Mr. David Short partners with Trinity University
More stories from Alexandra Villanueva
Photo By: Alexandra Villanueva
Mr. David Short works with Cantante, the highest level of choir at Judson. Short is also the department head for fine arts.
During the spring of 2019, Judson choir director Mr. David Short will be working with Trinity University and their student teacher program. He plans to create a podcast on the lives of graduate students and the start of their teaching careers.
“I had an idea – people who are brand new to teaching go through a year of highs and lows, successes and failures. Usually, that’s hidden away pretty well. There’s not a documentary that follows first-year teachers,” Short said.
According to Short, there are no podcasts specifically about the lives of the teachers outside the forty minutes they are in front of a class. He hopes to share the things that happen before having a full-time job teaching, such as the time they take as apprentices.
“I’m going to be following four graduate students at Trinity University, who are getting their masters degree in teaching,” Short said.
The university happily accepted Short’s request to follow their program. He will be attending some of their teacher education classes and follow some of the individual students throughout the year.
“They really liked that idea. They had been looking for a way to promote their program, so they sort of said ‘when can you start?’” Short said.
When in college, studying for a teaching degree, students go through a year of classes as well as working in different level schools, to practice time in the classroom.
“In the choir world, they would start out leading warm-ups and then by the third or fourth week we’ll let them rehearse with the choir,” Short said.
As a graduate from the program himself, Short is excited to go back to his alma mater and help incoming teachers succeed. But one thing he must try to do is stick to the facts.
“It will be hard for me to not give them advice. But as a good documentarian, I should probably just be a journalist,” Short said
Each episode will feature either an individual student or a topic that will include them all. However, the podcast will not be completed until the fall of 2020, due to the timeline and the editing after.