As an educator, my first objective is to give my students a secure and welcoming atmosphere to make themselves better individuals. This kind of environment encourages students to be themselves and also allows for mistakes. That way, the errors are happening in a forgiving place where the students can learn from them before applying them in public. It is essential to me that I prepare the next generation to be high-functioning people within our nation, regardless of their function or vocation within it. The most substantial opportunity that I can give my pupils is a student-centered education. This philosophy of education is “less concerned with the past and ‘training the mind,’ and more focused on individual needs, contemporary relevance, and preparing students for a changing future” (Sadker & Zittlemann). 

For kids to absorb information, they have to be directly involved in the processes. This idea starts early in the planning stages, where direct involvement of the students is necessary. They can choose what material they feel is most important to cover and what they think the class expectations should be. They establish a set of classroom rules to be obeyed, as well as the disciplinary actions to be used if needed. The best learning happens in a supportive and collaborative environment, letting students interact and learn from one another and become more engaged in their learning. The tests/quizzes are more about retaining the critical ideas rather than the score, so I implement verbal tests (discussions) and interactive tests (listening) as well as the regular paper/pencil assessment. As the overseer of the class, my role within this process is to understand my students’ different learning styles and provide them with many ways of articulating their knowledge. 

My goal as a music teacher is to be a facilitator of learning and a moderator of discourse instead of only teaching materials that I want to cover. I am an avid believer that we are all still learning, so I think I can learn as much from my students as they can from me. I strive to show the utmost respect for them, just as they do for me, by giving them the chance to develop their own musical opinions and interpretations. I implement this idea by allowing my kids some involvement in selecting what music they perform, as well as specific musical material they would like to learn. Music also can create certain emotions within different people. I strive to validate my learners and their feelings by letting them share their connections with the music so that other pupils may combine their views to create a deeper understanding of the music they are playing.