Hello Ardith,

On Sun 2039-Feb-06 22:26, Ardith Hinton (1:153/716) wrote to Richard Webb:

AH>           Sounds familiar.  I taught theory & expected my students
AH> to work with me to produce the best sound we could achieve together
AH> even though my principal said "Just keep 'em playing... that's what
AH> they want at this age!"  I was never as popular as the band teacher
AH> at his former school.  But a few years later one of my ex-students
AH> told me, with some amazement, that the kids in his band class at
AH> senior high who hadn't been in my class had no experience with 5/4. 
AH> Another followed in my footsteps & eventually became a band teacher
AH> himself.  AFAIC one can't be sure who will become a professional
AH> musician or a teacher or a staunch supporter of the arts later on &
AH> I owe it to my students to do my best....  :-) 

INdeed, and a friend of mine went in with much the same
approach, he was a music major instead of pedagogy, but fell into teaching. 
YEars later after his death I met a lady
while helping do a bit of training for folks going into a
program mentoring the newly blinded who wished, or needed to remain in their
homes instead of going to a facility to
learn about their blindness.  This lady's daughter was one
of his pupils and sang his praises for getting the kids
actually interested in learning about music.


AH>           Some folks end up as teachers only after they realize they
AH> can't make a living as professional musicians...

YEah there's that too.  I play three or four instruments
well enough, but I'm not suited to teaching well.  I don't
have the patience for it, and part of that patience is an
impatience with myself if I"M not getting an important
concept through to a pupil.  That impatience with myself for not being able to
put it across manifests itself in the
pupil perceiving I'm frustrated with him/her.

A friend of mine however says I'm a very thorough and
patient teacher, but that was in another subject, not the
music.  I"ve come to the conclusion that maybe I can teach
radio theory, or radio operating techniques, etc. but just
am not temperamentally suited to teaching music.  THat fits
too, as I'm the guy who will walk out on a bad performance,
or a musician failing to tune his instrument properly.


RW>  YEp, and part of that was his admission that he should
RW>  have expected that I'd work out an alternative signaling
RW>  arrangement with my neighbors and been able to put two and
RW>  two together.  I think he was a bit disappointed that his
RW>  wife didn't correlate one action with another.


AH>           Perhaps he accepted her interpretation without question...
AH> regardless of how well she knew each individual student and/or how
AH> much she knew about the technical aspects of conducting...

  Would agree with those, and that's part
of what got him, he should have been thinking that far in
his mind.  Later on he told me he'd always figured I had
some sort of signaling arrangement in place with my
neighbors.

because
AH> I think it is to his credit that he was educable.  I'm also taking
AH> into account when these events probably occurred.  Years ago, the
AH> average schoolteacher had no training or experience WRT special
AH> needs.  Your teacher may have been a pioneer, just as Dallas & I
AH> were, with very few positive role models & with very little support.

HE admitted to me he didn't even think about some of those
ramifications at first.  HIS main concern was getting music
to me with enough lead time that I could get it in braille.
I think he also spoke with the band director at the school
for the blind, and understood that I'd work out the tools I
needed to perform competently.

AH>           Reading between the lines... I gather you & I are about
AH> the same age. As it happens, our own daughter attended the
AH> elementary school a girl I babysat during my late teens wasn't
AH> allowed to attend because she was legally blind.  A lot has changed
AH> since then.  I reckon you encountered some of the same problems
AH> we've encountered, however.  The idea that folks who are "different"
AH> want to do what they're doing is still new & unfamiliar to many
AH> other folks.  And we often find ourselves battling misconceptions
AH> such as the idea that everybody who uses a wheelchair is exactly
AH> like whoever else gets most of the publicity... (sigh). 

Right, that's a big part of it.  Another though is that
often in these days when inclusion is the norm the systems
are set up to be inflexible, and therefore don't force the
student to think about his or her own needs and therefore
develop the tools to independently get the work done.  ASk
many blind college students, and they'll tell you that the
disability services office on campus is both bane and boon.
YOu'd be surprised the number of blind college grads that do not have
effective techniques for hiring training
supervising, and paying readers.  Even if rehab or somebody
else picks up the tab good programs put the power to hire
fire and train, as well as the responsibility for submitting vouchers and
other requisite paperwork to get the reader
paid directly on the user of the reader.


MOre later, I have to run a network on the ham radio later
this morning so better organize myself .


Regards,
           Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin:  (1:116/901)