Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Name three things you hold dear and on which you will not compromise. Why?

There are three things in my future profession that I refuse to compromise. The first deals with the kinds of repertoire I will have my students perform in choir. Today, many choral directors choose repertoire based on its entertainment value, rather than its academic value. I feel that is important to choose repertoire that has academic integrity, historical significance, and provides opportunities to challenge the students. The entertainment songs (i.e. Disney) seldom provide any of these. I feel that the concerts the students perform should be an opportunity to share their hard work with the community, not a performance to solely entertain the audience.
A second area I refuse to compromise deals with classroom management. I want my students to understand my level of expectations in thier behavior and participation and to realize that any less is not acceptable. I feel that so many students opt to take choir because they believe it is easy. I want my students to enjoy my class and have fun along the way, but learning must take place.
I also feel that many teachers give in to bad behavior, which results in chaos in the classroom. Managing a classroom is difficult, yes, but I believe that we are doing the children a favor by teaching them (and enforcing) which behaviors are and aren't acceptable.
The third area I will not compromise in deals with copying of music in the schools. Many schools administrators are allowing illegal copying of music scores in the classroom simply to save money. Illegally copying music can cost more money if you are caught than it would've cost to buy the music in the first place. Many music teachers fight this with their administrators, only to hit brick walls. They don't realize that the copying of music is driving the cost of scores up because publishing companies are losing money. The budgets we are given are very small, but it is unacceptable to blatantly break the law to try and cut corners.