I believe the purpose of education is to create intelligent, independent thinkers. I think of educators as helpers, providing information, facts, and strategies to give students knowledge. Students can use this opportunity to learn through experiences, and especially failure. Through this process, students gain skills to persevere and become successful. Students continue to learn through success and failure until adulthood.

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School is a place where students will develop lifelong attributes and ideals, otherwise known as soft skills, like teamwork, organization, setting goals, and kindness. Teamwork is essential: students learn to work with one another to achieve something. Organization creates structure in a person’s life: time management throughout the day, paperwork for school, or simply clothing in the dresser. Setting a goal helps set a schedule for a step-by-step process to eventually reach that goal. Goals can be expanded upon as well, not limited to just one. Kindness is the idea that students take care of themselves and one another. Students should treat their peers with as much kindness as their own relatives.

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I would want my students participating in all activities to gain experience socializing with others. I also believe that students should develop good creation skills. My definition of creation is this: students show competency by creating something of their own that is unique. For instance, in beginning band class, I could have students develop a short melody on the first three notes they learned on their instruments. This is a huge component! Creation not only shows a student’s competency for the subject, but also something equally as important: curiosity. Curiosity and creativity go together when it comes to student learning. They both continue forever with an infinite number of things to explore and create! All these aspects of teaching, like communication and creativity, apply to my content area: band.