My Dream Job

done Some of us come in to San Diego State University knowing exactly  what it is that we want to do when we graduate and some of us have no clue. That is perfectly fine. As for me, I knew long before I got here.

  When I graduate from this university my ultimate goal is to become a classroom music teacher at the high school level. I plan on returning ASAP to earn my masters degree and further my education, but that is still my end goal, to become a high school choir director.

I want to be a music teacher because I can’t see myself doing anything else and it honestly feels like my way of completing the circle of life. Also, my high school music classroom kept me out of a lot of trouble and became a safe place for me during a rough part of my life. I would love to be able to pay that forward.

In order to become a high school music teacher there are a couple different routes you can take. Music Education is in the field of Education Both require an education and a teaching credential which is essentially a year of unpaid student teaching. You could earn any bachelor’s degree, take and pass CSET in Music and earn your credential. Or you could earn a bachelor’s of music degree in music education here at SDSU which waves the CSET requirement and then earn your California teaching credential. I am going the second route.

When I finally become get my dream job as a high school choir director, I will have more responsibilities than simply fostering and nurturing growth and musicianship of the individuals in my class. Tony Mazzocchi says that great teachers connect to their students on an emotional level and that requires more than being a good musician. I will also be responsible for logistics and planning and for programming music for and executing a concert that both challenges and shows off my students capabilities while taking them on educational and cultural journey.  

A teacher works with other faculty and staff to create a positive learning environment for students. The average salary is $60,000 year. Starting salary in california is around $40,000 and pay increases with a masters degree. My dream school would be Turlock High School, where i attended school.a

You don’t make much money as a teacher, but if you’re in it for the money you won’t get far anyway. Teaching is something that takes big heart and passion. A good teacher is in it for the children

Discourse or discourse? It matters in this course.

I have always considered myself a very adaptable, but genuine person. I moved around a lot as a kid due to family and though I was born and raised until 12 in the Bay Area, I really feel that I grew up and and from Turlock, California. No one eve knows where that is. With the information that I gained this week I suppose that because of this I have been exposed to a wide variety of Discourses and this contributes to my adaptability.

Gee’s Discourse with a capital D goes beyond written and spoken communications and encompasses who a person is. It refers to a group of people and takes into thought their shared personal beliefs or ideas in regards to various things. You can be in a Discourse or out of it and although there is no middle line, you can open the gate to entering a discourse by mushfaking. 

I’m going to be completely honest. In my life I have been many Discourses  where I don’t actually know what is going on.. way too many to count. On the other hand I have also learned that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is how we respond in these situations that determine whether or not we survive in said discourse and if or how we adapt. 

This is a swim or sink world that we live in. If you do not know how to swim then, I suggest you doggie paddle. I relate mushfaking to doggie paddling. Say maybe I’ve gotten myself into another one of these conversations again. The waters are treacherous and all else fails. Mushfaking becomes a necessary skill for survival. 

As you may know, I study Spanish as a secondary major. As a requirement for this major the student must study abroad in a Spanish speaking country and achieve a certain amount of units. I had the wonderful experience of studying at the Guadalajara campus of Instituto Technologic de Estudios Superiores Monterrey. I took two classes there and on top of improving my  language skills, I really learned alot. 

My first class was class on movies, literature and culture. It was a pretty simple course and I had no problems earning 100% in that class. My other course was an upper division ethics class that focused on the profession and citizenship. It was also the second semester in a sequence of three. This course really made me work for that B+. 

This class, beyond being in a different language, came with a Discourse completely foreign to me. Being that is was the second semester of the sequence there were many terms that were unfamiliar to me. Also, although the class focused on what it means to do your part as a citizen which has some universal concepts, in their country, as expected, many things are different.  

In the beginning of the semester I was really nervous and even concerned about my grade and I even spoke to my teacher and counselor about dropping the class, but I couldn’t be cause the date had passed. I found myself in another Discourse where I didn’t know what was going on and with my planned graduation date of Spring 2020 it was sink or swim. It was time to start mushfaking. I began to pay close to what I heard and the values expressed by my teachers and classmates and replicate them. I must have done a decent job because I passed the class. 

In the past week or so I have read through about a million Ed-ops researching the writing style and becoming familiar with the genre in an effort to prepare my own for this class. The topics have varied from government and politics to health and fitness. Some of them were really interesting reads and some of them were a bit of a struggle to get through. I started thinking “why is it that some of these articles are so interesting to me?” What is it that makes an article appeal to specific audiences and not to others?

One of the first things I looked at in preparation for the assignment was an article by Allena Tapia called What is an Op-EdArticle and how to write one. This answered a few of my questions and I gained a few critical pieces of information. An Op-Ed, according to Tapia, is an article that is written in response to a piece of news or another opinion that has been expressed and its sole purpose is to express an opinion.The genre of writing has been perfected over the years and what has been produced is a winning formula of necessary ingredientes for a great op-ed. 

The first and perhaps the most important piece of the op-ed is the title. The title needs to call attention to itself and convey a lot of information, including the issue at hand and the authors position in regards to it. This is the first item that will filter the audience. Depending on what the title is, some people will read the article and some people will not. What attracts some people may push others away. For example,  what appeals to single mother is the suburbs will not necessarily appeal to the wealthy newlyweds that would rather focus on her career. 

Another thing that I learned to consider when reading an op-ed was the language and overall tone used through-out. In his article Tips for Aspiring Op-Ed Writers, Bret Stephens says that the easiest decision for a reader to make is to stop reading. That means that the identity that the author creates for the work and the tone used plays a critical role for the audience. For example, someone may be completely agree with the author's opinion or argument. However, if the terminology is super complicated and hard to follow, I may not be interesting in reading that article.

My final thought on why articles may appeal to certain audiences and not to others has to do with the fact that we are human and we are all unique. As we grow and mature we develop our own unique preferences, tastes and palettes. As we go through life things become suddenly relevant. The importance of such things and our preference fades away with time. We are all quite dynamic and some things simply resonate with us because of our past experiences or where we may be in life and there are something that we will never understand. 

Music Education. It Wasn't a Choice.

All of these photos are from a project that I participate in annually known as UC Merced Presents Children's Opera. It is a community outreach program that reaches around 5000 kids annually in the central valley of California. Every year we present an entirely new opera with a plot written specifically for children with two goals in mind. First, to get the children onto a college campus and introduce them to the world of higher education. Second, to introduce them to music and the performing arts in an exciting and engaging way. I have been a part of the project for over six years now and it truly has been one of the most thrilling experiences as a performer. 

I have always been a very musical person. I started singing as a child in the Sunshine Band at my family's church and I have not stopped since. It's simply something that I have always had a passion for. I remember in in elementary school, my school put on a musical called "Why Bees Buzz in People's Ears." It was my first time performing in front of an audience outside of my church. Now I don't remember much from elementary school because I attended too many schools to count, but I do remember the feeling of complete exhilaration as the audience of family, friends and teachers bursted in to an applause of encouragement and support after we finished performing. Since then I've been in many choirs and countless musical theater productions. 

I had quite a tough growing up as a child and even into my teenage years. My family wasn't perfect, and most aren't, but because of the issues in my family I grew up bouncing back and forth between the custody of my mom and the foster care system. I attended countless elementary schools and just as many middle and junior high schools. Because of this I never got to build relationships or friendships as a child and I never really felt that I felt in. All of that changed when I joined choir my junior year of high school. Sounds cliché, but I knew immediately that it was where I belonged. Music was quite literally my light at the end of the tunnel as it helped me to escape my darknesses. It was the first time in a long time that I felt wanted, appreciated, valued and respected and I hope to someday be able to pay that forward.