APPENDIX F: ALL THE QUESTIONS
There are so many ideas, opportunities, demands, concepts, goals, changes, expectations, “reforms,” and potential strategies relative to social justice and equity in school settings for teachers to absorb, learn, master, and implement. Which ones are the priority? (All of them?) Which ones are doable in a given teaching context? Which ones are required? Which ones are authorized? Which ones will be supported? Which ones will get me in trouble?
What will my research ask and seek to learn?
What if my goals and strategies are wrong? What if I believe their goals or strategies are wrong?
What happens when desired outcomes or expectations conflict?
What happens when definitions are unclear or intentions uncertain?
Where do I go to learn about [fill in the blank]? When do I do this learning?
What happens when my conscience and my orders from higherups are opposed?
What if I make a mistake?
Who do I trust?
Who are the real experts?
How do I know who has it right, and who has it all wrong? What if I think they’re right but you think they’re wrong? Or vice versa?
What does [fill in the blank] even mean?
“With critical race theory being a current topic in education, school boards, etc., has anyone thought about if this would affect how you teach (I'm thinking jazz and minstrel music)?” (personal communication, August 2021).
What do music educators do, what do they think about, when, if, and as they decide to do something related to social justice work in their music classrooms? What do they consider? What do they envision? Who do they talk to? What do they read?
How do [music educators] define social justice work?
What are their hopes? What are their fears?
How do they start? Do they start?
Do they get discouraged? Or do they gain confidence?
What are their impediments and how do they address them?
How do they succeed and what does success look like? How do they fail and what does failure look like?
What do they learn during all this, and what does the learning mean for them and their practice?
What is unique about music education vis-à-vis social justice work?
If we are not educating students, if students are not learning, if students are not benefiting, then what is the purpose of education?
And if some students are in fact benefiting, does that mean all students are benefiting?
What does benefiting look like to different types of students?
Which students are meant to benefit?
What is teaching that benefits students?
And how do teachers become teachers who teach in a way that benefits students?
Are students merely participants in an ensemble, parts in the symphony, places on the field, dots in the matrix, cogs in the wheel, obeying the commands and instructions of the teacher-director-conductor, who stands in front with absolute authority and control over each element of behavior, design, execution, and every other aspect of the creative process (e.g., Shields, 2018)?
Can music education be “something students do, rather than something that is done to them” (Cammarota & Fine, 2008, p. 10)?
Do we really put student learning first?
Competitiveness in a school music program may advantage some students and may contribute to certain positive elements of a program’s prestige and stature. Yet is there a cost in terms of harm to other students? Does competitiveness also contribute to certain negative elements such as reduced student participation and even exclusion?
How many children and youth do not get these experiences, for reasons of exclusion, non-access, lack of money and required resources, non-existent music programs, and other inequities?
How can we offer meaningful opportunities for all students?
How do practicing music teachers learn about and then incorporate (real, valuable – not superficial) social justice pedagogies into their music teaching and ensemble work?
How do, or how can, teachers become the kind of teachers that provide the education that all students need?
What about the other 15%?
Can music teaching be thus reimagined?
How will music teachers respond to the problems, inequities, and challenges discussed above if presented, contemplated, and discussed via a “practitioner inquiry community” as suggested by inquiry as stance (as opposed to, say, via a mandate from an administrator, school board, or state legislature)?
What are some potential attributes of a practitioner inquiry community?
To what extent does (local) practitioner research consider impacting broader (district, state, national) policies?
What is the difference between a community of inquiry and a networking community and/or a learning community? Perhaps there are elements related to goals: to learn, to network, to research?
Is there a difference between researching and learning, and if so, what is it?
Can learning communities and inquiry communities be the same thing or do they need to be defined separately, distinctly, uniquely?
Is practitioner research different than practitioner learning, and if so, how?
Do teachers in a community of inquiry sometimes come to see differently (Riley, 2012) in ways that result in substantive changes in practice, and if so, how?
How does an inquiry community of music teachers talk about themselves and others in relation to the formation and execution of social justice pedagogies?
What do music teachers say has enabled or supported them in implementing social justice pedagogies in their music classrooms?
What constraints do teachers identify to implementing social justice pedagogies in their music classrooms?
What role does continuous learning play in the discourse of the teacher inquiry community?
How do these music teachers perceive themselves as continuously learning (more) about these topics and ways to pursue and implement them?
How does this teacher inquiry community function as a site of transformative learning?
How do teachers describe their participation in inquiry cycles vis-à-vis reflection and/or changes in practice?
Are teachers merely trained staff appointed to deliver a prescribed package of knowledge in a scripted manner to students who are perceived as empty vessels waiting to be filled, ala Freire’s frowned-upon “banking method” of education? Or can teachers become autonomous, purposeful, deliberative, adaptive (Heifetz et al., 2009), collaborative, and trusted members of a duly respected profession responsible for educating students according to their needs and purposes?
How did I learn to teach as a teenager?
When music teachers focus repertoire choices on what are considered great works from previous centuries, are they offering students rigorous opportunities with high standards, or are they missing opportunities to help students find relevance to the music they are singing by listening to the voices of popular culture?
