Exemplary Humber Faculty Reflection Pieces
Lisa Martinelli TEP Reflection #1: ‘Theories of Beauty’ (Professor Wendy O’Brien)
As I sat listening to Professor Wendy O’Brien I was surprised when she started throwing candy at students who correctly answered questions about the last class. This is a teaching method that I had not encountered before (with human beings!) and though I was a little suspicious at first, after talking to some students, I realized that this is just one of the many methods this master educator uses to maintain their attention and concentration when discussing profound concepts such as the ‘Theories of Beauty’ at eight o’clock on a Friday morning. While talking to the student in the seat next to me she volunteered that “Students find her weird, highly entertaining and a bit crazy but in a good way. I don’t think I can remember ever enjoying myself in a classroom while learning so much at the same time.” When you are passionate about your subject and also able to entertain the class, then it obviously doesn’t take much to have the class eating out of your hand! When I first entered the class it was obvious that she was intentionally creating a mood. There was music in the air (U2’s “It’s a Beautiful Day”) She continuously greeted and engaged the students in casual conversation to see how everyone was feeling (many times on a first name basis) and immediately encouraged the students to participate in an activity that would later become a part of the lecture (using sticky notes and blackboard graphs). This all occurred before the formal lecture itself had commenced. It is interesting to note that Wendy did not think the class had properly absorbed the material during the previous week’s lecture. She even commented that her teaching had not been up to her normal standards. It seemed like she was pulling out all the educational stops so this class would understand and internalize the concept of beauty and how to think about it. She provoked dialogue and debate by asking questions about the topic from many different vantage points all the while trying to and succeeding at getting everyone to think critically about beauty. Her use of power point was very effective. There was enough information on screen for the students to take appropriate notes and check spelling but mostly she talked off the top of her head (without ever reading the power point off the screen) using personal anecdotes and other devices to engage the students. She told a personal story about one of her students (from the Ontario College of Art) who was offered an enormous sum of money for a finished work of art but did not want to sell it because he felt it was not perfect. This resonated with me because I have tendency to want to present the perfect lecture and sometimes miss the teaching moments that may present themselves seemingly out of the blue. I learned that you have to let the beauty or message emerge from the finished work but also be ready to embrace any new ideas or conclusions during the process as well. I can see in Wendy’s approach a flexibility and a connection with the students that allows her to adjust her approach and change her course if the message is not reaching the intended targets. I was really surprised at how relevant she made the subject material of the lecture to me even though I was not a student in the class. I felt compelled during the class to invest my time and energy by really listening to and internalizing the information and the ways of thinking that she was revealing to us. It’s a subject that I had never studied before but I felt at the end of the class that her style of teaching changed me from a detached observer into an interested participant. There is much to emulate in her approach but first I think I will start by finishing one of the small chocolate bars that another student next to me decided to share.
Lisa Martinelli TEP Reflection #2: Music History of Contemporary Music and Culture II (Professor Brad Klump)
On March 27th I made my way to Humber College’s L Building (slightly off campus) to see Brad Klump’s History of Contemporary Music class. This building is brand new and many of the classrooms even have desks that are equipped to power the latest technological devices. I entered with a throng of first year students (laptops in tow) to take in a lecture style presentation on Jazz music of the 1960’s.
Brad was standing by the podium at the front waiting for people to take their seats. He had the attendance sheet visible on the PowerPoint screen behind him. Once he gently corralled the stragglers into position he reminded them that time was of the essence if they were to be prepared for the upcoming final test. Brad then proceeded to call out each students’ name and check them off onscreen for all to see. This was a little unorthodox but ultimately it seemed to be a pretty effective way of motivating students to be prompt and ready for the lecture to begin.
Brad is known for his PowerPoint skills so I was curious to witness the structure of one of his classes. He started with a traditional lecture format but it soon became very conversational. He introduced saxophonist John Coltrane by talking about his background, his instrument and the tunes he popularized. Though his PowerPoint notes were concise and detailed, Brad talked off script making eye contact with as any people as he could. Occasionally he would write a single word on the screen that was obviously important for the students to remember. Words like Giant Steps, Moments Notice and Spirituality were also jumping off points for questions and dialogue. One student mentioned that there was a Church dedicated to John Coltrane that used his music for all of their services. This provoked a short tangential discussion on music and spirituality that Brad was able to moderate before steering things back to the next topic on the screen.
