Interview with Craig Hurley, January 27, 2018

Partial Transcript: My school is the catalog of school. It's a dream school. I love it!

Segment Synopsis: Hurley describes how comfortable and well supported he is at his school.

Keywords: Bartow County; Cobb County; Elementary; Hall County; Middle School; middle class; reputation; suburban

Partial Transcript: Well, I had to do music. I didn't know how that looked. I had to do music and I also liked to eat.

Segment Synopsis: Hurley describes the legacy of teachers in his family and how he had to figure out a way to fit music into the lifestyle he wanted. He also goes on to describe how his first day at work took him by surprise.

Keywords: First day

Partial Transcript: What you don't think of as a 19-20 year old college student is that teaching is just as much if not more about raising kids than teaching music

Segment Synopsis: Hurley describes the importance of investing wholesome time into the lives of students. He also describes how he would tell his younger self to be patient and don't be afraid to experiment.

Keywords: creating beautiful people; setting boundaries

Partial Transcript: At Shorter I felt extremely well qualified musically.

Segment Synopsis: Hurley discusses the ways he felt prepared for teaching but also explains that there is no way that a teaching program can fully prepare someone for teaching.

Partial Transcript: Because you get paid to have fun.

Segment Synopsis: Hurley describes how much he enjoys teaching even though he has to deal with challenges. He also explains how teachers may get the wrong idea about teaching if they base it on the perfect students that they worked with during their education program.

Partial Transcript: So my young artists performed last night at GMA. And its fresh on my mind but I am so proud of them.

Segment Synopsis: Hurley shares his most recent proud moment that he shares with his students. He also shares how he became involved in the Preparatory Choir.

Keywords: preparatory choir

Partial Transcript: Music, unfortunately, will most likely never have the same status as reading or science or math.

Segment Synopsis: Hurley discusses how the level of appreciation of music education differs between public school versus a private arts school.. He also discusses how people involved with the music program must remember their importance and how he has noticed the growing number of music teachers..

Keywords: hopeful; public schools

Partial Transcript: She snuck in the back closet. I had no idea this was happening. I was singing the song with the kids. It was like a call and response.

Segment Synopsis: Hurley describes how a student teacher decided to surprise him during class.He also explains that he has a checklist of activites that must be done for each class.

Keywords: Halloween; Skin and Bones song

Partial Transcript: Not away from music education. I've thought about different levels.

Segment Synopsis: Hurley discusses the many careers he has thought about moving into but decided he did not want to leave music education.

Partial Transcript: Well it's funny when students do imitations of you.

Segment Synopsis: Hurley discusses how he expects his students to say that he is fun but expects his students to work hard.

Keywords: Craigisms

Partial Transcript: She has taught me so much about teaching kids how to sing and the details of creating a beautiful performance.

Segment Synopsis: Hurley discusses how his mentor taught not only the technical skills but also the skills of connecting with others. He also discusses those he mentors from his student teachers that he successfully mentored to the students that he motivates through fun.

Partial Transcript: Well, thankfully my wife is also a music teacher so she gets it.

Segment Synopsis: Hurley discusses how he attempts to work hard at his job but never take his work home once he clocks out.

Keywords: church; family time; running

Partial Transcript: She got it like that. She really understands.

Segment Synopsis: Hurley discusses how a student helped him to realize that some students need to be challenged.