Ironically, the shoes I'm stepping into in my new job included teaching four musicals a year...the main one which cost the PTA a hefty bundle was Aladdin.
But seriously, I could not have picked a better time in my life to move to a new (blue) state and jump into its educational system both as a teacher and a graduate student. My first class is about cultural responsive teaching in the music classroom. I am living in the most diverse neighborhood in Chicago (where over 80 languages are taught). I am one of few white people who live on my block and sometimes feel like I stick out like a sore thumb. My graduate class is challenging the way I view race, ethnicity and culture not only in my classroom but also in my non-professional life. The school I teach in is predominantly white but has a subculture of students bused from poverty to our campus to participate in and be offered an "equal" education with the wealthy, white, neighborhood children. Students in my classes speak French, Spanish and probably many other languages. I feel challenged to my very core, and I honestly can't imagine a better time to face up to it all. I am no longer a complete novice teacher--although if you ever get too cocky as a teacher, move to a new job. This is the most humble I've been in a while, tell you that much!
I love being here in a different educational system because it is apparent that our nation's educational system is flawed. More on this later...but this has been incredibly enlightening for me. I honestly thought that moving from Bush's home state where "No Child Left Behind" potentially was conceived to "Obama-land" would offer some relief from standardized testing and student/teacher pressure. Boy, could I be more wrong. A comment I heard tonight included that Obama hasn't commented on the CTU strike--if he supports the teachers that means he denounces his own educational policy. But if he supports to city that shows he doesn't back unions and worker organizations, which is a huge part of his party's platform. So he doesn't comment and we hear nothing of this in the media. Hmm.
Enough politics--I am desperate to get in writing one of the most incredible teaching moments of my career that happened to me today. First graders are reviewing musical opposites and this week, moving to Moonlight Sonata and Flight of the Bumblebee in order to practice slow and fast. We began with Moonlight Sonata and one of my students began to ask, "Why is it so sad?" I initially thought he was attention seeking and so ignored his behavior as the class continued the movement activity along with me. The child went over to the other adult in the room and began to sob. Once the music changed to Flight of the Bumblebee, he slowly returned to the group and participated, but a sense of sadness lingered over him. I took the opportunity as the students were lining up to address his questions (as they kept coming!) and told him that music is wonderful because it helps us show our feelings--all of our feelings, even the sad ones sometimes. And it made me realize in a class discussion about justifying music's place in educating the whole child that I can't imagine that solving math equations moves a person like the experience I just had.
Sometimes as music teachers we feel like the babysitters, whether that's the fault of our colleagues or society at large. We can feel stepped on, left out, overworked and overwhelmed by assessments and paperwork. But when a moment happens where you know that you've affected something deep inside another person by teaching them the content area that you love the most, it all feels worth it. I am so thankful for this job, for the opportunity to have these experiences each time I walk into my classroom.
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