The History of the Tango!

Luther is searching for an Ethnomusicology professor right now and they had top candidates come in and as a part of their interview process the candidates gave lectures that were open to music students.  I attended one of the candidate's(whose name I have forgotten) lectures on the history and evolution of the music of the Tango.  Tango originated in Argentina in the lower-class areas.  It was considered to be unacceptable for middle-class society to participate in Tango until it became popular in Paris because of the World's Fair held there.  The Tango became popular throughout the whole of Argentina and has become a very important part of Argentinian culture.  The lecturer also explained how the music has stylistically changed.  Tango music has always used a very unique instrument called a bandoneón, which is similar in appearance and sound, to an accordion.  Instruments used to accompany the bandoneón have varied throughout the history of Tango.  Guitar was used originally, but as the Tango grew and became more popular and with the influence of France, it began to use the piano and more stringed instruments that played more complicated arrangements.  Today, we see examples of what might be called punk tango.  Young people who have been influenced by punk music and have rediscovered Tango music, have tried to join the two together into a very entertaining performance.

Philosophy Lecture by Greg Jesson

I attended an open lecture in November given by Dr. Greg Jesson, a member of the Luther College Philosophy department and also my professor for Intro to Philosophy.  The lecture was an argument against the view of skepticism.  Skepticism is an epistemological, or knowledge-based view that argues in its most radical form that we, as human beings, in our limited subjective experience, cannot truly know anything.  He primarily focused, in the lecture, on the work of Rene Descartes, whose meditations project was based on the notion that he had been wrong about many things, that in the past he felt so sure of, so in order to discover what really is true, he must doubt everything.  This is what is called methodological skepticism.  It is the doubting of all that is perceived as knowledge even if whether or not there is an external world or not, in order to discover what really is true.  He compares it to having a fridge, where you know that one thing in the fridge is full of deadly poison, but you have no idea which item contains the deadly poison. So what do you get rid of?  Everything! In the same way, Descartes attempts to doubt his knowledge because he believes some of it is poisoned.  Dr. Jesson wants to say that doubt is not necessary.  We know things exist. I know that I am sitting in a chair right now.  The immediate of awareness of the external world is enough evidence that the external world exists. 

Can Dispositions Be Taught?

I don't think dispositions can be taught in a traditional sense.  It is not something that can necessarily be articulated and then all of the sudden the students have learned to be humble or authentic people, but I think the teacher can lead by example.  These dispositions require experience and reflection on these experiences.  I think in order to enhance the dispositions of teachers, there should be outlets for teachers to express their feelings, where they can grow and be supported as teachers even once they are out of school and in the classrooms.  It is important for the teacher to understand his or her true self in order to be effective in the classroom.

Humility

Humility means to submit oneself to another.  If one is honest with oneself then they know that they are capable, but also flawed beings.  I think this is necessary in teaching.  The teacher teaches because there are learners.  The teacher depends on the learner. I think that confidence and humility are very compatible.  They are both necessary in effective teaching.  The student needs to understand that the teacher feels confident in being in front of a class and in subject matter, but also the student needs to be valued and their opinion needs to valued.  This requires humility from teachers.  Humility needs confidence to be effective in the classroom.  I think the only really true confidence is wrapped in humility.  

Inventiveness

Creativity is always an important thing to encourage and cultivate in students.  More importance needs to be put in the arts to satisfy the human creative urge in students.  I think teachers need to be creative people, and then students will follow.  An uncreative person can't teach creativity.  I think that creativity is a reward in itself and it gives internal fulfillment to the student. Creativity is a useful skill especially in the 21st century. The enormous amounts of technological changes and developments in the society require creativity in order to know how to adapt to surroundings and solve potential problems that can result.

