CHAPTER 6: DATA & ANALYSIS III
The Study Group
(with commentary)
FADE IN: INT. DENNIS’S GARAGE “OFFICE” - DAY
DENNIS sits at his desk in his makeshift office space in his garage. There is bookshelf furniture behind him, filled with books of all shapes, sizes, and colors. His desk is lightly stacked with papers and three-ring binders and isn’t all that neat. Pencils, pens, colored highlighters, post-it notes. Dennis launches the Zoom meeting by clicking an on-screen link with his mouse, and then on several application prompts, including “turning on video” and “turning on sound.” Dennis's face appears on screen. A moment later, KERRIE enters the “waiting area” of the online meeting room. Dennis clicks the link to admit her to the session.
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Kerrie and Dennis are on screen. As their initial conversation takes place, other STUDY GROUP PARTICIPANTS (Participants) join and become visible on screen, including ELISE, SOPHIE, and BOB.
KERRIE
It’s been really foggy lately. Crazy. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, I guess, I hope! (beat) Of course, I’ll probably get kicked out of my teaching space, because that’s…
DENNIS
When it rains, that happens?
KERRIE
Yeah, because I’m itinerant I teach in auditoriums, and that’s where they put the kids when it's a rainy day schedule. So… usually I work it out, you know, I try to find an alternative space, but, well, we’ll see. I’m not going to worry about it.
DENNIS
Yeah, no sense worrying about it.
KERRIE
No.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
It is not uncommon for music teachers, and other “specials” or elective teachers at the elementary school level, to teach without their own classrooms. Many teach in auditoriums, cafeterias, basements, even supply closets, or teach off a cart, rolling their equipment and gear from homeroom to homeroom. In addition, many of these teachers teach at multiple schools within a district, and so are driving – often scrambling due to tight scheduling – to get to different schools and classrooms during the school day. Many such teachers eat their lunches in their cars while traveling to another school site. While most teachers do their best to grin-and-bear-it, keep their chins up, make lemonade from lemons, and turn problems into opportunities, there’s a certain amount of humiliation, anxiety, exasperation, and perhaps feelings of resentment that often accompany these working conditions. They do not indicate respect and honor for teachers; rather, they are evidence of not including all teachers in instructional design and decision-making.
DENNIS
Well, good morning, everyone. It looks like we’re going to have a pretty good group today. Let’s get started.
ELISE
You know, I had a glimmer of hope there, for a minute, when schools “opened” again, that we were going to be, like, respected and valued for this “valuable” societal service that we provide, and it really felt like we just got right back into that same, “teachers are greedy,” “you should be doing it for the kids,” all that stuff, much too quickly. I wasn’t expecting it to flip so quickly.
SOPHIE
I feel like it’s the same thing for any other job or occupation that society doesn’t deem as worthy, like being a fast food worker for a long time, like Rovelle during the pandemic, “Oh, my gosh, you guys are so great, you guys are feeding people,” and people were hitting grocery stores, and everybody was being praised. But then it’s like if you ask for more than the bare minimum, you’re a terrible person who doesn’t have enough skills, and to get better educated… Like if you’re in an occupation that doesn’t suit capitalism or can’t be capitalized upon, then society – even if you’re not being compensated well – still thinks that you’re asking too much to be compensated well.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Why aren’t teachers more esteemed in American society? On one hand, teaching is fundamental to society. Families entrust their kids to teachers and other education professionals for many hours virtually every day. Parents and guardians rely on teachers to prepare their children to enter the workforce and embark upon successful careers. 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. You’ll hear more of this sentiment in the coming dialog. 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?
KERRIE
It’s just a mirror that’s being held up to the wider society, because everything has that element to it at this point. When my parents were growing up it was during the depression and World War II, and other events that completely derailed many of their plans. I guess we all have our place in history, you know, our time, where we have to proceed, despite what is going on around us, and just be intentional about the one class in front of us, or the week ahead of us, or the song that we want to get taught, for the individual students.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Despite the often negative reception they receive from others, teachers often express feelings of responsibility – sometimes overwhelming responsibility – toward the children and youth in their care. Kerrie encourages teachers to stay positive despite all the negativity, and to focus on what’s important – the students in front of them.
SOPHIE
Having just completed college, there were a lot of people I went to college with who expressed ideas like, “If you’re the best musician then you’re pursuing the performance degree, and if you’re not as good, you can always be an educator.” Like it’s a backup plan.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Even in college, in universities, these attitudes persist. Is this where they are initially formed?
KERRIE
The people that look down on teachers as lessers because they are not performers, you know, if we don’t have the support from our own people, that’s really intense. I think of teachers as being important in my life – an important role in society. My parents were both teachers, they took it very seriously. I don’t know if it’s gotten worse during the pandemic, maybe not, but there’s a lot of marginalization and yeah, I think it’s a diminished profession because of that.
DENNIS
Because of what?
KERRIE
Disrespect for the role we play in students’ lives. Administrators or parents who don’t support it, for whatever reason, have a misconception about what it is we do, or how important it is that we do it.
SOPHIE
We play a huge role in our students’ lives. And reading about and thinking about nobility in teaching, teaching morality, all that stuff… I was just talking to one of my friends who I graduated with, and she said…
DISSOLVE TO: INT. MUSIC CLASSROOM - DAY
FEMALE MUSIC TEACHER is on her phone, pacing her empty classroom.
FEMALE MUSIC TEACHER
It’s really surprising how many life lessons I have to teach. When I signed up to be a music teacher, I did not expect all the life lessons that were going to go along with that.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Sophie continues.
SOPHIE
I feel like teaching is more about life lessons than anything else. I mean, I can’t remember anything from my elementary music class, but I can remember what teachers taught me about respecting others.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
“We teach life lessons” reflects a variation on teachers’ feelings of overwhelming responsibility toward students and comes up frequently in our discussions. Teachers inquire whether the dissemination of content knowledge or life knowledge is or should be foremost in their teaching practice. A mentor was fond of saying, “I don’t teach music to students; I teach students through music.”
SOPHIE (cont’d)
I think society sometimes mixes up healthy criticism of teachers, versus just being nasty toward teachers. I feel like there does have to be a healthy criticism – what we do and how we could do better. But oftentimes it devolves to just being angry at teachers, for various political and economic reasons. They’re letting all of these other things influence their view of teachers and who teachers are, instead of looking exactly at what teaching is, and what our goal is. They’re letting their own political ideologies, and you have politicians talking about salaries, and then people saying, “Oh, teachers are greedy, teachers aren’t doing enough. Why don’t they do this, why don’t they do that?” Not taking into account that we didn’t make the systems that are at hand.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Why didn’t teachers make the systems?
SOPHIE (cont’d)
And sometimes it feels like teachers are maybe being used as pawns to further somebody’s political motives. Or how parents want teachers to be people who further their own personal, political, or ideological beliefs. They don’t want them to be true educators, just people who teach their children what they want them to know, and not what they should know.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Sophie touches on several themes worth mentioning. One, the important role stakeholders’ values and perspectives play in education. Stakeholders in our current system might include individuals: parents, teachers, students, administrators, staff, policymakers, as well as institutions: government, business, higher education, and communities or the general public. Two, one of the several dichotomies we will discuss, the first having to do with relationships with parents, and support from parents, or more specifically, the clash between the desire to involve parents in their children’s’ education, versus the desire to distance parents from decision-making related to their children’s’ education. And three, how all this relates to trust in teachers and in the teaching profession.
ELISE
Speaking of the value of teachers, and Sophie made the comment about capitalism, I was just in my classroom the other day, and the paraprofessionals were in there – we were all just in there teaching and doing stuff – and the paraprofessionals are all very hands on, helping the students with special needs, and I started thinking about how this person isn’t making half as much as I am. They’re working just as hard as I am, maybe more. Was my degree really worth that much? What kind of world would it be if we could just dive into whatever field of education we wanted to, whether it was the one-on-one supports, or teaching music, or teaching some other subject, and money wasn’t the issue, the cost of getting certified wasn’t the issue, and you could really just delve into it and go for it. I don’t know, I was thinking about the hierarchy of the paraprofessionals, and the principals, and the college professors and the elementary teachers… I feel like money plays into this a little bit.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Elise introduces a new theme and another dichotomy: the role money plays in education. In discussions we will waffle between two poles. One, we skimp – we don’t spend enough money on education, or we spend less than others spend. Two, we splurge – we spend too much money on education, or we spend more than others. This includes comparisons between the United States and other countries of the world, between states within the US, and also the feelings and truths of inequity at home, highlighting the disparities between the amount of money some communities, districts, and schools have and spend on education, versus what others have and spend on education.
BOB
Money. Funding. Budgets. A whole nother kettle of fish. Short rant on it. I firmly believe that when we get in negative economic situations, young congresspeople who’ve recently been elected look at the education budget in a given state, and go, “Oh, my god, that’s a lot of money! We gotta cut that!” Without realizing it’s wholly impacting nearly half the population of the state, you know, everybody, three or four year olds to college…
ELISE
I would argue it affects the whole population of the state, even a childless person, even if I wasn’t a teacher, I would want people around me to be educated in some way. So, yeah.
KERRIE
Oh, you must be a liberal.
ELISE
What was that?
BOB
There aren’t any liberals here!
KERRIE
I say, you must be a liberal.
ELISE
(laughs)
BOB:
Or a socialist, even.
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Elise is reading a NEWSPAPER. Other Participants are on screen.
ELISE (closes and folds the newspaper)
There’s actually a lawsuit being settled in my state, right now, with people of color who have been failing the teaching certification exams, and then started complaining about how they were discriminatory, and it’s been something like a five- or ten-year legal battle for them to fight the Department of Education to say, this is a problem, and these exams are biased… and they won! And they are getting compensation for it. I don’t know what exactly is happening with their careers, but they won. So, I’m interested to see how that plays out, and what certification practices might change or be affected. (beat) If at all.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.):
Elise’s new story speaks to unfairness, ethics, doing the right thing, and demanding the right thing be done. Testing and assessment often invite exclusionary practices at all levels of education, including K-12 education, higher education, credentialing and certification programs, and even in society at large, including business and government. When the outcome of a test results in a person’s acceptance or denial into something, that test, by design, includes some and excludes others from whatever goal or objective the test results play the determinant. Later in the discussion, other impediments such as grades, prerequisites, auditions, entrance requirements, and other exclusionary practices are considered.
KERRIE
I had a student teacher this last semester who was in remediation; she failed the elementary portion of her teaching. She passed the other stuff but had to redo, and there are very few student teachers who have experienced that at this university, and, the three or four people that have had that happen, all of them were women of color. And so, there are a lot of questions to be answered, you know. I think she was better than they gave her credit for, and to make her do it again, which cost her extra money, which made her take out another loan… She felt zero support, she felt really like giving up, you know… I feel like that is a thing. I don’t see teachers of color in my district, yet our district is urban, it’s 80-90% free or reduced lunches, but you know it’s real cliquey, and real white.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Kerrie introduces bias as a potential cause for unfairness which results in exclusion. In addition, she mentions an inclusion-related theme that appears frequently: everyone’s white. “Everyone’s white” here refers to the fact that despite a majority ethnic student population, the majority of teachers and administrators are white. In other situations, “everyone’s white” might refer to the student body of a wealthy school, or all the moms involved in the PTA, or to all the parents making demands at a school board meeting, or all the students in a gifted program, or all the composers on a list of approved repertoire. (beat) The latter also receives the thematic designation, dead white guys.
DENNIS
I think our brains work in this way where we perceive people differently even though they are doing the same things. If a white person does something we don’t like, we find a positive way to justify it. She must be this or that. We let it slide. Now we see a Black woman doing the exact same thing as the white woman, but we assign a negative reason as to why she’s doing it, and we should be scared, and we make it worse than it is. Maybe it’s conscious or maybe it’s unconscious but it’s horribly unfair, and biased.
ELISE
They did this study of online educators, pre-pandemic, and for one of the sessions they assigned a male name to the instructor, and for one of the sessions they assigned a female name to the instructor, and the instructors gave the same feedback to the students, the same grading curve, and the college student’s evaluations at the end of the semester were significantly better, nicer, toward the male instructor than the female instructor, and I always think on that.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
The unfairness and exclusion themes continue. The student rating of professors can result in exclusionary practices when those ratings are taken into consideration for tenure and other promotion decisions.
SOPHIE
I can see that in my college classes, the way people talked about their professors. Overwhelmingly, if I talked about or wasn’t liking what a male professor was doing, there’d be, especially among men, like, “Oh, well…”
DISSOLVE TO: EXT. COLLEGE CAMPUS - DAY
Several COLLEGE STUDENTS are talking in a loose group.
COLLEGE STUDENT 1
He’s so great!
COLLEGE STUDENT 2
You just did something wrong.
SOPHIE (O.S.)
And blah blah blah. And I’m like…
SOPHIE
I felt he was rude.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Sophie continues.
