What makes a great music teacher?
There are so many qualities that I see in the awesome music teachers around me like commitment, knowledge, energy, and so much
more. I know that these qualities are actually in
every good teacher because we don’t just teach music or math. Instead, we all teach children, and they require the
same skills to be reached no matter what the content area. Recently in
my Master’s coursework we saw two different videos of quality teachers. The first was a video called “Having a Vision” from Tales
from a Teacher’s Heart. It is the
true story about Barbara Blackburn trying to help her remedial students to
prepare for the year-end “Big Test”. The
second video was a the first seven minutes of the movie, “The Marva
Collins Story” where we are introduced to a very real teacher in Chicago’s
urban center who showed many of the qualities of a great teacher and
leader. In each of these videos, you can
see how these two ladies are not only good teachers, but servant leaders,
teacher leaders, and are able to empower their students to learn and grow.
You may have heard of the term “servant leader”...
...a term coined by Robert Greenleaf in
1970. In his words, servant leadership begins with "the natural feeling that one wants to serve" (Keith, 2015, p.1) There are several characteristics
that define such a leader. Someone who
is authentic, vulnerable, accepting, present, useful, and many other
qualities is seen as a servant leader. In each of our video
examples, I found it difficult to find a characteristic that these women did NOT have.
Barbara Blackburn was an
authentic individual, caring for her students in her way. She was almost overly honest with her boss
regarding her feelings about the ‘big test’.
She was courageous in following through with what she knew was right. She was accepting of her remedial students by
giving them the goal and trusting them to follow through. Blackburn was with her students all the way for support and resources. At the
same time, she did not do for her students what they were capable of doing themselves. She probably surprised her students by what
they actually could do, and then surprised her principal as well. Some other characteristics she had were
empathy, awareness, persuasion, commitment, and building community.
Marva
Collins, although a different person with a different style, still had all the
main servant leader characteristics as well.
Mrs. Collins was her own person.
She knew what she wanted and was determined to get it for her
students. She made herself vulnerable by
not being afraid to be honest about her feelings and concerns for her students
to her peers and administrators. Marva
did not give up on any child as other teachers in her building had. She believed they were all capable of
succeeding. She even re-defined success
in a way that had students focused on the world around them and their future,
instead of just sitting in the seat and receiving information.
Even though Mrs. Collins would feel frustration and was ready to quit,
she was there every day for her students from the way she dressed to the way
she handled chaos in her school and classroom.
You could also tell that Marva was in touch with what her students were
going through and listened and advised them when they needed it. She always did her job well, even beyond
expectations, and expected her students to do the same. More of her characteristics of servant leadership included empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, commitment, fore sight, and
building her classroom community. Both of our
teacher examples were remarkable teachers who were also servant leaders. But were they teacher leaders?
From our class readings, Charlotte Danielson defines
teacher leadership as “skills demonstrated by teachers who continue to teach
but who influence practices of other teachers and activities in other
classrooms.” There are seven skills that
are listed in our course readings as characteristic of teacher leaders. These skills include:
- Using evidence and data in decision making
- Recognize opportunities, taking initiative
- Mobilizing people around a common cause
- Marshalling resources and taking action
- Monitoring progress, making adjustments
- Sustaining commitment of others
- Habits of mind: optimism, enthusiasm
These skills were not as easy to see in our
video clips, although it is easy to believe that Marva Collins and Barbara Blackburn
would easily fit within the category of Teacher Leader.
Both women recognized the opportunities they had and took initiative to
attain them. I imagine that they each
saw these as their responsibility and went in with a great commitment and
self-driven purpose to achieve their goals.
Barbara Blackburn really seemed to marshal her own students into taking
action as well. She made them aware that
they would need to do part of the work themselves, that she could not do
everything for them. To make her
students continue with this effort throughout the term, shows her ability to
sustain their commitment, most likely through her optimism and enthusiasm among
other qualities.
Empowering students
Finally,
both teachers were able to empower their students in their own learning. Marva Collins showed that she valued her
students every day in how she interacted with them, and continued to show them
how they could be successful. Both women
were fighters for their students which I am sure the students themselves could
see and feel. Through this, their
students would know that their teacher cared and knew they could succeed. Neither teacher made it a secret how they
wanted their students to achieve.
Collins and Blackburn both shared their own vision and goals for their
students. Blackburn was very direct
about her goals and Collins simply stated things so clearly that students knew
what she wanted for them.
Servant, Teacher, Leader
As servants
for their students, both women were willing to put their own jobs in jeopardy
to help their students succeed. They
both had faith in their students and were able to be teacher leaders by
initiating programs and planning for their students’ sake. This in turn, would allow other teachers to
see how they could achieve success for their students as well. This drive to serve, fight, and continue
despite the odds was the key for empowering not only their students, but
eventually administrators and other teachers as well.
How do I measure up?
Well, I haven’t had a movie
made out of my experiences yet! However,
I feel I have that drive to serve my students, the willingness to honestly air
my professional concerns, and no matter what the setbacks, I keep coming back
for more. I don’t know if I have the stamina these women
had! I do know that I have the desire to
do what is best for my students and try to help them grow up into responsible,
thinking adults. Luckily, as I teach
music, I am able to work on many life skills to help encourage and empower my students. From the article, “7
Leadership Skills Fostered in Arts Education,” by Stacey Goodman, it is evident that music
classes help students learn creativity, risk-taking, how to be themselves, how
to observe and listen, and how to plan and collaborate. I feel very fortunate to teach children, and
that I can use music to do that! I also know that as a teacher who continues to grow every year, I already am a servant leader, teacher leader, and a tool to empower my students to grow and learn.
References:
Goodman, S. (2015, January 30). 7 Leadership Skills Fostered
in Arts Education. Retrieved April 02, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/7-leadership-skills-fostered-arts-education-stacey-goodman.
Keith, K. M. (2012). The case for servant leadership
(2nd ed.). Honolulu, HI: Terrace Press.
Nichols, J. D. (2011). Teachers as servant leaders.
Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Other resources are from the course: EDUC 7093 Serving Through Servant Leadership, MidAmerica Nazarene University, Professor Mike Ramirez, Spring 2017.
Photo credits:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LZ6na9V1Wc
2. http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/marva-collins-40
3. http://internet.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/district/AcademicAffairs/CurriculumandInstruction/ProfessionalLearning/Pages/TeacherLeaderDevelopment.aspx
4. https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/empower-students-create-change
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