Ashley Meyers

Ed 302/303
4/17/16
Statement of Faith-Based Teaching and Learning
When I was writing this unit, I really wanted to dig into the context of Appalachian folk
music (and African American spirituals) so that students could visualize the situation they were
studying. From a musical interpretation perspective, contextual connections make music more
than notes on a page and something that is personally important to the students. This also builds
empathy, which is part of Gods command for his followers to love their neighbors as
themselves (Mark 12:30-31). Also, I want students to look beyond the surface level when they
interact with unfamiliar cultures, which I think is part of treating everyone as a person made in
Gods image. For example, both Appalachian people and particularly African Americans have
been exploited, caricatured, and mistreated. I did not want my students to think of these people
as hillbillies, simpletons, or unaccomplished, rather I wanted them to see the beauty and
thought behind their musical culture.
As Christians, I believe that Jesus wants us to do three things: 1. love God above
anything else, 2. love our neighbor as ourselves, and 3. have life, and have it to the full (Mark
12:30-31, John 10:10). This has shaped how I believe I should behave as a Christian as well as
my stance on several issues. In what I do, I should seek first to honor God. However, I should
also act in a way that is life-giving to those around me. In my work, I want to strive to be a
source of encouragement to my students by giving them an expressive outlet and recognizing
their individual gifts. My hope is that my students will be able to interact with music from a
variety of genres both sacred and secular and wrestle with the ideas the composers promote

within their music. Throughout this process, the teacher should emphasize that all parts of life
matter to God and that it is beneficial, not harmful, to be well-informed.
Within the context of the ensemble, I can also teach my students about listening to their
peers and that everyone has something to contribute. Listening is important because each person
is made in the image of God and should be treated with respect. In the classroom, this means
paying attention when others are talking or singing, bringing your best effort to every rehearsal,
and on my end being prepared in order to show respect for my students time. I also want
students to know that what they sing should be more meaningful than just sounding pretty. In
this unit, I want students to think about making their performance as authentic as possible. This
means imitating the vocal style and examining the performance practices that the original
performers would have used.
One aspect about Banjo Pickin Girl that initially appealed to me was its strong,
confident depiction of women. The bulk of the text is sung from the perspective of a woman who
is traveling around the world playing her music. She talks, presumably, to her sweetheart and
asks him to stay home. She also will not tolerate him simply leeching off of her success as a
musician (If you aint got no money, find yourself another honey). Throughout his life, Jesus
did several things outside of culture norms to interact with and elevate the status of women (e.g.
the Samaritan woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, the woman with bleeding, etc.).
This would lead me to believe that Jesus cared about women and believed that they should be
treated equally with men. As a young woman, I want to emphasize to my female students
especially that they are valuable since I know I was not very confident at that time in my life. I
also want them to know they should work hard to accomplish their goals and that they should not
let other peoples ideas hold them back.

Throughout this unit, I tried to push students to think more deeply about the people who
would have originally sung the piece they are studying. The goal of this was to build empathy for
others and encourage them to love their neighbor as themselves. Though these ideas are not
exclusively religious, this quiet, everyday conviction can still speak powerfully to students. This
deeply committed, but open-minded, Christian attitude is the posture I hope to adopt in and out
of the classroom.