Excellence in Teaching

This page documents my teaching at SMU since 2006. The left pane lists every course by number, along with student comments for that course, syllabi, sample assignments, sample course handouts, and so on. Unless otherwise noted, I created all handouts, worksheets, tests, etc. myself using Finale, Sibelius, Word, Pages, Acrobat, and Preview. Please note that some of the student evaluations are scanned at a lower quality to maintain reasonable file sizes.

Four core principles guide everything I do as I teach.

1. Respect

Mutual respect is the foundation of any good relationship, and classroom teaching is ultimately about relationships. I absolutely do not tolerate one student speaking negatively about another. I strive to maintain a positive atmosphere at all times and urge students to do the same.

2. Humility

To truly respect my students, I must be willing to learn from them with humility when appropriate. This is especially true regarding subjects involving their particular expertise and outside the scope of the course at hand. I must also be willing to admit when I have made a mistake in grading or scheduling and provide an appropriate remedy. If students are still confused after my lecture, I must be willing to admit that it may be my fault, not theirs, and that I must find a different way to share the material. When I model humility while simultaneously demonstrating my grasp of the material, students are encouraged to approach their own learning with a collaborative, humble attitude.

3. Curiosity

By respecting my students and broadening the scope of our discussion to allow them meaningful contributions, I habituate curiosity into the classroom environment. I begin each class with a Word of the Day taken from the Merriam-Webster website. These words are rarely related directly to music, but they encourage students to enter a curious and teachable frame of mind. Approached this way, each lecture topic becomes an adventure for teacher and students alike.

4. Ambition

Driven by curiosity, with a humble and teachable attitude, in an environment where they know they are valued and respected, students are then (and only then) ready to tackle ambitious goals. I have high expectations, and generally my students rise to meet those expectations. My goal is for every course to include an appropriate yet ambitious student project. These projects provide a tangible goal, allow students to demonstrate their progress before their peers, and relate music theory course content to "real" music. In fact, student projects often supply some of my most rewarding experiences as a teacher:

• First-semester freshmen compose short pieces in chorale style.
• Second-semester freshmen do an in-depth analysis of a short tonal piece.
• First-semester sophomores find examples of chromatic harmonies in their performance literature, then present them to the class. These examples then become one component of the analysis section on the final exam.
• Second-semester sophomores compose a work using contemporary music techniques, then perform it for the class.
• Upper-division students and graduate students write papers or do presentations relating music theory to their performance instrument or discipline.

Greeting a student who is deeply confused and leaving her or him confident a few minutes later is a wonderful experience. My passion as a teacher is to seek out those "Aha!" moments. I hope the materials on this page will prove useful as you consider my teaching qualifications, and I thank you again for your consideration.

Mark Feezell, Ph.D.