After grabbing their attention and engaging them in conversation, Brad felt it was time to play some music. He chose two iconic jazz albums recorded in 1959 that both featured the saxophone playing of jazz master John Coltrane. Miles Davis’ ‘So What’ and Trane’s own ‘Giant Steps’ are two completely different musical settings that were equally fascinating contexts in which to study Trane’s original approach to improvising. He noted that these were two of the most important recordings in modern Jazz and that they should be studied as soon as possible to begin to understand the nature of innovation and creativity in Jazz. With such evocative music demonstrating his points it did not take much prodding to elicit a wide range of observations and comments from his invested audience.
Feeling that he had the crowd were he wanted them, Brad delved into more musical detail that was easy enough to follow but challenging to the hard-core musicians present. He broke down Coltrane’s harmonically complex composition ‘Giant Steps’ and his approach to improvising over the changes on the saxophone. We learned about and were able to follow along as Trane used various digital patterns to help construct his solos and experimented with harmonies or chord changes that moved around uniquely by intervals of a major third. To clarify and support this he played an old standard tune called ‘Have you met Miss Jones’ from which Trane had actually borrowed some of the chords and the idea for this particular chord movement. This was further supported by a cool graph on the screen that was a visual representation of the harmonic structures and paths the chords were taking.
I got the feeling that Brad was trying to approach his subject matter from as many sides a possible impressing upon the students the importance in jazz history of this one figure but also giving them the chance to latch on to many different bits of information. So, it came as no surprise when he went off script again to share a story about the recording of the tune ‘Giant Steps’ that many of the students did not seem to be aware of. In light of the brief but intense theoretical discussion we just had, a little aside about the piano player named Tommy Flannagan and his struggles in the studio to play Trane’s music helped to draw us in once again as he gave us an inside view as to how the music was recorded. Apparently the Flanagan had never seen the music (that Trane had been practicing and developing for 8 hours a day) and he had to sight read and improvise on the tune ‘Giant Steps’ in one take. That piano solo was not at all at the same level of mastery as Coltrane’s work on the same tune and it became an infamous moment in jazz history. Flanagan ended up re-recording the tune with his own group many years later when he had a chance to do the necessary homework and aptly demonstrate his prowess by mastering this iconic tune.
Next brad played a little game of drop the needle where the students would be asked to identify, from brief excerpts of music, who was playing the saxophone. He intimated that the students could expect to see a similar method of testing on the final exam. After first familiarizing the class with another iconic jazz saxophonist named Sonny Rollins, he then played a short segment of a sax solo and asked the students to deduce from what they had learned which sax player it was.
After that we listened to and talked about the classic Coltrane band that included pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Jimmy Garrison. These musicians played on the seminal album called ‘A Love Supreme’ that Brad explained was his most popular work. It is a hypnotic piece over 30 minutes in length that harkened back to the discussion on spirituality. The message of Love in the sung text and the power of his playing had a definite effect on the students and on me. (I was flooded with memories of when I studied and listened to this work as a student at Humber over 20 years ago!)
Not content to just talk about Trane, Brad backed up his comments on the screen by showing us an important Downbeat Magazine article that explained how he affected musicians and non musicians alike. Then he followed this with a short black and white video of Coltrane playing live on a TV show in the States. It was amazing to finally get to see Coltrane making the music and interacting with his band mates and audience.
Brad then said to the students that he sensed he might have lost a few people so he decided to switch abruptly to another iconic jazz artist who had his own unique style. We spent the next ten minutes or so being introduced to the gorgeous contemporary sounds of pianist Bill Evans. It was a fresh change for the ears but still an appropriate choice (Evans played on Miles’ So What recording with Coltrane)
Overall, I appreciated Brad’s approach and content. He was able to clearly present the students with a detailed introduction to some key jazz figures, while effectively using various aids like music, video and audience interaction to keep them engaged and interested for the two hour session. I felt like I was an active participant in the discussion taking place in his classroom. I got the sense that there was no way someone could not get involved with his subject matter because of the wide array of options he used to make his topic accessible. He personalized it with his casual storytelling approach and took a some times dry subject like history and made it come alive.
What I took away from all of the exemplary teachers I observed….
