Band Column

ter starting point from which to advocate. As Maslow created a Hierarchy of Needs, so too do we, as educators, need to establish a “Hierarchy of Advocacy.” This hierarchy can help guide us through the big issues of support and advocacy.

Where do we start? We start at the most important place of all: the classroom.

Accordingly, the foundation of this hierarchy is encouraging our students to believe in what they are doing—it is the teacher’s primary job in any classroom. Each rehearsal gives us the opportunity to make kids believe in themselves and feel successful. Highlight the good things that they do. We can use posters and notes on the board to congratulate them for their achievements. We need to praise students following their performances. When we have long class periods, we need to make sure that we have a good change of pace somewhere in the period. Many times I lose sight of the fact that my students still are kids. We need to always be ready to share a story, preview an upcoming event, do some listening, and, most importantly, share a laugh. The more successful our students feel, the stronger the groundwork is for advocacy. Once we feel that we are running healthy rehearsals in which students are engaged in quality music making, the next step of the hierarchy will come into view: parental and school support.

Developing support for our students from parents and our school administrators should be well on its way. If our students believe in themselves, they will let parents and friends know. There are many opportunities available to us to help further this advocacy. For example, we can use morning announcements to let the school know of our successes these successes can include evening perfor-mances, performances at festivals, honor band members, solo festival participants, and college scholarship recipients. We can put invitations to school performances in teacher and administrator mailboxes. We need to perform for our student body at least once a year. And, we need to let everyone in our school know what a great group of students we have. Our music students will develop pride in their organization. Our goal should be to make our program an integral part of the school and something the school is proud to be associated with. Once everyone under-stands our vital role in the school, we are in a much better position to advocate for what we need. We also gain the backing of proud parents and a supportive teaching staff.

The next level of this hierarchy is gaining the support of our community. By the time our program is well established in the school, many members of the community will already be aware of our successes. Our students and parents have spoken to friends and other family members. Gaining the support of such a large group can seem like a huge task. A good way to start is to post concert continued on page 20