Reading for Dr. Hammel's Visit (Chapter 4 of Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs)3/9/2018
Hammel, A. M., & Hourigan, R. M. (2017). Chapter 4: A resourceful and pedagogical approach to teaching students with special needs. In "Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs: A Label-Free Approach" (2nd ed.) (pp. 63-100). New York: University Press. Discussion Questions 1. What are some of the most important strategies a music teacher can use to be part of the team at his or her school? (Discuss at least four.) Some of the most important strategies a music teacher can use to be part of the team at his or her school include: being aware of the students and their academic and behavioral needs in the music classroom, determining which students in music classes have special needs, speaking with and welcoming special education staff, and communicating with parents of students with disabilities. The first strategy, being aware, is important because once you are aware, you can create an environment that is inclusive to all your students and their different learning needs. It shows parents and other staff in the school that you care about each students’ needs and that music can play a beneficial role in supporting the student and their growth. Determining which students in music classes have special needs is also pertinent to a music teacher becoming part of the team at their school. When the music teacher does this, it demonstrates their interest in the student and allows them to have a starting point of discussion with other staff members because they will know the student’s IEP or 504 Plan. The music teacher will have strategies, accommodations, and adaptations in mind, but they can also ask for more specific help from staff who know the student much better. Welcoming the special education staff into the music classroom begins the relationship between you, the music teacher, and the SPED staff. They will have vital information about effective inclusion practices for a certain student and will be able to aid with that student in the classroom you are teaching. When the music teacher collects data and provides input in the student’s IEP or 504 Plan, they enhance the sense of teamwork and trust within the staff. Communicating with the parents of students with disabilities allows the music teacher to establish a better role with the team at their school. It shows commitment to creating a beneficial and inclusive environment for the student and demonstrates a listening and responsive ear because of the teacher’s connection with the parents. 2. What are the similarities and differences between and IEP and a 504 Plan? An IEP is an Individualized Education Program for a student with disabilities and contains items such as a statement of the child’s current academic achievement, measurable goal statements, benchmarks, progress, assessments, evaluations, transition services, and a stipulation. A 504 Plan is also for students who have disabilities, but the severity of it is not enough to warrant the services that come with an IEP; it includes adaptations so that students can receive equal access to educational opportunities. Some similarities between the two are that they both are for written in order to help students with disabilities. A difference is that the student with an IEP must have a disability that is included in IDEA, but a student with a 504 may have a disability that is included in IDEA but does not have to be. Another similarity is that these plans provide students with opportunities for them to have the same access of education as their peers without disabilities. However, an IEP is more extensive and includes staff members and aides to help create equal opportunities, while a 504 plan includes adaptations, but not any extra staff. 3. Please choose five accommodations and discuss how those may be beneficial for an entire music class or ensemble. Using an overhead projector or computer-enhanced image to enlarge materials and providing written materials for all spoken instruction would be beneficial for an entire music class to clearly see the material we are covering. It is helpful for all students to see images enlarged so there is no confusion or questions about the content. It is also beneficial for a music class to have written materials to supplement spoken instruction so that students can have a tool to help them remember what they learned and a piece of paper to write notes on the side for their own questions. Another accommodation that would be beneficial for an entire music class is to vary the style of test items used so that a student will not be penalized for having difficulty with a particular type of question. Almost all students struggle with test taking or simply the way a question is phrased, so having multiple styles of test questions is helpful for everyone. This prevents the music teacher from believing that students do not understand content, when it is simply the question that is incomprehensible. Waiting to prompt students for verbal answer to questions after at least five seconds have passed is