feature For Example
Recently, my seventh grade bands studied “Salvation Is Created” by Pavel Ches- nokov. The students learned that this work was one of Chesnokov’s final sacred works. Russia mandated that he write music for his country only. Unbeliev- ably, Chesnokov never heard “Salvation Is Created” performed. After listening to this utterly magnificent work in class, I softly whispered to my students: “Can you imagine writing something this beautiful and never hearing it performed? What must it have been like to be Chesnokov?” Students responded with words like hol- low, empty, sad, abandoned. This was my entry point into a broader goal of teaching my students about empathy. Throughout the course of the year, we studied empa- thy and compassion, after which students like Quimby reflected: “I am much more aware of others. I find that I ask people more questions and try to put myself in their shoes.”
The affective domain allows you to not just teach music, but rather to teach through music. Intentionally teaching to the affect has allowed student’s to explore their values, opinions, desires, wishes, personal knowledge, self-awareness and character. Just consider for a moment all of the great things that would potentially not be covered if we just focused on the notes – creativity, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, humor, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, civic-mindedness, empathy, leadership, compassion, cour- age, sense of wonder, resourcefulness, spontaneity and humility. As educators we need to teach beyond the musical notation.
It is imperative that we recognize the dif- ficult and complex work we do. During the past decade, we have learned more about how diverse and distinct intelligence is. Excellent teachers navigate not only dif- ferent learning styles but also emotional, social, physical, economic and ethnic dif- ferences among students. Having a time- turner would certainly be an effective tool for an educator. Yet, we must realize that we already have a powerful teaching tool
Wisconsin School Musician
called self-reflection. We can revisit our past experiences in our mind and reflect on ways to improve our practice. Great educators constantly contemplate and wrestle with ways to better reach and in- spire all students. As Ken Robinson stated: “What you do for yourself dies with you when you leave this world. What you do for others lives on forever.” I challenge
all of us to continue to reflect, to strive to improve, and to light fires in kids!
Chris Gleason is an instrumental music edu- cator at Patrick Marsh Middle School in Sun Prairie. He is a finalist for 2017 National Teacher of the Year. Website:
chrispgleason.com
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