Exploring Access, Intersectionality, and Privilege in Undergraduate Music Education Courses

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-37
Author(s):  
Samuel Escalante

Music teacher educators often work to prepare preservice music teachers to be socially conscious and adopt dispositions toward teaching in socially just ways. Preservice teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and dispositions toward social justice issues may not be sufficiently challenged, however, unless coursework is appropriately conceived. I designed a three-part workshop to introduce and explore the concepts of access, intersectionality, and privilege, and then conducted a basic qualitative study to examine undergraduate music education students’ understandings of and attitudes toward sensitive social justice issues, as well as their experiences with the workshop. I found that exploring sociological concepts related to social justice through interactive activities and allowing students safe methods for expressing themselves, such as journaling, may facilitate the adoption of positive dispositions among preservice teachers toward toward social justice issues.

2020 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-42
Author(s):  
Mara E. Culp ◽  
Sara K. Jones

Feelings of shame may contribute to music teachers and music teacher educators being unwilling to discuss needs and concerns for fear of being judged or seen as inadequate. Shame or fear of feeling shame can also lead individuals to withdraw or perpetuate negative behaviors. Although shame is often a natural part of the human experience, the diverse nature of the content in music education, the wide variety of learners in various music education spaces, and music teachers’ beliefs and practices can be sources of shame among music teachers. This article aims to start a conversation about shame in music education and help music educators and music teacher educators feel empowered to use shame resilience theory as a means of understanding and coping with feelings of shame.


Author(s):  
Erin M. Hansen ◽  
Colleen A. Q. Sears

In music education, issues related to gender and sexual orientation are numerous and complex, and they have significant implications for EC-12 students, teachers, and curricula. By making preservice teachers aware of common issues related to gender and sexual orientation in music education, and equipping them with strategies to help navigate unexpected and teachable moments, preservice music teachers may better facilitate discussions about gender and sexual orientation in a way that will yield equitable, safe, democratic, and open music classrooms. This chapter will (a) provide music teacher educators with an overview of the current political and social climate for LGBTQ students and teachers, (b) present rationale for the inclusion of gender and sexual diversity education within music education, (c) illustrate different approaches to incorporating this topic into the curriculum, (d) identify common concerns of preservice music students regarding gender identity and sexual orientation, and (e) provide resources for further study.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-88
Author(s):  
Carla E. Aguilar ◽  
Christopher K. Dye

The typical undergraduate music education student is focused on developing their musicianship and leadership abilities, professional education competencies, and specific pedagogical expertise. While these are desirable outcomes of a music education degree, music teachers must learn how to effectively interact with a range of policies that will influence how they navigate their professional and private lives. The purpose of this article is to outline and explore mechanisms to engage preservice teachers with educational policies and policy-related practices. We discuss resources for learning about federal and state policies related to education and music education and strategies for interfacing with policymakers. We suggest models that integrate policy topics into existing coursework and new curricular structures that may facilitate the development of “scholar-musicians.” Implications of music teacher educators bringing their role as politically active citizens into the classroom and adding political knowledge to the expectations placed on new teachers are considered.


Author(s):  
Michael Raiber

The impact of teacher dispositions on the professional development of preservice music teachers (PMTs) has been substantiated. This chapter describes an approach to dispositional development within the structure of an introduction to music education course. A teacher concerns model is used to organize this systematic approach through three developmental stages that include self-concerns, teaching task concerns, and student learning concerns. A series of 11 critical questions are presented for use in guiding PMTs’ dispositional development through these developmental stages. Activities to engage PMTs in the exploration of each of these questions are detailed for use by music teacher educators desiring to engage PMTs in dispositional development.