Is “solving local problems” any different than what I have been doing for years before I knew of action research?
Is having a “researcher attitude” the same as being a researcher?
Is action research real research, or a miniature variety – a soft plastic version of the heavy metal tool for teachers who are not really researchers (or scholars)?
Allsup (2003) asked higher order and theoretical questions, such as, “Is our culture truly concerned with learning?” (p. 5), “Or is it concerned with simply reproducing itself?”
Why are so many students – and the public – uninterested, uninspired, uninvolved, and unsupportive?
Can self-direction, autonomy, and more choices in music education contribute to social justice and equity concerns by engaging more students, especially those typically ignored and sidelined (Elpus & Abril, 2011)?
Could greater equity be achieved if more students had a chance to express their own home culture at school?
Could greater equity be achieved if participation in music, which offers some kids a sense of meaning and purpose, helped more “at risk” youth to stay in school and to graduate, and to reduce the harmful, encroaching effects of the “school to prison pipeline” (Fine, 1991; Mallet, 2015)?
Could greater equity be achieved if access to otherwise expensive instruments and equipment was improved and expanded?
Could greater equity be achieved if barriers to entry that are often erected as a result of language, genre, style, and the overwhelming influence of and focus on Western European history and culture to the exclusion of all others, could be removed or reduced?
Could greater equity be achieved if the often negative and condescending view in the music education profession toward pop music, rock, hip hop, mariachi, etc., which can serve to alienate and push many students out of music participation, were mitigated or reversed?
What happens when young students raise critical questions, write words, or discuss personal experiences in their own lives that are problematic, such as those involving violent or vulgar language, committed crimes, thoughts of suicide, traumatic experiences, family fights or custodial battles, or instances of sexual abuse? (Fine, 1991; McLaren, 1986/1999; Nieto, 2002)
Laes (2016) presented testimony in a self-reflexive study related to music education research, scholarship, and authorship, asking, for example, “How can one construct research that represents lived experiences and meaning of participants while also being theoretically informed?” (p. 7).
How can a music teacher – or any teacher – absorb all there is to absorb, reflect upon all there is to reflect upon, redesign all there is to redesign, and then implement all there is to implement, related to their instructional work toward equity, inclusivity, and social justice?
What of the music teacher who, after gaining new insights and resolving to make improvements, begins including more women composers in their repertoire selections, yet while so doing, retains audition procedures and other prerequisites that exclude youth with disabilities from participating in music, delivers failing grades to students who were unable to attend the concert performance due to transportation and other socioeconomic and resource limitations, requires gender-specific wardrobe that tends to embarrass and dehumanize one of their non-binary students, and charges materials, equipment, uniform, and field trip fees that disallow a further marginalized segment of the school population from joining their program?
How can a teacher encourage self-direction in even adult students when required learning objectives, assessments, and hurried due dates drive curriculum and instruction?
Should not teachers, in fact, be participating in generating this knowledge themselves, to begin with?
If teachers are important (likely the most important) actors in a student’s education, why are they not important actors in creating scholarship about teaching?
If teachers already do not have time and resources to avail themselves of existing scholarship, how will they ever have time and resources to conduct research and generate scholarship?
Teachers should be directly involved in the full range of educational practice, including policymaking, curriculum development, and school governance. But how? And when?
How might the teaching profession be influenced in fruitful directions if teachers taught, say, 4 hours per day, and had the other 4 hours available for learning, research and development, co-creating knowledge and scholarship, curriculum design, policymaking, and governance?
What kind of teacher am I?
What kind of teacher do I want to be?
[Referring to] challenging decisions made by music teachers – even with good intentions – to use students as steppingstones for career advancement, and tools for self-promotion, professional prestige, and personal development. Is there a conflict of interest embedded into these circumstances?
On the path toward teacher job satisfaction and self-fulfillment, what decisions that impact students are being made along the way?
Whose interests receive priority?
Will music teachers implement social justice pedagogies that may to some degree sacrifice their own goals and ambitions in order to most benefit the most students?
Have I ever experienced transformation?
Does everyone know what a hammer-on is? (Bob)
What is my goal for her?
At my school now, that’s all I think about. “How can I get this done cheaply?” “What things can I do myself?” (Elizabeth)
I’ll probably get kicked out of my teaching space, because that’s… When it rains, that happens? (Kerrie, Dennis)
Why aren’t teachers more esteemed in American society?
On the other hand, teachers are often described as the less-skilled, the less-talented, the ones who couldn’t get a real job in the real world. Why? Is it that teachers are seen more as caretakers than educators? Babysitters? The help?
How have these damaging attitudes and perspectives evolved, and can they be repaired or changed?
Even in college, in universities, these attitudes persist. Is this where they are initially formed?
I think it’s a diminished profession because of that. Because of what? (Kerrie, Dennis)
“Oh, teachers are greedy, teachers aren’t doing enough. Why don’t they do this, why don’t they do that?” (Sophie)
Why didn’t teachers make the systems?
Was my degree really worth that much?