SOPHIE
And then my female professors, in particular, my clarinet professor, people would, you know, make sexual comments about her, or degrade her for her political beliefs, or for going to women’s marches, or make jokes and stuff like that, but you didn’t hear them saying the same things about the male professors who posted very conservative things or religious things online. Or, we have a Black professor, and people would always be like, “Oh…”
DISSOLVE TO: EXT. COLLEGE CAMPUS - DAY
Several COLLEGE STUDENTS are talking in a loose group (some who weren’t there before).
COLLEGE STUDENT 3
He’s too much.
COLLEGE STUDENT 4
He’s so angry all the time.
COLLEGE STUDENT 2
He expects too much.
COLLEGE STUDENT 1
I don’t like how he teaches.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Sophie continues.
SOPHIE
Well, I took private trombone lessons with him, and I had a class with him, and he was one of my absolute favorite professors ever. He was encouraging and accepting, and he pushed us to the next level. The reason people didn’t like him was because they expected to do the bare minimum to get by. But I feel those gender and race biases can definitely play into it because pretty much everybody in the music program was white – there wasn’t a whole lot of diversity there. So.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.):
Everyone’s white. Which of course also speaks to the theme of inclusion.
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Kerrie is holding the book, Teaching to Transgress, by bell hooks. Participants are on screen.
KERRIE
I don’t remember being exposed to these writings in my teaching program.
DENNIS
No. From my experience, the stuff I got in my credential program was mediocre. The stuff I got in my master’s program was pretty good, and the stuff that I got in my doctorate program was, like, excellent. There’s so much good stuff out there, but it doesn’t trickle down to the teachers. I’ve read so much over the past three or four years, and I wish every teacher could read everything that I’ve read. I mean, you can’t apply it all or retain it all, but it changed the way I think about so many things. And the history of what’s happened from the 50’s or 60’s on up to now, you know, that history is so much more interesting than the history I got from the 1800’s or early 1900’s, which is mostly the history of education that we got. Anyway, there’s a lot out there. And bell hooks is an amazing writer, and yeah, she’s more higher ed than elementary school, but…
KERRIE
Even though she writes more about higher ed, it’s applicable, I mean, in terms of what she was saying about teaching as being performative, like just getting kids engaged by being engaged yourself, and then causing that dialog to happen. I just remember just feeling my teachers didn’t want to be there most of the time.
DENNIS
Yeah, I had some amazing teachers growing up and I had some terrible teachers. The ones that are amazing, they leave a lasting impression, that’s for sure. A positive one.
SOPHIE
As I was reading this, I thought about what you guys said earlier about how helpful this would be if it were taught in teacher preparation programs, especially, you know, not when you get to your master and doctorate and stuff like that but if it’s taught from the beginning. I remember so many bland and boring textbooks that I only read like maybe a few pages of, talking about, “This is how you manage a classroom, and this is how you do this…” It’s very procedural, as opposed to talking about, like, the idea, and the pedagogy, and the thought behind education. Like, they’re more focused on, kind of like, factory style, like, “If you do this, you can do this… We’ll give you all the strategies…” but are we going to talk about anything in depth or really critically think about it?
KERRIE
Yeah, it’s really management-focused, isn’t it? Yeah.
SOPHIE
Yeah. Which is important, like, classroom management is difficult. But dictator styles of managing a classroom? Are we not just recycling some of those same things back into the education system?
KERRIE
Yeah, it’s all about control. I remember a lot of the stuff – because I was a multiple subject candidate – a lot of the stuff they talked about in a couple of my classes was about this. They did this whole thing about the “Harry Wong, First Days of School,” you know, this is how you get your kids to comply, and, blah blah blah, and have them get to work, and then you can go play tennis after school and you don’t have to worry, you’re not the one working… But, it just seemed really, I don’t know, it just seemed like, just keep these kids under control, and pass out the information that you need to pass out, recheck, you know, make sure they understand how to do their homework, or do their busywork, or whatever, and that was kind of the program.
BOB
It’s trying to run schools like businesses, which is really stupid because kids are humans, not manufactured product.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Study group participants frequently mention the human nature of children while noting the often dehumanizing aspects of school life. Respect and honor students. Sophie wonders about our true motivations driving discipline and student compliance.
SOPHIE
Something that I struggle with a lot is trying to differentiate between, like, this is what’s necessary to run a successful classroom, and, like, “Oh, I’m just upset because they’re not doing exactly what I want them to do.” But then 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? Like, 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?
KERRIE
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
SOPHIE
There was a TikTok I saw the other day that was a slam poetry night and there were these two women that were basically equating schools, like a school-to-prison pipeline, being like, “Oh, shut up, sit down, listen, you better listen, you’re not gonna like your jail cell if you’re not going to listen here, and sit tight to the corner, or always against the wall…” And then it transitioned from them talking to young children at school to talking to inmates at a prison.
DENNIS
It’s gross.
KERRIE
It makes it easier, you know, when people will be quiet and complacent, it’s easier to get to a lesson, but also, I mean, if you’ve had kids, I don’t know, I mean, I can’t picture my kids, and they were very complacent, and did school as school was required to do, they never made waves, all that stuff, but in the meantime, you know, how do boys learn? This is not a place for boys… By and large, boys are wanting to get up and down, they run around, they do these things, I mean, why are you asking a boy to sit still for 6 hours?
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Sophie PLAYS her clarinet. Participants are on screen.
SOPHIE (setting down her instrument)
I feel like I have these really big ideas, but I also feel so overwhelmed by the fact that I don’t have any experience. Being in my first year, teaching is just exhausting, because I’m having to build all this knowledge from scratch, almost. 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.” (beat) 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?” It’s information overload but not enough of it at the same time.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Notice Sophie’s enthusiasm for teaching, while at the same time voicing concerns about lack of experience, speaking to poor teacher preparation, lack of resources or lack of support, especially early-career support, the desire for professional development, and feelings of overwhelming responsibility – “Am I teaching them the wrong things?”
EDEN
How many music teachers are in your school?
SOPHIE
Just me.
EDEN
See, that’s the other thing right there. It’s an isolated kind of job, so we don’t have the benefit of a master teacher, or like three other people that you can bounce ideas off of, so it’s on you – not to put any pressure on you. But it does require a lot of energy and work.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
To Sophie’s concerns, Eden adds isolation and loneliness. And Elise affirms this.
ELISE
In my previous state I was in a school district in a town that had five elementary music teachers, all meeting and planning together. But here where I am now, it’s just one big district, we have twenty, thirty, fifty music teachers, and we’re not expected to meet regularly or plan regularly – we’re very much alone on our islands. It was after my first year that I started pursuing my Kodaly and Orff certifications, and once I finished those, I felt like I had much more of a grounding on curriculum design and lesson pacing. I mean, I wasn’t totally in the dark – my credential program and my student teaching experience were amazing – but that first year was a big struggle.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Elise introduces our next dichotomy: the clash between descriptions of “amazing” college and student teaching experiences and inadequate teacher preparation. Throughout the study group discussions, several participants describe similar seeming contradictions, and my own experience was similar. 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? In this vein, we will see throughout the discussion how frequently participants describe transformative informal learning experiences that took place after their formal university schoolwork and credential or certification teacher preparation. These descriptions of transformative learning highlight the importance teachers place on ongoing professional development and support.
SOPHIE
It doesn’t necessarily set up beginning teachers to have a very high self-esteem, when we’re constantly trying and failing in the classroom, and depending on the school, maybe there isn’t much support or we don’t know where to go for resources, how to get better, and people say, “It just takes time.” Well, yeah, but I don’t want to emotionally damage these kids during my first few years when I don’t know what I’m doing.
KERRIE
That was my master’s topic, attrition in the first five years of teaching. Teacher burnout.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
I want to quit.
KERRIE (cont’d)
Interviewing people that kind of got over the hump. There were still people not satisfied twenty, thirty years into it, saying, “Because we’re isolated, because we’re expected to shut the door and teach, the people that do come in and out, they have an opinion, they change curriculum every five years,” whatever… It does not do a lick of good; it doesn’t help you.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.):
Leadership who should provide support to teachers hinder them instead.
SOPHIE
And there’s so much I don’t know about social justice topics; I’d really like to learn more. People kind of throw things out at you in college, but without a lot of explanation as to what it actually means. Maybe we spent one or two days, because there’s so much other stuff they’re required to cover, and so by the time I left college, I still don’t 100% know what this looks like in a classroom, especially since the area that I went to college was 98% white, and in the Bible belt; there wasn't much to view in the classrooms that I went to go observe.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Everyone’s white. And Sophie also points to poor teacher preparation.
KERRIE
Reflecting back on my teacher prep program, the master classes, they were all about, “thematic units,” and “let the class be student-driven,” and “give them all this freedom,” and stuff, and that is the ideal, sure, and that is what they want you to believe is possible. And it makes you very optimistic, as a pre-service teacher, you go, “Wow, I’m going to do this thing about Native Americans,” and blah blah blah, and then you get there, and the reality depends on your administrator, and the climate, some teachers have leeway to do that, and some are super scripted. And it’s unfortunate because it’s such an uneven experience.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Kerrie mentions the contradiction between her enthusiasm for and the realities of teaching. She expresses feelings of unfairness with respect to levels of teacher autonomy, and levels of support, both of which surface in the theme of trust in teachers and the teaching profession. Sophie and others expand on this by introducing the stress- and anxiety-inducing elements of time versus content expectations – too much content and too little time – which contributes to feelings of overwhelming responsibility and professional inadequacy.
SOPHIE
And I feel like on some level we have to get out of our mind the time limits. Whether it’s K-12 education, or college, or beyond, we seem so stuck in our time frames, that we’ve created, like, it has to take X amount of time and X amount of hours, and this much time should be spent on this much – I feel like that’s where a lot of the problems are. That we’re so caught up in “We have to get everything done in this amount of time,” that we invariably overload how much stuff needs to be taught in that amount of time, and nothing can ever be done to any degree of merit, like everything’s just kind of half-assed… There’s just so much information and so many things, you can’t possibly expect students, between regular education and music education, to devote the amount of time necessary to really master all this stuff. The expectation that you should exit college being able to be a classroom teacher, and then the extra two years of student teaching… I don’t know, I think maybe we should lower expectations to where in reality we should be.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
The “extra two years of student teaching” is a reference to state-mandated induction programs for new teachers. In discussions, some teachers complained that these programs resulted in a lot of extra work and time but little in the way of useful learning or professional development.
KERRIE
Or maybe just broaden them to include, you know, what we’re talking about, teaching music of the world, or the Western canon, or whatever… I’m a saxophone player, I never played in an orchestra – everything I know about orchestra I learned in kindergarten. (laughs) But I mean, you know, I have to study that as I go. You can’t just put musicians in this place and go, “All musicians know all this stuff.” It’s not math facts. So, giving music teachers the ability to take what they know, as a musician, and teach those basics, like, there’s the elements of art, there’s the elements of music, it’s the same process, with different tools. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a one-size-fits-all… you can introduce these things and you can learn as you go. I’m a jazz instrumental musician and not necessarily versed in the things my vocal counterparts are.
BOB
We’re kind of saying music teachers need to not only be experts in the great Western music canon, but all the musics. 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?” Some are saying that soon the music education degree will be a five year program. It’s already insane, you know, we have all the performances classes, the music theory classes, we’re so loaded with these courses… Does anybody have thoughts on how the universities train teachers to be more culturally aware and prepared to teach musics of the world?
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
These discussions around too much content and too little time extend to general education and pull me to thoughts and memories of the panicky feelings I experienced in education, both as a student and as a parent. The words we use, both informally, like “cramming for exams,” “high stakes testing,” “honors classes,” and “maximum potential,” and more formally, however well intentioned – or not – like “Head Start,” “A Nation at Risk,” “No Child Left Behind,” and “Race to the Top,” invoking images of races, competitions, corporate strategy, and even war… Our education institutions sit in, teachers teach in, and students learn in this anxiety-laden, stress-inducing atmosphere of overwhelming responsibility.
EDEN
There’s a lot of stuff I really don’t know. I’d love to hear more about gender. I read something on the Internet about a teacher who was only teaching female composers; she won’t teach any men. And that got a lot of pushback, and she said, “Well, you know, other people have been studying all men for all this time.” Those are the kind of conversations I’d like to learn about and have, like what is the effect on us for doing that. To me the ultimate goal right now is for us to have our children experience a broad range, it wouldn’t be to only teach one or the other. But it’s worth a conversation. 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? We wouldn’t complain if they were all learning jazz really well. Maybe there’s something special that there’s a studio devoted to the music of female composers.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
“All men,” a variation on dead white guys. Plus, another take on the “one-size-fits-all” theme from a moment ago.
