Reflectiveness and Why it's Hard to Do

    In the teaching and education world, reflecting on the past is an important thing to do.  Teachers and people in education need to be looking for ways to improve the way they do their jobs.  As times change and different students arrive in a classroom, each teacher needs to reevaluate how they taught in the past and what kinds of things they can change or improve on in the future.

Students
    Teachers and students often find it  hard to reflect on the heart of education because they fail to put the effort or understanding into it.  Students may fail to reflect because they simply do not want to be in the classroom in the first place.  They would rather be in an environment which allows they more opportunity to have autonomy.  This is one place actually that teachers can focus on to improve their students ability at reflecting.  By giving students a say in their own education, teachers can increase the chances of their students learning to reflect on their past experiences and learn from them.  This ability to reflect on the past is a skill which will help these students for the rest of their lives.  Their are no professions in the world which to not require reflection on past situations or even building on past skills and experiences.  By allowing students to have some autonomy and helping instill in their a love for learning and reflection, educators can instill in them a love for learning that will help their students throughout their lives.

Teachers
     Teachers too, just like their students, need to have the ability to reflect.  For teachers it is very important to reflect, because through the reflection process, one can look constructively on the things the did or tried to do in the past and make attempts at correcting or changing behaviors or educational approaches.  In a teacher teaches he same way for ever without ever looking back and striving to be the best teacher they can be, there is a large change that they will fail to be the best educator they can for all the students they have.  All students have different learning styles and educational needs.  In a changing world of education it is important for teachers to remember that they need to constantly reevaluate their performance in order to be the best educator they possibly can.

How to Reflect
    Reflection is the best when it is done in a few steps over the course of a determined period of time.  In the book Drive, by Daniel Pink he argues that human's intrinsic motivation, or their natural instinct to learn and improve themselves is being drowned out by incentives, bonuses, and rewards.  Attempt to harness students natural instinct to learn.  For students, teachers could have them write down some goals and expectations down on paper for a class to look on later.  When they write them down consider How will I reach these goals? and What will I get out of accomplishing these goals?  After a determined or undetermined amount of time has passed, consider Did I reach my goals?, How has this effected me?, and How can I work to accomplish how in the future?  This relatively simple process can serve to get students, if not completely involved but at the least simply thinking about their education and its role in their future lives and careers.
    Teachers can reflect in much the same way setting goals for themselves. Music teachers could focus on improving their conducting skills or increasing ear training proficiency.  Other types of teacher can look to improve their familiarity with current topics in education and research so they are able to give their students the most recent and applicable information possible that relates to their lives.  Teachers should also work constantly to improve their ability to teach to all types of students.  By informing themselves on new information about teaching approached and advancements in the understanding of students learning and development they can improve themselves and give their students the best education they possibly can.

Passion in Teaching

   Passion is one of many characteristics that make a teacher truly great.  Teachers are charge with the job of educating children to become good citizens and important parts of society.  Teachers need to feel that their not hired for a job, but rather called to a profession.  Without dedication and passion, a teacher will only be working for the wrong reasons.
   I am a music education major here at Luther College and I was never one who got really excited about mathematics and science.  In high school chemistry though, my teacher was a very dedicated person who showed a passion for education.  He used all the resources he could to show us how redox equations and the periodic table applied to our daily lives.  He made chemistry applicable to each of his students lives whether is was your toothpaste of your microwave oven.  In college I even decided to venture outside the realm of music courses and take a chemistry class.  My college chemistry professor really enjoyed the subject he taught and, like my high school teacher, made sure the information we learned applied to our daily lives whether it was meat tenderization or avalanche control.  Because of these classes, I became more knowledgeable about a field I was previously uninterested in.
   In college here, I did have one negative experience with a teacher in an introductory class.  For an assignment we needed to bring in several quotes concerning music education.  One of the quotes I brought dealt with music and its healing capabilities.  While I do not remember the quote, I do remember my professor's response to it.  He basically said that the ideas behind the quote were no good and it did not matter.  Little did he know that I am very interested in music therapy and its application to special education programs in schools.  And I have done research in to the field already so it does exist.  I fisrt saw a Nova episode called Musical Minds which introduced me to this field of research for the first time.  I then read a book by Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, called Musicophilia which talks about his own experiences with music healing powers.  My interest grew which led me to the Beth Abraham Institute for Music and Neurological research.  Research done in the medical field has shown that music's application in the hospital has profound effects on patients' conditions improving conditions such as speech and motor impediments, autism, Tourette's Syndrome, Parkinson's, stroke, and memory deficits.  Research about the brain has also revealed that music is one thing that allows the brain to use both sides and much of its capacity which is great for developing brains.  I believe strongly that this information from the medical and music therapy field can be applied to education for all students.  If I had not read about the positive effects this use of music can have, my professor's comments could easily have deterred me from continued research and further reading in this area. 

Here are some links if you would like to learn more:

Beth Abraham Institute for Music and Neurological Research
     http://www.bethabe.org/music_institute55.html

Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks
     http://musicophilia.com/

Nova Musical Minds
     http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/musicminds/