Are we going to talk about anything in depth or really critically think about it? (Sophie)
It’s really management-focused, isn’t it? (Kerrie)
Which is important, like, classroom management is difficult. But dictator styles of managing a classroom? (Sophie)
Are we not just recycling some of those same things back into the education system? (Sophie)
Having to realize that they are their own functioning human beings, so that, should I be as concerned that they’re not sitting still on their spot, or that they’re whispering to their neighbor? (Sophie)
I think that there are reasons behind some of the rules we have, but at what point is that boundary crossed, where we’re just trying to control them, and make them do as we wish, as opposed to doing what’s best for them? (Sophie)
How do boys learn?... I mean, why are you asking a boy to sit still for 6 hours? (Kerrie)
I have some resources, but I have to go find the resources, and ask myself, “Is this a good resource? I don’t know if this is a good resource.” (Sophie)
There’s so much I didn’t learn in school. I feel overwhelmed, like, “Oh, God, am I teaching them the wrong things?” Or “What if this isn’t the best thing that I could be showing my students?” (Sophie)
How many music teachers are in your school? (Eden)
[Regarding] the clash between descriptions of “amazing” college and student teaching experiences and inadequate teacher preparation. Do both coexist? Are some experiences extremely worthwhile and some inadequate? If so, which are which, and why are they so? And why aren’t all, or at least more, of them in the “amazing” category?
To be able to equally teach and present and discuss and experience and perform, even if it’s only in front of our students, all the genres of all the time periods from all the cultures… there’s going to be a kickback. “How do we teach all this?” (Bob)
Does anybody have thoughts on how the universities train teachers to be more culturally aware and prepared to teach musics of the world? (Bob)
If we’re looking at millions of students studying piano, is it the worst thing if there’s a studio of children who all grow up masters of female music? (Eden)
We have four national standards in music, yet the bulk of the focus is on performance. Why is that? (Sophie)
Oh, this is going to ruin your flute embouchure! What are you doing playing that jazz music? (Elise)
I’ve heard some teachers saying, “Well, what are you doing in music class then? Why teach somebody anything about music if they can’t go on and perform it?” (Elise)
Who today in their right mind would take on student loan debt to be a music composition or an art major? (Kerrie)
So how do we give them that [music education] experience? (Kerrie)
Some of them are very open to hearing ideas, while others are more like, “Why are you trying to educate us about this? This is not a problem here.” (Elise)
How can we come together as music educators to build a better music education system, and education system in general, that breaks down barriers and is inclusive of everyone? What are some ways we can do that? (Sophie)
Adult beginners often ask, “I don’t have to play at recitals, do I?” (Mary)
We do so much judging of kids, but is that where the focus should be? (Sophie)
We judge, we compare, like, which choir is the best? Who’s going to win the competition? Why do we have competitions? Why do we focus on competitions as musicians and teachers? (Sophie)
I suppose I see some value in it, but then it seems like we’re essentially asking, “Who can do the best at replicating something that someone else has already done?” (Sophie)
Why are we not putting more focus on creating new music, and appreciating what everybody has to bring to the table? (Sophie)
We have many musicians who wouldn’t have been considered to have traditionally “beautiful” voices, they may have a really unique sound, and then they go on to become famous, so why aren’t we doing more, as a group, to appreciate all voices, and give everybody a seat at the table? (Sophie)
To me it means so much more than just music education; it means looking at the whole system and figuring out what has to be done. “Why are we doing things this way?” And “Who’s benefiting?” And “Who’s being further marginalized from the way we do things?” (Elise)
I don’t know if this kind of thing accomplishes that completely, though, because for example, how do I confront students who say unkind things about the different music we are listening to? (Sophie)
When you use the word, improvisational, what I’m hearing is improvisation in our responses to the kids, right? (Dennis)
But I’ll ask, rhetorically, “Can you do this?” And they’ll answer, “No,” because what I’m really saying is, “Are you allowed to do this?” As in, “No, you can’t do that, you should not do that,” like, “You can’t run into the wall, and you can’t smash my ukuleles.” But when I’m asking, “Does this hurt your feelings?” or broader, critical thinking questions, they respond with whatever they think I want to hear, and I’m trying to encourage them, “No, just give me your answer. Give me what you think, not what you think I want to hear.” (Sophie)
In their home life they’re probably complaining about this or that, like, “I hate homework,” or something, but would they ever think to get together as kids and say, “We hate homework,” and we’re going to actually do something about it? Like get a group together and stage some protest or something that communicates to adults how much they hate homework? (Dennis)
I use the university’s classroom space, so it’s not like I have a lovely studio all set up for five year olds with games, and a carpet, right? (Mary)
“What? There’s an entire Eastern classical tradition? Dance, and music, and they have a completely different tonal system?” (Eden)
[Reinforcing] the notion that teachers are constantly learning. That teachers are on a journey, like their students, perhaps with their students. Where are these learning experiences coming from? What is the environment that encourages and supports these regular “little transformations” and “little Aha! moments?” What are the similarities and differences between this potential environment for private studio teachers versus school classroom teachers?
I know it’s easy for us to get into that mentality of, “This doesn’t apply to me,” and check out, so I am trying to reframe my perspective on all of the pieces we’ve been going through, and thinking even though this isn’t specifically about my content area, is it something that I can use in my content area? (Elizabeth)
One has to wonder, why are teachers pleased that professional development is limited to thirty-minute sessions?