SOPHIE
Things are starting to move in that direction a little in the instrumental world, but coming from somebody who recently graduated from college there’s still a heavy emphasis on the classics, the traditional composers, all the old white men. My professor was starting to push more students to play female composers and composers from different parts of the world, but it's still a very heavy emphasis on the traditional stuff, and especially, at least in my state, which may be a little further back in time, but a lot of the high school bands, including where I did my student teaching, are still very much focused on the traditional, standard rep, as opposed to adding new stuff in.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Dead white guys. This is a subtheme so prevalent in our study group discussions that if I were writing this movie as a musical, I would definitely include a song and dance number called Dead White Guys. In their discussion of repertoire by female composers versus “traditional, standard rep as opposed to adding new stuff in,” Eden and Sophie further reinforce the theme of embrace new thinking; let go of the old.
KERRIE
And also, marching band drives funding and drives numbers and drives audiences, and gets support, because you know, it supports the sports. And you know that’s the old boys’ network right there. Our best hope to change that is at the middle school and elementary school levels, where we have a little bit more freedom from that administrative expectation of getting numbers out there at the marching band thing, you know.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
“Old boys’ network;” subtle, but a possible variation on dead white guys, and/or, everyone’s white. Kerrie also mentions support and money, this time with respect to the nature of marching band, which often receives substantial support in school districts because of its connection with football.
SOPHIE
Definitely. At the middle schools and high schools where I student taught that was very much the standard. “Oh, we have marching band, we have to be really good at marching band,” or “Our students always get into all-district, or all-state, so we have to focus, you know, drill this, make sure they know all their technique…” There wasn’t a lot of room for exploring things outside of getting ready for competition. I found that a little disheartening; we have four national standards in music, yet the bulk of the focus is on performance. Why is that? That’s not all music is, and I think it drives a lot of students away from music. They say, “I’m not a musician because I don’t do choir and I don’t do band.” But that’s not what being a musician is.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Sophie brings up not only the overwhelming responsibility teachers have to prepare for and win competitions, but the overwhelming responsibility students may feel – to the extent that it may drive students away from participating in music. This is another way in which we exclude students.
ELISE
Marching band was a religion in my home state for sure, and it was all about those “three concert pieces” and your marching band show. I can see the changes happening. Like my classical flute professor, who at one time got mad at me when I started taking saxophone lessons and made the top jazz band.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. FLUTE PROFESSOR’S OFFICE - DAY
FLUTE PROFESSOR is giving Elise a private lesson.
FLUTE PROFESSOR
Oh, this is going to ruin your flute embouchure! What are you doing playing that jazz music?
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen.
BOB
Yes, like voice teachers that won’t let their students sing different styles of music. But it is changing for some. A number of years back I attended my first level one training in Jeanie Lovetri's Somatic Voicework, which is a voice pedagogy, postgraduate training and certification, and I was just astounded to hear an internationally known voice pedagogue not only preaching but demanding that all music styles are equally deserving of the same level of respect. Which immediately snapped a light bulb in me, and I began altering my choir program. Slowly at first, but I immediately stopped attending choral festivals where you're required to perform selections from a predetermined list that’s all Western European classical style choral pieces. I just stopped going. I am no longer a member of the choral vocal music association, and with those saved dues I added a concert in the middle of the year instead.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
We’re going to hear frequent excitement from teachers who made discoveries and learned new things after college, on their own. Back to Elise’s professor.
ELISE
Now, that same professor is on the equity committee of the university. So, she’s trying to make changes – but then she still has the all-Bach recital that her studio does every year. So, it’s slow to make the changes. And speaking of performance being the be-all, end-all – which it is not for me – in my new city we don’t have a lot of middle school or high school music programs, but in the district where I teach, 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?” And I’m like, “No, no, no. This is backwards. You have them and you don’t have to focus on performance. You can enable their music making and teach so much other stuff.” So, I agree changes are happening, but at different speeds in different parts of the country and different parts of the world. It’s frustrating that people are being a stick in the mud and dragging their feet as things are changing.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Johann Sebastian Bach is central to Western European classical music traditions, a hugely influential composer, and foremost among the dead white guys.
EDEN
In the piano world, there’s probably twenty piano teachers around the world that regularly have students that would be ready to perform at a level requisite for Juilliard and enter that pedagogy track. So, everybody else, who doesn’t necessarily push or teach like that, is still teaching like a copy of what they’re doing, but isn’t going to get their kids into Juilliard. And yet we all have the idea that, “they’re going to perform, they’re going to perform,” and then we completely leave out theory and jazz and experiencing new composers and developing new appreciation. Because we’re doing a version of what they’re doing, but not to that level. Out of the twenty kids I’m teaching right now, maybe two will become music majors and none of them will become professional performers. And that’s fine, that’s not what my goal is. But my point is if everything I do is wrapped up around the idea that maybe I’ll have one student who’s going to go on to a performance career, and that’s all my teaching revolves around, then I really missed the opportunity to do something deeper and richer for them.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Teachers spend tremendous time, energy, thought, and preparation toward striving to learn about and implement what is best for their students. Generally private studio teachers focus on individualized instruction more than classroom teachers, who often see large numbers of students every week – often hundreds or even a thousand or more. Private lessons provide for individual, one-on-one instruction, and sole proprietors have more pedagogical freedom to make their own decisions about curriculum. Private studio teachers receive support, and get paid, directly from parents. Teacher relationships with students, parents, and families are typically very strong, and can be long lasting.
KERRIE
And when you’re talking about composition, and music degrees, who today in their right mind would take on student loan debt to be a music composition or an art major? I mean, this is really a poor time for higher education. A lot of that freedom that I had in high school, “Oh, I’m just going to go play in the jazz band!” I wouldn’t recommend that for my kid right now. But you also want to honor that, because there are myriad people out there who do have that desire, and so how do we give them that experience?
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Money, money, money. Kerrie acknowledges the importance of honoring students’ desires and interests, while at the same time suggesting that our system discourages pursuit of interests in favor of wages, in part due to the high cost of higher education that leads to student loan debt.
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen.
ELISE
Thinking back on my college career, social justice and equity were not conversations that were happening in my music education classes. Nor was it a conversation in any of my Kodaly or Orff levels. They were trying to integrate more Spanish songs, but that really didn’t make it more inclusive. But with everything that’s happened in recent years, I’ve really started to think about it more, and try to incorporate inclusivity into my classes and in my school community. Our district is very segregated, it’s really disgusting actually. My school is co-housed with another school in the same building. My school is the “community school” and the other school is the “gifted school.” My kids are every color of the rainbow, and the gifted school is all white and Asian kids. I serve on my school’s equity team, so I try to think about not just my classroom but the school at large, and we plan professional development for other teachers, and 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.”
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Everyone’s white. In this instance, the complex issue of the Asian ethnicity also is introduced, along with corresponding stereotypes, although this does not reappear. Elise raises concerns of inclusivity and exclusivity, refers to segregation as “disgusting,” and expresses a desire to be a teacher of teachers, to offer professional development and new thinking to others. In this case, her overtures appear unwelcome. Sophie and others continue with variations on these themes; inclusivity and exclusivity apply not only to race and ethnicity, but also to socioeconomic status, and ability levels.
SOPHIE
At my school district, we have five or six elementary schools across such a wide socioeconomic status, and they’re very segregated, not inclusive. My school is the poorest school, on base. We’re a Title I school, and even though none of my students are homeless – their parents all have at least one job, everyone has a house and an income – we have the drill sergeants’ kids, who are the lower income levels. But then one of the other schools on base, they have all the commanders’ kids, who make a ton of money. I’m sure there are still struggles for those kids at that school, but we can clearly see the economic divide across our schools… It’s just mind boggling to me. (beat) 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?
SARAH
I really want to find a way to bring social justice and inclusivity into my classroom, too. I feel like in my area it’s very important, it’s huge because we are facing this battle and the kids are seeing it. There are marches… I just want to be able to bring it into my classroom without parents freaking out that I’m pushing an agenda. I’d love to find a way to do that. We say nobody knows our politics, but sadly we live in a world where basically they kind of know it, or feel like they know it, based on your personality… But I’d like to find a way to do it without a parent questioning what I’m doing.
BOB
And inclusivity means not only racial and socioeconomic, but also with abilities. We talked a little before about how music education often excludes kids with disabilities, or with less “natural talent,” or whatever. I have been involved in choir concerts where I had to stop people from moving microphones away from the kid who didn’t match pitch as well. Some of my most dedicated students didn’t match pitch well, and always sang loudly. I received a message from a parent after a concert thanking me for including them. But not everyone was happy.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Merged with discussions revolving around the need to be more inclusive is the theme of parental involvement – the good kind being support, and the bad kind inducing fear. At the core is the sense of overwhelming responsibility and strong desire to introduce new thinking in order to make things better – to do the right thing. This strong desire is laced with hesitation stemming from concerns that parents will not be supportive, will not be happy with results, will be critical. This negative, critical stance is explored further as the scope broadens.
SOPHIE
I had this project sprung on me last week, where suddenly I had to send recordings of Christmas songs to a radio station – they’re going to play them on the radio. That was fun, trying to throw that together at the last minute! I made the recording, but we had one rehearsal and then we recorded. When we listened back to it, the kids could hear how the quality wasn’t that great, and some were singing out of tune, and part of me wanted to rearrange them, and put the kids who sang best in the front, so you could hear them better, and others in the back. But then I thought, I don’t want kids to feel self-conscious about singing, I want them to enjoy music, and I want them to want to learn music, and it’s not about stroking my ego trying to make it seem like I have this polished program – this is a school ensemble, it’s not a professional ensemble.
EDEN
You know, kids are quite sophisticated and knowledgeable, and they judge themselves pretty harshly. So, if we’re going to be successful at this endeavor to make sure that everyone’s voice is heard, we have to become a society that’s less critical when we hear everyone’s voice. We have to take care in the way we speak about performances, and as they’re preparing for performance. Kids can hear which performances are best, and will automatically judge, since that’s what they hear us do. We need to reframe how we’re going to do this, so that people come away feeling positive about their contributions in music making.
MARY
I run into this as a piano teacher, the students judging themselves. I teach a few adult beginners, and adult beginners often ask, “I don’t have to play at recitals, do I?” With kids, playing in recitals is just part of taking piano lessons. But adults can be super self-critical, and frequently apologize for their playing, and are afraid or embarrassed to play in front of others. I wish these adults could find other ways to share their music.
SOPHIE
I have an adult saxophone student like that. He’s doing very well, but won’t play in a recital, and frequently gets down on himself.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. SOPHIE’S MUSIC ROOM - NIGHT
Sophie is giving her ADULT SAXOPHONE STUDENT a private lesson.
ADULT SAXOPHONE STUDENT
I’m not as good as even these kids.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Sophie continues.
SOPHIE
He told me that when he was a child, his mom told him that he wasn’t musically gifted. He realizes now that it was for financial reasons, so she wouldn’t have to pay for lessons. This points to not only how less-wealthy people can’t afford to receive music lessons, but also how people carry this mindset into adulthood, how there are people who are musicians and there are people who are not musicians. He’s playing the saxophone, but he doesn’t consider himself a musician.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Sophie’s adult student implicates his mom, and financial concerns – which comprises a reference to access and inclusion based on money – but Sophie wonders if this heavy self-criticism begins in school.
SOPHIE (cont’d)
We do so much judging of kids, but is that where the focus should be? We judge, we compare, like, which choir is the best? Who’s going to win the competition? Why do we have competitions? I remember reading a famous quote by Bela Bartok, he said, “Competitions are for horses, not artists.” I’ve been thinking a lot about that. Why do we focus on competitions as musicians and teachers? 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?” Why are we not putting more focus on creating new music, and appreciating what everybody has to bring to the table? 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?
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Sophie raises an ethical issue of teachers potentially discouraging and stunting talent and ability in their striving for “excellence.” In a new twist, Sophie points out that some superstars today have unique voices that may be considered “not traditionally beautiful.” Sophie asks us to think differently, be more supportive and appreciative of difference, to be more inclusive, and to do the right thing.
BOB
The challenging kids, the kids with learning disabilities or differences, you know, we should want those kids in our programs. But, inviting them in won’t get you to the elite-level choral program. It should be about increasing participation, and enjoyment. More educators and administrators need to realize that there’s a better way, a friendlier way, and I really think it’s changing. We’re already long past, thank God, the piano teacher with the ruler, who smacks your fingers when you hit the wrong note. And I heard a story the other day about how when they were a kid the dance teacher had a yardstick and would smack them on their knees or the back of their calves. We’re past that, and if we could get the rest of the way out of the elitism game, it’s only going to be for the better.
