Overall Reection - What Does This Folio Say About Me? !

As I pieced together my folio and chose the photos and other examples that I feel

reect me as a teacher and as a musician, I came to the same conclusion that I often come to whenever I nish a semester at GVSU: I should have nished my degree the rst time around so that I could have been teaching in my own classroom all of these years. Although this sounds dismal and depressing it is actually the exact opposite. Through all of my courses at GVSU, all of the varied experiences I have had over the past four years, and all of the struggles I have faced as a returning adult student, I have learned that I am supposed to be a teacher. I have learned that I have been good at it all along, and now I know I have the knowledge and the tools to be even better. ! Working on the folio helped me realize that I have been doing a lot of things well

as I have worked with different percussion students and classes through the years, and also helped me reect on how I have been teaching and my development as I have grown. I can think back now to my rst few years teaching percussion classes and can pick out times when it would have been better if I had conceptualized a lesson in a different way. Overall, I know that I have done an outstanding job teaching the competitive drum lines I have been teaching, as evidenced in the high competition scores and best percussion awards we have received. However, I am looking forward to doing an even better job. ! It is not always easy being one of the few music students in my education

courses, especially since it seems that we are always challenged with tting a round peg into a square hole because of our content area. However, I have learned that I can connect with other content areas to help students connect what they are learning, and have realized that overall, we are all there for the same purpose: to educate students so

Overall Reection - What Does This Folio Say About Me? that they can become productive members of society, care for themselves and others, be well-rounded, and thrive. I know from experience that music programs are held to the same high standards that core content areas are held to, and that as a music educator it is my job to not only meet those standards, but surpass them at every turn.