Patricia A. Dixon

Teaching Portfolio

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

TEACHING RESPONSIBILITIES

I am a Senior Lecturer with a three quarter time appointment. My responsibilities include teaching classical guitar in the studio and in chamber settings, and teaching other courses when the need is there. I have taught the following courses since my appointment at Wake Forest:

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY AND OBJECTIVES

My teaching philosophy regarding applied music instruction focuses on developing a solid technique, good reading skills and musical interpretation. I try to focus on aspects of music making that encourage interdisciplinary and cross-cultural collaborations, to best fit the environment at a liberal arts university. My approach is to be flexible, ingenious, and versatile, to meet the needs of students who want to pursue a career in music, and those who do not.

My principal objective as a teacher is to teach students how to become their own best teachers. To instill in them a sense of wonder and curiosity that will carry on forever.

COURSE DOCUMENTATION, PROJECTS AND ASSIGNMENTS

The most difficult task in Applied Music teaching is documenting what we do with each student in the course of a semester. Music teaching is an art that deals with many variables. These variables make evaluations of students very hard. My approach is to treat each student as an individual.  I set specific goals determined by me and the student at the beginning of each semester and assignments are tapered to the student needs.

In other courses I favor collaborative projects that include the uses of technology, like student-authored publications that build on knowledge beyond the classroom. I develop an interplay between process and product, collaborative inquiry and networking, built on ideas of cycles or products and process rathen than the linear line of traditional scholarship.

To view a presentation for classroom use on the music of Chile click on the icon.
 

STUDENT EVALUATIONS

In my opinion student evaluations play a very important role in evaluating my performance as a teacher. Since I teach students on a one-to-one basis or in small classes, no more than five at one time, I have only included comments students have made of my teaching, rather than statistical data.

EFFORTS TO IMPROVE MY TEACHING

I believe that the mark of a good teacher is that he/she never ceases to be a student. In Applied Music, the traditions of the art are passed by working closely with artists in the field and by observing how others teach. With time we develop a personal style to meet the needs of our students.

I have worked with internationally acclaimed artists in my field and frequently bring visiting artists to work with my students. I am involved in the Cincinnati Classical Guitar Workshop headed by Clare Callahan at UC, where I have a chance to perform with other colleagues and work with studetns of all ages, pluse present topics I have developed over the years.

The information technology area facinates me and I am constantly developing multimedia presentations on a variety of topics. I am presently working on developing lectures for teaching Guitar Histoy and Literature, covering music from the Rennaisance to the present. The site is password protected until the end of June 2006. Collaborators include colleages from other universities and students. I am presently teaching the course at the North Carolina School of the Arts, my alma matter.

I also belong to the following professional organizations and attend conferences when offered: The Guitar Foundation of America, The American String Teachers Association and The American Association of University Professors.

PRESENTATIONS
I am available for concerts, master classes, workshops in guitar and lecture/presentations.  My areas of expertise are Latin American Music, Music of Protest in the Americas, Latin American guitar repertoire, folk and classical, and interdisciplinary programs.
I use multi-media technology to present topics of interest, and compliment my lectures with performances of classical and folk music from the guitar repertoire.
To find out more please look at resume

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