Sales, however, might offer him the best pay and hours available compared to other things. He might weigh his dislike of sales as having some economic value, but sales might also give him more time for his passions. The web of preference is deep and highly individual.

 For me, I am usually identified as an Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, and Judging individual in personality tests (or INTJ). Sometimes I am a slight variation, but for the most part this pegs me. This may lead people to wonder why I chose to pursue artistic fields and engage myself in public speaking and performance, the supposed realm of extroverts. The short answer is that I choose to. The long answer is that personality traits contribute to success in a wide variety of fields in ways that are often not understood without undertaking the task for oneself.

How did your personality affect your choice of content area?

Music as a field can attract a wide variety of people to it; success in the field often requires certain behaviors that some are unwilling to undertake. On its surface, music seems highly extroverted. When one is witnessing the final product, usually a performance, images that appeal to an extrovert are usually presented, particularly focused attention on the individual and  social connection with an audience.

Introductions and the Teaching Profession

Who am I?

My name is David V. Stewart. I am many things to many people, including writer, speaker, performer, YouTuber, husband, and professional cat masseuse. To most of you reading this, I am a teacher. I have been teaching since I was nineteen or so, starting as a private guitar instructor, and later teaching elementary school music while developing a large private studio. I taught at two colleges (Fresno State and College of the Sequoias in Visalia for those who care) for a few years after that before picking up my life and moving to Las Vegas, where I worked as a performer and private instructor again. Eventually, I returned to California and decided I’d like to teach at the secondary level.  You can find more specifics about me and my history in the “about the author” section above (or click here). You can find my main blog, The Tears of Prometheus, here (This is not a teaching blog, it is primarily fiction, and has some violent content - not a terribly large amount, but use discretion). 

Why teaching?

My reason for entering the teaching profession is probably much more Vulcan-esce than most of you. I got started teaching because it played to a skill I already had highly developed (musicianship) and had an excellent work to pay ratio at the time, and was very flexible initially, allowing me freedom to work on my passions as I saw fit. Essentially, it was a day job. In many ways, it still is a day job, as I continue to work on my creative projects (formerly music compositions, now written narrative), though I have become considerably more invested in it over the years.

I’m a bit more matter-of-fact about the teaching profession than most people with whom I share the vocation. I like my students, but I don’t become emotionally invested in them. I think teaching is an important profession, but I don’t find it more virtuous than others. I don’t think teachers are underpaid or overpaid (we do, in California at least, have a pretty powerful union). I take my job very seriously, but I don’t shed tears over it.

This attitude, which is what I consider a truly professional attitude, gives me a lot of advantages. I don’t commit to ideals, but instead judge programs by their effects. I don’t let emotional situations cloud my professional judgment. I can see the students for the human beings they are without losing sight of what is required of them to succeed. I assemble out the pillars of perspective, experience, collaboration, and research, the best practices for myself and my students, and I never short-change a student on his or her educational dollar.

I don’t set out to reinvent the wheel. I set out to make a really, really good wheel.

In black and white, ALL my hair is grey.