ELISE
One of my goals as a teacher, especially along the lines of social justice and equity, is centering the marginalized voices in my classroom. 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?” I’m still, embarrassingly, in the beginning stages of my social justice and equity journey, and when I think of some of my students who probably had a conversation with their parents when they were four years old about complying with whatever the police officer says, or something like that, and then thinking, as a white person from a very white state who’s never even thought about stuff like that, how that could ever be an issue, and how I’m getting to choose to start learning about this, versus being something that I had to learn about for my safety and the safety of my child… I’m still grappling with that, I’m still reading, I’m still on social media, in Facebook groups, and listening, listening to the opposing side and trying to understand where they are coming from, not because I think what they’re saying is valid, but, where’s this person coming from and how can I help them see why what they’re saying is so problematic and so reinforcing of the status quo, and cutting off your kids’ access to music and music education, and the invalidating of their life, to some extent. I feel like this is where things get messy. I’m starting to get into social justice and equity conversations, but I still feel kind of all over the place. It’s something I want to continue with in a big way.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
It is interesting to me that Elise expresses embarrassment at what she considers to be her lack of knowledge. Although she is avidly pursuing learning, self-improvement, and ways to make music education more accessible and inclusive, perhaps she feels a sense of overwhelming responsibility to do more, faster. Whereas Elise feels she is at the beginning of her journey, Manny seems to feel more comfortable with his place along the path.
MANNY
I would say in my sixteen years at the high school I have done more listening than talking, and I really have honestly allowed the community and my students and their families to teach me. My high school is 99% Hispanic population with a large percentage of kids who are undocumented, and first- and second-generation families from Central America and from Mexico predominantly, and having learned Spanish and having immersed myself in the culture of Nicaragua during my Peace Corps volunteer experience, I really felt drawn to be at a school where I could serve. And so I’m trying to be the most effective theater arts teacher that I can be, which means really exploring curriculum, what I’m teaching, and kind of like what Bob was saying earlier, why are so many theater arts programs stuck in, you know, it’s Neil Simon and Noel Coward, and they’re more like theater museums, the plays are always from the 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s, and all by white male writers. There was a moment when I had this sort of – I wish it had happened earlier in my career – but I was being very cautious as a new teacher, and I wasn’t using any, for example, same-sex scenes in my classes, because I didn’t want to get in trouble, I didn’t want to ruffle feathers, I didn’t want parents to get involved, and all that. And it was sort of this moment where I realized that by omitting those scenes from my class, I am essentially making a choice as to whether or not I value those relationships. And I was definitely sending a message to my students, whether it was intentional or unintentional. I wish I had made that decision earlier in my career, but I made it, and I decided to include same-sex scenes in my class. And that was sort of the turning point where I started to go, well, what about this, and what about that, and so I was chosen by my district – we’re doing an ethnic studies theater arts hybrid class that we’re creating, and writing the curriculum right now for that class, which was a natural fit for me, especially since this is where I’ve been going for the last few years.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Manny was unable to attend many of our study group sessions, but he covered all the bases succinctly when he spoke. Listening, access and inclusion, overwhelming responsibility, new thinking, transformation, support, trust in teachers, and of course, everyone’s white and/or dead white guys. Manny also broadens the scope of inclusion and exclusion to sexual orientation.
SOPHIE
I have a student from Ghana, and he’s been sharing music from Ghana with us each day at the end of class. It’s really great, and I think a big part of social justice is helping kids to experience real music from other cultures. 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? It isn’t necessarily out of malice, so I’m not sure how big of a deal I should make out of it. I’ve had Native American students in my class, and I’ve had Pow Wow music be compared to screaming and to animal sounds, and so I’m struggling, especially as a first-year teacher, how to address that. It’s not okay, but I also understand this is the first time they are listening to this music, and they don’t really have any experience of music outside of Western pop and rap music – that’s what they mostly listen to. And I know we’ve talked about how sometimes social emotional learning and diversity, equity, and inclusion are just for show in schools, or at least it’s not done to the fullest extent that it can be. I’m on my school’s diversity team, and I think we genuinely try to show kids other cultures, especially at the elementary school level, but it’s really hard to get in depth about different cultures, it’s often more like, this is what it is, “This is how they say ‘Hello’ in the morning.” So, it seems to be just for showmanship, lots of talk about diversity but I don’t see it in their curriculum, where there’s a heavy focus on American history. We have Native American history month, but there’s like one paragraph about Native Americans, even though there are hundreds of different tribes throughout the Americas. One thing comes out of administration’s mouth, but another thing is said through the curriculum. Not just in music, which of course is all focused around Western music, music notation, Western performance practices, but in the general classrooms as well. I want to have more of a voice to speak out about it, but I’m just a first-year teacher and all the other teachers are much more established.
ELISE
My first year I was crying every day, because I had no idea what was going on, so I just want to shout out to Sophie and say I admire you for what you are doing in your first year. I was just trying to keep my head above water, so for you to be taking all this on, and thinking about curriculum, that’s really awesome and admirable.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
This nature of support from peers was frequent during group discussions.
EDEN
Meanwhile in my city we’re part of a school district that’s made national headlines several times over the past few years, because diversity, equity, and inclusion have been voted out. We are not allowed to have anything that implies there’s a “safe space,” or pride flag, because that implies that other classrooms are not safe, and so the community’s totally polarized and there’s chaos. Since I’m a private teacher now, I’m in a place where I can do work that’s not permitted elsewhere, and so I’m getting calls from parents desperate to get their child in music education out of the public school. To be fair, it’s not the teachers or even the administrators at the schools, it’s all at the political community level. I’ve been doing this kind of work in different ways, as an anthropologist, this is what you talk about all the time. So, I’ve been talking about diversity and culture and race for thirty years. Incorporating it into my piano studio is interesting because everyone who comes to me wants their children to learn Western classical music, and so you have to admit that in the Baroque era you’re going to be talking about Germany and Austria. And so, I try to frame things properly and present them in such a way that it doesn’t seem that they are the center of everything and other parts of the world are to be ignored. I don’t want to center Europe or center Christianity and make it seem like other cultures are different. Of course, there’s only so much time considering I also have to teach them piano technique and artistry and get them ready for auditions… I do try to have all my students play music from South Korea and Japan and from the African diaspora… So, I strive to achieve a balance. There are broader goals, having them understand and appreciate humanity, but then there’s also a recital on Saturday that we are preparing for.
EXT. CITY SCHOOL BUILDING - DAY
SIGHTS and SOUNDS of the end of a school day. SCHOOL CHILDREN exiting, ADULTS lining them up, some holding MEGAPHONES CALLING orders, PARENTS picking up kids in cars, a school bus…
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ELISE’S MUSIC CLASSROOM - DAY
Elise PLAYS the flute, then sits at her desk in her empty classroom.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen.
ELISE (sets down her instrument)
It was through a connection that I was able to get my first teaching job in the city, which is not the easiest place to get a music teaching job. Luckily, when I started, we had a new chancellor, who did want to open up a lot of elementary music programs, so I was really just in the right place at the right time, to be able to start a full time music teaching career here.
DENNIS
Nice.
ELISE
But it was tough my first year. My ex-husband at the time said that I came home every day and cried with how frustrated I was, and, like, how lonely it is.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Many of the teachers expressed that at some point in their career they wanted to quit. Elise also expressed feelings of loneliness and isolation.
ELIZABETH
My first year was very difficult for me, too. I always knew teaching was challenging, but my first teaching experience was way different than I was mentally prepared for. I pretty much ended the year planning on not returning to the school. And then I ended up not getting any job offers over the summer, so I came back. And you know everything happens for a reason, because I’m much happier there now. Obviously, this year is different. (sighs) But in general, my relationships with my coworkers are positive, so that’s good. For me the biggest thing I had to learn from that first year was that the only thing that could really make it better was time. For me, time did help to improve things; I just had to wait it out. Time in the school, time with the kids… and things did get better.
ELISE
For me that first year, trying to figure things out, I was drowning. I couldn’t, you know, I needed something to grab onto and then to build from. It took me a few years, really. I feel like I just taught the same year, several times. But then little by little I was able to move stuff around and put stuff in, and that made things more interesting, and different. Sometimes teaching the same lessons over and over can be the lifeboat you need to have the space for creativity. Once I understood my K-5 Kodaly curriculum – I started out teaching it just as it was written, exactly verbatim – but then after a while I was like, okay, well, we’re going to get rid of this and change that and move this around, but I’ll keep like 20% of it. And that gave me the space to be creative.
BOB
And creativity is so important. There’s so much more to teaching than just, you know, the night before, Sunday evening, coming up with this word-for-word lesson plan, and then, you know, shoving it down everyone’s throat. Teachers have to have the ability to move on their feet, and improvise, at a moment’s notice, especially in the music classroom. And that was my favorite part of teaching middle school choir. “Oh, we now have an issue that we need to solve! Okay, cool! Let’s friggin’ figure it out!” Not, “No, no, no, no, no. Page 5, measure 40, do it again!” That’s not how it’s going to be. No, it’s gotta be so much more improvisational.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Bob focused the conversation toward compliance versus spontaneity and creativity in line with interests. I take it a step further and direct it toward student voice.
DENNIS
When you use the word, improvisational, what I’m hearing is improvisation in our responses to the kids, right? Which essentially implies listening to them. And that’s what seems to be so hard, is to actually listen to kids. In my reading, Peter McLaren, one of these sociologists who studied classrooms and wrote about them, at one point counted the number of times that teachers asked for a student opinion, but then essentially shushed the kid soon after they started talking. You know, “Oh, no, that’s not what I meant,” or, “Oh, no, you can’t talk about that at school,” or, “That’s not appropriate for the classroom.” So, it’s like, no, no, we really didn’t want your opinion.
SOPHIE
But it’s hard to relinquish that control you have over what you feel like is your job, and the people that you’re in charge of. And I also think that, like with how our education system is currently set up, students aren’t necessarily in a good position to voice their concerns or their dissent. Sometimes when I ask my students questions, they just give me the answer that they think I want. I don’t know if I’ve subconsciously trained them, or just all of schooling. 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.”
BOB
In one of the Facebook posts from earlier today, it’s the same situation, a middle school choir director trying to get the kids to make any kind of sound, when they sang, and somebody suggested, I thought it was a really cool idea, like, once a week or maybe once a month, this director does a “high and low,” where every kid or whoever wants to share gets to say one really cool thing that’s happened in their life over the weekend, or whatever, and maybe one really sad thing. And she said it’s really been the sad things that have got the kids coming together, and “Oh, I had that, too!” or, “My cat died,” or “My grandpa died, too.” I think it’s about getting kids to understand other kids, different from themselves.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Teachers frequently talk about the importance of developing positive and meaningful relationships with students.
DENNIS
I’ve learned that it can be very difficult to get kids to even think about talking about things that bother them. I think on one hand, they probably have some sort of feeling that it’s just impossible, like if they don’t have things that they want, they’re just at the mercy of adults and parents and teachers and principals, and there’s nothing they can say that’s going to change their minds or make things different or whatever. 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? Possible, but not likely. I remember having a conversation with one class trying to figure out how to convince them that they could try to do something to make a change, and it took a lot of effort to get any response, and I think we finally got that they wished they had certain playground equipment. That was one topic that became genuine. Another topic revolved around bullying, but with that, they hear a lot about bullying at school, so it’s hard to tell what they really felt, versus what they were repeating from hearing adults talk about it.
SOPHIE
I have this girl, a fifth-grader, who was asking me how to write the song for our project. I have a little poem template in case they don’t want to think of their own lyrics, because I understand that that can be a lot for them to handle, and you just have to erase the things in the parentheses, and just put in your information, and she’s refusing.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. SOPHIE’S MUSIC CLASSROOM - DAY
FEMALE CHILD faces Sophie.
FEMALE CHILD
I don’t want to do that!
SOPHIE
Okay, well, you have to write a song about something you like, or something that is about you.
FEMALE CHILD
I did. I wrote a song about my little brother.
SOPHIE
But that was just a remake of Frosty the Snowman, just putting your brother's name in the song instead of Frosty. That’s not really the project.
Female Child throws a tantrum.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Sophie continues.
SOPHIE
She had a complete meltdown about it. And so, she didn’t get anything done, and I later felt like I kind of invalidated her viewpoint, or what she thought was important to herself.
BOB
And that’s going to happen.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Striving to give students a voice seems to be one of the most challenging aspects of teaching. This is especially true in environments where students are expected to follow strict rules and do as they are told. Compliance. Teachers wanting to follow students’ interests, give students more voice, seem to run into conflicting feelings stemming from the overwhelming responsibility to teach students life lessons, including obedience and respect for others.
MARY
I was just talking to my fiancé last night about this student that I am having behavior issues with. She’s only five, and so part of it is, 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? It’s not the most ideal setting for sure, but I do what I can to keep us moving and doing different activities. We go back and forth between playing things and writing in her theory book. But I realized I’ve been kind of putting up with some behaviors from her where she’ll just ignore me or cut me off mid-sentence with, “Oh, what’s that?” Which is kind of typical five-year-old stuff. But I was thinking, well, I should probably do something about it, because learning music can help a student learn respect – and I don’t just mean, like, “I’m older than her, she should respect me” – but respect the instrument, respect the fact that you’re taking a lesson… And I’m kind of curious how to work on that with her, without just saying, “Pay attention!” You know, I’d like to get to the root, not just, “I’m annoyed with you; listen to me.” But “I want to help you develop as a person.”