Parker Palmer on the Self

Reflectiveness

I belief that it is important for anyone, including the teacher, to have a good understanding of who they are.  Personal reflection is necessary for personal growth and learning in the art of teaching.  People have a knack for whether or not a person is being their true self and students do not respond well when they sense that a teacher has put up barriers between their self and the classroom.  I think teachers and students find it hard to reflect because it is hard to acknowledge one's vulnerable authentic self.  They don't really understand who they are themselves.  There is a lot of fear around who we are and who we feel we should be.  The reflective process can help us determine more about our true authentic selves. Reflection can be done in solitude or in the company of good listeners.  It is important to be honest about feelings with oneself and with others in the reflection process.  This is crucial to being human and being a teacher. 

Passion

I mentioned Mr. Fogarty in a previous post about compassion, but he also had a lot of passion about what he was teaching.  He taught English and humanities and also coached the speech team that I became apart of.  He got me really excited about writing and influenced me to join the speech team Junior year.  I think Mr. Fogarty's passion was really evident in his dedication to teaching and his love of language.

I also had some teachers that were really apathetic about their subject, or at least it seemed that way. My eighth grade science teacher would have his head on his desk and his eyes closed for much of the class period each day.  This may have been a lack of passion about teaching in general and about the subject.  This may have something to do with my apathy for science today.

Authenticity

Authenticity is of the utmost importance to me in teaching and in simply being human.  I am always trying to be my fully authentic self.  In teaching one must be an authentic teacher.  As an authentic music teacher, i teach music, but i also show and teach how to love music and love making it.  Students are generally pretty intuitive about whether or not a teacher is authentic.  Inauthentic teachers, besides not being in the profession they should be in, are not engaging for students.  This also ties back to the respect issue.  Students respect authenticity, and it inspires them to learn.  Being authentic lets your self come through the teaching and students are not just learning, but they become inspired.

Compassion

My junior year of high school i took two classes A.P. English Composition and Humanities from a teacher in my school named Mr. Fogarty.  I learned a lot of from observing him teach.  One of the things i really grew to respect him for, was how he would inspire the class to have compassion on others.  He would show this by being kind every day in class and around school, but he would also inform his classes about humanitarian issues around the world and he inspired compassion in myself on people in poverty.  This has made an impact on the teacher that i want to be.  I want to educate students in my area of expertise, but i also want to inspire compassion in students and help them to grow emotionally and spiritually.

Respect

Respect is an interesting term and can certainly mean different things to different people.  I tend to associate respect with admiration of a certain quality within a person.  I have respect for my brother because he, among other reasons, is a very knowledgeable scholar in theology and has taught me a lot. Also, I have a lot of respect for my mother, because she tries to love any person she comes into contact with.  I have respect for both people because i admire and value the qualities within them and i desire to have these attributes within myself.  Within the classroom a more traditional style teacher might hold the belief that in order to maintain respect in the class room, one must be strict, firm, and stoic.  To a certain extent, i think these are valuable traits of a teacher, but the ideal is to get students to be excited about learning and the role of the teacher is to encourage and guide which might entail being strict sometimes.  High school kids can be vicious.  In high school choir, my choir director could simply not keep control or respect of the classroom.  The sopranos would be gossiping, the altos complaining, and the tenors and basses chucking wads of paper across the room at each other all while the director would be trying to conduct rehearsal.  The director would start to get emotional and angry and the more emotional she got, the rowdier the students would get.  Its a scary thing about human nature; people take pleasure in watching some one they dislike, suffer.  The important thing as a teacher in the classroom, is to win the hearts of the students.  I think this is best done by being competent in what you are teaching, showing an excitement about what you are teaching, and charisma and kindness.  Respect must be established from the beginning and it must be obvious, in the choir setting, that the students are there to sing and learn about music and not an hour of whatever mischief they can think of.  I think this should be established verbally, as well as in nonverbals and how you present yourself.  Respect is the most basic key to having a successful class and for students to learn.  If students don't respect you, if they don't admire any qualities within you, then they don't want to hear what you have to say.