10 Steps When Writing a Philosophy Statement

My AMAZING sister has been nominated as Teacher of the Year for her school.

This fact simultaneously thrills and petrifies her. She hates public recognition and would be perfectly happy if other people never acknowledged her hard work and phenomenal success working with kids. She doesn't like the rigamarole of interviews, essays, and smiling when people are talking about how wonderful she is. She doesn't really think that what she does is all that wonderful - it's just the way teachers should teach.

She is an amazing teacher. She works with seven to eight year olds who love her. She has a reputation for being tough but fair. She also can take a child who is labelled as "behavior problem" and find the way that child needs to be nurtured, spoken to, and taught. Amazingly, those "behavior problems" become children in her classroom, and often for the first time in their educational careers. Kids learn in her classroom. She can differentiate her instruction to accommodate individual differences and learning styles, and she does this without even thinking about it! She is the consummate teacher.

I was talking to her yesterday. She got her Teacher of the Year packet which included all of the essays that she has to write for this award. One asked her to describe her philosophy. Every time she does this, she freaks out a bit, but we started talking about what she believes about teaching.

Philosophy statements are often difficult to write, especially if you don't really think about your philosophy regularly. Here are some suggestions for how to write a philosophy statement. Begin with brainstorming around these topics:

• Start with how you found your profession. What made you decide to pursue your education in music therapy? This has to be more than just "I like working with people, and I love music." That's great, but not enough for a philosophy.
• Why do you bother? Why do you do the job that you do? Why do you spend time, money, and brain energy doing what you do?
• What experiences have you had as a music therapist that reinforce your beliefs about the importance of music in human life? What have been the most meaningful experiences for you as the therapist? For you as a music listener? For you as a musician?
• Who are the theoreticians who have influenced your music therapy ideas and practice? What did they teach you about music and about therapy?

Once you have started the process, it's time to start refining and organizing your thoughts. Some statements have length requirements - you have to prioritize what you want to say. Be concise, be cogent, and be spectacular.

Here are some more things to think about when you are refining your philosophy:

• Be personal. Many times we are required to write using third person references. That's not required in a philosophy statement (unless your professor requires it!). This is a statement of your beliefs. Own them. Use that first person tense. State "I believe that music is a valuable therapeutic modality because..."
• Support your ideas through your knowledge. Use all of those textbooks, lectures, papers, and research articles to defend and to help you define your ideas about music therapy.
• Use good grammar, syntax, and paper organization. Keep similar ideas together. If you are writing about your theoretical influences, finish off the paragraph with the same topic. Organize your thoughts.
• Read it out loud. Seriously. Read it out loud. When you hear what you are trying to say, you can find things that you may not see.
• Your philosophy is right for you. You cannot be wrong in the beliefs you hold. Your beliefs are yours.
• Your philosophy will change. Don't be surprised if you read a philosophy from an earlier time and find that you don't really believe anything from that statement any more. As we grow and develop as humans and therapists, our ideas change and grow.

Write those statements, folks! Challenge yourself to think about your philosophy of music therapy - or teaching - or working in your own profession.

By the way, my sister sent me her philosophy statement. It's very good. I'm so proud to be her sister!