Why is white Western European music still being held in this place of the be-all, end-all, for music education in this country? (Bob)
In the name of inclusivity there are many ways to think outside the box, and to constantly be reflecting on ways we can include all our children, right? (Eden)
Why not share holiday traditions? (Mary)
“Good guys? Just because you wrote the history books, right?” (Bob)
What happens when governments are wrong? What happens when governments and school boards do not do the right thing?
But can you actually make something that was inherently racist and classist and sexist into something that is no longer any of those things? (Sophie)
Can you change something that is inherently racist and classist and sexist – and I will add ableist, nationalist, and corporatist – into something that is no longer any of those things?
So I think with our current education system, if it already has these inherent qualities, and operates like a business or a factory, we gotta get these kids out, and if it’s working against students of color, students of minority language populations, students of different genders, and other differences, are we digging ourselves further into a hole trying to fix the system that we’re already operating in, or should we rework a different system? (Sophie)
Which I understand is a lot, and I don’t know that it would ever happen, but is it worth it, trying to rework the system? (Sophie)
But why is that our focus? Why isn’t it just the pure enjoyment of education and of learning that’s our focus? (Sophie)
But is equity achieved by everyone “getting the same thing?”
How can you quantify whether they’re a musician or not? (Sophie)
A frequent argument for excluding “problem” students from ensembles revolves around the question, “But what about the good kids?” The argument claims it’s unfair that the hardworking or advanced students suffer because they don’t get the full experience of a high quality ensemble if other, lesser, students are allowed to participate. Questions of priorities, values and perspectives, and ethics are raised. What is best for a student’s development? What assumptions are being made? What do we value as a community and why?
What is an audition but a process to intentionally include some people and exclude other people?
On the other hand, what are the unintended consequences of the frequent rewarding and spotlighting of these students?
Do we silence, exclude, and even punish to an extent, students with “lesser” abilities?
Do we have a clear definition of greater and lesser abilities?
Do we understand the cost to society of reinforcing these – perhaps arbitrary – differentiations between greater and lesser abilities?
What if we had more time to get to know our students and their families?
You know, I was just saying how I have really good relationships with my students. And I do, in the classroom. But you know what? Thinking about it, I really don’t know my students. I know nothing about my students, individually, personally. I mean, how could I? We are in a bubble; I see my kids, as a group, for 30 minutes, 10 to 15 times a year. How? (Kerrie)
Learning about students, getting to know them, and their families, building relationships, and being more inclusive… What about language?
So how exclusive is that? How does that impact relationships and inclusion? (Dennis)
The language that these people use is part of their soul. They raise their kids to love this language. Right? (Dennis)
We do the same thing with language – we say it’s scum language, right? Gutter language. But now jazz is a national treasure! We’re proud of it, we claim it’s one of the American inventions. Why don’t we treasure Ebonics? Why don’t we look at Ebonics and say, “Man! This is something really unique and unusual and cultural,” you know. We should say, “Man, can we learn how to do that, too?” Or “Can we help make sure you don’t lose it?”
“Why is my kid taking music theory or majoring in engineering?” (Eden)
Do we mainstream them, or do we put them together and create a cohort, what do we do? (Kerrie)
Have you been around kids in a GATE class? (Kerrie)
“I have two SPED kids in different chorus classes who love choir and participate actively. The problem is that both of them sing very loudly at times and most of the time they do not match pitch. My students are very accepting and understand the students’ limitations, however I’m also worried about the quality of my performance. I have talked to these students about blending with the group and it works sometimes but not always. I absolutely want them to feel valued and included and I know that they both enjoy the class. Have any of you all dealt with this situation and what advice or strategies do you have in dealing with a situation like this?” (Bob)
Where do you guys draw the line between allowing students to voice their opinion and getting to the point where their opinion is not necessarily constructive to the class, and then quieting them? Do you just let them say the opinion and then address it afterwards, or if they’re saying something, let’s say, hateful, do you immediately shut it down? (Sophie)
My immediate response was, “No. Stop.” And I’m not saying I don’t think I should have shut it down, but is there a better way? What do you think about situations like that, and how would you address it, especially at the elementary age level? (Sophie)
“Am I modeling the behavior I want to see?” (Elizabeth)
How am I supposed to teach her to speak respectfully if I’m not doing that first? (Elizabeth)
“What is music?” (Sophie)
“Why do we learn music?” (Sophie)
And I guess my question is, would the end result of this kindergarten path versus this kindergarten path be so divergent that when they meet in first grade, is that first grade teacher now having to scramble even more to meet everybody where they’re at, and then that escalating all the way through twelfth grade? (Elise)
Wouldn’t it be nice to have everybody, you know, all students being taught according to where they’re at, what their individual needs are and everything, but then how do you actually implement that? And then you come back to the same thing, it’s like, in the current system, how would you do that? (Dennis)
But if I had a whole new group of kids in second grade, and then a whole new group of kids in third grade, all coming at me with different knowledge bases, as music teacher I would be struggling to be like, “Well, you’re already up to 16th notes and you only know quarter notes, and you know the whole scale, but you can play piano and you can play violin… suddenly I’m having to do a lot more work. Which isn’t inherently bad, but it puts a lot more work on that professional to meet all those ever-changing needs of students, because there’s… Am I taking it too far? Is it that there would be no degree of standardization? If we’re giving these teachers – teacher as professional, teacher as practitioner – you know, to do as they choose? (Elise)
The idea of just sitting down and listening to someone talk, no. Why? After a day of doing that, just sitting all day? (Kerrie)
In my senior year they got rid of it [learning community]. Do you know why they got rid of it? (Kerrie, Dennis)
Why don’t we let kids follow their interests more? (Dennis)
If kids were learning to read in an environment where they are actually interested in the material that they’re reading, then wouldn’t learning to read be more effortless? (Dennis)
Isn’t motivation closely related to interests?
