International Teaching

In class today, we had Skype conversations with Luther grads who are currently teaching abroad.  My group talked with a middle school/high school band teacher in Korea. Today's conversation renewed my interest in teaching abroad for the following reasons:

1 - Most international schools don't have to follow the rules put in place by NCLB.  I understand that having a standardized assessment is one of the only ways to test competency across a large number of students, but I don't agree with how it is affecting our schools in the US.  Not having to deal with NCLB in the international setting creates more freedom and room for creativity from the teachers.  Creativity is important to me and my educational philosophy.  If my students aren't going to be pulled out of music class to take tests, then I'll have the time to be creative.

2 - Music is more important to international schools than to regular US schools.  *I use this as a general statement; there will be acceptions to this.  Music is often viewed as an extra-curricular subject at schools in the US, and music teachers constantly have to defend their program to other teachers, students, administrators and parents.  I already deal with this issue at Luther, as some students don't think that music should be a major (but I won't get into that now).  At international schools, music seems to be one of the core subjects.  I would rather put my energy into teaching my students than defending the music program.

After spending the month of January doing student teaching/observation at the American International School in Vienna, Austria, I decided that I will teach internationally.  It was something that I was interested in doing since I was in high school, and that experience solidified my decision.  I loved the atmosphere of the school, and again, not all international schools will have the same atmosphere, but I feel like I would be crazy not to take the opportunity given to me to teach internationally.  I was lucky enough to choose a career which can be easily transferable to different countries, so I am going to take that perk and run with it as far as my bank account (and parents) will let me.