This week I had the pleasure of coming full circle. I had a “debriefing” with one of my former students, Dr. Elizabeth Lepock, with whom I co-taught the new course “Pedagogy and Integrated Wellness” this past fall. The course was one I designed with input from several colleagues, and was ultimately created with lots of advice from Dr. Kevin Swinden, one of the academic wizards in our Faculty of Music at Laurier. But it was Liz who truly brought this course to life, putting the flesh on the carefully crafted (but broadly sketched) bones of my imagination.
Liz and I had met over the summer to discuss what my vision was for the course, and how I imagined its flourishing. Liz would not have HAD to do this, of course–it was a courtesy on her part to come to the person whose brainchild it was, and ask what my hopes for it were. [Just for info: it was an amalgamation of previous music pedagogy courses that had existed in separate silos, newly imagined for ALL musicians, and with the addition of lots of material about teaching and pedagogical thought in general, so that all musicians, regardless of instrument, could be in the same room, learning together for most of the course]
This was a dream of mine for some time, to incorporate the Body Mapping ® training that I had completed and been practicing since 2015 as part of music pedagogy education, as well as adding important information about trauma-informed practices, andragogy, mental health and self-care for the music teacher and more. But it was Liz’s fresh lens that really brought this new course into the 21st century, by adding work on “mindset”, embedding principles of “ungrading” and authentic assessment, and a holistic approach to the delivery of the class. We worked closely together on designing assignments, encouraging and coaching one another in our lectures and assisting in grading and assessments. Liz was a constant (and vital) companion in this work, successfully cheerleading me through some of the rough spots and reminding me it was new and there were bound to be bumps. She effectively became a “guide on the side” in the new teaching paradigm that I have embraced in my studio teaching for some time now, but had never exercised in a truly academic course.
I am immensely grateful to her, not only for her support of my work in teaching my fledgling academic course, but for realizing my vision in such a beautiful way. As we spoke on Monday, I was struck by how much she reminded me of my strengths, encouraged and championed my work, and made me feel valued and validated in the very same way I try to do each and every day with my own students. In short: Liz has become the kind of teacher and colleague that I modelled for her. Full circle. Full heart.