critical when asking all students questions. Wait time is extremely important and often forgotten about when teaching; it is not only helpful for students with disabilities but for all students to be given time to thoughtfully think about their answers and not be embarrassed because they could not think fast enough. Allowing students to help plan their own instructional accommodations and be a partner in the process creates a sense of ownership for all members of a music class. Knowing that they have a say in the way they learn is empowering and lets them know that the music teacher cares about their individual needs and desires. Lastly, providing a written rehearsal schedule for students to follow is beneficial for an entire music class because it allows them to know and understand what the objectives are for the class and what the schedule is. Knowing the schedule will better help them stay on task and know what is expected of all of them. 4. Based on what you have read in this chapter, what are some specific adaptations, accommodations, or modifications that you could use in your classroom (or future classroom)? In my future classroom, I could allow multiple forms of assessment to see if a student understands the content I am teaching. They may not all be comfortable taking a multiple-choice test with a pencil and paper, so providing the option of using technology or tactile objects allows me to see if they understand the concept I have taught and are not hindered by the format of the test. I could also use lots of images for students who have difficulties with communication so that they have a way to point to different items and understand concepts visually, rather than verbally. Students with behavioral challenges could be given the opportunity to move around or have a specific seat they can move to so that their lack of movement is not distracting them. 5. Have you worked with students in any of the categories mentioned in this chapter? If so, what were some of the challenges or successes that you noticed? I have interacted with students who have ADD or ADHD, which would fit into the behavioral/emotional category. I was interacting with them in my junior year of high school through my church’s youth group as a small group leader. We would be in small groups asking discussion questions and they would provide answers and questions. Some of the challenges I noticed were that I had a hard time keeping their attention and their thoughts on task. They also tended to fidget a lot because it was hard sitting in the same position at one time. Some of the successes occurred when I let them talk and verbally process what they were thinking without saying “That’s right” or “That’s wrong”. It led to some really insightful comments and questions! Synthesis Questions
Ayers, William, & Alexander-Tanner, Ryan. (2010). “To Teach: The Journey, In Comics”. New York: Teachers College Press. Over spring break, I read “To Teach: The Journey, In Comics” by William Ayers and Ryan Alexander-Tanner. I was talking to one of my Music Education professors, Jesse Rathgeber, about my desire to ask all of my professors what top three books they would recommend reading. This year, I’ve been learning about the importance of linguistics and how as a teacher, I must carefully choose my words because each of them have deeply ingrained meaning. And what better way to learn than through books and reading! There is already so much good information that people have discovered and written about in books, so why not take the resources I already have and use them? I think it would be an amazing idea to be given a book list over the summer so that I can continue my learning when the school year stress does not consume me. As I was talking, Jesse walked over to his giant bookshelf and pulled out this comic book. An educational comic book?!? Of course, I had to read it (and reflect because that’s where learning and understanding occurs), especially when I had some free time over spring break. When I think of a comic book, I think of an easy read; however, there was some dense material in this book! After each chapter, I had to sit and think about what I had just read because in these word bubbles of text were extremely important pedagogical ideas about teaching. The pictures made this material easier to grasp and contextualize, and I was better able to concentrate because I was interested in everything that the comic contained. The book begins with a journey and the myths of what teaching is, then goes onto how to observe and characterize a student and the false labels they are given at times. The next couple of chapters go onto to explain building a positive and constructive learning environment for students and scaffolding to help students expand their knowledge. Then Ayers and Alexander-Tanner go onto expanding the curriculum so that it includes standards but creates experiences that are unique and beneficial to the student in different contexts. They then explain assessment, community and values, and end with “commencement” where even though the school year is ending, the