Hello everyone!

Hello everyone!

BIOGRAPHY 

I am currently attending the National University Rancho Cordova campus and live in Sacramento, CA. I am in the process of getting my single-subject credentials in Music and Social Science. I graduated from UC Davis as a Music major.

I have been substitute teaching for the past three years and I am ready to become a "real" teacher! My dream is to teach both Music and Social Science, but I will be starting an internship in either of these subjects this Fall. Currently, I am a subbing in the San Juan Unified School District.

My hobbies are baseball, softball, making music, and playing in my rock band Chronic Vitality. My mother is a 3rd grade teacher, my father is a lawyer, and my brother is finishing up his final year at UC Davis as a Business major.

PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE

My personality definitely affects what subjects I am interested in. It caters to my desire to become a music teacher. Music is in interesting subject because it is so abstract. The nest musicians play their instruments with "feel." This is something that is hard to explain and learn. In music, you can know every little detail about music theory, but still be a terrible musician. You have to be able to master both the factual/math part of music and the abstract/feel of music to be a good musician. This is difficult to do.

Im introverted so I like thinking through a few things at a time on my own. I prefer to think before I act, which comes in handy with music. I also am intuitive, feeling, and perceptive. I am not extreme in any of my traits, so that leaves me to be open-minded and flexible in different situations. I believe this will help me understand my students and relate to their different ways of learning. Being close to the middle in a lot of my traits allows me to connect with more people, something that will come in hand as a teacher.

LEARNING STYLES

Similar to personality, my preferred learning styles are pretty center. The results of the NC State university questionnaire show that I am fairly well balanced in all four dimensions. My learning styles are Acting, Sensing, Visual, and Global. However, I only lean slightly in each direction. This means, as a teacher, I should be able to effectively differentiate instruction for my students. I should be able to provide instruction that helps ALL students learn, not just students of a certain learning style. Of course, I will never be perfect; but hopefully I can help all students succeed in music.

Thanks,
Michael Mann