I think student motivation as a topic in general is huge. How do you make it happen? “How do we find a way to intrinsically motivate these students?” … But how do we? (Bob)
A better question than how can we motivate someone, or how can we transform someone or something, might be, “What are the conditions under which we see intrinsic motivation, under which we see transformation occur?” “How can we establish those conditions?”
“What do you guys do when you have a couple students who are intentionally trying to sabotage your concert? Literally yelling out, or doing something really, really stupid on stage, or talking about it or planning it…?” (Bob)
What on earth are we doing in a situation where we’re sending our kids to do things they hate to do? I mean, what is the point of that? (Dennis)
“If you could stand up for one thing, what would you stand up to fight for?” (Sarah)
Can music be used in an educational setting to actually protest something?
And I kind of kept my eye out for the principal, thinking, I don’t know if this is, I mean why would this be controversial? (Kerrie)
You know we read about how there are dangers related to trying to implement music activism in the classroom, like the dangers of hierarchization and stereotyping and all that stuff… Do you guys think that those are also dangers if you don’t implement this type of music education? Like, I think they’re valid to talk about, and stuff like that, but don’t the same things happen whether you do it or not? (Sophie)
What on earth are they going to imagine? (Elise)
But isn’t it just how we position it? If a group of, say, wealthy conservative moms get on the PTA of a school and are able to influence things in ways that benefit the wealthier students and maybe those with “better academic abilities,” or something like that, isn’t that activism? They might not want to be called activists. But isn’t that what they’re doing? (Dennis)
“Wait – What? They had a song? They were singing while they were out there?” (Elise)
What I know is, this work can’t stop. It can’t stop with me, it can’t stop with my school, it can’t stop tomorrow, it has to be something ongoing. The people talking about it and the people trying new ideas, like ideas about equity, ideas of advancement in public education, all of these conversations have to keep going. We can’t lose heart and we can’t lose hope. Where is humanity going at that point? (Elise)
You know I keep coming back to, what if teachers ran the schools? (Dennis)
What if teaching wasn’t a full time job? I mean, the teaching position is full time, but the actual teaching portion of the work is only a part of the workday. The rest of the day is for other kinds of work. Kind of like university professors. What if we really did create a new model? (Dennis)
On the other hand, as a teacher, how would it feel if someone in authority came to you, and said, “From now on, starting today, this is the curriculum you’re going to be teaching. And we expect you to hit these milestones, with every student.” And let’s say this curriculum was heavy on the aspects of music that you didn’t believe should be emphasized, and it ignored a lot of the things that you really believe in, that should be taught. How would you feel about that? (Dennis)
Who should design, define, and determine curriculum and pedagogy?
How would teachers make time to do anything besides teach?
So, it would be really interesting, what if maybe one day out of the week we had a “teachers can teach whatever lessons they want day,” and they don’t necessarily have to have anything explicitly to do with the curriculum? Or students can do all their own student-led projects or readings or things that they want, and let’s see what comes out of that. Make it less about the instructional minutes, and less about “You have to do this, and you have to do that,” and more about, “What can we accomplish, and what can we explore?” (Sophie)
Sophie asks, essentially, if we can’t trust in teachers all the time, can we at least trust in teachers a small part of the time, and see what comes of it? (Dennis)
What’s the point of me teaching if you could just stick anybody else there and just have them read off the script? (Sophie)
We come back to, if teachers did have authority and were more drivers of the process, and more involved in choosing curriculum, pacing, and figuring out how to work with each individual student, what happens when parents start complaining or asking why their child isn’t doing this and why aren’t they doing that? “Why is this school over here doing this, and this school isn’t? Why is this teacher doing this, and you aren’t?” (Elise)
Initially, I was really struggling, and, talking about the curriculum that I usually used, and Kodaly being solfege- and rhythm-based, and her asking something like, “Well, what if they didn’t learn the half notes?” And I’m thinking, “What if they didn’t learn the half notes?” And then wondering, what if I flipped everything on its head? (Elise)
And then I asked my friend, who’s a parent who’s not musical at all but has a child in band, “What if your child’s music teacher wasn’t teaching them notes and rhythms, but was teaching more music history, and other stuff?” (Elise)
I would like to think I would be supportive of the teacher, but I wonder if my initial reaction would be more like worry and confusion and “Why isn’t my kid learning it the same way as everybody else?” and “Is my kid going to be behind?” “Are they going to be ready for whatever comes after?” (Sophie)
If student interests are taken into account, does that introduce unfairness? Does it depend on context? If one student desires to play the flute, and another student desires to play the trombone, and they each receive instruction on their preferred instrument, is that unfair? Because each is getting something the other is not. If one student desires to take calculus, and another student desires to take choir, and they each get to do what they want, is that unfair? Or is it unfair if both students are required to take calculus, or both students are required to take choir, in order that both receive the same instruction? In this case only one of them is getting what they want.