Lisa Martinelli TEP Reflection #1: ‘Theories of Beauty’ (Professor Wendy O’Brien)
As I sat listening to Professor Wendy O’Brien I was surprised when she started throwing candy at students who correctly answered questions about the last class. This is a teaching method that I had not encountered before (with human beings!) and though I was a little suspicious at first, after talking to some students, I realized that this is just one of the many methods this master educator uses to maintain their attention and concentration when discussing profound concepts such as the ‘Theories of Beauty’ at eight o’clock on a Friday morning. While talking to the student in the seat next to me she volunteered that “Students find her weird, highly entertaining and a bit crazy but in a good way. I don’t think I can remember ever enjoying myself in a classroom while learning so much at the same time.” When you are passionate about your subject and also able to entertain the class, then it obviously doesn’t take much to have the class eating out of your hand! When I first entered the class it was obvious that she was intentionally creating a mood. There was music in the air (U2’s “It’s a Beautiful Day”) She continuously greeted and engaged the students in casual conversation to see how everyone was feeling (many times on a first name basis) and immediately encouraged the students to participate in an activity that would later become a part of the lecture (using sticky notes and blackboard graphs). This all occurred before the formal lecture itself had commenced. It is interesting to note that Wendy did not think the class had properly absorbed the material during the previous week’s lecture. She even commented that her teaching had not been up to her normal standards. It seemed like she was pulling out all the educational stops so this class would understand and internalize the concept of beauty and how to think about it. She provoked dialogue and debate by asking questions about the topic from many different vantage points all the while trying to and succeeding at getting everyone to think critically about beauty. Her use of power point was very effective. There was enough information on screen for the students to take appropriate notes and check spelling but mostly she talked off the top of her head (without ever reading the power point off the screen) using personal anecdotes and other devices to engage the students. She told a personal story about one of her students (from the Ontario College of Art) who was offered an enormous sum of money for a finished work of art but did not want to sell it because he felt it was not perfect. This resonated with me because I have tendency to want to present the perfect lecture and sometimes miss the teaching moments that may present themselves seemingly out of the blue. I learned that you have to let the beauty or message emerge from the finished work but also be ready to embrace any new ideas or conclusions during the process as well. I can see in Wendy’s approach a flexibility and a connection with the students that allows her to adjust her approach and change her course if the message is not reaching the intended targets. I was really surprised at how relevant she made the subject material of the lecture to me even though I was not a student in the class. I felt compelled during the class to invest my time and energy by really listening to and internalizing the information and the ways of thinking that she was revealing to us. It’s a subject that I had never studied before but I felt at the end of the class that her style of teaching changed me from a detached observer into an interested participant. There is much to emulate in her approach but first I think I will start by finishing one of the small chocolate bars that another student next to me decided to share.
Lisa Martinelli TEP Reflection #2: Music History of Contemporary Music and Culture II (Professor Brad Klump)
On March 27th I made my way to Humber College’s L Building (slightly off campus) to see Brad Klump’s History of Contemporary Music class. This building is brand new and many of the classrooms even have desks that are equipped to power the latest technological devices. I entered with a throng of first year students (laptops in tow) to take in a lecture style presentation on Jazz music of the 1960’s.
Brad was standing by the podium at the front waiting for people to take their seats. He had the attendance sheet visible on the PowerPoint screen behind him. Once he gently corralled the stragglers into position he reminded them that time was of the essence if they were to be prepared for the upcoming final test. Brad then proceeded to call out each students’ name and check them off onscreen for all to see. This was a little unorthodox but ultimately it seemed to be a pretty effective way of motivating students to be prompt and ready for the lecture to begin.
Brad is known for his PowerPoint skills so I was curious to witness the structure of one of his classes. He started with a traditional lecture format but it soon became very conversational. He introduced saxophonist John Coltrane by talking about his background, his instrument and the tunes he popularized. Though his PowerPoint notes were concise and detailed, Brad talked off script making eye contact with as any people as he could. Occasionally he would write a single word on the screen that was obviously important for the students to remember. Words like Giant Steps, Moments Notice and Spirituality were also jumping off points for questions and dialogue. One student mentioned that there was a Church dedicated to John Coltrane that used his music for all of their services. This provoked a short tangential discussion on music and spirituality that Brad was able to moderate before steering things back to the next topic on the screen.
After grabbing their attention and engaging them in conversation, Brad felt it was time to play some music. He chose two iconic jazz albums recorded in 1959 that both featured the saxophone playing of jazz master John Coltrane. Miles Davis’ ‘So What’ and Trane’s own ‘Giant Steps’ are two completely different musical settings that were equally fascinating contexts in which to study Trane’s original approach to improvising. He noted that these were two of the most important recordings in modern Jazz and that they should be studied as soon as possible to begin to understand the nature of innovation and creativity in Jazz. With such evocative music demonstrating his points it did not take much prodding to elicit a wide range of observations and comments from his invested audience.
