McKenzie Sterner

5/5/15
Critical Pedagogy 1
Professor Donna Gallo
Final Synthesis Paper
Education from a Students Perspective
Critical pedagogy is a phrase that may sound like a hyperbolic statement used only by
those in attendance at a high-class cocktail party. However, it is a quite accessible term to
describe the themes of education. Critical pedagogy encompasses the theories and processes that
reflect the actions of teaching and learning. It is the process by which many teachers begin to
develop their own philosophies and global views of teaching. Critical pedagogy includes analysis
of personal teaching identity, student identity, and how these two concepts interact in the
classroom. My own experience in these three topics have been challenged and explored this past
semester. I have found my personal experience to be a strong influence in my views on
education. My ideas of the individuality of students center around student personal growth and
the responsibility of the teacher. Also, the outlook I have on my future classroom is broad, but it
will grow to encompass some of my goals in specific ways. Overall, my knowledge of pedagogy
has grown significantly this past semester.
My past musical experiences shape the majority of my views on education and the
importance of music in our world today. Musical identity is a large part of this. I believe that
music is a nonessential part of todays culture. No one needs music to build a shelter, to feed a
family, or to cure an illness. Music is not for survival in a physical sense. However, we engage in
music to fulfill a need on the third tear of Maslows hierarchy; love and belonging. At its root,
music is emotion. It is a way to engage multiple people in a singular task with a similar
emotional response. It is a basic form of communication. I came to this view because my musical

experiences began with church music and musical theater. Although the genres are extremely
different, both have an message that connects many people by one goal. In this way my views on
social safety and emoting in the classroom rise above technique and expertise. Even though
technique is important, music is, first and foremost, a vehicle for human interaction.
Engaging in music making is one of the facets that contributes to my identity as a teacher.
Coming from a diverse community helps me to appreciate music from many cultures. I believe
our perception of the quality music we experience is the reality for every individual and culture.
But in communities where race, religion, and socioeconomic background are more diverse, a
steady diet of the Western classics seems to be somewhere between inadequate and uninspiring,
(Abrahams & Head, 2005, p. 24). This leads me to conclude that music should be diverse and
globally respected in the classroom. That being said, it is important to incorporate this music in
the classroom carefully and respectfully. It is easy for teachers to unknowingly belittle and
diminish the value of a culture because of their lack of expertise. However, with careful research
and help from student ambassadors, incorporating world music in the classroom is an important
value that I hold in high regard.
Experience as a student has also driven my views of critical pedagogy. My perception of
ethics in the classroom has been shaped by teachers who took no responsibility with their
students. Unethical teachers have made me realize how important the rights of the students are in
the classroom. My view of ethics stems from virtue ethics and the works of Aristotle. I believe
that the personal integrity of the teacher will lead them to be caring and responsible teachers.
Regelski (2010) writes of using poeses (excellent making) instead of techne (practical making).
Poses is the active form of the verb to make and this signifies the difference between the
making of things and the shaping of people. It is important to keep in mind that teaching molds

human lives and they cannot be treated with indignity and uniformity. The practical wisdom on
which teaching as praxis depends requires, instead, the virtue of a caring that is focused on the
needs of the persons for whom care is shown and, thus, of being prudent in decisions and actions
that affect their wellbeing, (Regelski, 2010, p. 11). As educators we hold a huge responsibility
in our hands. Some of my classmates were driven from music because of a teacher that forgot
this very important anecdote. My personal experience in the classroom has shaped my
preconceptions of the importance of ethics and student value in the classroom.
The way that I approach instruction is greatly influenced by the lack of instruction I
received in elementary school. As a student in a K-8 school of 120 students the funding for a
music program was nonexistent. I have learned through this experience that inner hearing skills
are remarkably important to develop at a young age. It is vital for general music teachers to teach
by rote because often there is no singing in the home. I was fortunate to have parents that
encouraged my sense of tonality in our house by singing and listening to music constantly.
However, this is not always the case with students in a modern classroom. Inner hearing and
literacy were both stressed by Zoltan Kodaly. He encouraged sound before sight. This is the
principle of teaching by rote before introducing the written symbols. Both of which are vital to
learn at a young age. My experiences have brought me to value heavy music literacy and inner
hearing in the elementary classroom.
My past music experiences make me a critical observer. Often I find myself analyzing the
teachers skills instead of the students, the environment, or other outside factors. I often hold the
instructor responsible. This is due to the incompetent teachers I have had in the past. I hope that
this attitude will encourage me to hold myself to a higher standard as an educator. These factors
also primarily drive my view that, as an educator, there are always ways to grow. Raiber and