learning has just begun because as a teacher you become “a student of your students, unlocking the wisdom in the room, and joining together on a journey of discovery and surprise” (p.113). My favorite part when reading was seeing the growth and development of Bill’s student, Quinn. Bill interacts with Quinn, a student who would initially be thought of as hyperactive and unruly, sees his potential and special qualities, develops experiences based off his interests and abilities, and as a result the reader sees a student who has maintained his uniqueness, but is more knowledgeable and able to articulate the ideas he is learning from the world around him. I would absolutely recommend this book and would consider reading it every year because there is something new to be gleaned from it each time. For myself, I know that a lot of these concepts I would not have understood my freshman year of college, but now I have more clarity because my knowledge is expanding. We are currently learning about a variety of learning theories in my MUED 273 class. This post focuses on the following learning theories: Critical Pedagogy, Situated Learning, and Social Learning Theory. Theory is useful for educators because it allows them to better understand what they are teaching and the reasoning behind it. Knowing what theories are being used is important so that educators can acknowledge and understand the costs and benefits of using each and then develop their own amalgamation of certain theories. It is also useful because then educators can decide in what ways they want to teach to help better their students. Critical Pedagogy A teaching theory based on critical thinking and teaching students to ask questions and discuss about social injustices in their classroom learning environment. Article Resource: This article explores the major ideas of Critical Pedagogy and relates school to the social context the students interact in. Even though there are a couple of grammatical errors, this video provides good definitions and explains learner and teacher roles for Critical Pedagogy in a simple way. Situated Learning A theory that states that learning best occurs in contexts that are authentic to the situation in which they will be applied. Article: This scholarly article discusses how knowledge must be learned in the activities, context, and culture in which it will be used. This video briefly explains the theory of Situated Learning and examples of where it is used and why it is useful. Social Learning Theory A theory that states that learners gain knowledge through observing role models and then continue or do not continue those actions based on positive or negative consequences. Article: This scholarly article written by Albert Bandura, the theorist behind the Social Learning Theory, contains his personal explanation of his theory including the definition and its different components like stimuli and reinforcement. This video is a simple, visually appealing way of explaining the different aspects of the Social Learning Theory and provides examples at the end of the video.
After reading Chapter 4 of Randall Allsup's book, Remixing the Classroom (2016), I had to reflect on what I had read by answering the following questions.
1. How do you interpret Allsup's points to consider (bottom of p. 107)? Put another way, what do these points mean to you and for your current or future teaching? Also, what norms/traditions, even ones that you value deeply, might need to be further inspected, evaluated, and adapted? Identify at least 2 norms/traditions and explain why they might need to be revisited. To me, these points are the foundation of an open classroom because norms and traditions are guidelines meant to be flexible and constantly reevaluated, rather than being firm rules. These rules put less stress upon me to be perfect in how I teach my students because what and how we learn about music will be a dialogue. I will obviously not be perfect my first-year teaching and there will be different traditions that the school I enter into will have, but if I emphasize that norms and traditions need to be revisited because they evolve overtime due to new knowledge and ideas, it will make it easier to begin conversations about current events and how music is a facet to change. While this might initially be met with resistance, I believe that it will benefit me and the future classroom I teach in the end. One norm/generalization to me is that students who are the best are those who are practicing a lot and are constantly engaged in class. After growing up in Fairfax County where there is a large emphasis on standardization and high achievement, I can see how my past experiences have skewed my norms. This norm that I have must be evaluated and adapted; I must be more nuanced in my wording and understand that my definition of “best” is not all encompassing. It does not account for the fact that I as a teacher must foster growth and encourage engagement in class, and that “best” may mean that the student is creative or inquisitive, rather than just playing well. Another norm is that a band classroom consists of playing instruments and talking. While I love to play my instrument in band and talk about how to make the music come to life, band is not simply just about these things. This norm must be adapted to include the fact that students can grow musically in a band classroom by singing, composing, moving around, and collaborating with other students. 