Barb

We so often (wrongly) believe that people with autism are somehow incapable of communicating with or understanding us that it can be difficult to attach wit and wisdom to the diagnosis.  Barb's presentation proved that not only do people with autism poses the capacity for both, but also the ability to reach each and everyone of us in a very meaningful way.

Many of my colleagues have spoken at length about Barb's inspiring life and story, and while I am also moved by her accomplishments, I am equally fascinated by the discussion of the implications autism has on the human race.  Last summer, I discovered a TED video by Juan Enriquez in which he proposes the theory that humans are currently undergoing an evolutionary change; one of the avenues for this change could be autism.  When viewed not as a disability, but as a new, hyper-active and hyper-sensitive response of the brain to the plethora of information and data available to us today, one begins to view autism in a brand new light.

Barb's "smiling shrink" discussed how advances in civilization were almost surely made by people with ADHD and/or autism.  It is easy to see the possibility of these "disabilities" as being responsible for moving society forward--without people who are willing to consciously think against the grain, norms go unchallenged and unchanged.  Enriquez goes one step further and suggests that humans will become the first species in history to not only undergo evolutionary change, but be in complete control of the method and outcome of that transition.  We have the technology to bend, break, manipulate, transmute, and clone nearly anything into nearly anything else; it is only a matter of time before a game-changer turns that technology on him or herself.

I thoroughly enjoyed Barb's presentation and the intellectual workout it gave me.  Her bringing up the idea of autism being simply a different type of neurology, not a disability, has inspired me to do more research into the possibilities of autism and how to best reach those students in my classroom.

 - B

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TED profile of Juan Enriquez:
http://www.ted.com/speakers/juan_enriquez.html

"Will Our Kids Be a Different Species?" TED Talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_will_our_kids_be_a_different_species.html

Chapter 4 - Group Differences and Emotional Intelligence

Chapter 4 – Group Differences

Bobby Showalter

            In the article “Defining Emotional Intelligence in Music Education,” Kaschub describes multiple theorists’ approach to emotional intelligence, and how their theories compare to one another within the context of music education.  Kaschub frequently refers to Goleman’s theory and uses it for the basis of his arguments; I will discuss both Kaschub’s commentary and Goleman’s position.

            Kaschub notes that Goleman’s theory argues that social interaction skills “can be further developed through a knowledge of one’s own feelings and an understanding of how those feelings relate to the emotive life of others in particular situations and contexts.”  I couldn’t agree more.  An effective ensemble rehearsal is more than just the director barking out orders and micromanaging all aspects of performance; rather, a mature and expert ensemble will make those tasks interpersonal, relying instead on one another’s ability to understand the emotional state of others and respond accordingly.  The musicians in this setting understand that their actions have an effect on not only their personal performance, but also on the performance of those around them.  If they are not aware of those with whom they are playing, they stand to impede the growth and development of their peers.

            At the end of his article, Kaschub argues that the primary goal of music education is to “allow our students to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between feelings and music.”  While certainly the understanding of the way music speaks to us and impacts our lives and feelings is important, I would argue further that the primary goal of music education should be rather to encourage more meaningful interactions with one another—verbal intercourse in which the participants are more acutely aware of the other’s emotional state.  Simply developing emotional intelligence for one’s self is not enough.  I believe it is through interpersonal interaction that we truly develop our emotional intelligence and develop long-lasting, meaningful relationships and successes.

Reporting Abuse - Case Study 3

You are a high school teacher in your first year of teaching. You 

have noticed that one of your students appears to have developed 

a crush on you. Until today, you viewed the student’s crush as 

endearing and your student as harmless. You are sitting at your 

desk in your classroom after school, and no one else is in the 

room. Your student comes into your classroom and begins 

acting evocative towards you and makes suggestive comments.

What should you do about this situation?

What are your legal and ethical responsibilities?

     The very first thing I would do is inform the student that they are acting inappropriately and record the situation in writing.  Given that this behavior has been going on for sometime--even though it had been perceived as harmless--I would more than likely already have an existing record of previous instances just to be safe.  I would also monitor my surroundings, making sure all doors were open and, in the case of a band room office, my window blinds were up if they were not already.  If the inappropriate behavior persists past the initial warning, I would leave the situation immediately and find my supervisor or principal and report the situation, showing them my records of this student's behavior towards me.

    If I ever felt a student was beginning to feel this way towards me, I would speak to them in a non-threatening environment about the bounds and barriers that are placed between a student and a teacher, and how it is inappropriate to allow a relationship to grow beyond those limits.  If the situation does not improve and I feel it is escalating towards the behavior described in the case study, I would enlist the help of a guidance counselor to discuss the student's feelings and how to manage and/or eliminate them.

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Creating a Post

Good day, everyone.

This post serves as a tutorial for properly creating and labeling a post so it may be easily viewed by your colleagues.

To begin, locate the EP 401 blog from your Blogger dashboard.  This will require you to log in with your Google account.

Once you have located the EP 401 blog on your Blogger dashboard, click the "Create a new post" button.

This will take you to the "new post" page.

Before you begin typing your post, go ahead and label your post with your first and last name.  To add a label to your post, locate the "Labels" option in the right-sidebar.  You will need to label your post so others may find your posts to read and comment more easily.

Once you have located the "Labels" option in the right-sidebar, click it.  This will open a text box.  In this text box, please type your first and last name, as shown in the example.  Click "Done" when you are finished.

After you have labeled your post with your first and last name, you may continue writing your post as normal.  When you are satisfied with your post, click "Publish" to publish it to the blog.

Once you have published your post to the blog, check the right-sidebar on the main page for your label.

To view all posts by a single author (colleague), simply click their name.

NOTE:  Clicking a name under the "Contributors" section of the right-sidebar will NOT show you that person's posts.  Instead, it will take you to their Blogger profile.  You MUST label your posts for others to easily find them.

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I hope this posts helps!   If you have any further questions, feel free to email me at bobby.showalter@gmail.com.

 - B

QTC - Chapter 14, pt 1

(14.1) Think of a lesson plan from your licensure area. Knowing that assessment is an integral part of teaching, explain at least four informal and formal assessments that you will use in your lesson plan to provide you with feedback and involve the students in assessing their own learning.

Informal assessment takes place constantly throughout the course of a music lesson.  Asking students to play their individual parts alone or in their section, with quick, verbal feedback from the teacher is an example of informal assessment.  Students can also assess their peers in this way; allowing the ensemble time to openly critique itself is a great way to remove the "teaching" from the instruction and get students to listen to a voice other than the teacher's for help.  I can also ask students to listen to a recording of their performance and verbally critique and discuss possible failures or successes in the way they played the music.  Finally, I can illicit feedback from the ensemble to find out if a piece is too difficult or too easy for them, from their perspective.

Band directors often fail to successfully implement formal assessment in their lessons and curriculum.  While the best way to improve the quality of the ensemble is through constant informal assessment, formal assessments can help gauge where individual students are as musicians.  I can assign worksheets to identify chord progressions and intervals in the music we are playing.  Students can also be asked to listen to a recording of either themselves or another musician and answer specific questions about what they hear.  Assigning research projects based on compositions, composers, and other factors in music is a good assessment of a student's skills as a musicologist, not just an instrument-player.

 - B