Standards-Based Grading Practices Among Practicing Music Educators

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-37
Author(s):  
Nathan A. St. Pierre ◽  
Brian C. Wuttke
Keyword(s):  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Grading Practices ◽  
Standards Based Grading ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Do So ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

This study sought to describe the prevalence of Standards-based grading (SBG) among practicing music teachers and report the rationale teachers provided for or against its use. Participants were music educators ( N = 96) responsible for grading students. Most participants (52.08%, n = 50) indicated that they were not familiar with SBG. Many participants (46.86%, n = 45) reported familiarity and reported using SBG completely or partially in practice. These participants provided definitions of SBG to validate their self-reports. Definitions were scored using a 4-point rubric. Some of the participants ( n = 7) who said they were using SBG in their teaching provided definitions demonstrating no understanding of SBG. Therefore, these results indicate that 39.58% ( n = 38) of the total participants ( N = 96) were using SBG. Overwhelmingly, when asked to provide the reason(s) why they did not use SBG, teachers described lack of knowledge about SBG as the reason. The most prevalent rationale the teachers gave for using SBG was that teachers were required to do so.

The Persnickety Pervasiveness of Rating Enhancement in Personality Assessment

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Alicia A. Stachowski ◽  
John T. Kulas
Keyword(s):  
Response Bias ◽  
Personality Assessment ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Psychological Measurement ◽  
Shared Sets ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Original Target ◽  
Target Profile ◽  
Do So ◽  
Normative Influences

Abstract. The current paper explores whether self and observer reports of personality are properly viewed through a contrasting lens (as opposed to a more consonant framework). Specifically, we challenge the assumption that self-reports are more susceptible to certain forms of response bias than are informant reports. We do so by examining whether selves and observers are similarly or differently drawn to socially desirable and/or normative influences in personality assessment. Targets rated their own personalities and recommended another person to also do so along shared sets of items diversely contaminated with socially desirable content. The recommended informant then invited a third individual to additionally make ratings of the original target. Profile correlations, analysis of variances (ANOVAs), and simple patterns of agreement/disagreement consistently converged on a strong normative effect paralleling item desirability, with all three rater types exhibiting a tendency to reject socially undesirable descriptors while also endorsing desirable indicators. These tendencies were, in fact, more prominent for informants than they were for self-raters. In their entirety, our results provide a note of caution regarding the strategy of using non-self informants as a comforting comparative benchmark within psychological measurement applications.

Characteristics of Early Childhood and Elementary General Music Methods Coursework for Preservice Music Teachers

2021 ◽  
pp. 105708372110245
Author(s):  
Karen Salvador ◽  
Mara E. Culp
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
General Music ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Music Methods ◽  
Elementary General Music

Although many music teacher candidates begin university studies planning to teach secondary ensembles, most will ultimately be certified to teach younger children and may be called to do so. The purpose of this study was to examine how music teacher education programs prepare preservice music educators to teach music to children from birth through elementary school through coursework. We emailed survey invitations to representatives from 512 institutions accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music to prepare music educators. We received 134 usable responses (response rate = 26%). Nearly all respondents offered elementary general music methods (EGMM), and over three quarters required EGMM for all students in initial licensure programs. Only about one in ten responding institutions offered early childhood music methods (ECMM). We describe findings on EGMM and ECMM course structures, content, and materials as well as the employment status, degree background, and other qualifications of the person who typically taught this coursework

The Value of Learning Collective Free Music Improvisation: Preservice Music Educators’ Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 40-53
Author(s):  
Hoon Hong Ng
Keyword(s):  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Music Curriculum ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Music Improvisation ◽  
Free Improvisation ◽  
Entrepreneurial Skills ◽  
School Music ◽  
Collaborative Skills

I conducted a case study to explore preservice music teachers’ behaviors, thoughts, and feelings when engaged in collective free music improvisation. Nine preservice music teachers were taught how to freely improvise within groups as part of a teacher education course and participated in interviews and focus group discussions. Major themes highlighted learning across three segments that emphasized communication and collaborative skills, entrepreneurial skills and risk taking, and reconciliation and transformation. I concluded that the sociomusical outcomes produced by collective free improvisation may complement those of more formal and idiomatic improvisation practices, and that by introducing preservice music teachers to free improvisation activities, they may be more willing to engage PK–12 students in free improvisation lessons that enhance the existing school music curriculum.

Creating Virtual Ensembles: Common Approaches from Research and Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-46
Author(s):  
Christopher Cayari
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Music Production ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Online Music ◽  
Education Courses

A virtual ensemble is a digital musical product that uses multiple recordings edited together to form a musical ensemble. Creating virtual ensembles can be a way for music educators to engage students through online music-making. This article presents eight steps for creating virtual ensembles in music education courses and classrooms. The steps are (1) identifying objectives and desired outcomes, (2) selecting repertoire, (3) developing learning resources, (4) creating an anchor for synchronizing, (5) choosing a recording method, (6) setting up a collection platform, (7) editing in postproduction, and (8) distributing the product. As online music production becomes more prevalent, projects like virtual ensembles can provide creative and exciting experiences for music teachers and students, whether produced in the classroom or through remote means on the Internet.