2. What is Allsup really getting at in this chapter when he writes things such as "a third meaning", “moving beyond the predetermined," and "opening a closed form"? What are the key suggestions that Allsup is making? What do these suggestions mean to you? When Allsup writes “a third meaning”, “moving beyond the predetermined”, and “opening a closed form”, he is getting at the fact that there is a space beyond observable behaviors, a place where exploration is encouraged and there is no guarantee of how much you will move forward or backwards in your learning. Allsup is suggesting that we must move beyond the weighted and heavily connotated words of “open” and “closed” forms and enter the third space which cannot be taught to students, but must simply be experienced and experimented by them. When students learn to make mistakes and wander from the set path, that is where they begin to form their own learning with freedom. These suggestions are thought provoking to me and sound good in a philosophical way, but I still find it hard to figure out how to implement in a classroom and how I would foster it in my students. When reading this chapter, it also seemed that Allsup had doubts about his ideas, and how they could possibly work. I see great potential in his suggestions to allow for wandering and exploration outside of the Common Core Standard framework of music, but I want to know more about how I can possibly do these things. 3. Review JMU's 8 Key Questions. Though Allsup did not have access to JMU's work on ethical reasoning, much of his work in this text directly connect to issues of ethics in music education. Identify at least 4 key questions and how Allsup might answer those questions based on this chapter (make specific reference to pages/locations). \ The first key question I thought applied was Authority: What do legitimate authorities expect of me? Allsup was asked to see how music independence could be a musical standard in the Common Core. His authorities expected him to come up with observable benchmarks to allow this to become a standard, but he grappled with how to tell his authorities what he truly thought of the idea. Allsup would say that the authorities expected him to provide “a host of other observable behaviors [that] would be annually test and evaluated” (p.112), but he decided that he would provide his own honest opinion that would help better music education. He wrote that “musical independence could be understood in two very different ways” (p.112), and he did not think that it would be possible for him to write a standard for musical independence in an observable way. The second question was Outcomes: What achieves the best short and long-term outcomes for me and all others? With his new ideas of an open classroom in music education, he had to think about the costs and benefits in the long and short term for this idea. I think that Allsup would stick to his beliefs and say that to achieve the best outcomes, we must “equip students with the tools…to consciously shape and direct one’s future” (p.110) because that is the ultimate goal of teaching students. The third question was Liberty: How does respect for freedom, personal autonomy, or consent apply? Allsup questioned how to incorporate a student’s freedom and creativity in the classroom where a teacher was involved in providing the plan and guidelines. I think he might answer that “independence is related to freedom” (p.112) and that if standardization is involved in teaching, the “standards must relate as much to the process as outcome” (p.112). He believes that in order for students to grow and reach the “third meaning”, they need to have the freedom to experiment and wander on their own. The last question was Empathy: What would I do if I cared deeply about those involved? Allsup cares very much for the students he teaches, as well as the future music educators that he is sharing his ideas with. He wants them to become the best educators they can possibly be and does not want to lead them astray. Allsup would say that because he cares deeply about those involved, he should be a good example, “a public stance as an intellectual leader” (p.110), and “insist that growth—that the enlargement and enrichment of human capacity—is a moral end of education” (p.139). For our MUED 271 Final, we were required to attend the MUED 670 graduate student debate, as well as one of three options of other music events. The other event I decided to attend was the Student Showcase I. Below are some pictures of me and my friend, Erica, at the event and my reflections! 1. Prior to the beginning of the debate, what was your reaction to the topic? What beliefs did you hold at that time about the topic being debated?
