ED Talk

Welcome:
Thank you for coming to the music education recital, we’re all happy to have a space to show
what we have worked on this year! INTRODUCE Tonight we’re going to talk about our passion
for teaching, and how we use our endless excitement to give our students a passion for
learning.

Crowd engagement
1. We are all here because we are passionate about music. We are all in the major
because we want to make students as passionate as we are.
2. Split room into groups of where their inspiration to make music became a lifelong
practice. Raise your hand if your inspiration to start playing came from a personal drive,
support from your family/community, or from having a good music program in school.
a. Self driven, had support from your community, had a great teacher
b. Most of us have found that we have had a great teacher who encouraged ..
3. These are three factors support passion in students by inspiring them to start, motivating
them to continue, and giving them ways to create passion to encourage them to play for
their entire lives.

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Thesis introduction​ - ​Tonight we are going to be talking about how passion has the ability to
transform students into musicians and give them the drive to pursue it further.
We were lead to this topic by our experience teaching at AANE every Tuesday night. AANE is
the Autism and Aspergers Network, which provides educational and fun experiences for those
on the spectrum. With Dr. Bernard and the (Berklee Institute for Arts and Special Needs) , we
are lucky to provide group music lessons through United Sound to the Members of AANE.

Tell a quick story that leads to thesis​ - ​Our passion comes through when working with
students. Our energy and tone sets the mood for the goal of the session and of the group all
together. For example, Erin and I get there early every day and play (sort of) duets together. We
mess up and laugh about it and try again and we just have fun. We’ve noticed that since we
have started doing this, our students are encouraged to join in, warm-up, and even play duets
with each other before class starts​. ​A huge focus when working with students on the ASD
spectrum is creating safe social engagements. Many of our students were originally afraid to
make mistakes, but our excitement to play together created an excitement in students to do the
same regardless of social anxieties.

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Develop thesis by defining terms and answering key questions:
What is passion? -
In short- Passion is the drive to do something. It is the full force of your attention and
energy that you give to whatever you’re interested in. In the case of many teachers,
passion is seen when your energy and effort fulfill your students needs.

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How do you create passion?​ -

We believe passion starts at the first interest. The minute a student is excited about something,
it is the teacher's job to channel that excitement into motivation.The initial push is what can
accumulate into a lifelong passion.

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One of the most apparent ways to create passion is to celebrate moments of success.
This quote is from Terri Trespicio.
Success in that area of interest leads to further excitement and learning.​ ​For example, when
Emily bought me a new recorder and I was able to play in tune, the feeling of success prompted
me to keep playing. This achievement sparked my newfound passion for the recorder.

Cue getting recorder

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Because passion is directly correlated with success, it’s important to congratulate students
when they do something well. Positive reinforcement is a motivator that is contingent upon a
student exhibiting a preferred behavior. This form of motivation is extremely helpful in creating
passionate music students, particularly when learning something like the recorder.
*Erin takes out recorder and plays, Emily congratulates her*

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How to make teachers passionate?​ - passion first steps in the teachers
In this example, passion starts with teacher. Emily, as a teacher is passionate about helping me
succeed and therefore encourage her to do so. Now, I know what you’re thinking. It doesn’t
take any passion to tell a student that they did well. However, it does require passion to
motivate yourself as a teacher to do so day in and day out.
You as a teacher have to be excited to teach music in order to continue to motivate your
students. If your students see that you’re not excited about something, they also won’t be
excited. Personal relationships are the foundation of a classroom. You need to be passionate
about being a part of your students lives.
1. Exciting professional development opportunities like the MMEA conference can provide
teachers new and exciting lessons to teach to their students. This year at MMEA, Emily
and I saw bucket drumming, Kodaly inspired rote song lessons, and even more things
that peaked our interests.
 2. Finding the silver lining- there is always something small to create excitement in new
jobs.
3. Personal things that you do in the field that you can share in the classroom are easy to
teach about things you have an interest in, and students will be inspired to see their
teachers using their music skills in a real life setting.

How to make students passionate?

Passion is the most straightforward motivator for students to get involved. Passion is intrinsic
and therefore will continuously be a vessel for students to get excited about what they’re doing.
1) When you meet your students where they’re at, you’re considering their existing ability and
skills that need improving. This is why there is a Prior Knowledge box on the lesson plan
template.
2) Once you know what your student is interested in, begin to cater to their interests. For
instance, if your student really likes math, and has no interest in an arts based subject,
introduce them to the harmonic series and encourage them to play a brass instrument. Your
student will appreciate your effort to combine their interests.
3) Reinforcing their successes will give them a feeling of accomplishment that they will tie to
practicing their instrument.

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- This is what the process would be if it was straightforward and easy
- Explain flowchart
- Disclaimer at the end that this process needs to be repeated and reconfigured for
different students

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Once you have sparked passion in a student, it's important to continue to challenge and support
them. Passion is intrinsically motivating, but students still need reinforcement from their teacher,
family, and community.
The great thing about learning an instrument is that each new skill acquired will develop into a
more advanced skill. This is passive reinforcement- everytime you practice you'll learn
something new and that will feel like a success. The other side of that is the active
reinforcement. Teachers and families play an important role in the learning process by fostering
this feeling of success and encouraging their students to keep trying.
In the end, the goal is always to provide an incentive to continue learning.

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Video
As we talked about earlier, our United Sound students are embracing their passion for music by
learning new instruments later in life, so we wanted to introduce you to them. We need to say
that we have permission to use this footage

Show videos as examples

 1. Why did you want to play an instrument?
2. What are your favorite parts of band class?
3. Do you think you’ll continue playing after this class? Why?

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Summary/call to action
In conclusion, our United Sound students inspire us with their passion for music. We use our
passion to encourage our students to be independent learners, inspired by their curiosities and
successes.​ ​Our goal tonight was to explain the importance of passion in the learning process,
and inspire you all to implement these strategies in your own classrooms. By understanding
your students abilities, incorporating their interests, and celebrating their successes, you can
instill passion within your students.
Thank you for listening, here are the boiz

Passion
Education and success in life depend on more than your ability to learn quickly and easily

Grit: the power of passion and perseverance - Angela Lee Duckworth

Growth mindset carol dwet stamford university

Stop searching for your passion - Terri Trespicio

Passion is the fire that ignites when you start rubbing sticks together
Success fuels passion more than passion fuels success
Passion is not a job, sport or hobby - it is the full force of your attention and energy that you give
to whatever is right in front of you
Passion is where you energy and effort meets someone else’s need
Passion lives in realizing what you have to contribute

The transformative power of classical music - Benjamin Zander