About
Ms. Robison has been the choral director at John Champe High School since 2017. Prior to working at John Champe High School, Ms. Robison graduated from James Madison University with a Bachelors of Music in Vocal Music Education.
While at JMU, Ms. Robison studied voice under David Newman and Dr. Dorothy Maddison and choral conducting under Dr. Bryce Hayes and Dr. Jo-Anne van der Vat-Chromy. Throughout her undergraduate career, Ms. Robison reinstated and directed the Madisonians show choir. Ms. Robison also had the privilege to work with ensembles in the Harrisonburg community such as the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir and the New Horizons Band. After completing her degree, Ms. Robison served as the music director for the theatre productions at Hayfield Secondary School in Alexandria, Virginia as well as Westfield High School in Chantilly, Virginia. At John Champe High School, Ms. Robison is the Sponsor of the American Sign Language club, a cappella club, show choir club, and Tri-M music honor society. Ms. Robison hosts Muslim Student Association in the choir room every Wednesday. From 2019-2022, Ms. Robison hosted/co-chaired Loudoun County Public Schools District Choral Assessment at John Champe High School. As an individual who has a passion for helping others, my career goals are geared toward educating students to have a musical skill set, including knowledge, expression, and experience, to enable them pursue their own life goals. These objectives will be achieved while providing students with support and encouragement within the classroom. Through music education, my goal is to enrich secondary-school students by increasing musicianship and instilling professional skills such as teamwork, attentiveness, and leadership. Scroll down below for more information on my philosophy on music education. |
Philosophy of Music Education
What attracted you to teaching music? What kind of teaching would you most like to do?
Many great leaders and role models in education have helped realize that I wanted to teach music, both in history and personally in my life. John Dewey (1859-1952) and his hands on learning theory and experimental learning theory truly have shaped my philosophy on education. During my high school years I studied voice and piano lessons to further my knowledge in performance in order to teach. It was in my junior year of high school that I developed my passion for teaching music. From that moment on it was all I wanted out of life, my life was consumed with music.
My high school choral director helped bring forward my musical passion and has shaped my view of how a teacher can create a community and a bond with a classroom while still having authority and classroom control. My high school choral director wasn’t only a teacher he was a mentor to his students. I saw the passion and love that he brought to the choral area and I aspired to be like him; he is my role model. My high school choral director sparked the passion that I needed to be able to thrive within a collegiate music degree program. I want to make my choir room a safe place in which my students will be able to feel comfortable in their high school or middle school.
My high school choral director helped bring forward my musical passion and has shaped my view of how a teacher can create a community and a bond with a classroom while still having authority and classroom control. My high school choral director wasn’t only a teacher he was a mentor to his students. I saw the passion and love that he brought to the choral area and I aspired to be like him; he is my role model. My high school choral director sparked the passion that I needed to be able to thrive within a collegiate music degree program. I want to make my choir room a safe place in which my students will be able to feel comfortable in their high school or middle school.
What are the most important dispositions for music teacher? Are any of these dispositions a strength or weakness for you?
While having a dream is one thing, actualizing your dreams is a task for which every teacher should strive. I feel that it is important for a teacher to hold a balanced view of both weaknesses and strengths in order to create a positive climate in which their students may emulate the same positive behaviors. Enacting on these tasks is the making of future generation of music educators. Among my current strengths, my enthusiasm for teaching motivates my desires to teach. Along with enthusiasm for teaching, compassion for students and making connections with them is natural for me. I want to create a welcoming and safe environment in the school for the students to feel comfortable to come to. The dispositions in which I excel are mature judgment and self-control. I tend to look at both sides of an argument and I am able to walk students through step by step so that they’re no longer irrational, angry, and can come to a mutually respectful resolution. A teacher with strong standards in a classroom will generate healthy teacher-student relationships and promote leadership within the student body. I will integrate these dispositions into my classroom which will give my students an understanding of the framework of my teaching methods. Creating a structured classroom will help my students achieve a higher level of critical thinking.
There are many different methods to create this structure of a classroom and they all revolve around one goal, the benefit of a student’s understanding of a subject. Within my own philosophy of education I relate to progressivism. Progressivism is a style of learning in which a student learns by doing, whether this is out in the community or within the classroom. Through progressivism I will create a classroom where my students use kinesthetic movements that relate to the voice to produce a clear and open sound, sing to citizens out in the community, and create a sense of community within the classroom.
When looking at a model of an ideal classroom everyone would be at the same level of knowledge of the subject and same learning styles (Zittleman, 1994). However, when looking at a real classroom; as a teacher you need to experiment with different styles of learning including hands on activities. Classrooms with a slightly different environmental standpoint create diverse viewpoints, such classes are choral classrooms. Choral classrooms are different than traditional classrooms because they tend to have a balance of two very different philosophies, progressivism and essentialism. While maintaining the traditional aspects essentialism, by having a teacher in front of the classroom teaching music, the teacher must also bring forth a physical or kinesthetic aspect to the classroom because the student is unable to see or touch the voice. This balance of instruction, through conducting and kinesthetic movement, is essential to having a successful choir
There are many different methods to create this structure of a classroom and they all revolve around one goal, the benefit of a student’s understanding of a subject. Within my own philosophy of education I relate to progressivism. Progressivism is a style of learning in which a student learns by doing, whether this is out in the community or within the classroom. Through progressivism I will create a classroom where my students use kinesthetic movements that relate to the voice to produce a clear and open sound, sing to citizens out in the community, and create a sense of community within the classroom.
