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Currently in my third year of university. I am studying a Bachelor of Music Education, at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. 

Isabel Cullen

 

Learning Biographies, 2015:

 

Throughout the start of my course at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, I have gained a massive amount of experience from lectures, fellow colleagues and my practical experience from second year.  This has helped me shape the music educator I am today, and wish to develop on. From one of the first choir rehearsals at primary school through to my latest education oriented subjects at university,  I have been captivated by music and how it interacts within every single human being. The nature of music has really been one of the key aspects which drew me to it in the first place. 

 

In recent months, I have taken a subject called 'Adolescent Development and Behaviour' taken by Jennifer Rowley. This subject has been extremely interesting and has helped me fully understand the depth of adolescent development and cognitive learning. Similarly in 2014, I took another subject named 'Psychology of learning' taken by Deborah Chadwick. Since getting a deeper understanding of learning psychology, and the inner workings of cognitive development, I have noticed my interest shift more towards this. Throughout the subject of adolescent development and behaviour, I have taken much interest to developmental psychology and how important it is as teachers, to understand what and how students are developing. As teachers we also need to take into account how these changes are affecting their learning, and most of all how it is shaping themselves as active learners. Another subject which I am half way through at the moment called 'Teaching Junior Secondary Music' has introduced me to the many different (and diverse) ways we can approach teaching. One theory of teaching developed on by Lucy Green has been extremely helpful to me as I am aware of the importance of 'Aural Learning'. Lucy Green's theory of letting students develop on their own aural skills independently or as a group has opened my eyes to see what junior secondary school students are aware and capable of. This was then followed up for me, in a lecture by Jennifer Rowley explaining the different stages of Piaget's four stages of cognitive development. 

 

Another beneficial aspect of taking the course 'adolescent development and behaviour' has to be the peer presentations on selected topics. I have (although, it might seem a little odd) a passion for presentations, making and listening to informative presentations is how I learn most effectively. I have gained insight to new subject areas in the psychology field which I had no or little knowledge about. Through my own presentation, although I picked a challenging subject, I found and researched into topic areas I enjoyed and was curious about.  Throughout the course mandatory reading list and my own reading, upon reading I have also had my teaching ideas and beliefs confirmed. In the text book 'Educational Psychology Constructing Learning' written by Dennis M. McInerney and Valentina McInerney, "discovery learning deduced from the work of Bruner, he believes that learning should progress from specific examples to general principles by way of induction" (McInerney and McInerney 2002) McInerney also goes on to state that "Discovery learning encourages transfer of skills to solve problems in new contexts." I have and will be introducing this into the next practical component of my course. 

 

 

It has been rewarding and fascinating exposed to the inner workings of the developing child. I wish to incorporate my understanding and knowledge of this subject to further develop my music teaching. 

 

 

 

 

References:

 

 

McInerney, D., & McInerney, V. (2002). Educational psychology. Frenchs Forest: Prentice Hall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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