Imagination

In terms of having discussions about curriculum - that hasn't been too difficult for me because every teacher i've spoken to has written their own curriculum and they update it yearly - so they are very aware of what is in their curriculum and how they feel about it.

In regards to Dr. Schmidts assignment of "is our imagination 'schooled up' " - I am not quite sure how i feel about that... I have several answers on different levels. First is my school as a whole - when discussing all of New Brunswick high School - I would say yes, based solely on the numerous meetings and lectures we have had from the principal on how we need to be thinking outside of the box, trying new things with our students, and challenging them. The school is difficult to teach in because not only do most of the students not want to be there, but they have very little respect for someone who doesn't command it from them at the start (something I am struggling with very much so) and even so, many of them are coming to us having barely passed the previous grade (or many haven't passed but were moved up because of age). So the teachers are having such problems getting them to pass their tests (namely the HSPA and/or SRA's) that they have lost their imagination so to speak and have resorted to strict lecture, or constant reading and answering questions. So much so that many teachers are not really teaching anymore.

The next level would be my department (and when I mention them I am referring to the music teacher, the drama teacher, the dance teacher, and the visual arts teachers). When it comes to that specific group of people - not at all. This group (along with many others in various departments that I have met) are such out of the box thinkers to begin with (and most of them are young and have been there anywhere between 2-5 years) that they never let anything get in the way of their imagination when it comes to teaching. They are constantly thinking of creative ways to engage students in their subjects. Just today my teacher brought in a guest to speak about Latin music, he was Puerto Rican and brought instruments for the students to improvise on, the theater teacher is taking his students to McCarter Theater to watch productions and go on a back stage tour. All of the curriculums for these teachers were written by them - so they had complete input as to what the students learn and how they learn it. Now granted, the arts appear to have more freedom when it comes to this because we aren't DIRECTLY responsible for students' test scores - however as part of the school we are required to help them in that direction, so we are constantly giving them essay questions as class assignment that require them to use higher level thinking skills and formulate correct and complete sentences.

The last comment I have on this topic is in regards to myself - unfortunately, after only three weeks of student teaching, I can feel my imagination being "schooled". Part of it is my placement, and as much as I love my cooperating teacher and the other faculty, and the students, it's difficult for me. This is an area that I originally wished to teach in - but now am having second thoughts. I find each day very difficult to get through and I am feeling ill prepared when it comes to teaching, and to my musicianship. This is giving me a severe lack of confidence, and therefore I find myself finding ways to simply "get through" lessons. I am no longer being creative in finding new ways for my students to experience each topic because I myself am no longer excited about my own material. In this way, I feel I have let my imagination become "schooled up". I know that if I stopped this from happening my students would enjoy my lessons more and perhaps respect me more - the problem is I also know this wouldn't happen right away. It will take quite a few lessons like this to get them used to the idea of being creative and looking at music in a new way. But because I would nto be recieving that "instant gratification" it is discouraging me from trying it and "failing" - even though I may consider what I am doing now "failing" because I am no longer being true to myself. But - I am attemtping to work through this and hopefully by the next blog I post I will have more positive results to post :) .