Last week I posted an overview of the MTNA certification process, now it’s time to get down to the details. Project No. 1 is “Write Your Teaching Philosophy.” You probably already have some sort of teaching philosophy written out. Maybe you wrote one for a pedagogy course, or you may have an informal teaching philosophy in your studio promotional materials somewhere. Teaching philosophies can come in many forms, styles, and lengths, but MTNA has some specifics about how they want yours to look. It should be a maximum of 600 words and include a statement of your educational goals along with a statement of at least one of the topics provided by MTNA (including things such as development of healthy technique, how to teach various learning styles, preferred ages and levels of students, and more).
This is the place where you can show off your personality. Share about why you teach piano and what you love about teaching piano. It’s a good idea to state clearly “My educational goals for my students include…” and to also have paragraph headings for the parts that address the topics provided. This makes it clear to the evaluators that you have touched on all of the requirements.
So, that’s it! This is a good project to start with because it’s not too daunting, just tell them about what you teach and why.
Author: Spring
Spring Seals, NCTM, teaches 60 piano students ranging from age 3 to 70 in Fort Worth, Texas. She also serves as the Director of Certification for TMTA. She is passionate about helping teachers become more effective in their studios through professional development, new resources, and fresh ideas.