Feeling that he had the crowd were he wanted them, Brad delved into more musical detail that was easy enough to follow but challenging to the hard-core musicians present. He broke down Coltrane’s harmonically complex composition ‘Giant Steps’ and his approach to improvising over the changes on the saxophone. We learned about and were able to follow along as Trane used various digital patterns to help construct his solos and experimented with harmonies or chord changes that moved around uniquely by intervals of a major third. To clarify and support this he played an old standard tune called ‘Have you met Miss Jones’ from which Trane had actually borrowed some of the chords and the idea for this particular chord movement. This was further supported by a cool graph on the screen that was a visual representation of the harmonic structures and paths the chords were taking.
I got the feeling that Brad was trying to approach his subject matter from as many sides a possible impressing upon the students the importance in jazz history of this one figure but also giving them the chance to latch on to many different bits of information. So, it came as no surprise when he went off script again to share a story about the recording of the tune ‘Giant Steps’ that many of the students did not seem to be aware of. In light of the brief but intense theoretical discussion we just had, a little aside about the piano player named Tommy Flannagan and his struggles in the studio to play Trane’s music helped to draw us in once again as he gave us an inside view as to how the music was recorded. Apparently the Flanagan had never seen the music (that Trane had been practicing and developing for 8 hours a day) and he had to sight read and improvise on the tune ‘Giant Steps’ in one take. That piano solo was not at all at the same level of mastery as Coltrane’s work on the same tune and it became an infamous moment in jazz history. Flanagan ended up re-recording the tune with his own group many years later when he had a chance to do the necessary homework and aptly demonstrate his prowess by mastering this iconic tune.
Next brad played a little game of drop the needle where the students would be asked to identify, from brief excerpts of music, who was playing the saxophone. He intimated that the students could expect to see a similar method of testing on the final exam. After first familiarizing the class with another iconic jazz saxophonist named Sonny Rollins, he then played a short segment of a sax solo and asked the students to deduce from what they had learned which sax player it was.
After that we listened to and talked about the classic Coltrane band that included pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Jimmy Garrison. These musicians played on the seminal album called ‘A Love Supreme’ that Brad explained was his most popular work. It is a hypnotic piece over 30 minutes in length that harkened back to the discussion on spirituality. The message of Love in the sung text and the power of his playing had a definite effect on the students and on me. (I was flooded with memories of when I studied and listened to this work as a student at Humber over 20 years ago!)
Not content to just talk about Trane, Brad backed up his comments on the screen by showing us an important Downbeat Magazine article that explained how he affected musicians and non musicians alike. Then he followed this with a short black and white video of Coltrane playing live on a TV show in the States. It was amazing to finally get to see Coltrane making the music and interacting with his band mates and audience.
Brad then said to the students that he sensed he might have lost a few people so he decided to switch abruptly to another iconic jazz artist who had his own unique style. We spent the next ten minutes or so being introduced to the gorgeous contemporary sounds of pianist Bill Evans. It was a fresh change for the ears but still an appropriate choice (Evans played on Miles’ So What recording with Coltrane)
Overall, I appreciated Brad’s approach and content. He was able to clearly present the students with a detailed introduction to some key jazz figures, while effectively using various aids like music, video and audience interaction to keep them engaged and interested for the two hour session. I felt like I was an active participant in the discussion taking place in his classroom. I got the sense that there was no way someone could not get involved with his subject matter because of the wide array of options he used to make his topic accessible. He personalized it with his casual storytelling approach and took a some times dry subject like history and made it come alive.
What I took away from all of the exemplary teachers I observed….
- Make a connection with students
- Beginning of class – Debrief – make sure students know the previous content before moving on to another topic. Encourage your students to speak up if they don’t understand.
- Power point can be very useful
- Always encourage students with the appropriate feedback (giving chocolate works, I’ve tried it : )
- Being passionate about subject matter – always giving concrete examples when you can. Tell personal stories.
- Give them a break if it’s a long class
- Ask poignant questions i.e “if art is indicative of mental illness, should it be cured?” Provide resources when you can.
- Get them being active at some point in the class.
- Humour is good.