DENNIS
I have a student right now who’s a real challenge, and I feel the same way, like if we just make them do it, then all we’re doing is asking for compliance, essentially. Sometimes I have the urge to say, “You should respect your teacher.” But then with all the abusive situations that go on, you know, we don’t want kids just blindly obeying authority, just because “they say so.” It’s a struggle I have. I tend to avoid the stern voice or regret it when I do use it out of frustration or lack of thinking through a better way.
KERRIE
I get really haired out about discipline or classroom management only when somebody comes into my room. In terms of how the classroom runs most of the time, there’s moments where we have to come back, and that happens because we’re trying to get through the lesson, and I just wait, or say, you know, can we please just move on, or whatever, and that always happens. But the minute that somebody else is in my room, especially an administrator, I’m like, “Oh, my God, I must be a shitty teacher!” And I’m, you know, “I’m not able to handle my classroom,” and blah blah blah.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Kerrie feels confident in her teaching abilities until what should be support enters her classroom.
SOPHIE
An art teacher once said to me, “Every single child walking into this building is somebody’s baby.” I’ll never forget that, and it changed me. Children can be frustrating, or their behaviors can be frustrating, but this is someone’s child, and they love this child. So, I’m not going to let it get to me, I’m going to figure out the best way to deal with it, I’m not going to send this child away angry or scarred. And hopefully they will go home after school today to a loving home.
INT. KERRIE’S MUSIC CLASSROOM - DAY
Kerrie PLAYS an Orff xylophone.
KERRIE (continues to play)
My teaching was transformed when I started taking my Orff levels. My teaching became a lot less teacher centered and a lot more student centered, more playful. I had been trained as a multiple subjects teacher, and basically there’s no pedagogy for my job, it’s like the Wild West out there, everyone comes from a different place – I was a jazz saxophone player, and another teacher friend of mine is a rock star, and many are classically trained musicians. In my early teaching, following the curriculum that was given to me, I kept feeling, “This is really boring.” You know, the book, the classroom environment, whatever’s going on, it just really sucks. So, I tried it that way, but when I started exploring Orff and then taking my Orff levels, yeah, that was a big eye opener.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Teachers seem enlivened when they tell their stories of learning and transformation.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Kerrie SOUNDS a final musical note; then sets down her instrument.
BOB
Definitely my first ever, level one, somatic voicework, with Jeanie LoVetri, transformed everything. I felt, “Oh, my gosh, I’m home. This is my tribe.” She was saying things I felt in my heart, like respecting all music styles, and classical training is not universally great for all styles, especially for the female voice, and yes! Now someone who has influence and presents at national conferences is saying these things that I’ve thought were true. “That’s it!” Yeah, it was a game changer for me.
ELISE
As a flute player, for a long time I wanted to be a middle school or high school ensemble music director. But then during my student teaching experience my eyes were opened to elementary music education, and it really changed the trajectory of my whole career.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
When teachers talk about their personal – professional – transformations, the moments they came to see things differently, the learning they experienced and the discoveries they made that significantly improved their practice, the excitement, enthusiasm, and sense of pride of accomplishment shines into evidence.
MARY
I’ve mentioned self-efficacy. Not long ago I hadn’t understood that term. I understood self-esteem. Learning more about self-efficacy, what it really meant, to understand the importance of the fundamental belief in oneself that you can accomplish things, that became an ideal to strive for with my piano students. Before that I figured my students were either musical or they were not. Now, I strive with every student, whether it’s learning music, sharing music, performing in recitals, whatever it is, I try to help them develop that inner self-efficacy. And it’s really changed a lot of things for me and my students.
ELISE
I was having a conversation with my brother about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. He said that in his life he felt that he was mostly extrinsically motivated, and he wasn’t finding this to be a problem. And I said, “Well, that’s white supremacy right there.” And he responded, “Hold on, I don’t understand what you mean.” And I started talking about capitalism and how everything is about pay, and that’s all that you’re working toward, blah blah blah. And I realized that I have these bigger ideas and I’m connecting the dots in my own brain, but having to go through the steps is something I’m not so good at with respect to social justice. In music education I can identify all the steps to go along to get somewhere, but with social justice, I jump to big conclusions, and then I can’t really describe how I got there very well. Yet. So, I’m trying to learn how to see the steps and be more articulate. One of the first books I read on my journey, which I know is a hot button book now, but it was a revelation to me, was White Fragility by DiAngelo. I know there’s issues, it reinforces some things, doesn’t address some things, was written by a white woman, I’ve read articles, but still, reading that book, by a white woman, as a white woman, I did have so many “Aha!” moments of how we aim to protect our colleagues. “Oh, what you said was racist but I’m not going to say anything.” And “Oh, you’re crying now so I’m not going to…” And not confront the issues. And to realize that, and then to be sitting in a staff meeting the next day, and hear the gym teacher make a racist remark, and feel myself back down from it, and then realize, “Oh, there it is, There’s that white fragility right there.” I feel it happening, I see it in the room, I see some people making a face, and some people are texting on their phone and not caring at all… To see that reinforced so clearly, that was just – the whole book was just a huge “Aha!” moment for me.
SARAH
At some point you realize the term “colorblind” is offensive. To tell someone I’m not racist because I’m colorblind is saying I don’t see or recognize any difference. So, if there’s no difference, then there’s no reason to strive to make changes. That realization was an “Aha!” moment for me.
EDEN
“What? There’s an entire Eastern classical tradition? Dance, and music, and they have a completely different tonal system?” Combining anthropology with music made me realize there is no one way. Ever since then, I’ve become more accustomed to little transformations. Little “Aha!” moments, all the time. I expect them now, so they don’t feel shocking. Every moment there’s the potential I’m going to figure out that there’s another thing that I hadn’t considered.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Eden reinforces 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?
ELISE
I like to use the word, react. Doug Goodkin, who’s an Orff, California guy, wrote a book called, Teach Like It’s Music, and teaches ideas similar to what my Kodaly teachers were getting at, the idea of a lesson being a musical experience, a cathartic experience. Similar to what we would want when experiencing a concert, as adults. So, I think about that with my kids, different types of auditory experiences, in a musical classroom, all the way from the loudest thing they hear all day to giving them moments of silence, to feel the breath in the room and that sort of thing. We have this opportunity to give them experiences and elicit reactions that might not come in their math class, or even their lunchtime.
DENNIS
Yes! I’ve read some of Doug’s work, and I’ve taken sessions with him at conferences. He is terrific.
KERRIE
I went to Doug Goodkin’s jazz Orff level, I did a week with him at the San Francisco school, and it opened my eyes. I’m a jazz saxophone player, and learning how to connect those dots and approach music education from that angle and teach my kids these kinds of things, and you know, “Oh, I don’t have to teach things that I don’t know about, I can do things that I can do, things that I feel are valuable.” So, yeah, Doug’s a good guy.
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen. Elizabeth is repairing and cleaning a trumpet.
ELIZABETH (sets down the instrument)
Our district does pay for all our music teachers to go to our state conference every year, which is really nice. I typically also go to a regional conference out of my own pocket, just because I really enjoy going. I am actually on our district’s professional development committee, and we take surveys from the teachers, things they are struggling with, things they feel they need more training on, and trying to source our professional developments that way. This is the first year that we’ve had an instructional coach in our building, so this year our PD has been kind of in bite-sized chunks in staff meetings. We’ll have our thirty minute staff meeting after student dismissal, sometimes it’s logistics of this, or things we need to discuss as a staff, and then next week it will be a short PD on behavior intervention. That is hugely helpful, I think, because it’s been consistent now. I know it’s hard for schools to get teachers to want to spend two hours in a PD session, when everything else is so much energy consuming, but we’ve done a lot of those bite-sized sessions this year so far. Now, our PD is not always applicable to music teachers or arts teachers in general, so I’m trying to reframe how I’m looking at professional development. 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? Going forward, I know we have a lot of not-super-exciting PD coming up because our state is rolling out a new evaluation system, so we’re going to have to do a lot of PD on how that evaluation system is going to work. They’re doing a lot of revamping of how we are evaluated on our data, which, as a music teacher, stresses me out, because, at least in my experience, we don’t use, and were never taught anything about how to use data in our classroom.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Teachers express the desire for worthwhile professional development frequently. Elizabeth raises both features of and questions about professional development at her school. On one hand, they are asking teachers for input, they have added on-site support in the way of an instructional coach, and they are striving to make things convenient for teachers, offering PD in “consistent, bite-sized chunks.” On the other hand, PD is often a code-word – or cover – for onboarding activities: staff meetings, planning and logistics, rules and procedures, statutory compliance, new policies, new curriculum rollouts, etc. One has to wonder, why are teachers pleased that professional development is limited to thirty-minute sessions? If I were in a music education workshop with Doug Goodkin or Jeanette LoVetri, I would want the session to last all day, perhaps all week.
ELISE
Within my school, the professional development that we receive comes from two main teams in my school. One of them is the RULER team, which is social emotional learning, but it’s not just social emotional learning, it’s a whole community perspective, it’s a whole way of life. It comes from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and it’s a whole way of thinking about our emotions, how we deal with those emotions, recognizing emotions in ourselves and others, and how we present those, how we talk about those, how we validate those… So the RULER team often gives professional development, and it’s interesting, I thought RULER was just a school thing, something you do with elementary school students, but when I started therapy, my therapist referenced RULER, and asked if I knew of this way of thinking about your emotions, and I was able to say, “Actually I do, because my school does that.” So, this is a big thing you can study, even as an adult trying to deal with your own emotions. The other professional development that we receive through my school is through the equity team, which I’m a member of. It’s been a very slow rollout, and this is only my first year on the team, so I don’t feel like I have much to say about it, but we are putting out what feels meaningful and significant to us right now, and turn-keying what we can for the staff, and pursuing somebody who has been doing this work for much longer than us to be a staff educator with us, or for us. I am also a member of our city’s music educators’ association, the Kodaly association, a local Orff chapter, and I just registered to attend my previous state’s conference. My school gives me the day to attend, and provides a sub, and I still get paid, but they’ve never made any effort to pay for any of it. This year I went to my principal about it, and she said, yes, they’d cover the fee at least.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
The degree to which teachers participate in the life of their schools, including professional development, not only demonstrates the high degree of commitment and dedication to their communities, but also reinforces the responsibility teachers feel for their own learning, self-education, and journey of discovery. This lends further credence to the calls to trust teachers and the teaching profession and respect and honor teachers.
SOPHIE
We had mandatory professional development during my student teaching, so we had different seminars with college professors and other people they’d bring in about various things, like trauma-informed teaching, teaching LGBTQ history, that sort of thing. And we have PLC right now every Wednesday morning, but we don’t do a whole lot for PLC as a “specials” team. We kind of just plan our assemblies, and then talk about students who need intervention, and that’s it. I’ve only met with the other music teachers in the district once over Zoom, and it was basically just talking about whether or not we should do concerts during COVID, so. We’ve had a few professional development days as a district, and some for new teachers, but they’ve been mostly about topics like classroom management, standards-based grading – we had a whole day on that – and parent-teacher conferences. A lot of the topics apply mostly to regular classroom teachers, data and numbers and testing; not a whole lot applied to music or the arts.
KERRIE
Our district does not provide any professional development, but I have gone to some music education conferences, and I took Orff levels to get certified. I took some classes at Mindful Schools, a few years ago, to facilitate mindfulness in the classroom with my kids.
BOB
Other than attending Jeanie’s sessions – and I’ve gone about every year for about fifteen years – I attended and presented at the APME, Association for Popular Music Education, I’m in that group. I attended a virtual conference for voice teachers. And I really try to keep tabs on what’s being discussed on the Facebook forums. That’s where you and I met, Dennis. (nods)
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Compare the enthusiasm and excitement teachers express toward worthwhile, self-directed professional development that leads to real learning and transformative experiences, versus those onboarding activities disguised as PD that are mandatory, tedious, and often not even useful.
SARAH
Before COVID, I went to the state music education conference. During COVID, a lot of the teachers in my area got together via Zoom, and we shared some things with each other, but other than that, we don’t really have any professional development. One thing, though, our school partners with the city’s philharmonic orchestra, which I would say is a kind of a huge professional development, because I meet with them and we do roundtable discussions, and a performance, once a year, together. But we do it through four different meetings, to discuss the needs in our schools, the needs for students… So, I consider that professional development, because I’m meeting with five other teachers to discuss our areas of issue, and how we’re all improving in those areas. Other than that, most of my PD is not music related. I’ve been doing a lot of social emotional learning, but more on my own.
