spread joy.
Today, my cooperating teacher mentioned that he had a couple of 8th grade trumpet players he could "make really great".
I responded "Yeah- you're trumpets have potential to be really great"
He said, "No they don't."
First of all... Teachers cannot take credit for the talent of his students-- You cannot make students great- you must, as their teacher, inspire them to work hard and practice to make themselves great. You can't force students to be good at something if they hate it, love it, or feel indifferent. Students must be encouraged to improve and become great of their own power.
Second of all... If a teacher doesn't believe their students have potential, what's the freakin' point?
my cooperating teacher says things like this all the time, and then also says things like "it's so hard to motivated kids to care."
i hope i never become so burnt out that i can't inspire my kids to try their hardest or do their best.
that i lower my standards for kids just because I don't have goals or higher standards for myself anymore.
that all i'm concerned with is producing All-State players or District 1s.
It's my goal, as a future teacher, to produce students who can properly and successfully tackle life as people who also happen to be musicians.
Who can approach life as an adventure- who approach music in the same manner.
Who can relate music to life- and use their practice and performance as an emotional outlet.
It's my goal to help produce kids who will take the dedication and focus they have in rehearsal into all other aspects of life- so they aren't just effective musicians- but effective people.
And maybe I have lofty goals- but I'm willing to have too-high goals, and maybe "fail"- but still produce good kids who are inspired in life.
Not every student will be a music major.
Not every student will love music the same way I do.
But maybe some students will.
And I'm okay with that- because every child is different, and every student needs to be inspired in a different way.
I want to inspire kids to try their hardest in music.
And in soccer.
And in math.
And in english.
And in their driving tests.
Whatever the task, I want to inspire kids to try their hardest.
I want to remind kids that when we work hard, we achieve results.
That nothing in life comes to us for free.
That we all need to love and encourage each other.
Dare I say, we need to "Spread Joy"?
I responded "Yeah- you're trumpets have potential to be really great"
He said, "No they don't."
First of all... Teachers cannot take credit for the talent of his students-- You cannot make students great- you must, as their teacher, inspire them to work hard and practice to make themselves great. You can't force students to be good at something if they hate it, love it, or feel indifferent. Students must be encouraged to improve and become great of their own power.
Second of all... If a teacher doesn't believe their students have potential, what's the freakin' point?
my cooperating teacher says things like this all the time, and then also says things like "it's so hard to motivated kids to care."
i hope i never become so burnt out that i can't inspire my kids to try their hardest or do their best.
that i lower my standards for kids just because I don't have goals or higher standards for myself anymore.
that all i'm concerned with is producing All-State players or District 1s.
It's my goal, as a future teacher, to produce students who can properly and successfully tackle life as people who also happen to be musicians.
Who can approach life as an adventure- who approach music in the same manner.
Who can relate music to life- and use their practice and performance as an emotional outlet.
It's my goal to help produce kids who will take the dedication and focus they have in rehearsal into all other aspects of life- so they aren't just effective musicians- but effective people.
And maybe I have lofty goals- but I'm willing to have too-high goals, and maybe "fail"- but still produce good kids who are inspired in life.
Not every student will be a music major.
Not every student will love music the same way I do.
But maybe some students will.
And I'm okay with that- because every child is different, and every student needs to be inspired in a different way.
I want to inspire kids to try their hardest in music.
And in soccer.
And in math.
And in english.
And in their driving tests.
Whatever the task, I want to inspire kids to try their hardest.
I want to remind kids that when we work hard, we achieve results.
That nothing in life comes to us for free.
That we all need to love and encourage each other.
Dare I say, we need to "Spread Joy"?