Betty Starobinsky

I have a unique outlook on my experience at Queens College. As a student who

graduated from the Queens College Undergraduate program, I felt comfortable and
confident in my decision to continue my studies at Aaron Copland School of Music. I
was impressed with the type of education I was able to receive as an Undergraduate,
and looked forward to learn more on the Graduate level.

The classes on the Graduate level were definitely more tedious. I remember
taking 18-21 credits a semester in my Undergraduate career, and as a Graduate I could
barely handle 6 credits a semester. Of course, part of it is that now I was studying in
addition to a teaching position. But that is not all the classes are more involved. My
teachers expect more from their students because this is a graduate course. There is
more reading and writing involved, and doing minimal work is not an option. Had this
been part of my Undergraduate experience, perhaps I would have been discouraged.
However, now that I am in a teaching position, it feels more meaningful.

It is helpful knowing that my teachers are there to support me and become a

resource for me. I remember discussing my terrible teaching situation with Dr. Sang, Dr.
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Smith and Dr. Babb. All three faculty members were unanimous when it came to the
decision that I needed to look for employment in another school. Although nothing was
open at the time, it was important for me to know that the way things were being run in
my old school was unfair. It made my decision to leave very easy.

When it comes to my general education development, I was not entirely

impressed. I feel that the level inside Aaron Copland School of Music cannot be
compared with the classes that you take outside of the school building. Although there is
no disagreement that the teachers that facilitate the classes in the Education
Department are smart people, there always seems to be things that are lacking.
Probably the most frustrating thing about taking the General Education classes is that
they are not geared to the types of classrooms we are teaching in.

I feel that my teaching has improved when it comes to conducting. Although I

dont necessarily feel that I may have become a better conductor, I do feel more
comfortable getting up in front of a group and conducting. I have seen Dr. Babb conduct
before and felt that she was a great conductor. To me, it was very exciting that she
would be teaching the course because I felt that she was very knowledgable. At the

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time, I took it with a general music / choral outlook. Now that I am teaching band, part of
me wishes that I could take the class again.

Lucky for me, I was able to take a Summer composition course with Dr. Smith
this summer. She is great at what she does. I have a soft spot for her classes, especially
since she has seen me and helped me grow into the educator that I have become.
Although some of the activities were similar to the Undergraduate Seminar class I took,
the experience was completely different because the students were different. Their
knowledge and musicianship brought something completely different to the table, which
made the class a lot more enjoyable. I feel that I do a great job of incorporating
composition in my classroom. In fact, last year I submitted a proposal to my principal
asking if I could start a composition class to help develop language with the English
Language Learners in my school.

When it comes to things that were missing from my experience at Queens

College, there isnt much that I can bring up. The only thing that I feel that I missed, was
a Music Education Technology course. I would have loved to learn about a Smartboard
and how to use it effectively in the classroom. It would have been beneficial to have a
course on Sibelius or Finale to learn how to make modifications to existing scores.
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Using programs such as Audacity would have helped when I needed to change the key
of a song or extract the vocal line. However, those were the little things that I learned as
part of the process of becoming a teacher.

I am very fortunate to have such a great experience at Queens College. I was

blessed to have caring teachers, who are very good at what they do. Much has changed
since I have been a full time student at Queens College, however I am confident that
things have only gotten better since I left. I am confident that when I plan to continue my
education, that Ill be back. Thanks for all that youve done, and see you soon.

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