Randy Wong: Education Overview

I have always been intrigued about what makes teaching and learning “grab” and engage an individual. For me, this feeling came very early on; from a childhood experience with Mongolian yurts, to my advanced musical studies, my experiences with teaching and learning have been memorable and intense. As a high school student, I desired to take difficult classes, even when I knew that my final grade wouldn’t reflect what I had actually learned that semester. So when bass playing became my passion, and classes and homework seemed to create an insurmountable challenge, I was faced with a dilemma: How could I use my performance artistry to enhance my learning in the classroom?

My first venture into the investigation of learning processes came as part of a class I was taking at New England Conservatory (where I earned a Bachelor's of Music degree in Classical Double Bass Performance), taught by Dr. Larry Scripp. The class, an introductory course for NEC’s Music-In-Education program, opened my eyes to the importance of three concepts: process-based learning; Learning Through Music, a music-oriented approach to teaching using hands-on, interactive methods; and, most importantly, the notion of the conservatory student as an evolving Artist-Teacher-Scholar (A-T-S).

Although I am hardly a stranger to process-based or interactive learning methods, the way in which NEC’s Music-In-Education program framed these concepts helped me to bring more focus to my own efforts in teaching, learning, researching, and performing. Over the course of the past two years, I participated in several opportunities to implement my ideas in schools, both public and private, domestic and abroad.

In Spring 2004, I earned my Master's of Education (Ed.M) degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, after a year of intensive study as a student in the Arts In Education program. My reasons for enrolling in this unique program were many: I was looking to enhance my knowledge and understanding of the theoretical frameworks on which my own experiences with teaching and learning are rooted (i.e., NEC's Learning Through Music is derivative of research done by Harvard Project Zero's Arts PROPEL and Teaching For Understanding teams); I wanted to connect with other like-minded educators whom were interested in the notion that learning is best accomplished through teaching methods that are constructivist and progressive in nature; and I was curious to study various national approaches to arts education.

While at Harvard, I indeed had the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds in education today. My favorite classes were the ones with Dr. Jessica Hoffmann Davis (Project Zero), Dr. Steve Seidel (Project Zero), Dr. Gil Noam (Project PAER and RALLY), and Dr. Chris Dede (Technology In Education guru), though I did learn a lot from all my teachers. I also had the good fortune to have Dr. Howard Gardner (yes, THE Howard Gardner), and took a class taught by him and Dr. Kurt Fischer, titled "Cognitive Development, Education, and The Brain."

All original compositions © by their respective owners.

To contact me (Randy Wong), e-mail me directly.