I received my Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Harding University in 2007 and completed the Coding Dojo Full Stack development Certificate and Immersive training in Python in 2022. I have a passion for integrating technology with music and music theory.
Unlike many education degrees that require specialization in a specific age range, music education requires the teacher to experience all of them. My student-teaching experience took me through four schools, three teachers, and somewhere around a thousand students, from Kindergartners to high school seniors.
I can honestly say there’s no experience that compares to it. I taught elementary rhythmic concepts to first-graders and fine-tuned the sight-singing abilities of a large high school choir. I lectured about melodic intervals and sang a song about farm animals (complete with sound effects and silly dance) within a two-hour span. I tied approximately 4,000 shoelaces. I planned, taught, analyzed my performance, then taught some more. I came home exhausted and got up the next day to do it again.
And I learned. A lot. The most important thing I learned is that teaching music is for me. It’s something I do well and find meaning in. I’ve taught my own students for three years and counting now, and it looks like my real education is only beginning.