EDEN
In addition to conferences and workshops, I spent a lot of time on the Internet watching videos and reaching out to people. Irina Gorin has been a big influence. I completed some of her workshops. I watched some Suzuki teachers to glean what I could from them. We have master teachers, I’m about an hour and a half from a school where I’ve been able to observe some teachers. But I’ve backed off of all those intentionally, because I find myself getting stressed out about what I can’t do. There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to incorporate everything that I know I should do. The constant learning and watching and trying to be somebody else is unhealthy for me. I’ll never have a studio – it’s not my personality – where I only take children whose parents will work with them a half hour a day. It’s not good for me to constantly try to make my six year old students do what I know other teachers could make them do. That’s not the relationship I have with my families. So, I backed off of the professional stuff, because I was finding it a little stressful, and I’m sitting in who I am now.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Eden raises a different specter, the potential dichotomy representing the receipt of too much knowledge without the time or bandwidth to implement that knowledge. It’s worth noting that Eden identifies the problem, takes charge of her own self-care, focuses on the needs of her students, and relies on positive and meaningful relationships with students and parents, in order to reduce the effects of feelings of overwhelming responsibility.
INT. MUSIC STUDIO - NIGHT
Bob JAMS on an electric guitar, having fun with hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, and slides.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
BOB (finishes playing; sets down his instrument)
We need to give public school music teachers permission to teach all styles of music. We need to inform them that it’s socially an injustice to the vast majority of students, to teach only one or two styles of music. Soon, white people will no longer be the majority in K-12 education in the United States, so it stands to reason that we should move away from the mindset that we only teach the music of dead white guys.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Latinos already are the majority ethnic group in California, according to the 2020 census. Bob puts a spin on everyone’s white – it won’t be true forever.
BOB (cont’d)
And if that’s the case, then why is white Western European music still being held in this place of the be-all, end-all, for music education in this country? It’s really only just one thing, and it’s elitist, and I could go on and on, so I’ll just stop there. (beat) No I won’t. (laughs) Seriously, all music styles should be equally respected. Not just one or two. I know we have these centering terms, like Mary suggested, the defaults. So classical music is the default style, and everything else is “non-classical” music. Jeanie LoVetri coined the term CCM, contemporary commercial music, to get away from using the non-classical descriptor for anything that wasn't classical. It’s racially and culturally important that we do more rock & roll, pop, rap, hip hop, and you know, insert “world music” or whatever genre – the music that is native to any continent or to any group of people is important. We need to become comfortable with the genres of music important to our students. That’s social justice.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Bob ties together the importance of inclusion with that of student interests.
EDEN
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? When I worked at the Quaker school, because Quaker schools are truly beacons of diversity, I mean, that’s what they do, like, the number one thing you’re going to get at a Quaker school is you’re going to talk about diversity all day long. And so, if you’re Muslim in our area, if you’re Jewish in our area, you go to the Quaker school. Because that’s where your faith and your holidays are going to be respected. So, in my piano studio there, it was about one third each, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian, so the two holidays we would celebrate which were recognized by all three groups, were Halloween and Valentine’s Day. So, we decided we’re not going to do anything that not all the kids can participate in. Then I moved away from the Quaker school, and suddenly I had all Christian children, so we played a lot of Christmas music. Now, I have a Jehovah’s Witness student, so, we’re just having an end of year recital and I’m not renting a church. So, I’ll give an end of the year gift with a thankfulness theme, as opposed to a Christmas gift. I don’t care what we do, because it’s not about me, it’s about my kids and my kids’ feeling okay about who they are in the world, about feeling like they can 100% participate in the community.
MARY
Why not share holiday traditions?
DENNIS
I agree. To me, being inclusive is, “Everyone’s different so we’re going to try to do a little bit of everything,” versus being exclusive, which is, “Everyone’s different so we’re not going to recognize anything.”
MARY
I can see how a teacher would want to avoid giving the impression that one tradition is the default tradition, and all the other traditions are more exotic. But I can also see how it might be possible to include everyone and pull it off without making it appear that way.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
This is a tricky topic, and there are diverse, strong opinions among teachers. Still, while solutions may differ, teachers are trying to solve the same problem: teachers are striving toward the end goal of inclusion, of students feeling included rather than excluded, at school.
BOB
Several years ago, I had a Jehovah’s Witness student in choir, and I wanted her to be able to participate in the concert, so I altered a few lyrics to take “Jesus'' out of the carols and songs. And I get a phone call from a conservative dad. I’m like, “Dude, I’m just trying to provide an opportunity for this twelve-year-old child.” And he comes back with, “Uh, why do we always gotta take the heat?” “What?” “Yeah, there’s a war on Christianity and it seems like the good guys are always taking the heat lately.” Whatever, I mean, that wasn’t exactly his verbiage but that was his intent. Good guys? Just because you wrote the history books, right?
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Solutions become even trickier and more difficult when community values and perspectives differ widely or differ from our own. In particular, Jehovah’s Witness – or JW – students are a frequent discussion topic, and a challenge for many teachers. If we respect their traditions, it might mean that we’re unable to represent anyone else’s traditions. If we represent anyone else’s traditions, it might mean excluding the JW student, who is typically not allowed to participate.
SOPHIE
In my state right now, there are some senators introducing legislation, similar to other states, to control and micromanage what schools and teachers can teach in relation to history, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and one of the senators said that we didn’t want any fairy tales, like the 1619 Project, just straight facts and history. What we learned is viewed as normal, and anything that teaches other peoples’ history, or other perspectives about history, is considered political. So, I think I’ll have to look for another job in another state within a couple of years.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
A variation on I want to quit is I need to move. Again, widely differing values and perspectives on specific political and education topics can introduce high levels of conflict and discord among communities across the country. Sophie’s predicament on one hand highlights the lack of trust in teachers and the teaching profession, and also introduces a less-discussed topic with respect to our government’s involvement in education policy and practice. What happens when governments are wrong? What happens when governments and school boards do not do the right thing? Similar to Elise’s earlier story of the racist gym teacher, Sophie may be pondering taking action in an attempt to demand that the right thing be done.
MARY
And being inclusive is not only related to different cultures and ethnicities, but also to students of different abilities, for example those who aren’t going to go on to become performance majors and just want to make music.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
This time Mary expands inclusion to include abilities.
SOPHIE
My principal shared with me that there are several students who can’t get into the gifted program because they are always one or two, or even a half of a point too low on the test. And these students are all students of color, and almost all of the students in the gifted program are white. I know I’ve also heard that IQ tests were developed to prove that white men were superior to everyone else. And I wanted to believe that surely we are not using tests like that anymore. But I looked on our website and yes, they are using tests initially developed by those same people, even though they have been revised over time. But can you actually make something that was inherently racist and classist and sexist into something that is no longer any of those things?
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Sophie asks a question similar to the one I will pose in Chapter 8 of my dissertation. 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? That question leads me to probe more deeply the nature of institutional change, transformation, and paradigm shifts, and a lead-in to an application of Theory of Change in the realm of education.
SOPHIE (cont’d)
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? 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? Because it feels like we just keep adding more and more and more work with minimal results. So maybe it’s time to think of a completely new system to operate under. Like Bob was saying, maybe we shouldn’t use those tests, because those tests are discriminatory, and it seems like a lot of this is based off of capitalistic means, like the testing companies can make money and the school district can make money… But why is that our focus? Why isn’t it just the pure enjoyment of education and of learning that’s our focus?
DENNIS
I love the way you phrase that, the joy of education, the joy of learning. And I agree, I’m an advocate for tearing the whole thing down and starting over. I’m a “defund the police” advocate as well.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
However, again in Chapter 8, I will discuss why tearing it all down is not my preferred choice in my Theory of Change for education.
BOB
In the choir director Facebook groups, every year, around March or April people start asking for holiday music suggestions, planning their programs for the upcoming Christmas and holiday season. And I always think, “You have no idea what kids are going to be in front of you, and what they can do.” I mean, I know planning is necessary to some degree, but…
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Bob refocuses on teaching the student in front of you.
EDEN
And how many times do we break our own rule, and get excited about something, and then we think, “Oh, we’re going to do this!” And then it always backfires on me. The child in front of you is the child you have. And you can only think so far ahead; who they are this year isn’t going to be who they are next year.
BOB
In the choir world if that happens, Eden, you know, maybe we ditch the bass and tenor parts, maybe we just sing in unison, we’ll still do the song. We’re not going to do all four parts or all three parts… Let’s all sing the melody, and you know what? That’s okay. You’ll still love it.
DENNIS
We have a tendency in education to design curriculum and then fit the kids into the curriculum, rather than consider the children in front of us, and determine what curriculum is best for them, what are their individual needs.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
This is the standards movement at its core. But is equity achieved by everyone “getting the same thing?” In our study group discussions, teachers have less stressed the application of sameness toward students – as Bob suggested earlier, not shoving the same thing down everyone’s throat – and more stressed the ability of teachers to recognize and respond to student differences in order to include, honor, respect, and meet individual students’ needs, desires, and interests.
EDEN
The heartbreaking part is what some of you indicated before about how at the basic levels of music instruction, some children would be excluded. I just can’t comprehend that teachers would have the heart to not want someone to sing out, or… I mean, I understand the need, if you have a high school with 5,000 kids, it might make sense to have an advanced band for kids who have been playing for ten years, who can do much more than the kids who are just beginning, but to not allow the kid who is just beginning the chance to play in the ensemble, I can’t fathom.
MARY
That kind of blows my mind, too. It’s a bummer.
SOPHIE
Another thing about being at a big high school with a very successful band program is that they might let pretty much anybody join, but at semester, and at the end of the first year, you bet that they were trying to go through and make cuts and push some of the kids to quit.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. BAND ROOM - DAY
Sophie and her COOPERATING TEACHER are discussing.
COOPERATING TEACHER
Well, they’re not practicing, they’re not putting in the work, they don’t know how to play the notes they should have learned at the beginning of the year, so they shouldn’t be in band.
SOPHIE (O.S.)
But then she’d make other comments, too.
COOPERATING TEACHER
And this kid, no, no, no. This kid’s just not meant to be a musician.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are online. Sophie continues.
SOPHIE
I don’t know that you can really say that; maybe it’s just the environment, because honestly, I hated being there most days, and I don’t understand how a sixth or seventh grader would enjoy being in that class. Plus, how can you quantify whether they’re a musician or not? Just because they didn’t thrive on that instrument that you put them on – because sometimes they don’t even get to choose their instrument… There should be more opportunities within the secondary setting to make different kinds of music; it shouldn’t just be band and choir.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
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?
DENNIS
And I’m thinking about how we use auditions to exclude kids. Auditions for ensembles, for musicals, for performances, for the “elite” groups. What is an audition but a process to intentionally include some people and exclude other people?
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Let’s think for a moment about the ways our education system is designed to exclude people. We talk about education as the “great equalizer.” But so much of what we do in education does not equalize, but differentiates, and excludes. We assign grades and test scores, we pass and fail, we calculate GPAs, we tell students they are excellent, poor, or average, we segregate by grade level, we promote, graduate, and hold back, we give diplomas versus GEDs, we have prerequisites, auditions, and entrance requirements, we have regular, honors, and advanced placement courses, we track students, we designate English Language Learners, we differentiate between special needs, mainstream, and gifted and talented students, we hold contests and competitions, we have winners and losers, we give awards, we suspend and expel students, we designate Distinguished and Blue Ribbon schools, we classify neighborhoods by the quality of schools tracked on websites and databases, and we charge money for events, trips, and activities that not all can afford or attend. The area where we should differentiate, with respect to individualized instruction, meeting student needs, student desires, student interests, is the area we differentiate the least, with standards and predefined curriculum, and where we do try, we struggle. Free Appropriate Public Education, or FAPE, laws strive toward a worthy goal, but their very existence highlights the deficiencies that exist. Our education system requires oversight from government and pressure from laws to operate inclusively; it does not do this sufficiently out of its own nature and design.
SOPHIE
In high school the long-standing band director had been let go, and the new director stopped doing seating auditions and assigned parts and put us all on a rotation instead. At first it was frustrating, because I knew I was better than some of the other players, even as a freshman, and I wanted to be recognized for it. I know it was my ego talking. But our band at that time was fifty students, and over the next few years, it quadrupled to 200. They have three or four different ensembles now. He’s put a lot of work into the program, and I think he created an environment that was more equitable, and where everyone felt like they could succeed, and weren’t trashed or depressed because they’ll never play anything but third part or whatever. The theater department had a similar problem, because once you were type-cast that was it. There was a chubby kid who was always cast in the goofy roles; he was never cast as a lead, even though he was a great singer and really wanted a lead role. He became very demoralized watching others who were “more attractive” get all the lead roles. I think we could encourage more participation and boost student confidence if we did things differently.
