Catherine Achenbach

Intellectual Autobiography

My time at Lebanon Valley College thus far has been wonderful, and has absolutely

shaped how I view myself and how I view my future. I’m two semesters short of a B.A. in

Music: Vocal Performance and a B.S. in Music Education. Something that is unique about LVC

is the fact that it is a liberal arts college that focuses on giving every student a well-rounded

education to not only produce more knowledgeable citizens, but empathetic, open-minded ones

too. My collective experiences at LVC, particularly my Study Abroad Immersive, First Year

Experience Philosophy Course and other music education method courses have not only shaped

my outlook on my career but also the way I view life and its purpose.

My dream career as long as I can remember has been being a teacher, and I was very

fortunate to have had wonderful musician role models growing up that helped guide me towards

my current career path. My identity as a teacher was further shaped when I decided to take

advantage of what LVC had to offer and study abroad in London the summer after my freshman

year. While there, I was able to observe classes in several private and public schools with mixed

cultures outside of Western Music and study an informal learning program called Musical

Futures. I have saved observation logs detailing all the important skills I received while studying

abroad including resources from an in-service workshop we participated in. Informal learning is

truly how students learn the best for long-term retention and can take ownership of their work

and learning. In my methods classes following the trip to London, I was introduced to a variety

of teaching methods outside of Musical Futures, like the Kodály, Orff, Dalcroze, and Susukie

methods. These methods were discussed at length and I was taught how to teach a variety of
students in my Elementary Methods course, in my Music Teaching and Learning courses, and

was finally asked to write my own teaching philosophy statement in Instrumental Literature.

In addition to my now, fully-formed teaching philosophy, I’ve developed a philosophy for

life because of my FYE course with Dr. Hubler. In this Philosophy class, I was asked to read

passages from the great philosophers such as Socrates, Descartes, and Plato and then was made

to write essays on subjects relevant to today’s society. Some of the topics I wrote essays on were

food as a social construct, race in society, and even the media and its influence. These

philosophical essays required me to write in a completely new argumentative tone that forced me

to understand and respect both sides of the argument. Because of this, I believe that I now am a

more open minded person, a better debater, and a better writer. In the subjects I just mentioned

and a plethora of more, I was able to healthily debate with my peers in a safe environment, and

better understood how to work with others that have different options than I. Because of my

methods courses, my study abroad trip, and my freshman year philosophy class, LVC has shaped

me as a person and teacher.