David's Final Reflection

David Dockan

Dr. Reschke-Hernandez

MUS 664

4 May 2022

Reflective Essay

Introduction

This course was my first introduction to service-learning. I took this as a challenge to investigate how the higher ed world can look towards a population we serve: teachers. By looking at the needs of teachers in the field, this not only opened the opportunity to create resources for them, but also allowed me to see what areas I could better prepare my current and future students. While initially I was apprehensive because this required some reliance on other teachers, it was a great opportunity to create community with some of the teachers around here and old friends.

The target population was elementary music teachers. The needs that were found throughout were: managing the "shenanigans", behavior management needed in older grades, and wanting organic ways of fostering communication and teamwork through peer interactions. My thoughts on the best way to provide these for teachers was to create lessons that teachers could plug and play. 

Outcomes about myself

        Throughout this process it was refreshing to work on developing lessons for classroom music again. I truly enjoy working that creative part of my brain that is not always what higher education provides. I accomplished creating lessons that were engaging for the teachers. Surprising to me was that I grew as a listener to the needs of those around me. It was nice to sit and listen to teachers with an open mind and heart. I learned about myself that I tend to be judgmental when teachers go down rabbit holes of negativity and say their kids can’t do something. I still firmly believe that students can accomplish a lot more than some teachers give their kids credit for. A takeaway from this experience is that teachers are going through a lot of things and need their emotional space to manage and cope with their struggles. Sometimes having someone to listen to is all they needed to start feeling better. I believe I was effective in my work with partners because of the positive response and awesome pictures of students completing the activities. If I do another service-learning project, I would want to be more involved with the implementation of the lessons so that I could provide a model for the lesson for teachers and help walk them through the thought process when it came to lesson creation.

Outcomes regarding the community partner.

        The teachers I contacted were all people I look up to as fantastic teachers. The assumptions I made when I was listening to them talk was that they feel overwhelmed by the world that is going on around them. There are many aspects of their profession that are out of their control, and they begin to catastrophize these issues.  This proved to be true as I continued communication with one of the teachers who began to feel the overwhelming stress of the news media. This teacher was feeling some direct impacts of this because of how parents were treating them. While this didn’t connect to the service-learning project, I was able to be there for this teacher because of this connection. The community partners were overall very appreciative and accepting of trying the new media. To work differently with the partners, I would’ve liked to again be more involved with implementation or provide video examples of me teaching these lessons so the teachers can see how to actively use popular media to relate with students.

Outcomes regarding my knowledge and skills.

        In my knowledge, I had realized a gap in knowledge that students are being considered “behind” because of the pandemic. This has led me to many rants at conferences and classes that students are never behind, they are all at a different spot. This class has reminded me that we must meet students where they are to be inclusive as teachers. The students we have today will have different needs than the students we will have tomorrow. I am hungry to learn more about the way we can adjust the mindset of teachers to limit their view to their circle of control and accept students for where they are. The coursework from this class affected this experience because I wanted to include multiple means of expression, engagement, and representation in each of the lessons. This practice with Universal Design for Learning will help me as a continue to use it in my classes for undergraduates to understand how to make their lessons inclusive.

Outcomes about my values.

        This course allowed me to explore more of my beliefs about diversity, equity, and inclusion. Many times, I have been focused on how music is just accessible because it already offers multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression. While that is the case, it is important for us to do so meaningfully and purposefully. This course also opened up my eyes to the need for disabled individuals to interact with the world in their own way. The book I read “Good Kings Bad Kings” helped me place myself in the mind of someone differently abled. People who are in wheelchairs have so many obstacles that I don’t have to think about daily. I wouldn’t say my philosophy about life has changed based on this course, but again has made my realize the importance of not only having a philosophical stance, but also making sure we have actionable behaviors that allow us to exhibit our philosophy.

Outcomes about action.

        My career path is still on the trajectory of one day being a professor, but service learning is going to be a part of this. I have always believed that universities should serve the community they live in and help make it better. One example I think of is when Pete Buttigieg used his local university to help South Bend, Indiana have a more efficient water system. As music educators, we should be working to amplify the great things local teachers are doing and help cultivate an atmosphere of growth and continued development. I think a small goal for the next year is going to be to have a professional development day for local teachers that uses the specialties of the PhD students but also responds to needs that are seen in the community of teachers.

Outcomes and conclusion.

        The first learning outcome I would like to discuss is, “identify and describe general characteristics of specific disabilities”. This was done through the reading of the text and responding to discussion boards. I have taken classes like this before in my undergraduate career. This outcome was related to how these disabilities interacted with music. While the book does an excellent job covering these disabilities, I do feel as though there is more to discuss than having a Universal Design for Learning encompassing everything as the one-size-fits-all solution. I wish there was more about working as a team and how to manage when you have team members who have different philosophies about what you are doing.

The second learning outcome to discuss is, “read, interpret, and critically analyze literature and multimedia content regarding the disability community in educational, therapeutic, and community settings”. This was accomplished through the book report for this class. I will say this book opened up my eyes to the world through the lens of a disabled person. This made me be more considerate as I am walking through the world and noticing what is not ADA accessible. I even had a rabbit hole moment of disability TikTok raising awareness for accessibility at places such as University of Massachusetts.

The third learning outcome I will discuss is, “apply concepts regarding disability, accessibility, inclusivity, age-appropriateness, Universal Design for Learning, Social Emotional Learning, and other course concepts to music-based activities, as is appropriate to your professional training and scope of practice”. This course has given me a MUCH better understanding of Universal Design for Learning and has changed how I talk about disabled students to my undergraduates. This has armed me with a powerful tool to hand off to my students. Next semester I think I will discuss it sooner and have the multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression in each of the lesson plans.

This course has allowed me the chance to grow in different ways. I feel more prepared to talk UDL and SEL with my students. This will help them be more prepared to have discussions with their students, admin, parents, and communities on their importance, especially with SEL. While it is under attack right now by the media, I am now able to present it to the students as a first acknowledgement of community and building connections with students AND parents. I also feel the trend towards helping the community that we live in with the service learning projects. While apprehensive at first, I feel like this is a positive trend in higher ed. I want to find a way to make it less of a burden on the community the projects serve. This is through having more authentic relationships with the community members as opposed to forced one. The alphabet soup (UDL, SEL, and SLP) have really given me tools to prepare future teachers, better my teaching, and promote a positive community outreach.