The issue of graduate school versus teaching first is a question that will generate a great deal of debate amongst those of us in the teaching field who have chosen one particular path over the other. Through the voices in this blog, you will hear different perspectives on how some of us have come to make this decision, and through your own critical examination of our voices, you may find something that will inform your own decision
4 Comments
David Hawthorne
3/14/2012 01:24:09 am
For myself, the decision was quite simple. Getting a job was important to me financially. I figured graduate school could wait. Luckily I interviewed and was placed in my first and only job one week before the start of school. During the next year my wife and I chose to get married and then had our first daughter. That certainly set our timeline of what was coming first. We both got jobs and worked graduate school into our lives. Wasn't easy getting married, buying a house, having a baby and going to school. All worked out in the end.
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3/16/2012 04:51:52 am
I entered James Madison University eager to begin my career path, and to further my knowledge of music. I found myself floundering a bit at first, as many freshmen do, having been a big fish and now finding I was more like a feeder fish! After finding my footing (and the practice rooms) I felt I was on my way to my goal. Then I took my first music education class and I found myself at odds again. The image I had in my head of what a music teacher should be did not match up with the image that was being presented to me. As I struggled to reconcile myself with the concepts of teaching music, I was thrown into the world of educational theory. I felt completely overwhelmed, without any means to connect Dewey, Vygotsky, Maslow, or any of those people to being a band director. Consequently, I dismissed most of it as irrelevant, and only did what I needed to do to pass the class. Gradually, I became disillusioned with the idea of teaching in the first place, and felt the lure of performing. As a music student, living the life of a musician was exciting. I was surrounded by others who were committed to excellence, and my competitive nature propelled me to practice and perform at the highest level. Although I did not officially change my major, I applied for a full senior recital and entered any and all performance competitions that I could. Then came student teaching, and my inner struggle began again. Although my cooperating teacher was not overly helpful or encouraging to me, he did one thing right- he let me teach freely. From day one I was actively involved in each band class. I had the freedom to develop and implement lessons of any content or level of creativity, and I loved it! Not only did I savor the opportunity to exert my teacher instincts, but I also reveled in the opportunity to develop relationships with “my” students. The teacher bug had bitten me again, and I remembered why I wanted to do it in the first place.
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Terry Caviness
3/16/2012 04:59:43 am
Terry Caviness – Graduate school vs teaching first
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Ruth Samuels
3/18/2012 11:28:00 am
I received many opinions during my senior year as I chose whether to apply for jobs or complete my grad school first. Each viewpoint is valid, but as the others on here have said, it's really a personal choice; what you can afford, where you are in your education, and what your goals are.
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David HawthorneMember of the Central Winds. Also serve as Webmaster and Publicity Archives
April 2012
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