Entry 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practices
This past semester I attended several professional learning opportunities and workshops. These sessions bettered me in my reflective practices and teaching methods. On professional development days during the week, student teachers in the building came together to review our classroom experiences and discuss Swivl technology. After this specific meeting I began to use Swivl for the first time and my recording quality improved drastically, enabling me to collect high quality materials for my professional portfolio. I also attended KMEA in February which consisted of the state’s best school performances and professionals sharing their approaches to music education. I came back with pages of notes and a list of new contacts for my network. However, my featured artifacts share the information that was most beneficial to me in regard to becoming a new band director in the fall. Beginning band is a new area of music education for me to start teaching and these workshop sessions provided me with invaluable insight from experienced educators to get started. The band handout was provided by James Hollingsworth who teaches at Stucky Middle School. The other was provided by Chris Chapman, Director of Band at Oregon State University who gave a brief session on becoming a better conductor for your students, no matter what level of music is being played.