I had heard that the topic of the graduate debate was whether or not music education should be taught in schools. When I heard that this was the topic, I thought that the answer was a no brainer—of course music education should be taught in schools, that was what we were getting our degrees for! I did not understand why this topic needed to be debated if we all wanted to be music educators and believed that music needed to be taught to students in schools. However, once I got to the debate, I realized that the topic was whether every student should be required to have music education every year for their K-12 schooling career (Team A) or if that music education should not be the responsibility of public education (Team B). After getting this clarification, I still thought that Team A’s stance was so much easier to debate and believe in. I would not be studying music education in college now if not for the fact that I was taught music in a public school, so it seemed obvious to me that this option should be available to every student in a public school setting. If not, how else were students going to be exposed to music? While I was pretty certain I knew who was going to win the debate (Team A), I was excited to hear what the other side was going to come up with and argue. I wanted to see if it was true that the “worse” side would end up with a better argument because they had to study both sides of the debate more avidly. 2. Describe ways in which positions expressed in the debates challenged, strengthened, and/or clarified your beliefs about the topic being debated. Please refer to questions posed by the moderator throughout the event, as well as the Q&A at the end of the debate. Once the graduate students began presenting their opening statements, the debate topic at hand became even clearer for me. I realized that a key word in the debate was “mandating” music in public school education, rather than simply offering it as an option. My beliefs about the topic being debated were clarified as the moderator explained the two different, yet intertwining philosophies that each side was based off of: aesthetic and praxial. The aesthetic philosophy defines music as sounds that are inherently meaningful and since music is emotions, students must be educated to understand the emotions that music is displaying. On the other hand, the praxial philosophy states that while listening to music in an aesthetic manner is important, there is no universal or absolute feeling that music displays. Instead, music must be culturally developed through active music making. It was interesting to hear about two developed music education philosophies that I had never heard of before and realize how each supported the different positions. I was challenged when Team B asked, “Why is the classroom the best place for music education?” and stated that by putting them in a classroom where only one type of lesson is taught at a time there is no way to support the individual interests of students. While I believed that both sides had great arguments, my beliefs about the importance of community music making were strengthened. Not only is important to have music education in schools, but in order for their love of music to diversify and grow, music students must be active in seeking out the different kinds of music making in their neighborhoods. 3. How has your thinking about the topic that was debated changed? Do you hold a completely different position? Is your position now more nuanced? Were there elements of an argument that was made that you may have disagreed with, but can see as a reasonable opposing point of view? Please be specific when citing elements of the debate. After hearing the debate, my position is not completely changed, rather I think it is now more nuanced than before. I have more terms and philosophies to back up my beliefs instead of simply stating my opinions based on my music education personal experiences. Team A and Team B’s arguments were both extremes of music education in schools; I do not think that music education should be mandated for every student because it would take the enjoyment out of making music. However, I do not believe that it should be completely taken out of schools and left to the community because music in schools is a huge way for students to initially get plugged in. One element of an argument by Team B that I disagreed with was when they stated that when music education was cut out of public schools, people would use that extra money to spend on community music making programs and events. I just think that this would not be the case because people would spend the money on newer objects and items rather than music programs. However, if the people in the community fervently believe in the power of community music, I do think that this could be a reasonable point of view. Team A and B both had great reasonings behind their positions, but I thought Team B was better able to support their argument and definitely made idea of community music learning in order to reach a diverse amount of people and better suit their needs seem very plausible. But I still cannot see how that this is the most feasible and accessible idea for teaching and exposing students to music. Over the past semester, I have been engaging with a variety of reading materials such as books and state and national music standards, as well as interacting with guest music education speakers. My engagement with these different ideas has challenged me to ask difficult questions about music and acknowledge that the answers to these questions are not black and white. It makes me a little nervous to pursue licensure in K-12 music education because I will not have all the answers, but it also makes me excited because I get to work and discuss my thoughts with my peers and professors and begin developing my own beliefs about what it means to be a music teacher and what music education should be.
