Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Ive chosen my Narrative on Learning paper to write about in my story of a paper. The
goal of this paper was simple; to describe the course of actions that led up to you learning
something. For some this was the story of how they learned to ride a bike, or a specific skill
related to dancing or an art form. My narrative was about how I came to find that I wanted to be
a teacher.
I start out by elaborating upon what I do, which is play percussion instruments. I explain
how I came to participate in it, and why I am now at a university studying percussion further. I
used this to segue into why I wanted to become a teacher. At first look, these two items do not
work in tandem. However the reason I did this is simply because its something I tell people
often-I want to teach, but have no other talents besides percussion-so I will teach percussion.
I continue to describe my relationship with my mother-how I look up to her and admire
her work ethic, and aspire to be as wonderful a person as she is. In addition to these things, she is
a teacher. Not by degree, as she only has degrees in psychology and English. She is a teacher
assistant at a public elementary school in CMS. I came to realize I wanted to be a teacher as a biproduct of my affection for my mother. My mother and I being the (seemingly) busiest members
of the family, spent little time together, as we both had tightly packed schedules when I was still
in High School. I was studying percussion, played baseball for my school, was in the marching
band, and worked as well. She worked at her school during the daytime, and was a waitress two
nights a week. Our time together during the week was minimal, as we often had things to attend
to after our school days. I would arrive home from school at about 2:45 in the afternoon, and she
would arrive closer to 3:45, or 4 at the latest. By the time she was home, I would have settled in
on the couch, finishing my after school sandwich, and soon moving upstairs to begin whatever
homework I had to finish. She would make food for herself, and we would chat about our days in
passing- she would tell me about what children were troublesome that day, or a child finally
achieving something, or behaving properly. In passing, these were minor, insignificant
conversations. But in a grander scheme, these affected me over time. I came to realize the impact
she could have on her children at school. I came to respect the determination that all great
teachers have- that voice that swears everyone is capable.
In addition to my Mom being a great influence on my life, my high school band director
also inspired me to attend university so that I could someday teach. My teacher, Mr. Stevenson,
was an excellent music educator, and all around terrific person. He pushed me to be my own
biggest critic, and he gladly took second place. Many, many students who attend college to study
music education, do so because of the impact their high school music instructor made. In my
senior year, I was a teacher assistant for the schools percussion ensemble class. In retrospect, I
value the year I spent in that class much more now than I did when I graduated. The way the
class worked was like this: I did the teaching of the physical skills necessary of a percussionist,
and Mr. Stevenson taught it from a musical perspective. It was essentially a collaborative effort.
Mr. Stevenson would introduce new ideas, either pertaining to the music we were playing, or
individual percussion techniques. I would then demonstrate or explain them from the perspective
of a percussionist; something that Mr. Stevenson was not capable of. Through this accidental
operation, both Mr. Stevenson and I were able to learn about teaching. I learned how to present
ideas in an effective manner, and from a musical standpoint, and he vice versa, but from the
perspective of a percussionist.