Teachout write about the complexity of teacher knowledge, skills, and dispositions. The
dispositions that an educator has can effect the milieu, students, and eventually how much
material is learned. Raiber and Teachout found the following to be true:
Unlike knowledge and skills, which typically take a concentrated effort over time to develop,
one can adopt a mature set of dispositions from the start of his or her career. Assuming the
attitude there is always something new to learn that will make me a better teacher will help you
improve as a teacher, (p. 78).
Not only does the disposition the teacher holds effect how they grow as a professional, it also
influences the environment in which they teach. This is a crucial aspect to the classroom. An
educator with a good disposition is someone I hold in high regard and aspire to model. In this
way, this factor is one that I gravitate toward when critically observing professionals.
I have found that my past experiences heavily influence my views of education: music as
a language, repertoire diversity, classroom ethics, young literacy, and teacher disposition. This
shows that what I hold to be true is based on of my own experiences. However, I understand the
importance of learning from others and considering more perspectives than just my own.
Students are the most important component in the classroom. I would hope that most
educators would find this statement undebatable. This is not always the case, but there are mind
sets and steps educators can take to change this.
Curriculum is one of these steps. Often times material is built on what students do not
know. Administrators and teachers team up to fix students. This leads to the conclusion that
children, as a whole, are only inadequate adults and we must change them into shorter versions
of ourselves. In other words, my ability to exercise my mind with hope and sureness is linked to

my emotional state, my feelings, my affect, (Ayers, 1993, p. 44). This mindset will lead teachers
to belittle students and assess them by their inabilities. This makes students feel invalidated and
often they will lose their willingness to learn in a formal setting. In order to know the full
measure of a student, one cannot only look at scores to tell the tale of a childs potential or
achievement. Ayers (1993) states that educators must be one part detective, sifting through
information and creating a puzzle that helps them understand the student. It is important to note
that this puzzle is never neatly finished because students are more complex than an educators
perception of them.
Knowing the students will ultimately effect what and how someone teaches. The
instructor must have knowledge of standards for children at their age level. It is important to
understand what a student is ready for developmentally, in a physical and psychological regard.
The teacher must be aware of the students prior knowledge and their capacity for new
information in the time allotted. An educators pedagogical content knowledge should be
extensive and encompasses the childs individual tendencies as well as what is typical for their
age group. Knowledge of the individual student as well as the standards for their age-level are
essential components to a successful classroom.
My future classroom is an intimidating subject. I cannot begin to imagine the specifics of
what or who it would include. However, I will definitely carry many practices I learned this
semester into my first position. I learned to minimize teacher talk. This concept is based on the
idea that children learn more from observing a model than listening to an instructor explain. I
found this technique helpful when teaching a dance for our peer lesson projects. Although
modeling instead of explaining did not solve every problem, it was a good basis for instruction.

As for other practices to ingrain in my future classroom, I believe disposition to be a strong

player. I would not presume to learn to have a disposition. Except to say that, teaching this
semester has revealed to me that you can never be too prepared. This is a disposition that I hope
to carry into the future. Methodologies can also be a helpful tool to explore for further education.
I would like to learn more about Kodaly in the future and integrate it into an elementary/middle
school class. I learned many specific applications, such as songs and games, through the Kodaly
workshop. I would like to learn more about the critical pedagogy lens that it infers. I also
enjoyed the movement we experienced through the Dalcroze method. I believe that this method
helps the teacher and students grow to together in improvisation and movement. I also value the
use of a more instrumental based elementary classroom, and would like to explore those
implications. Kodaly and Dalcroze were the two methodologies that caught my interest, so far. I
feel that they would be strong assets to my future classroom.
I believe strongly that my future classrooms purpose is to give students room to grow in
a safe environment. One of the ways that this can be implemented is through an ideology; social
justice in the classroom. Education, after all, is a public endeavor with an obligation to enter the
public space. Consider that we work with music because the social life, the cultural life of our
communities, is something we care deeply about, (Allsup & Shieh, 2014, p. 48). Education is a
tool by which we, as educators, hold the power to change future generations. Therefore, it is our
responsibility to act in a functional way upon beliefs systems that encourage equality and the
right of the student. Educators must challenge students to explore and test their own beliefs and
views of society. Not only must the teacher take action to uphold the values of social justice
within the classroom, but they should encourage and enable students to form their own views.
Social justice incorporated into my future classroom is an ideal I will always strive toward.

Critical pedagogy can be a vague term used to encompass just about anything related to
education. However, it can also be a way for us to analyze and pinpoint the causal relationships
that plague the classroom. The meticulous work that teaching requires is rigorous. There are
numerous details to cater to, and an educator must be agile. These relationships are what help to
form critical pedagogy. It has helped me conclude that my past experience shapes much of my
beliefs in education, my view of the pedagogical content knowledge is revolved around student
growth, and social justice is a major factor my education philosophy. My global views will
continue to grow and develop through my education. Critical pedagogy is no longer be a broad
and inaccessible concept.

Works Cited
Abrahams, F., & Head, P. D. Case Studies in Music Education (2nd ed.).
Chicago, IL: GIA Publications.
Allsup, R. E., & Shieh, E. (2012). Social justice and music education: The call
for a public pedagogy. Music Educators Journal, 98(4), 47-51.
Ayers, W. (2010). To teach: the journey of a teacher. New York, NY: Teachers
College Press.
Raiber, M., & Teachout, D. (2014). The journey from music student to teacher: A
professional approach. New York, NY: Routledge.
Regelski, T. A. (2010). Toward an Applied, Professional Ethics for School Music. Paper
presented at the May Day Colloquium, Montclair, NJ.