Philosophy of Education.pdf

my philosophy of education growing up in a family of new york city school teachers i recall many conversations that took place about education between my parents and their teacher friends these conversations didn t interest me much because like most kids i wasn t overly enthusiastic about school in general pedagogical discussions over dinner didn t turn me on to say the least lo and behold fifty years later teaching is a major component of my professional life as a jazz artist little did i know when jamey aebersold of whom i knew nothing at the time called me in the late 1970s to teach at a clinic in the dead of the winter in hays kansas that education would play such a major role in my life of course i teach in a very specialized area and an art form to boot my students be it at clinics the manhattan school of music where i presently teach graduate courses the international association of schools of jazz meetings or my annual saxophone master class are hardly beginners and are by and large highly motivated as well as more mature than their contemporaries in their early to mid twenties however the principles of what constitutes good pedagogy are universal no matter the subject or group this article is a collation of my thoughts on the subject first about education overall and then to the specifics of jazz general educational concepts education is the communication of knowledge and skills besides the obvious value of good education to both the individual and society as a whole there may be the implication that the student will eventually use this information to be engaged in work of some personal and social value on a surface level a teacher imparts tools and techniques but in an art form it goes deeper the teacher is an important source of inspiration and motivation towards the student s ability to form his own personal mode of expression in essence a student learns in order to find himself at the same time a good teacher provides the spark for a student s desire to continue learning not every educational situation necessarily encourages this ideal model to exist but certainly in teaching an art form providing inspiration and at the same time instilling creativity and imagination towards self knowledge is a high priority goal for me process precedes content in importance for education this implies teaching a student how to learn how does one take a bit of information cognize it accurately for oneself practice the material until it becomes habit and then personalize it in one s own unique way if a student knows how to take fresh information and process it for use in the present and future then he will always be able to repeat and use this model of learning if we accept that acquisition of knowledge is a lifetime pursuit and necessary no matter the field then learning to learn can be of great value content specifics facts et al follow when process is in place this is not to say there is no place for memorization of raw information only that there should be a balance between retention and how it is processed a good teacher may have to delve deeper to impart process rather than merely repeating pieces of information to be memorized teacher methodology and responsibilities to be an effective teacher requires a variety of personality attributes one must exude confidence because ambiguity is generally viewed by students as a weakness a teacher must convince students that s he is sure of what is being taught whether it is presenting facts a personal opinion or specific instructions as to what is expected of them i don t think that it is wrong to say that effective teaching involves a great deal of acting dramatizing and exaggerating a kind of showtime hopefully resulting in drawing the students into the teacher s world obviously an engaging and charismatic personality is a plus discrete exaggeration is an important tool to use when teaching in a sense the teacher is trying to persuade students to see things his way at least for the time being by purposely building something up and putting energy and enthusiasm into the presentation there is a higher likelihood that the student will retain at least some part of what was conveyed whatever the result a student should feel the strength of the teacher s convictions philosophy of education 1 von 1715 05 2011 21 18 along with exaggeration a teacher can at times play the role of devil s advocate meaning being on opposite sides of an issue for the expresses purpose of instigating discussion this can be quite effective when not overly done the idea is to position oneself against something whether the teacher believes it fully or not in order to get students to defend or argue the opposing view as a corollary a teacher doesn t have to unveil everything all at once about the subject he can tell a story or follow a line of reasoning nearly to the end but leave the conclusion open this can be most effective for prodding students to fill in the empty blanks challenging their imagination and initiating self discovery without them being necessarily aware of it a teacher must be completely clear in the presentation it is nearly impossible to present something in language that all the students will understand equally therefore it is important that practice instructions be very presented directly with specifics provided the students should at least leave a teaching experience with an exact understanding as to how to reinforce new material through some organized practice or repetitive system artistic concepts in particular often take time to have an effect and be put into real use therefore a great deal of conceptual learning is after the fact so reinforcement through practice routines need to be strongly imprinted to leave a lasting impression meanwhile the selective use of handouts not as a replacement for attentiveness in class but as an aid to reinforce the material after the presentation stage can be useful from time to time the teacher should