If teacher interests are taken into account, if teachers have specific content knowledge that other teachers do not have, is it unfair if those teachers share that unique knowledge with their students? Should they withhold that knowledge and experience from students because of a school’s or district’s efforts to offer the same curriculum for everyone?
At what point, or in what context, does individualized instruction become unfair?
Is there anything you feel like you are doing differently since all of this? (Dennis)
“Why is education the way it is?” (Sophie)
Am I sparking joy in them to learn, am I centering my students, am I overtired, am I snapping at the kids, am I letting students choose sometimes, do I have a decolonized practice in my music room? (Sophie)
Why are business leaders and politicians looking to schools to fix everything? (Sophie)
I wonder what it would look like if there was a weekly panel for music teachers online, like a Zoom thing, and we would have to not have any criticism, you know, just real honest questions that people have, and then have, say, three or four various types of people answer. Like an expert classroom educator, and someone who does a private studio, and… We do this at conferences, right? (Eden)
There was a recent post about “What kind of musicals can I do anymore?” And then there was a bunch of comments, and they’re like, “Oh, you’re being willfully ignorant,” and there’s other people saying, “No, she’s just genuinely asking a question.” (Sophie)
What am I doing to push myself or to incorporate new ideas, besides what I’ve been stuck with? (Elise)
Real professional development, right? (Kerrie)
Perhaps marching band requires military-style leadership and technical precision, but is this the best teaching style for all music education?
When thinking about goals, priorities, and strategies for music learning, including music performance, keep challenging assumptions and asking the uncomfortable question: Who benefits?
More importantly, even if this were a reasonable goal considered in isolation, how does this goal, which might positively impact a relatively few students, compare with other more important goals related to individualized instruction or culturally-responsive curriculum that might impact hundreds or thousands of students? What are the costs, including potential harms or other consequences? What are the tradeoffs?
How is the performance of a new piece of music affected by the performers having deeply studied the historical and cultural context and significance of the music and its composer prior to learning it?
Has the work of the National Education Association (NEA), reportedly the nation's largest labor union, in operation for more than a century and a half, for example, sufficiently elevated teachers and the teaching profession within our society today?
Where do we go from here?
And don’t we already know all this? And further, “If we have known this for so long, why has so little been done about it” (Shields, 2018, p. 49)?
Even if some people in some places took some of these recommendations to heart and implemented some of them, would it be enough?
Would every student benefit, or just some students?
Would improvement be everywhere, or only in some places?
Would change be long lasting, or short lived?
Would implementation be comprehensive, or piecemeal?
Would transformation occur, or would we get just more of the same (Shields, 2018)?
“The thing we keep coming back to is the restructuring of our education system and breaking down the barriers of inequality” (Sophie). What are these barriers and why do they still exist?
What would an education system look like that truly included, truly served, truly respected, and truly honored all students?
How would an education system function that truly trusted teachers and the teaching profession, that truly respected, and truly honored teachers?
Could a system be developed that did not require outside pressure, top-down authority, constant battles, and/or ongoing – endless – “reforms” to operate in accessible and inclusive ways, but instead functioned in all the ideal ways out of itself, out of its own design, so that inclusion rather than exclusion was systemic?
One might argue that parents have a more direct stake in education because children attending school enables parents to work during the day and earn a living. Without education, what would they do?
Is it possible we are trying to meet the needs of our time with wholly inadequate methods?
Do we have a problem?
Does something need to be done in order to improve the current situation with education?
What do students want?
Can these be expressed as goals for and/or desired outcomes of education?
Are the desired outcomes specific, clear, and measurable (Chen, 1990, p. 91)?
Have you been / Do you feel included? Have your needs, desires, and interests been met, satisfied, fulfilled? Have you been / Do you feel respected and honored?
Are the desired outcomes naturally occurring?
Are the desired outcomes designed to do for rather than to students?
Do the desired outcomes come with future expectations of the recipients, with strings attached, or do they carry expectations that students will serve or preserve someone or something?
One might ask, are these desired outcomes the final outcomes? Or do these desired outcomes serve a still higher purpose? For example, do we include each and every student in order to achieve something else? Do we meet, satisfy, and fulfill each and every student’s needs, desires, and interests in order to achieve something else? Do we respect and honor each and every student in order to achieve something else? Do we do any of these things so that students might achieve something else? Something “bigger?”
The next step in developing a theory of change is to figure out how to achieve the desired outcomes. What do we do? What do we put in place? What must happen before an outcome can be achieved?
How does my theory of change for education, with its redefined desired outcomes, interact with our existing education system? Could a design, development, and implementation team work from within the existing system? Could they work to change or reform the existing system so that it becomes a new system over time?
