Mittie Cow Personal Statement Analysis

Mittie Cowan- Personal Statement

The fourth through eighth grade choristers enter onto the risers on the stage in organized rows, hands at their sides, shoulders back and aligned with nervous smiles across their faces. This is the students first time being adjudicated The auditorium is full of other students, teachers, and adjudicators from around the city ready to hear the product of weekly after school rehearsals throughout the school year. The chorus director looks around the auditorium and counts five former music instructors and the nostalgia of being that fourth-eighth grader on stage with those instructors floods the director's mind. She smiles, bows to the audience, turns, and gives a reassuring thumbs up to the bright, developing musicians in front of her. Several experiences shape my
While teaching K-8 general music and conducting 4-8 grade choir, I became intrigued with how participating in a music program can render visible and measurable impacts on students' social-emotional development. Studying and implementing the Orff approach has shown me how leaving space for students to be creative, move, imitate, communicate, and have a feeling of autonomy over their learning leads to students feeling more confident in their decisions and being able to appropriately communicate their emotions . I rely on the Kodaly method, especially with my choral group as it helps beginning singers to visualize their internal instrument. One method that stood out to me a few years after teaching was The Dalcroze method. The Dalcroze method embraces and normalizes the behavior patterns of the kinesthetic learner that would usually be met with