ELISE
I’m going to disagree a little bit but tell me if I’m wrong. If a student comes to an ensemble with years of experience and excellent skills, they could be spotlighted or showcased. For example, we did a musical, pre-pandemic, and I had a Junior Olympian who could do flips and jumps and amazing stuff. The musical was about King Arthur, and there were court jesters, and so I cast this student as a jester, and she did all these acrobatics on stage, and was able to be showcased in this way. So, I think, while I believe in decreasing barriers, if students come in with background experience or special performance skills, I don’t think that light should be dimmed.
SOPHIE
Oh, definitely not. I think that showcasing someone’s skills or knowledge is different than casting someone based on their appearance or stereotyping them.
ELISE
Right, I meant more about the issue of letting all students play all the time, equally, and not giving special opportunities to the kids who come in with special talents and abilities.
SOPHIE
True. My band director did hold auditions for the really hard solos, and so he still showcased students who were working really hard, but it just meant that all the other players weren’t stuck on only playing the easiest parts, only playing whole notes and never getting to experience other challenges.
DENNIS
I think you’re both right. We don’t have to stop showcasing individual abilities just because we are striving to include all students who wish to participate.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
At the same time, this discussion highlights dichotomies related to presentation of talent, skills, and abilities. On one hand, it seems natural that we want to honor, reward, and publicly present students with exceptional abilities, and students who have worked very hard. 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?
KERRIE
Also, prerequisites. If a student doesn’t have the prerequisite knowledge to take a class, it might make it more difficult, depending on how the class is set up. I don’t know that it’s right to completely exclude someone, because they might be able to catch up. But if all the other students are able to, say, read music, and one student can’t, it’s going to be difficult for that student. There is a case for prerequisites in terms of letting more advanced students go farther for themselves. If other students are given an alternative that’s more appropriate to their level of expertise, then I guess that’s okay. Not as a way of excluding them, but you know, to prepare them for the next level.
ELISE
I totally agree with all that. And it makes me think of that whole “bonus points for private lessons” thing that so many directors recommend, which is actually ridiculous, too.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
The “bonus points for private lessons” problem stems from teachers who give “extra credit” to students who take private lessons on their instrument outside of school. Not only does this raise concerns about access and equity – wealth buys a better education – but it potentially unfairly rewards students academically for a resource their parents are providing which may be completely outside students’ control. Money, money, money.
ELISE (cont’d)
But anyway, we have to balance these things, for sure. I teach guitar to fifth graders every year, and this year I have a new student who on her first day in class raised her hand, very enthusiastically, and tells everyone how she can play all these instruments.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ELISE’S MUSIC CLASSROOM - DAY
FEMALE STUDENT MUSICIAN, with hand raised, stands.
FEMALE STUDENT MUSICIAN
I play guitar. And I play piano, and harp, and ukulele.
ELISE
Wow! That is so cool!
FEMALE STUDENT MUSICIAN
And I’m learning to play the flute.
ELISE
Nice!
FEMALE STUDENT MUSICIAN
Can I play something on the piano for the class?
ELISE
Oh, sure, that would be awesome! Show and tell! Come on up!
Female Student Musician comes to the front of the classroom, sits decorously at the piano, and begins PLAYING the Bach Cello Suite.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen. Elise continues.
ELISE
She played flawlessly. So the way I decided to deal with this is she’s not a performance student in my class – I can’t teach her beyond what she’s getting privately – so she does research projects, and helps teach her classmates, she’s my guitar tutor and helps other kids, because they can see that she can do it already. So, I’m trying to find ways to spotlight students like her who already have abilities and ways to make it more equitable in the classroom. It’s a challenge. It’s a dance, for sure.
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Kerrie PLAYS her saxophone.
KERRIE (setting down her instrument)
I’ve been able to develop really good working relationships with my kids lately. It’s fun; it’s so good. I thought I would lose those relationships during the pandemic. “Oh my God, my kids are now online, I will have no connection to them.” But it turned out to be the opposite, you know, all the SEL stuff they wanted to give teachers when we came back, that just showed up in my classroom anyway. I now have a better relationship with my fourth and fifth graders than I did a couple of years ago. So, it’s been really good.
ELISE
I’m right there with you in all that. I’m in my eighth year teaching now, and last year, the fifth graders who graduated remotely were the ones I’d started in pre-K, for the first time, and so it was very emotional to see them move on and very meaningful to see those who I had worked with for seven years from pre-K. And now this year, same boat, I really thought it was going to be a mess, coming back to school, and I always have kind of a rough relationship with fourth and fifth, I’m much more of a K-2 educator, and this has been the best relationships by far. I would like to say it’s because of the changes that I’ve made in my efforts to build relationships. But this is the best now, even after the year and a half of being remote.
EDEN
I’ve been teaching for quite a while, and I consider it a fantastic job. I feel really lucky to not be working in a corporate office, and I really enjoy the experience of working with individual families, and the ranges of experiences and personal relationships that one can develop. I think my most influential experience is when I worked at the Quaker school as a piano teacher in their after-school program, and they embraced me almost as a full member of the faculty, even though I wasn’t. And so, I was able to engage with a pretty progressive educational community. There’s a lot of discernment, and a lot of conversation that happens around education, educational techniques, best practices, diversity, the way you talk with children…
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
The value teachers place on relationships with students, with parents, and with peers is significant. What if we had more time to get to know our students and their families?
SOPHIE
I think it would be amazing if we had shorter instructional time and more time to socialize with students, and get to know them, because I think that most, or at least at the elementary school level, a lot of the interruptions in class stem from them wanting to get to know you, but they don’t have any constructive time to do it. So, whenever you ask questions in class and then a kid raises their hand and says…
DISSOLVE TO: INT. SOPHIE’S MUSIC CLASSROOM - DAY
STUDENT 1 is raising her hand.
STUDENT 1
Did you know that Mickey Mouse is my favorite Disney character?
SOPHIE
Well, that’s not what I asked at all, but that’s good to know.
SOPHIE (O.S.)
And sometimes they tell you really interesting things. One time we were talking about Native American music and how they cover their ears in Pow Wow music to be able to hear themselves, and my student is like…
STUDENT 2
Yeah, I do that at home, because my parents are always arguing and fighting.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Sophie continues.
SOPHIE
It’s really sad to hear, and it makes sense because her younger brother really struggles a lot in school. But I think it would be wonderful if we were able to structure our day to spend more time getting to know our students, because I think it would actually be more productive during the times that we do see our students. And it would allow them to feel more welcomed in the school environment and that they belong a little bit more. And I think that you’d be able to catch some problems sooner. Because I know as a music teacher, I hear a lot from a lot of different students, and since I see siblings, I’ll know things about the other siblings.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. SOPHIE’S SCHOOL STAFF ROOM - DAY
Sophie, SPECIAL EDUCATION (SPED) TEACHER, and a small group of other teachers are eating lunch.
SPED TEACHER
The boy’s parents are never in contact. They don’t return emails or phone calls. So, I don’t understand what’s going on at home.
SOPHIE
Well, I have his older sister in music class, who isn’t in SPED, and she actually told me a few things…
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Sophie continues.
SOPHIE
So, you’re able to share information better, and by getting to know all the students, you’re better able to assist their siblings or other kids.
ELISE
I have a lot of siblings, too, and I get what you’re saying about learning about their family life from the two siblings. I remember watching a professional development video one time, and what they did was every student who came to the middle school was assigned to an adult, not as a pod that met as a whole group, but that every student had a mentor assigned to them, who may or may not be their classroom teacher or elective teacher at some point. But there was designated time for that adult through their schedule somehow that they met with that student throughout the three or four years that they attended that school, and every week or everyday or every couple of days would check in with them and just have a chat with them, and it seemed like such a great way to build a mentor-to-student or person-to-person relationship, that they’re feeling more attached to the school and have something, like “Oh, I want to go, because I want to tell Miss Elise about that,” or whatever it is.
KERRIE
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?... I really absolutely know nothing about them. Certainly, getting to know our students more intimately would make us much better teachers.
DISSOLVE TO: INT: ELISE’S STUDENT’S BEDROOM - DAY
Elise’s STUDENT is sitting in front of his computer, attending his class over Zoom. There are bunk beds, a desk, and two dressers. Part of the room is neat and tidy, while part of the room is disorganized with things strewn about.
ELISE (O.S.)
With Zoom, we were seeing how our students are living. I’m looking into a kid’s bedroom and seeing the one who’s super organized versus the one who’s got everything thrown everywhere, who’s sharing their bedroom with their sibling.
DISSOLVE TO: INT: ELISE’S MUSIC CLASSROOM - DAY
Elise is leading STUDENTS in music classroom activities.
ELISE (O.S.)
Being back face-to-face, I’m trying to add moments in class where they share things about themselves. We were doing a vocal warmup where they rub their bellies, and then I invited them to share their favorite foods. I found myself guessing what foods they were going to be, but I’m often totally wrong, they’re telling me all these other foods.
ELISE
Oh, that sounds delicious! That sounds so yummy!
ELISE (O.S.)
But it was so interesting to hear the foods they were sharing. And I was teaching Kodaly and working on “so” and “mi” and talking about big brother and little brother, and so then sometimes I ask about their siblings, and some of them don’t have siblings, but they have a dog.
STUDENT 1
I’m so, and my dog is mi.
ELISE
That’s so sweet!
ELISE (O.S.)
It’s so cute, and they really enjoy sharing about their families. We studied a musician of the month, Martha Redbone, she’s half African American and half Native American, and part of her story is that she was born in Brooklyn, New York, but she grew up in Black Mountain, Kentucky with her grandparents. So, I invited students to share who have family that lives in another country, or lives far away, and they go visit. Suddenly I’m hearing about…
STUDENT 2
Egypt!
STUDENT 3
Brazil!
STUDENT 4
Portugal!
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Elise continues.
ELISE
All of these places where my students go to visit their grandparents.
BOB
I always wish I had more time to get to know my students.
DENNIS
Learning about students, getting to know them, and their families, building relationships, and being more inclusive… What about language? I suppose it depends partly on where we teach, but so many students in so many places speak languages other than English in their homes, yet they have to learn in English. English is primary in education.
BOB
And society.
DENNIS
So how exclusive is that? How does that impact relationships and inclusion? And worse, when you look at some of the languages that are treated really less than, you know, like say, Ebonics, or African American English, half the country would mock that language, and say, “Don’t you dare…”
DISSOLVE TO: INT. VARIOUS SCHOOL SETTINGS - DAY
Various TEACHERS and/or SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS are scolding various STUDENTS.
TEACHER/S.A. 1
…speak that way in this situation!
TEACHER/S.A. 2
You can’t talk that way at school.
TEACHER/S.A. 3
That’s gangster language!
TEACHER/S.A. 4
That’s uneducated language!
TEACHER/S.A. 5
You don’t use that low class language here.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Dennis continues.
DENNIS
First, it’s totally false. And second, it’s just wrong. The language that these people use is part of their soul. They raise their kids to love this language. Right? Many do, they’re proud of it – it’s like an art form, a culture. And they have tons of meaning in there that we would never understand because we don’t come from that culture. And then I think to myself, it’s like the same thing we did to, like you’ve been saying, Bob, pop or hip hop, or earlier, ragtime music – “shameless music that’ll take you down to the jungle.” And jazz, you know, it’s the devil’s music. Scumbags play that stuff. 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?” You know, so that it doesn’t go away over time, because people might become ashamed of it, and then, little by little, they lose it… Why aren’t we trying to preserve it, like an endangered species. We just have such backwards attitudes about some things. It makes me angry.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Because this topic is a particular passion of mine, I included it in the screenplay. The insistence on English as the primary – or only – language of education is fundamental to an exclusive education system, not a better education system. Just as the insistence on English as the primary language of society is fundamental to an exclusive society, not a more educated society.
BOB
Our first ever classification of belting was called, “coon shouting.” Because, you know, it’s so opposite of the Western European opera. All head voice and hooty.
DENNIS
Agh. (sighs) I like it all, really. I like opera. I have good friends who are opera singers. Some days I wish I could write an opera. But I also love Ella Fitzgerald, and you know on the piano I play more Scott Joplin than anything else.
BOB
Awesome! It’s hard.
DENNIS
One of my goals in life is to memorize his entire output. I’m maybe about three quarters of the way there. And the last quarter is hard, hard, hard, because it’s just too much in my brain.
BOB
The whole contrast of rhythm between the right hand and the left hand. It’s a bit like Linus and Lucy. That song is a bear, and I’m a drummer. I cannot – even a simple version.
DENNIS
Syncopation is tough. Especially when it’s in both hands.
BOB
And opposite each other.
Ragtime piano music PLAYS.
FADE OUT: INTERMISSION
FADE IN: EXT. ELISE’S HOUSE - DAY
It’s been snowing.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Elise and Dennis are on screen.
DENNIS
How are you doing?
ELISE
I’m all right. I think we’re up to five or six inches of snow at this point, but.
DENNIS
Oh, wow, cool. Is that fun or is that miserable?