insist that students take notes on a particular subject but not to bury their heads in their notebooks writing rather than listening depending upon the material demonstration of the material is quite useful this is especially true in an art form where visually seeing and hearing something has a dramatic effect this doesn t mean that a teacher must demonstrate everything only on occasion when both the material demands it and the teacher is confident of their own demonstrational skills students are both the most appreciative audience of good work but also the most demanding and critical instilling objectivity in students is important it is human to have an opinion but with artistic concepts it is only with experience that a mature judgment as to the value of something should be made if a teacher s presentation is non judgmental students get the feeling that what they are learning is not valued as good or bad it is just information how a student personally feels about the material is not important in the early stages after being absorbed and practiced there is time for subjective judgments especially when the stage of forming one s own aesthetic begins as it should later in the artistic process a teacher s ability in discerning student strengths and weaknesses is a very subtle skill especially in large groups if we think imagine how just one word or expression can be interpreted differently by any group of individuals similar are the variations on how people differ in their abilities to absorb information some students cognize primarily by aural means others by visual while another may be more sensitive to tactile approaches for a teacher experience is the key after observing and experimenting a teacher can fine tune his approach towards the most effective means of communication for the most students but always with flexibility towards change of tact if necessary finally a teacher should encourage experimentation and creativity by promoting an atmosphere where honest mistakes and questions are encouraged students should feel that they themselves are a work in progress that the process of learning is open ended and like everything in life not perfect to be flexible and take chances is important possibly more so than being one hundred percent correct this is a sensitive issue because students naturally feel that the system expects perfection which is the necessary evil of the grading system but if a student s work is honest and done with real integrity and effort being right is not always the most important thing creating a time for questions is an important part of any learning schedule students should not be embarrassed by asking questions even those considered elementary learning proceeds at the border of order and chaos with too much order the system becomes frozen and change or growth is difficult with too much chaos there is difficulty in cognizing the steps along the way and organized learning becomes impossible balance as always is the key student responsibilities though the student is on the receiving end of the education process s he is also an active participant it should be made clear at the outset of any educational experience that besides attending and doing the assigned work there are other responsibilities philosophy of education 2 von 1715 05 2011 21 18 an extra effort has to be made by a student to not only hear what is said but to understand it this means to take what is presented and personalize the language in a way that makes sense this is especially true in learning an art form where language is used to describe abstract concepts or as in the case of music sound a student should attempt to translate what is said to his own words and way of seeing things if there is confusion it is often just a matter of language it is the student s responsibility to probe further and ask the teacher to repeat or amplify what was said possibly instigating a new approach that is the only way a teacher knows whether the material is being comprehended without cues from students a teacher assumes that everything is clearly understood and then the student is responsible for knowing the material naturally the teacher moves on and here is where problems can arise something not clearly perceived may cause a compound effect whereby new material has little chance of being comprehended because of the initial lack of clear communication this is crucial when it comes to the exact practicing routine for reinforcing new material a student should leave a teaching situation with a precise understanding of what he needs to practice or study and how i know that in my early studies at times i was completely confused by what i had heard if and when i was brave enough to ask for further explanation most of the time the teacher would alter the presentation enough so that for me it became clearer often students wait until after class to ask questions though this private time might alleviate embarrassment the teacher should make it clear that if it is a question about the material it should be asked in public since it is very likely that other students have the same queries of course all of the above assumes a positive and earnest attitude on the part of the student taking notes observing other student s work and interaction staying alert and having an open mind are personal keys to success hopefully as described in the teacher s responsibilities creativity experimentation and openness have been encouraged all geared towards imagining what is possible rather than only what is known learning how to learn is a challenge and a student has to sincerely desire this to obtain the most from it education can be compared to a stone thrown in the water the stone makes waves whose ends are not visible but go on in perpetuity education can truly change lives teaching an art form when we enter the world of learning art as compared to other more factual subjects one must be ready to appreciate ambiguity surely there are facts to be