Successful Leadership In Contemporary Music Education

Alexandra Finnie
Professor: Dr. Kaiser

This workshop was very inspirational in many ways, and it has had impacted both my

personal life and my teaching life. I learned about various leadership styles, personality types,

music advocacy, budgets, new standards and practices in music education, and my own

personal growth activities.

I learned about the difference between coercive leadership, utilitarian leadership, and

principle-centered leadership. My goal is to be a principle-centered leader by having a primary

purpose and principles, by being trustworthy, by leading through example, and by being humble

(Aquinas, Pestalozzi). In order to do this I want to show that I care so that my students know

that I am authentic (humanist). I also want to be sincere and consistent, and willing to adapt if

needed. For an example of principle-centered leadership, our class discussed how to handle a

tardiness issue. We decided that a principle-centered leader could help resolve this issue by

planning for the beginning of class and by giving students ownership at the beginning of class. I

implemented these strategies into my teaching this year by playing songs (student choice) at

the beginning of class while we were stretching. I also had several students lead the stretches

at the beginning of our warm-ups (Dewey, Herbart). This helped improve the overall attitude of

the group, and helped a little bit with punctuality.

In our discussions, we also explored ways to deal with a lack of resources, including

advocating for school music programs. We received a helpful resource packet with advocacy

ideas and suggestions. One of the other presentations included suggestions for how to find

money for school music programs outside of the given budget, and I learned some of the basic

information for how to find grants and grant-writing. These sessions were helpful because I

learned about new ideas for ways to attract more support for my music program.
 Another component of the workshop that was very informative were the sessions about

the updates and changes in the world of music education. David Brown provided an overview of

APPR, Common Core, ESSA, and Pathways to Graduation. Additionally, Frederic Weingarten

shared very helpful information about the new National Standards. These two sessions allowed

me to catch up on some of the recent developments in education requirements.

One of the sessions that impacted me the most came at the end of the workshop. Ellen

Peterson facilitated a discussion about personal care and growth. My main takeaways from

Petersons presentation involve realizing the importance of managing time effectively, creating

priorities, avoiding burn-out, and taking time for yourself by balancing school activities and

personal activities (Covey). I created a few personal-growth goals will help make me a better

leader.