NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR MUSIC EDUCATION

Content Standard: 1: Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music

Content Standard: 2: Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
Content Standard: 3: Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments
Content Standard: 4: Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines
Content Standard: 5: Reading and notating music
Content Standard: 6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
Content Standard: 7: Evaluating music and music performances
Content Standard: 8: Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
Content Standard: 9: Understanding music in relation to history and culture

ASSERTION #1

For teachers to help students meet the requirements of the Standards successfully, four things must happen in and for teachers:
(1) They should themselves be competent exemplars of the context and skills they are teaching.  At a minimum, teachers ought to be able to meet the K-12 National Standards.
(2) They should be able to teach from the base of their own knowledge and skills, not merely model or present prefabricated lessons.
(3) They should be able to lead, in the sense of being able to provide content-based guidance to the uninitiated, the beginner, and the advanced student.
(4) They should be able to learn and develop on their own in the primary disciplinary fields associated with their work.

QUESTIONS FOR DECISION MAKERS

§ Are the mission and goals of our undergraduate teacher preparation programs consistent with the aspirations for K-12 achievement inherent in the Standards?

§  How is each competency expressed in the Standards addressed within and across the components of our teacher preparation curriculum for each arts discipline?

§  Is curricular time and weight allocated to courses in the specific arts discipline, general studies, and professional education adequate to achieve the requisite artistic, intellectual, and pedagogical competencies?

§   What expectations do we have for developing competence and capacity for artistic educational leadership in the classroom, with various types of groups, and in the community at large?

§   How should our programs promote, by requirement and example, the “habits of mind”necessary for performance and growth of a teacher?

Response

  Overall, I feel this article touches on how teachers need to be familiar with the content that they teach.  They should be confident with the material and how to execute each lesson.  Teachers should use the textbooks as resources, and not as the curriculum.  They should have teachable moments that consist of skewing off the lesson plan so that each student has a clear understanding of a concept.  Each teacher should be confident in the lessons they are instructing and show ownership over each task.