Taylor S  
Instruments: Piano, Voice, Flute, Recorder, Piccolo
Styles: Pop, Gospel, Musical Theater, Opera, Showtunes, Spirituals, Marching Band

Growing up with parents who both were teachers, I knew from an early age that teaching was something that I wanted to do. My dad served as the math teacher, while my mom served as the band director at the local high school. Since then, my parents have both moved up to working within the school’s administration. Seeing my mom and dad inspire their students and make long lasting impacts on each of their students’ lives, there was no doubt that I was going to do the same. Sharing my mother’s passion of music, I knew immediately that I wanted to be involved with teaching music as well.

While attending high school, I learned a lot from my experiences. I came from a very small school where music classes or ensembles was not a priority. The music program suffered immensely, and for someone like me who had a strong passion for music, it was devastating. Due to the music curriculum challenges back at school, I decided to take private voice lessons at a local university, as I wanted to challenge myself musically. I wanted to grow as a musician and develop musical skills and techniques that I could eventually use to teach my own students. My voice teacher was a huge inspiration for why I want to become a teacher. She always pushed me to be better and encouraged me to work hard and give it my all. I looked up to her and I learned so many things from her that I constantly thanked her for being my teacher. She made a lasting impact on my life and I want to do the same for my own students. It is with that love and support from my family and friends, that I am able to pursue a career in education. I've been student teaching for a few months now, and I can definitely say it has been the best experience of my life.

In teaching, I have found that the best teaching philosophies are those that are student- centered. I teach with these strategies constantly as I feel that they are important in every single way. These philosophies include: Humanism and Constructivism. Humanism focuses on encouraging each child to his or her fullest potential, while constructivism focuses on student experiences. Children can "construct" their own understanding or knowledge of a concept through experiencing things and reflecting upon those experiences. I feel that as children all have differing learning styles, it is best to let them gain/maintain information in their own way. It is also important for students to have multiple ways of getting the information/materials and presenting what they have learned in multiple ways as well. Teaching in a way that is the same for all students may take away from actually giving each student the resources they need to be successful.