I believe in the importance of active learning. Students learn best when they are alert, involved, and engaged in a lesson. I like a lively classroom, with dialogue between the students and myself, and I work to bring enough variety to keep the class interesting. A little controlled chaos now and then is better than boredom and disengagement. An active class also provides me better feedback on whether the information I’m presenting is being understood well by the students.
At the same time, sometimes a well thought out lecture is the best way to present information, and I think that as educators we should develop in students the attention span and listening skills necessary to digest big ideas and challenging concepts. Students today face more distractions than any generation before them—we all do. People with better attention skills who can remain focused as complex information is presented to them have an advantage an any career.
I believe in thoughtful use of technology to support learning. I developed my sight singing game Latido to provide extra practice and feedback outside of the aural skills classroom. I have used on-line music theory exercises from teoria.com and musictheory.net, managed listening lists for Rock History using Spotify, and even used a webtext as my primary text for Jazz History.
At the same time, teachers need to develop good technology habits in our students, and that includes preventing them from becoming distracted my phones, tablets, and laptops in class. I generally do not allow the use of electronic devices in my classes unless the student has a documented disability or has convinced me that the device would improve their learning. The research is quite clear that students learn better with hand written notes; I also believe that they are more likely to look at those notes again at a later date if they are written down.
I believe in the importance of the “wow” moment: that exciting instant when a student suddenly understands a concept that was previously beyond his or her grasp. It’s one of the great pleasures of teaching, that instant when something comes into sharp focus for the first time. It’s exciting for the student, and gratifying for the teacher.
At the same time, the “wow” moment is a turning point, not a destination. Mastery requires moving beyond the “wow” moment through repetition, study, and recontextualization. When I first started teaching, I think I was always chasing the “wow” moment; I know realize the importance of both exciting students with the thrill of discovery and pushing students to master the concept they’ve just discovered.
I believe in teaching the practical application of every concept the students are learning. Isolated tidbits of information are sure to fade out of memory; students always need to know the why to accompany the who/what/where/when/how. I know that’s often tedious; sometimes you just want to say, “because I said so!” But I think students learn best when they can place every piece of information in the existing framework of their knowledge and experience.
At the same time, I do not believe that we should only be teaching career skills. My best teaching helps students draw interdisciplinary connections, develops critical thinking skills, and—hopefully—occasionally provokes moral and ethical introspection.
Every class session is an opportunity to guide a group of students toward a better future. It’s important to have good, current information about the topic I’m teaching, but I think you need much more than that: an awareness of the students’ abilities and interests; the ability to structure classes in an interesting, engaging way; a desire to motivate students beyond understanding toward mastery; and a deep curiosity to inspire cross-discipline exploration and life-long learning.