Author(s):  
Colleen Conway ◽  
Shannan Hibbard

This chapter situates the study of music teacher education within the larger body of music education and teacher education research. It problematizes the terms teacher training, teacher education, and best practice and introduces the concept of teaching as an “impossible profession.” Goals of teacher education, including reflective practice and adaptive expertise, are discussed. The chapter outlines the challenges that music teacher educators face as they try to prepare preservice teachers for the realities of P-12 school-based music education while instilling in these new colleagues a disposition toward change. It concludes with narratives that examine teachers’ descriptions of classroom relationships throughout the lens of presence in teaching as a way to remind teacher educators of the importance of their work to push the boundaries of music teacher education in order to serve the profession at large.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
Mara E. Culp ◽  
Karen Salvador

Music educators must meet the needs of students with diverse characteristics, including but not limited to cultural backgrounds, musical abilities and interests, and physical, behavioral, social, and cognitive functioning. Music education programs may not systematically prepare preservice teachers or potential music teacher educators for this reality. The purpose of this study was to examine how music teacher education programs prepare undergraduate and graduate students to structure inclusive and responsive experiences for diverse learners. We replicated and expanded Salvador’s study by including graduate student preparation, incorporating additional facets of human diversity, and contacting all institutions accredited by National Association of Schools of Music to prepare music educators. According to our respondents, integrated instruction focused on diverse learners was more commonly part of undergraduate coursework than graduate coursework. We used quantitative and qualitative analysis to describe course offerings and content integration.


Author(s):  
Seema Rivera ◽  
Amal Ibourk

In this chapter, the authors cover the importance and challenges of incorporating teaching for social justice in science teacher education courses. The chapter starts by providing an overview of the literature on social justice, specifically in science education, and define the terms social justice, equity, and diversity. Then, the authors, who are teacher educators from under-represented groups, share their own experiences about what led them to do social justice work. In addition, the authors present examples from their courses with their preservice teachers and instructional strategies they used. The chapter concludes with recommendations of ways in which we might consider implementing social justice practices in teacher preparation courses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-99
Author(s):  
J. Si Millican ◽  
Sommer Helweh Forrester

There is a decades-long history of music education researchers examining characteristics and skills associated with effective teaching and assessing how preservice music teachers develop those competencies. Building on studies of pedagogical content knowledge and the professional opinions of experienced music educators, researchers are now attempting to identity a body of core music teaching practices. We asked experienced in-service music teachers ( N = 898) to think about the skills beginning music teachers must possess to investigate how respondents rated and ranked selected core music teaching practices in terms of their relative importance. Developing appropriate relationships with students, modeling music concepts, and sequencing instruction were the top core teaching practices identified by the group. Results provide insights into knowing, naming, and framing a set of core teaching practices and offer a common technical vocabulary that music teacher educators might use as they design curricula and activities to develop these foundational skills.


2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H. Woody ◽  
Danni Gilbert ◽  
Lynda A. Laird

For music teachers to be most effective, they must possess the dispositions that best facilitate their students’ learning. In this article, we present and discuss the findings of a study in which we sought to explore music majors’ self-appraisals in and the extent to which they value the disposition areas of reflectivity, empathic caring, musical comprehensiveness, and musical learnability orientation. Evidence from a survey of 110 music majors suggested that music education students possess and value the dispositions of reflectivity, musical comprehensiveness, and musical learnability orientation more highly after they have matured through their college careers. Additionally, based on their responses to music teaching scenarios, it appears that senior music education majors possess greater empathic caring than do their freshman counterparts.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Olivia Gail Tucker

Occupational identity development is an important, complex component of music teacher education. Preservice teachers may experience dissonance between and/or integration of their musician and teacher identities, and scholars have found early field experiences to be important in undergraduates’ transitions into the teacher role. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to examine the occupational socialization and identity development of preservice music teachers in an early field teaching experience with a focus on preservice teacher and P–12 student interactions. I conducted observations, interviews, and a demographic survey during a semester-long early field experience. Findings centered around (a) the dynamic nature of preservice teachers’ identities; (b) the importance of peers, music teacher educators, and students to preservice participants as they engaged in the process of becoming music teachers, and (c) the momentary embodiment of music teacher and student roles. I connect these findings to prior research and suggest implications.


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