learned and memorized but in this realm conceptual thinking reigns supreme all the elements described of flexibility openness an attitude of trial and error questioning etc are even more important when it comes to learning art after all the goal is to encourage creativity and the use of the imagination rather than mere repetition of information we are trying to enter the realm of feelings and emotions through music painting writing etc we are asking a young person to arrive at a point where their body responds to their will meaning in music that the fingers go where the ear dictates that the embouchure assumes the proper placement to get a certain sound and onward depending upon the mechanics of each instrument this is physical training on a very subtle level there are many facets to learning an art form so much so that i propose the following conceptualization of the artistic process in an attempt to have a coherent and unified vision of what teaching and learning an art form concerns the three stages of artistic growth imitation stylization innovation serious artists no matter the area of endeavor go through common stages the first is imitation which means obtaining a working understanding of what came before it is the ability to duplicate information in a convincing fashion that shows true grasp of the historic antecedents one is dealing with this is completely an objective area involving analysis memorization and organized study creativity per se is not called upon however a creative approach to practicing and learning is of course valued imitation means what it implies personality and subjectivity are minimized during this first stage in order to truly absorb the fundamentals and legacy of an art form towards the end of this initial period philosophy of education 3 von 1715 05 2011 21 18 integration with the personality of the student is encouraged setting the stage for stylization the stylization stage implies several aspects one has learned what came before to such a degree that the information inevitably becomes integrated with a student s personality and the present time he is living in meaning the current styles of the day along with the beginnings of some degree of a personal approach to the language the student has hopefully had some outside reinforcement and encouragement in the real world in other words the young musician is performing in public and entered the particular scene of his immediate milieu stylization can be and often is the end game meaning an artist may remain in this stage perpetually with wonderful results and some sense of contribution to the immediate artistic world but on rare occasions an artist goes beyond style to evolve into innovation this means a contribution small or large which is of such a unique character that it stands by itself affects others in the field and will endure the test of time innovation can be on the instrument itself in a way of playing or performing composing etc it doesn t only mean dramatic developments innovation can be as subtle as a new way of fingering a note for example to achieve a different color these three stages do not necessarily follow in a neat sequential order in fact many innovations have been accomplished by artists of such youth that they either skipped or had not yet contemplated the imitation stage and a stylist no matter how individual s he may be will often look backwards to either reinterpret or search for inspiration in the past in a certain sense re entering the imitation phase the main point here is for teachers to recognize these stages and deal with students accordingly since a student may not be conscious of these developments as they are occurring the learning process mind body spirit equally important is to have a framework for understanding the ways in which one learns because we are dealing with more than mere recollection and recitation of facts and figures but also with human feelings as portrayed in art we have to consider how mind body and spirit interact when learning an art form the mind is where we consider the information on an objective level the intellectual part of our brain figures things out and comes to conclusions all the material gleaned from books and teachers goes through this processing center it is the body which initiates the how to aspect of the art the purely physical aspects of playing an instrument or writing or painting and using the acquired language are concerns of the body and how well it is trained to respond to one s impulses and in the case of music imagined sound this is where years of practice are necessary to coordinate the flow of the body movement within the specific area of expertise finally the emotional aspect of who we are places the mind and body information into a meaningful context it is the spirit where one s feelings thoughts ethics moral principles and beliefs are all combined with mind and body for final communication to the world at large it is the sum of our experiences both learned and felt which puts the frame around all the facts and practice we have done up to that point the relationship of these three stages of learning is important for a teacher to recognize though a perfect balance between mind body and spirit would be ideal the reality is that human beings don t work according to neat formulas or timetables we all learn at different rates in different ways depending upon a myriad of circumstances some beyond our control in a given area for a particular individual the mind might be stronger meaning the body has to catch up or one might feel something but not be able to articulate it physically or mentally artistic work of merit should strive for a balance between content mode of presentation and feeling it excites the passion while making one think and at the same time the audience or listener is in awe of the technique being displayed in the same way the learning process attempts to balance head mind hand body and heart spirit a good teacher should