Reading Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education (2016) by Randall Allsup has challenged what my original image of a music classroom is. One of my favorite quotes I read this semester from this book was “Thus, the laboratory and the museum are both metaphors for relationship making as well as actual physical spaces that construct how we live and learn with others.” (2016, p.105) because it made me consider the musical background I had and what my experience was like. I realized that the classroom could be both a laboratory, a place of experimenting and creativity, and a museum, a place where tradition is appreciated and used; however, there is a way for both the laboratory and the museum to become negative and become places where only rules and structure are enforced. I was forced to redefine what I wanted my future classroom to be like. Did I want it to just be a place where traditional repertoire was played or where we added more modern songs? Would students just sit in concert arcs and play music or would we have technological experiences and music making projects in small groups? These were the questions that made me nervous and excited about being a music teacher in the future. When Dr. Bledsoe visited, I believe that she did an excellent job of articulating and giving examples of how she combines the laboratory with the museum through Duo Musical Playground. She incorporates music learning with fun crafts and artwork. It was a great encouragement to see that it is possible in the real world and that I can incorporate this into my teaching. We also read Hammel and Hourigan’s Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs: A Label-Free Approach (2017) and it made me realize how important it is to reach out to students with special needs and how difficult it can be. It made me understand a lot more about what it is to work with students who have special needs and the information I needed to be proactive in communicating with other teachers about, like IEPs, in order to provide the best experiences for my students. Hearing Dr. Hammel explain the complexities of the system and her experiences about working with support staff and the school administrators makes me feel more confident that even though it can be stressful working out all the many details, it is possible and there are so many other knowledgeable people who are willing to help and have the students’ best interests in mind. Gordan’s Quick and Easy Introductions also brought about similar considerations for me regarding student learning differences and how I should diversify the way I teach because the way students learn music is actually different than I initially thought. Learning music is similar to learning how to speak, so if this is the case, I should be teaching skills that allow them to recognize sounds first before notation. We also looked at relevant professional documents such as the JMU Eight Key Questions, the Virginia Standards of Learning for Music, and the National Core Music Standards. After looking at these documents, I was amazed by how many standards are explicitly stated that need to be accomplished. It will be difficult to incorporate all of them, but they have many great ideas like incorporating history and current events, different ethnic music, and contemporary media and technology that I would love to have in my classroom. The JMU Eight Key Questions helped me ponder and engage with an entire situation from an ethical standpoint. When Dr. Abramos visited, he also brought about these difficult questions when asking us what Beyonce’s Run the World was conveying and how so. From these scholarly engagements, I’ve been challenged to ask hard, thought-provoking questions, seek out answers, and discuss with others to become the best teacher I can be and know how to develop my own beliefs about music education topics. Reference List:
Allsup, R. (2016). Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education. Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
1. I envision teaching in a middle school band classroom, so I might redesign this framework by including more student interaction and engagement. Since middle schoolers are extremely active and inquisitive during this point of their life, my redesigned framework would fit their needs in allowing for movement and hands-on learning with music. It is similar to the investigation, except I want the framework to be specific and insure that investigation includes hands-on interaction, not just observation from afar. I would also adjust the framework so that it pushes students towards creating a product that (constructing) and sharing it with the community. This would help them think of others, rather than themselves, and how they can be active participants in the community through music. Another way I would redesign this framework would be to push the teacher to help facilitate empowering students to make their own creative decisions. I believe that students are often told “Don’t do this!” a lot in elementary school. So, to promote creativity, students should be encouraged to make mistakes and ask questions. Again, these ideas are similar to the framework already presented, but I just want to clarify and make it more specific so that it is relevant to middle schoolers. 2. On my first day of my first year in my ideal job, I would engage students with multiple interests and undiscovered resources by providing different engaging activities. We would begin with several different station rotations where students could experiment and tinker with different activities relating to music. Some of these stations might include the following: Makey-Makey or other instruments that require coding, chamber groups, and improvisation and jazz. Afterwards, they would jot down and brainstorm by themselves or with a group more ideas that they would want for musical stations. Simply by doing these different stations, I hope to spur more ideas for things they want to learn and get out of their music classroom. A subject matter that might be useful to help activate students’ self-interests as well as my own vision of growth would be music technology. By asking questions about what students define technology as and how that can help make music, we can start a conversation and think of all different kinds of ways to incorporate technology, from the pencil to coding, into the classroom. I want to expand their ideas of what music is and what music education looks like; I want them to realize that music does not always mean band, choir, and orchestra, but that it can look like a lot of other activities. 