How can an exclusionary society, its government, and its leadership, produce anything but an exclusionary education system?
“The question to be asked is not: what does an individual need to know and be capable of doing so as to fit into the existing social order? but rather, what potential does an individual have and what can be developed in him or her?” (Steiner, as cited in Avison & Rawson, 2019).
What would we do during the period when the old system collapsed, and the new system was built up?
These teachers knew the whole child and developed reciprocity, interdependence, and mutual trust in long-term relationships. What might that look like in our new paradigm’s teaching practice?
Exactly how are we going to do this? Exactly how are we going to do that? When impossibilities are presented, a theory of change responds with solutions, because thinking and invention are not limited to the confines of the present system or the present reality. The question to be asked is, “What needs to happen for this to happen?”
Rather than closed-mindedly stating, “It can’t be done,” we must instead open-mindedly ask, “How can it be done?” “What needs to be in place for it to be done?” “What needs to change for it to be done?”
We must instead ask, “What kinds of teachers do we need to do this?” and, “What supports do teachers need to do this?”
“Could individual states soon be required to use taxpayers' money to pay for religious education, potentially siphoning scarce resources from public schools?” (National Education Association, 2022b)
Literacy will remain important, math skills will remain important, the arts and sciences will remain important, but do they need to be compartmentalized into silos? And do they need to be ranked in order of “importance?”
Can a student improve their reading, writing, and math skills by designing video games? Or by cooking? Or by building a skateboard ramp? Or by producing a rock concert?
Why should it matter if one student learns piano and another learns guitar, or the harp?
Why should it matter if one student dives into marine science and another into paleontology? Or if one student learns interesting things about ancient Egypt and contemporary England and another learns interesting things about ancient Persia and contemporary Mexico?
Is it possible that we stifle the development of some children because of our emphasis on standards and forcing the same curriculum on all students?
How will the new education system be funded? How will there be enough money to put everything in place that will be necessary to achieve the desired outcomes as defined by the new paradigm?
One might ask, how do we (society) ensure that we are “getting our money’s worth?”
What do parents who have to work do with their children if they don’t go to a traditional school site all day, five days a week?
The trophies resulting from these and other exclusionary practices in “higher education” are permeated with falsehood, unreliability, unfairness, and corruption anyway (e.g., Amigud & Lancaster, 2020; Hermanowicz, 2019; hooks, 1994; Mortati & Carmel, 2021). What do they really mean?
Is my theory of change for education too grandiose? Is its scope too broad, its goals too far reaching, its notions too idealistic, quixotic – am I stabbing at windmills? Would the effort be too great? Would it cost too much money?
What if teachers who were uninterested in or opposed to social justice and related pedagogies joined the study group? What if some of the participating teachers agreed with the advice of the music teacher who suggested I focus on teaching music and stop whining?
What would happen if a group of devoted, engaged, concerned music teachers came together for a period of time to “self-educate” about topics important to them and their students, by engaging in collaborative inquiry, reading, and discussion? What ideas, dilemmas, and possibilities might we discover, toss around, take up, wrestle with, and challenge? What questions might arise, and how might we answer them?
Please begin by telling me anything you wish to tell me about your experiences as a student and as a teacher. (What stands out in your lifetime and/or career? What do you like to tell people about your work as a teacher, or your experiences as a student?)
(In addition to what might have already been said) What are some of the issues, concerns, problems, dilemmas, or questions you have or are facing right now in your teaching context?
What are some promising or exciting possibilities that you see right now in your teaching context?
What do terms such as equity, social justice, and culturally-responsive pedagogies mean to you? (How do they impact you when you hear them or engage in discussion about them, especially in your teaching context?) What would you like to learn about these topics?
How did you hear about the study group? What did you think about, or how did you feel, when you first heard about it? How do you feel about it now?
What are your hopes or expectations for the study group?
What concerns do you have about the study group?
What other experiences have you had with study groups like this (please share)? What did you gain? What were the challenges? (What did you like/not like?)
Have you ever experienced an “Aha!” moment, or a time when you saw, heard, or learned something that you felt transformed the way you thought about something, or did something (acted)? (Please share, including more than one if they exist.)
What are some things you would like to learn as a music educator?
Please begin by telling me anything you wish to tell me about your experience in this group. (What stands out? What was most interesting, useful, or problematic?)
What would you say that our work in this study group was about? (What was the content and goal of our shared project over the past few months?)
How did members of the group support, encourage, and “push” each other? (Examples?)
What were some of the most important ideas that we discussed?
What knowledge did we generate about topics of most interest to you?
How would you describe the different ways we talked or interacted? (Which were most useful in generating new knowledge for you? What were challenges or obstacles? What were benefits?)
(Show norms and values artifact/document that we developed.) Please reflect aloud on our norms and values. What stands out? What did each value look like or feel like? Did we enact them? How could they be improved?
What knowledge, perspectives, and/or experience did others bring to the group?
What knowledge, perspectives, and/or experience did you bring to the group?
What were the most valuable resources brought to the group and why?
What was the (or some of the) most important insight(s) you gained from working with this study group?
