i told you so

"You are what you eat", how many times have we all heard that? There is a new concept swimming about my mind today, and that is the concept of "we are what we teach". I'm in the middle of student-teaching and trying to encompass being a teacher in all that I do. Every living moment is a learning moment for someone, whether that be for me or the person that I am encountering. Even in the times of bliss with merely hanging out with others or in a social group, you are constantly taking in information about those around you, their reactions and personalities. We, being lazy peoples, often don't apply all that we have learned, or recall quickly enough that some are sensitive to certain topics or have experienced certain things. Therefore people get hurt. That's a whole different posting.

I think that one of the joys that I am finding as a teacher is the glimpse of childhood, and the glimpses of humanity that I get on a daily basis. I'm aware that as long as one has a job interacting with people, they are interacting with humanity, but students bring a different aspect of humanity than the adult world. Take time to just observe the world around you. Then, go back for an additional 5 minutes and observe the world around you as a ten year old. You see completely different worlds, don't you? I find it a privilege to get to immerse myself in a variety of worlds on an everyday basis. It's even more of a privilege to get to accompany some others between various worlds, as you watch them go from children to teens, from teens to young adults, and all the development that happens along the way. It's not something that can be captured on a canvas, through words... it has to be an experience.

In my previous posting, I spent a chunk of time talking about a particular woman who is very important to me, and who does amazing things for this world. She is my private voice teacher, a professor who I have studied with for 4 years now. She teaches many private lessons and very few classes, but one class that I have had the opportunity to take with her was entitled "Vocal Pedagogy", a class in which you learn how to teach voice. For this class we each had our own private student. Some were more memorable than others, but we would each come to class telling outrageous stories of the things that happened in our own private voice lessons. My particular student is what my mother would refer to as "a piece of work". She was your common middle school athletic chick who was like many her age, over committed and too cool for anything. *note: name has been changed due to privacy, and also because I enjoy making up fictional names.

Nikki June*: my pride, my joy, and (sometimes) biggest pain. I say that with love. I was forewarned that my student would have limited musical background, and I also knew that she was busy with other things. As I think of all there is to reflect upon, I can do nothing but smile as I think about the journey that teaching Nikki took me on. Making initial contact is part of the process, but I knew from the beginning that I was going to have a handful when I heard Nikki in the background say “I don’t want to sing ‘old-people’ stuff.” In fact, perhaps this posting will just be memorable quotes by Nikki. Or perhaps, using Nikki for segues. So that being said, segue #1…

Not wanting to sing ‘old-people’ stuff. Although at the time it made me a nervous wreck, it now makes me chuckle. I was so worried about pleasing this girl and keeping her engaged. I realized that in teaching, it all depends on how you sell it to the kids, and they’ll (sometimes) go with you. High school kids, not so much. They will just look at you and think you're crazy. Luckily for me, I'm completely at ease with them thinking that I am crazy. It's one of those "accept and move on" things and low and behold, you still get things done. Middle school is a fun age because you can usually get them to go along with whatever you're doing if you present your information in the correct way. Nikki’s attitude toward the old stuff sent me on a train of thought. I began to wonder at what point I’ll stop being the ‘cool-crazy-hip-young-chick’ and turn into the “experienced woman”, as far as teaching is concerned.

Segue #2

“Well, just to get to know your voice, can I have you sing this pattern?”

“How?”

“Well, you just sing it.

“How do I do that?”…

 ‘How’ is a really difficult question, particularly when it comes to singing, because hardly any of the mechanical processes can be seen on the outside. ‘How’ is also a difficult question when it comes to teaching. How does one continue to make the learning process interesting, keep it fresh, keep a student motivated, etc. How is a very important question. Thanks, Nikki.

The teaching process is a lot more natural than I thought that it would be. Yes preparation is required prior to each lesson, but there were very few, if any, times that I feel stuck or ‘unable’ to do my job. That’s a positive feeling. An even bigger benefit of this was that I had fun in the process. Teaching is fun, Nikki was fun, high school choir is the bomb, and no matter what teaching situation I find myself in, it is always possible to have some sort of laughter and craziness incorporated.

Segue #3

“Did you get to look at this song?”

“Yea, I learned both of ‘em”

“You learned both?”

“Girl, what-chew think I’ve been doin’, sittin’ on my butt all week?”

Sometimes, students will surprise us, and sometimes kids say the darndest things. Nikki kept me on my toes and I felt like I had to have every scenario prepared for, and ready to teach anything at hand due to her persistent and never-ending questions and resistance. Am I upset and bitter about this? Absolutely not. My experiences observing fellow teachers didn’t occur until after my final lesson with Nikki. I observed other teachers asking only once for a student to try something, with compliant students. Well, my name is Kayla and it just so happens that I like a challenge. I am so thankful for the complexities of Nikki. I felt like I was better prepared for the ‘real world’. Commonly, I’m a lover, not a fighter; I learned and experienced first hand to expect the unexpected, and learned how to fight back for the sake of the student, with a little love thrown in.
Teaching is not for those who are lazy. There is no room for laziness when being a role model and in being a life-long learner. I’ve also found that teaching has taught me to be young at heart again. I take on the job of putting myself in the mindset of my students, feeling and agonizing over their struggles, and returning to my reality with the knowledge that I have to fix/address and educate them toward the goal.

Segue #4

“We’re not gunna do ‘Someday’? That song is really pretty and I can sing it.”

There is a serious back-story to the quote above. You see, after hearing for weeks that the song was too hard, that the head voice wasn’t pretty,  that Celtic Woman was old, and that she couldn’t do it, the final minute of the final lesson shed a whole new light on the teaching experience. Nikki, the stubborn-willed student, finally complied to see things my way. A slight taste of glory. Glory because yes, she could sing it, and no it was not too difficult for her. I'm not going to say "I told you so", but I'll just mildly gloat on the inside due to the victory that occurred in my favor. Perhaps another time she’ll find the motivation to learn it on her own. So for that,  I would like to extend a ‘thank you’ to Nikki for the foundational stories of my teaching career.

Being that I am going back to China, I can guarantee that there will be plenty more to come. In the meantime (between now and then) there will hopefully be more stories and more insights through times of transition and "growing up".