3. Allsup’s book has absolutely made me reimagine my role in the music educator profession. I see my role more as an open book to be explored instead of a regime to be followed; my job is to help facilitate, not dictate learning and engagement. My assumptions and former beliefs have been challenged in that I have come to recognize that in a lot of situations in life and in learning, there is no one right or wrong way to do things. It’s hard to grasp that fact because I want there to be a correct answer, an easy answer, but I’ve come to understand that anything dealing with education and people is never easy. I’ve also released my assumptions that the perfect teacher (if there is such a thing) is the one with the most credentials and best looking resume; rather, the best kinds of teachers are usually hidden and not recognized because they simply enjoy investing in their students. From the beginning of the semester, I’ve come to think differently about how I embrace my identity as a teacher and as an Asian American woman. I can bring my culture into my work and recognize that my background and experiences are different than others and do affect how I teach. This isn’t a bad thing, rather it creates a uniqueness in my story and how I teach. I will need more time to process the idea of how to be a teacher that embraces an open form classroom because I am a “cookie-cutter student”. It will take me time and a lot of thought to think about how I can implement openness and creativity that doesn’t always adhere to what is “right” in the teacher’s eyes. 4. “I’m struck by the fear-inducing environment fostered by the presentational approach. The apprentice is under determined and consistent evaluation, performing publicly as a means to demonstrate knowledge and understanding, always under the watchful eye of the Master. Sound counts more than words. Music counts more than people. As Elliott himself says, there is little need for dialogue. And forget about taking a stray path. In such an environment, how do students experience risk? How do they try out something new? What is the reward for divergent thinking?” (2016, p.100) I’m surprised by how relatable this passage by Allsup is, and I’m amazed at how he has well-articulated my thoughts about my time here in college. I have to agree that I do feel the fear from the Master-Apprentice model of learning here at JMU; I’m afraid of playing things wrong and making mistakes because university professors have so much power and so many connections that could end up ruining a lot of your career and reputation if you do something they dislike. Part of this and the stress it induces turns me off from wanting to pursue graduate studies. His statement also creates some confusion for me; I’m here at college to study music and my applied teacher teaches in the way of the Master, yet my education courses are showing me different ways of learning to better help engagement and foster music appreciation. How can I teach my students in this different way if I’ve never experienced it in my private lessons myself? This passage also challenges my own way of thinking and inspires me to take risks and try something different because the reward for divergent thinking in my mind is the excitement that comes from engaging and problem-solving by yourself. The “I did it!” after all the hard work is worth it in my mind, and that’s something no Master can teach me. Allsup, R. (2016). Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education. Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
1. I have seen efficiency prioritized in Wind Symphony at JMU this past semester. Dr. Bolstad makes sure that we get the music a couple of days before we sightread so that we can have an effective rehearsal because we have already seen the parts and have listened to the piece beforehand. Also, while he is working individually with a section, he constantly reminds the other sections to finger and look through their parts or to be listening and critiquing the group he is working with because that section will probably appear in our own part later on. In my high school band, I saw efficiency not prioritized; the teacher would spend a lot of time talking about logistics of the day or spend too much time giving and explaining instructions. A lot of the time my band teacher would become too absorbed with correcting one section that he forgot about the other sections and forgot to tell us how we could be effectively using our time. Instead, our minds would wander off or we would go to the restroom while he worked with one section. Some affordances of prioritizing efficiency in music instruction are more academic engaged time where students are utilizing their brains and that more activities and material can be covered in a shorter amount of time. A constraint is that there is less time to build deep, meaningful relationships if all the music instruction time is constantly on the go. It also does not allow for “wait time” for students to reflect and process what they are learning and sometimes more efficiency can mean that there is less time to go in-depth with material. 