When looking at a model of an ideal classroom everyone would be at the same level of knowledge of the subject and same learning styles (Zittleman, 1994). However, when looking at a real classroom; as a teacher you need to experiment with different styles of learning including hands on activities. Classrooms with a slightly different environmental standpoint create diverse viewpoints, such classes are choral classrooms. Choral classrooms are different than traditional classrooms because they tend to have a balance of two very different philosophies, progressivism and essentialism. While maintaining the traditional aspects essentialism, by having a teacher in front of the classroom teaching music, the teacher must also bring forth a physical or kinesthetic aspect to the classroom because the student is unable to see or touch the voice. This balance of instruction, through conducting and kinesthetic movement, is essential to having a successful choir
What is the purpose/worth of music education? What do you hope music students will gain from studying with you?
Within the structure of a school system the administration has many things to oversee, therefore the school system gives the teachers the framework of what a basic classroom should emulate. Teachers who go past the basic framework and reach out to their students create an esthetically pleasing classroom to all types of learners. These classrooms incorporate a higher level of thinking for every student. Teachers constantly have to be creative by using different teaching styles because if something doesn’t work that’s on their lesson plan, the material needs to be taught differently so all students will comprehend the subject matter.
Progressivism doesn’t always fit well with the way that school systems are structured because it is going against the traditional classroom by getting out of chairs, moving around, and even going on field trips to get a better comprehension level on the material being covered in class. This is a great way to incorporate students in a fun learning environment. On the other hand, the second philosophy that is incorporated into a musical classroom, essentialism, meets the requirements that schools structure as a basic classroom setting.
Music education brings a unique perspective to learning opportunities found in the arts. Music offers remarkable lifelong learning strategies to increase students’ social skills, growth in leadership, and the gift of working with a group of like-minded people in order to achieve a goal which cannot be achieved alone. Increased social skills are very important in life; through music you are able to create friendships that last a lifetime, a means of meeting future contacts, and references. The value of music education extends far beyond the social aspect of the subject matter. Music in addition to being a rich, diverse core content area in its own right, affords students a magnitude of opportunities to make meaningful transfers to other core subjects such as math, English and foreign languages.
In my classroom the outcome for my students is to get a better understand of how music works while preparing pieces to sing for a concert. Skills that students would learn in my classroom would be sight-singing, comprehending basic music theory, social skills, and establishing community through ensemble. Sight-singing is a great tool for singers to work and develop their abilities to read music more efficiently because it makes reading harder music easier with practice. These are all aspects that can be taught in a classroom with a teacher who has a good, effective lesson plan that incorporates questions about the music that they are learning for their concert. All of these skills are key points to creating a well-educated musician.
In terms of classroom culture, I want to help my students to create a community that they will want to come to everyday. Choir and the arts are what you make it as long as you are having fun and still creating beautiful music; that is the prize that every student should gain by the end of the academic year. Therefore, creating a safe environment that is socially empowering to students, as well as teaching key components of choral pedagogy is vital to a successful music classroom.
Progressivism doesn’t always fit well with the way that school systems are structured because it is going against the traditional classroom by getting out of chairs, moving around, and even going on field trips to get a better comprehension level on the material being covered in class. This is a great way to incorporate students in a fun learning environment. On the other hand, the second philosophy that is incorporated into a musical classroom, essentialism, meets the requirements that schools structure as a basic classroom setting.
Music education brings a unique perspective to learning opportunities found in the arts. Music offers remarkable lifelong learning strategies to increase students’ social skills, growth in leadership, and the gift of working with a group of like-minded people in order to achieve a goal which cannot be achieved alone. Increased social skills are very important in life; through music you are able to create friendships that last a lifetime, a means of meeting future contacts, and references. The value of music education extends far beyond the social aspect of the subject matter. Music in addition to being a rich, diverse core content area in its own right, affords students a magnitude of opportunities to make meaningful transfers to other core subjects such as math, English and foreign languages.
In my classroom the outcome for my students is to get a better understand of how music works while preparing pieces to sing for a concert. Skills that students would learn in my classroom would be sight-singing, comprehending basic music theory, social skills, and establishing community through ensemble. Sight-singing is a great tool for singers to work and develop their abilities to read music more efficiently because it makes reading harder music easier with practice. These are all aspects that can be taught in a classroom with a teacher who has a good, effective lesson plan that incorporates questions about the music that they are learning for their concert. All of these skills are key points to creating a well-educated musician.
In terms of classroom culture, I want to help my students to create a community that they will want to come to everyday. Choir and the arts are what you make it as long as you are having fun and still creating beautiful music; that is the prize that every student should gain by the end of the academic year. Therefore, creating a safe environment that is socially empowering to students, as well as teaching key components of choral pedagogy is vital to a successful music classroom.
In what ways do you expect to grow professionally prior to teaching? How will you accomplish this?
In order to achieve a higher level of critical thinking with a choral department of my own I will encounter a plethora of pedagogical transfers and educational opportunities during my undergraduate degree that James Madison University’s music education program has to offer. I am ready to submerge myself into the world of music education and build a better understanding of teaching musicians in as many situations as possible. Be it in a college level choral ensemble, an elementary, secondary, private, high school choir, or an inner city school with students who come from low income families; learning in these diverse musical settings will increase my knowledge and better prepare me for future job opportunities. Being able to feel comfortable in all of these different school settings is possible while studying music education at James Madison University through our elementary, show choir/jazz, and high school methods classes. Since I am a hands-on learner, I have sought out opportunities in which I pursued teaching opportunities in JMU’s show choir program, Shenandoah Valley Children’s Chorus, Westfield High School’s Summer Stage program, Hayfield High School’s Summer Stage program, and various workshop and conferences around the United States. I deeply cherish the abundance of knowledge that James Madison University provides in creating the future generation of music educators. I want to absorb as much as I can in order to more fully prepare for my next career steps.
Citation
Sadker, D., & Zittleman, K. (1942). Teacher, schools, and society. (3rd ed.).