A Longitudinal Perspective of Early Career Music Teachers: Contexts, Interactions, and Possible Selves

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Dabback
Keyword(s):  
Student Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Possible Selves ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Possible Selves Theory

The purpose of this multiple case study was to follow the development of three music educators during their student teaching semesters and into the first years of their careers. Possible selves theory provided a framework for exploring the links between cognition, expectations, and motivation. Interviewees negotiated their social and physical contexts, which in turn shaped their self-images and conceptions of teaching and learning. Identities were constructed through personal experiences and formal study with significant others, including influential teachers, cooperating teachers, and colleagues. In these respects, classrooms served as the laboratories in which teachers learned how to build crucial relationships with their students, tested and reshaped emerging identities, and based actions and evaluation on their possible selves.

Professional Development for the Experienced Music Educator: A Review of Recent Literature

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 12-19
Author(s):  
Karen Koner ◽  
John Eros
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Initial Examination ◽  
Professional Development Needs ◽  
Emerging Themes ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
K 12

There is a rich body of literature on professional development in music education, including research that has examined the professional development needs of experienced music teachers specifically. In fact, music teachers’ professional development needs may be affected by their degree of experience in the profession. The purpose of this literature review is to examine scholarship during the period 2007 to 2017 about the professional development needs of experienced K–12 music educators. Initial examination of literature in this area shows two emerging themes, including changing needs throughout the career and informal interactions among music educators, being highly effective.

Teaching the Korean Folk Song (Arirang) Through Performing, Creating, and Responding

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyesoo Yoo ◽  
Sangmi Kang
Keyword(s):  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Folk Songs ◽  
Folk Song ◽  
Upper Elementary ◽  
Depth Information ◽  
General Music ◽  
Comprehensive Musicianship ◽  
Music Standards ◽  
Music Classrooms

This article introduces a pedagogical approach to teaching one of the renowned Korean folk songs ( Arirang) based on the comprehensive musicianship approach and the 2014 Music Standards (competencies in performing, creating, and responding to music). The authors provide in-depth information for music educators to help their students achieve learning outcomes for the skill, knowledge, and affect domains of the Korean folk song ( Arirang). Furthermore, the authors offer music lessons for Arirang in a variety of ways that are appropriate for upper elementary and secondary general music classrooms, including performing, creating, and responding to the music. An educational website that includes exemplary lesson plans, videos, and worksheets is also provided to help music teachers obtain content and pedagogical knowledge of Arirang.

Enhancing Response Ability: Dietetics as a Vehicle for Social Justice—A Primer

2021 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 159-166
Author(s):  
Jennifer Brady ◽  
Tanya L’heureux
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Dietetic Education ◽  
Collective Response ◽  
Critical Reflexivity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Do So ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

Recent world events have shone a spotlight on the social and structural injustices that impact the lives, health, and well-being of individuals and communities under threat. Dietitians should be well positioned to play a role in redressing injustice through their individual and collective “response abilities”, that is, the combination of responsibility for and ability to be responsive to such injustices due to the varying privilege and power that dietitians have. However, recent research shows that dietitians report a lack of knowledge, skill, and confidence to take on such roles, and that dietetic education includes little knowledge- or skill-based learning that might prepare dietitians to do so. This primer aims to introduce readers to concepts that are fundamental to socially just dietetics practice, including privilege, structural competence, critical reflexivity, critical humility, and critical praxis. We assert that when implemented into practice and used to inform advocacy and activism these concepts enhance dietitians’ individual and collective response ability to redress injustice.

Being the Change: Music Teachers’ Self-Reported Changes in Mindset and Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26
Author(s):  
Karen Salvador ◽  
Allison Paetz ◽  
Abby Lewin-Zeigler
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
General Music ◽  
Practicing Teachers ◽  
Years Of Teaching Experience ◽  
Inclusive Instruction

Music educators sometimes enter the workforce un(der)prepared to design and implement inclusive instruction. The purpose of this descriptive interview study was to explore practicing teachers’ self-reported changes in mindset and practice as they worked to become more inclusive. Participants ( N = 20) were music educators with between 1 and 17 years of teaching experience. All participants taught some combination of preK–12 students in general music, choir, band, orchestra, jazz, and other music classes in 10 states. We present qualitative analysis from two sets of interviews concerning self-reported changes in mindsets and teaching practices. We conclude with implications of this study for practicing teachers who wish to enact more equitable and just classroom practices.

scholarly journals Shaping Policy in Music Education: Music Teachers as Collaborative Change Agents

2020 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-48
Author(s):  
Carlos R. Abril ◽  
Brent M. Gault
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Music Programs ◽  
Learning Standards

Music educators have experience working in education environments governed by shifting policies and mandates. How can music educators become agents empowered to shape, interpret, and design mechanisms for putting policy into practice? This article describes ways to understand policy and options for responding and contributing to its development and implementation. We examine how music educators have responded to two policy areas that have had a significant impact on music programs and teachers in recent years: (1) learning standards and (2) evaluation of student learning as a component of teacher evaluation. Examples in this article are meant to serve as a case in point for how music educators can become more responsive and actively engaged in policy matters.

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