What were some of the most meaningful or memorable moments, discussions, conversations, or readings? Moments when:
- You came to see something differently
- You felt some sort of conflict or tension
- You learned something you’ll never forget
- You got a new idea
- You had a realization
- You felt moved
- You felt in some way transformed
- You encountered a turning point in your own inquiry
Please describe these experiences (how you felt, what you thought, what you did).
What were some of the most important or meaningful things you wrote, or told others about?
What has changed as a result of your thinking about your topic?
What has changed as a result of your thinking about others’ topics?
(Possible follow-up questions.) What are some ways that your work with the study group changed your practice? Interactions with colleagues? Students? Parents? The community? Your self-perception?
When we get together and talk about this stuff, do you get motivated, or do you get discouraged?
Because first of all, everyone listens to music, it’s a way to comment on what’s going on, and also, it’s a way to not be scared if you’re staring at the national guard and they have guns at you and you can all band together and sing, We Shall Overcome, right? (Kerrie)
“Am I being controlling or am I just asking them to be respectful?” (Sophie)
But I wonder sometimes if it’s because I’m too lenient, or, you know, like what is the reason that they like being in my class now? Is it a good reason, or is it because they can get away with more? (Sophie)
Well, I’m excited to read the rest of the bell hooks book. And just kind of get re-energized to give up some of my control or my expectations of student behavior versus my vision for what should happen in a year of like, “Hey, I’d like you to know about these things. How can we make that happen?” (Kerrie)
I hear people say things like, “If we don’t teach them when they’re young then they’re not going to learn. If we don’t teach them discipline when they’re young, then they’re not going to be disciplined when they’re older.” But it’s like, “Wait a minute. You’re also complaining about all the kids in fifth grade and eighth grade and ninth grade that aren’t disciplined. So did it really work?” I mean if it works, then why aren’t all these fifth graders just doing exactly what they’re told? (Dennis)
But for adults they’re upset that they can’t speak up or against systems or they feel crushed, right? But I’m like, “Well, what do you want?” (Sophie)
Well, and so, how did kids learn, how did humans learn before schools? You know, I mean, they learned from their families, they learned by imitation, they learned through trial and error, and they learned, well, especially a lot of these social cues, from their parents, right? From their family – the interaction of the tribe or the extended family. And as teachers we kind of forget that that’s part of what they’re going through as well, you know, and so if they’re definitely not able to handle it at school, you can’t take that on you. You know, it’s like you’re not the one that’s teaching them how to be a human. It’s part of us, it’s part of what we do, but also, maybe we’re just there to teach them how to research? How to explore, how to be curious about something, how to organize stuff? And to that, Dennis, then you’re saying, “Well what do you know that they are interested in?” So, we’re teaching them how to learn. (Kerrie)
Do we really teach them all these things that we think we teach? (Dennis)
Is it really that the kids are getting better at being organized, or is it just because they’re being forced into compliance? (Sophie)
But then they’d get to high school, and it’d be like, “Why aren’t these kids playing with dynamics? Why aren’t these kids playing with expression? Why can’t any of my kids in jazz band improvise?” (Sophie)
To get to that level of perfection, what has to give? (Bob)
Where I cohabitate… there’s two schools in my building… “The other school has an orchestra program. Why don’t you have an orchestra program?” “Why isn’t my kid learning what I learned in school?” “Are they going to be ready for the next thing?” (Elise)
What about the language arts teacher who doesn’t want to teach Shakespeare, who wants to do more contemporary, or ethnic authors, and so, “You’re not teaching the Great Works?” “You’re not teaching the traditional canon.” Are there schools out there that give teachers a choice whether to teach, say, Common Core versus traditional math, or whatever? (Dennis)
I guess we’d have to ask ourselves as both teachers and parents, or hypothetical parents, are there going to be dire consequences if our child does not learn about this one thing, or is it more important that they gain critical thinking skills? To be able to participate in that subject and analyze whatever it is within that subject. As opposed to, “Oh, they didn’t learn Shakespeare.” “They didn’t learn Beethoven.” “They didn’t learn any pop music.” Or whatever else you could say for any of the other subjects. I think we get it so much in our heads, especially the older we get, like, “Well, we learned this and if you don’t learn this then what are you learning?” Can you not learn those same things from different mediums? I know sometimes as a teacher I feel, “No, they have to learn this!” But then I think, “Well, maybe they don’t.” Or maybe they need the overall skill, but do they have to do it the way I’m doing it? (Sophie)
If your parents have to work multiple jobs or if you only have one parent, then how are they supposed to get their kids to all of these out-of-school functions and how do you expect parents to volunteer their limited free time? (Sophie)
Why do we create all these burdens for kids to get an education? None of these circumstances they’re in are their fault. (Sophie)
Don’t you guys sort of have the vibe that the old-school teaching mindset is on the way out? (Bob)
I mean, God! We love this stuff. Right? (Bob)
Fortunately, when we were in school, I felt like the band programs in all my schools were thriving, and there wasn’t any more money than there was now. It’s just a different way of looking at it, right? (Kerrie)
You can’t do anything effectively if you haven’t had the time, right? (Eden)