2. In my personal vision statement, I emphasize that I want to facilitate my students’ learning, but I also want to be someone they can look up to and talk to about personal issues. I also want to help teach them about ethics and how to be responsible citizens in their communities. I think that Allsup’s conception of music teacher very much aligns with my professional vision because I want to fill a variety of roles for my students. I resonate with Allsup’s thinking that as a music teacher I should have multiple traditions to use, rather than being a Master-performer so that I can help better my students in the long run. However, there is dissonance between my thinking and Allsup’s thinking in that I do believe that the music teacher as Master-performer is also a very important aspect. I do not believe that being a Jack-or-Jill of many trades should replace the Master-performer role because I have experienced the benefit of receiving help from the Master-performer. I think that a melding of both is best as a music teacher because then there can be an excellence in performing and an excellence as a facilitator and role model for my students. 3. I love the way that John Dewey’s ideal school is a “circuit of life and learning” (2016, p.70) and is a mix of a museum and a laboratory where “the art work might be considered to be that of the shops, [and] passed through the alembic of library and museum into action again” (p.70). I do appreciate that Allsup does mention that museums and laboratories can both be closed and open forms, although we do see each one fitting better into one form or the other initially (ex. Easy to think of museum as a closed form). I believe that it is great and refreshing to hear these new ideas; I think it is so easy for me as a person receiving a university music education to be fully immersed in the idea of Master-performer and Master-apprentice relationships that I forget about the necessity of experimentation and circulation of ideas. It is important for students to understand the traditions and reasons behind what they are learning, but it is even more essential for them to come up with their own ideas and continue editing them through a process of experimentation and reflection. From Dewey’s sketch of an ideal school, we see that there is an appreciation for history, but a hope for future creativity, which I think is amazing and monumental. 4. On page 80, Allsup contrasts the duties of conservatories of music with the duties of the public school. He emphasizes the fact that the public school must remain an open form and accept the tensions and questions that occur from changing demographic needs (2016, p.80). Before reading this excerpt, I was a little bitter and angry towards Allsup’s ideas of the Master-performer. I have been the apprentice for the past nine years of my flute playing career and I really enjoy the technicality and precision of the Master-performer style of teaching. I enjoy the knowledge that is passed down to me on previous styles of flute playing. However, I appreciate that Allsup does not attack the Master-performer, but merely suggests that there are deficiencies in it and that another method needs to be employed. He sets apart independent institutions, like conservatories, who have the freedom to have the Master-performer method from public schools where the duty is to educate students about music in ways that are applicable to them. I appreciated that he made this distinction so that I am not so angry towards his views. I do agree that the public school needs to continue changing according to the demographic needs and that the teachers should be developing their own skills to help their students, rather than questioning what the students are doing wrong. It makes me excited to teach in the future because I can teach different, developing ideas and continue learning about new ideas myself. Hammel, A.M., & Hourigan, R.M. (2017). Teaching music to students with special needs: a label-free approach. New York, Oxford University Press.
As a scholar, I love learning more about music education, as well as making connections with it to other content. I enjoy reading and intaking new information, and then summarizing the content to share with others beneficially. For example, I searched the web for useful apps to use and wrote descriptions, pros, and cons for them so that music teachers could easily choose which resources they wanted to use without having to shuffle through superfluous information (http://davinamiaw.weebly.com/scholarship/app-hunt). I also like to reflect and ponder on my research and readings, which helps me understand the content and form meaningful questions that will further my scholarship. I have engaged in reflection through books (http://davinamiaw.weebly.com/scholarship/chapter-1-hammel-and-hourigan), as well as through interactions and discussions on Twitter (http://davinamiaw.weebly.com/scholarship/reflect-on-twitter-discussion).
Since coming to JMU, I’ve learned how to better find and use resources that are available to me. I know how to obtain books from the libraries, as well as through the Interlibrary Loan, and am more effective in how I use key words in my searches. I am comfortable asking the librarians at JMU about different resources too; they provide so much good information because they are librarians with a specific subject concentration. By the time I start student teaching, my hope is that I will have spent even more time exploring and reflecting on all the material I have read. Another hope is that I can find thought provoking articles on my own, rather than being given them, and form my own questions and reflections from them and even write my own articles and opinions. I wish to engage my future students in stimulating conversations about what I have read and what they are reading. I can practice engagement with others by presenting my research in conferences, like VMEA, and creating my own informational posters. |
Davina MiawOn this page, I will present examples of my scholarship in the form of reflective essays and philosophical assignments. Archives
November 2019
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