ELISE
It’s fun if you have plenty of groceries and nowhere to go. It can be a little bit miserable. I’m coming up on my ten year anniversary in this city, and I remember my first four years, when it would rain and snow like this, I would go out and romp around all over the place. Now I just don’t want to leave the house.
DENNIS
I hear you.
(other Participants have been joining and are on screen.)
Welcome, everyone. So, let’s get into it!
ELISE
Yeah, so I read a story recently about a less affluent school in a city that suddenly was gentrifying, and had a bunch of busybody, overactive white parents who decided to try and change the whole culture of the school. And then, as gentrification made progress, the changes screwed over the families who were part of the neighborhood for much longer, but the white parents got what they wanted because they were louder about it.
DENNIS
It’s interesting how being loud works for some people but not others. It reminds me of Michelle Fine’s research uncovering stories of Black parents who go to the school to try to demand changes, and when nothing happens, if they get loud about it, things get even worse for them. They get treated like they’re just angry people who don’t know what they’re talking about and are pushed out and ignored. They get the complete opposite treatment.
BOB
And in rural and suburban America, those active white parents are shouting two things right now. “Don’t make my kid wear a damn mask!” And “Don’t teach them critical race theory!” And maybe also, “We didn’t kill the slaves!” Or whatever.
SOPHIE
It’s happening here, too.
KERRIE
Don’t worry about it; it’s all the same, pretty much everywhere.
SOPHIE
True. Now in all our diversity or equity meetings, or whenever we talk about these things in PD, our principal prefaces everything with…
DISSOLVE TO: INT. SOPHIE’S SCHOOL MEETING ROOM - DAY
A staff meeting is taking place, led by the PRINCIPAL.
PRINCIPAL
Just remember never to tell a parent that we’re teaching critical race theory. And if they ask, just say no.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Sophie continues.
SOPHIE
It’s funny because a lot of parents complain that our education system doesn’t prepare kids for the real world, it doesn’t prepare them to think critically, or to be creative, and these same parents are very resistant to opportunities for this to take place. They want the end goal, but they don’t want to see the process happening. Because the process is a lot messier than I think they anticipated.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
We’re hearing tension among those considered stakeholders within our current system. Whereas the importance of healthy relationships and teamwork between teachers, parents, and students is understood, the dichotomy of wanting parents involved and at the same time wanting them out of the picture remains. Differing values and perspectives play a role, which lead to conflicting goals and priorities that are difficult to resolve.
SOPHIE (cont’d)
I wonder if some of this ties into our hyper-individualism in America. How we so strongly believe our opinions, and feel threatened by anyone who opposes those ideas, especially as parents, because we are like, “You shouldn’t judge me for my parenting,” and, “Everybody can parent differently. I believe that’s true to an extent, but I think it’s also important that we take outside information and make sure we’re not actually harming our children in the long run. Teachers can pose a threat to parents who are a little more focused on that hyper-individualism or authoritarianism – it’s an outside source they don’t necessarily want their children to have, and it could be teaching their kids something they don’t want them to learn.
ELIZABETH
You cannot teach successfully without considering all the different perspectives. Our society is different from what it was ten, twenty years ago, and our kids are different, and they function differently. And some people in my building, you know, they’ve been teaching for longer than I’ve been alive, and they have things they want to do their way, and they don’t want to adjust to change. But being able to teach in culturally responsive ways and building relationships with our kids. If we are going to have success moving forward, we’re going to have to adjust to things.
MARY
This is scary to admit, but I tend to lean politically slightly more conservative. So, talking about these things, I want to approach social justice and equity – I think it’s important for conservative folks to discuss, too – but it can also be intimidating to share from my perspective, because usually the groups I’m in are more liberal progressive, left-leaning, or whatever you want to call it. I don’t tend to be super political, I don’t tend to have extremely strong political opinions, and often after I voice something, and then hear other responses, I might agree. “Oh, yeah, that’s true, that’s true.” I want to see what social justice and equity look like in my future, and how they relate to music education, and to me, being more conservative or moderate. I know even the terms social justice and equity can be a turnoff to some conservatives, and I’d like to explore that and hear other perspectives on what is meant by them. Sometimes questions such as these when asked online are taken as like, a jab.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
There are many questions and few easy answers. People want a voice, people want the freedom and ability to make decisions about their lives, their education, their future, what they believe, and how they do things. Mary notes the importance of listening. Giving people a voice and listening to what they have to say, especially when values and perspectives differ, is not easy and this is evident in discussions. We’ve heard the struggles of teachers listening to versus silencing unpleasant students, and teachers and administrators listening to versus silencing unpleasant parents. We’ve seen how goals of being more inclusive and fairer can lead to the justification of excluding “troublemakers.”
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen.
KERRIE
In our district there are a dozen high schools, and they are all very different. Some are strong arts schools, some are strong athletic schools, some are both. In one case the Grammy Foundation came in and gave them a boatload of money because somebody wrote a grant. So, if there’s an advocate at that school, that definitely becomes part of the equation. I teach at five different elementary schools, and each one is different in terms of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. And a lot depends on the PTA, on how much time the parents have to advocate for their kids, and focus the money toward things that are going on. So, I guess it’s essentially like a business. It’s just unfortunate that many kids fall through the cracks. They don’t have the money; they don’t have the support.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Kerrie draws attention to advocacy and activism, and the important yet unfair role money plays in determining access in education and receiving support. “Education is like a business.” Eden reinforces these observations.
EDEN
It is sad. A lot of things would be solved if the arts were properly funded, and if we had enough children in enough classes that they were able to achieve what their hearts wanted to achieve. We’re talking about, you know, kids not matching pitch, and should they do this, and should they do that, and should they be in this, and I think those are fair questions for us to ask, as musicians, because we have what we have, but the reality is with proper funding and starting the arts at that tiny age of three or four or five or whatever, with having them be in a school environment where the arts were everywhere, we wouldn’t be forced to have this discussion. A lot of the things we’re talking about, the haves and the have-nots, the children that are farther ahead in music, whatever that means, this is because of a lack of access to resources earlier on. This is inequity that makes it look like some children can do things that other children can’t. They’re all born with the exact same potential. “Why is my kid taking music theory or majoring in engineering?”That's not by accident. It’s because his mom taught him certain things, or they learned certain things when they were very young. I want to add something to this, like, pushing the arts, making them accessible at an early stage so when they get older maybe these scenarios don’t look this way.
KERRIE
In one of my general ed methods classes, we were talking about kids on the spectrum, you know, so you have the “bell curve” and to the one side you have special needs kids and on the other side you have GATE kids, and they're supposed to be attended to, too. There’s a need to address both of those disparate populations. Do we mainstream them, or do we put them together and create a cohort, what do we do? I couldn’t believe the number of people in my class that voted for GATE. How bougie. Right, have you been around kids in a GATE class? They cannot communicate with each other, they’re just these giant brains that are, well, they’re fantastic. And they are definitely special needs, you know? So, I was kind of shocked, they were like, “That’s not even a thing.” It’s kind of a thing. It’s a thing.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Kerrie reinforces her feelings of overwhelming responsibility to help all students to develop life skills by focusing on more than teaching content. She also raises concerns about access, inclusion, exclusion, and interests, and conflicting values and perspectives.
DENNIS
Yeah, I had a student in middle school band, and he was a fantastic player; he was a paid musician outside of school, he played for the local philharmonic orchestra, he played for musicals at the high schools, he was amazing. But he was also a troublemaker for me, very demanding and sometimes angry, throwing tantrums…
DISSOLVE TO: INT. BAND ROOM - DAY
Dennis is in front of the band class. STUDENT is wearing headphones.
DENNIS
I’m sorry, you can’t. You gotta take the headphones out and put the iPad away.
Student stands angrily, collects his iPad and backpack, storms across the room toward the door, and uses the bottom of his foot to kick the bar-handled door open; exits; door closes.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Part of the problem involved student interest. This student was far ahead of the class with respect to his musical knowledge and abilities; he wanted to do other things, but had to sit there and participate in class, bored.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen.
KERRIE
He’s in his head and not responding to social cues. That’s a population we’re going to meet in our ensembles and we gotta be equitable with them, too.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Opinions vary as to the reasons why students respond the way they do, act the way they do. Elizabeth also describes behavior problems.
ELIZABETH
Behavior is the main issue that I struggle with. Especially this year, behavior has been significantly worse. This year I’ve had major issues with fights, and I have three students who have been in and out of jail, and we had an incident with a large fight that involved a lot of students that ended in four arrests. That sort of aggression and fighting has been causing a lot of issues for us, so we can’t teach much of the time, you know, safety has to be the first priority. There’s little else on our administration’s mind right now other than the behavior issues we are having.
KERRIE
We need classrooms and schools that are inclusive and safe.
DISSOLVE TO: ON SCREEN - MOBILE DEVICE - FACEBOOK POST
We see the TEXT as we hear the words spoken.
CHOIR TEACHER (O.S.) 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?
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen.
BOB
That’s exactly what we’ve been talking about! Just an example I saw today, and I almost responded, but held myself back this time. I don’t know, maybe I still will.
DENNIS
Yeah, I get so tempted to respond to those Facebook posts. You can end up spending so much time getting into those conversations. I used to more than I do right now; lately I’ve tried to avoid them just because there is so much going on.
BOB
Man, like five years ago when one of the big groups first started, invariably I would start discussing something with two or three people, and then suddenly it’s 11:00 PM, with my alarm set for 6:00 AM for school… I should be headed to bed, but… Fuckers! (laughs) The ones I remember most were when Adele needed surgery, it was the, (in falsetto voice) “Well, if she would have proper technique…” “If she would sing from her diaphragm…” “What kind of breathing?...”
DENNIS
Right, right. Yeah.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Bob’s frustration stems in part from the common practice of classical voice teachers, to blame and disparage popular music styles of singing as the cause for vocal health issues, especially among pop stars. When a classical singer becomes ill or struggles with vocal health, the cause likely will be external – age related, the flu, stress, overwork. But when a pop singer becomes ill or struggles with vocal health, the cause will be their own fault – poor technique, poor training, poor music genre or style choices. This all trickles down into the negative perceptions and attitudes toward popular styles of music within music education.
BOB
Nothing like getting riled up at that time of evening when you really should be getting to bed.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen.
SOPHIE
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? For example, in one class, I have this happening. I mentioned Lil Nas X today, and these two boys, who have said hateful things in the past, called out, “Oh, we don’t like him, he’s gay, and gay is bad.” 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?
BOB
That’s tough. Oh, yeah, that’s a tough one. Because you’re gonna – it’s damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. And, you know, damnit, we want to defend and represent and vouch for and stand up for all of the, all of the everyone, but I think in that situation you’re better off with, “This might be something that’s better discussed at home.” I always had the kids wanting to sing a song that’s let’s say a little bit sexually inappropriate or even just like relationship stuff, like a love song, and you know, they’re begging, “Let’s do this!” “Can we sing this?” And I know it’s not really appropriate, and the patented eleven or twelve year old response is, “What do you mean? It doesn’t swear.” And that’s where I’m out, I’m not going to continue this conversation with a twelve year old girl, heaven forbid, or a fourteen year old girl, for that matter, and that’s where I say, “Just talk to your mom about it.” Now, I realize, Sophie, that that specific response to those kids who said “gay is bad” or whatever isn’t going to help the situation at all, and isn’t going to help them grow and then become more accepting, but, you know, there’s the little bit of watch out, you gotta cover your own ass in this world, too, and make sure not a lot of controversy emits from the music room.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Teachers struggle with decisions related to doing what they feel is best for their students, doing the right thing for their students, versus doing what will avoid controversy or getting themselves in trouble.
ELISE
If it’s something they can be prosecuted for if they were adults saying this out on the street, that’s where I shut it down. If it would be viewed as a hate crime, if it was something against race, religion, sexual preference, I don’t let it continue, I shut it down.
BOB
That’s a really good way to address it, Elise, I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced something like that, where I thought, holy shit, if you were eighteen that would be a hate crime. But that’s a very valid thing that I would certainly say to anyone who crossed that line in my room, in fact, I might say, “Controversy be damned.” Because at that point, if somebody needs defending at that level, yeah, I totally agree.
ELISE
Thank you. And then, Sophie, I would, if you can find time in your day, in your schedule, whether it’s during their lunch or your lunch or planning period, whatever, I would try to give them some time with you. I mean, that’s such a clear-cut one. I had something that was said earlier this year and I can’t remember what it was, but I had some videos that other classes were gonna watch for whatever reason, and I pushed play, and I pulled the kid out in the hallway, and I was like, I noticed that you said this, do you know what that means, or can you elaborate on this, and in that instance I don’t remember what the kid said, but when I gave him a chance to talk, they didn’t realize what they were saying, they were trying to explain it, and it wasn’t a, “I’m trying to cover my own ass,” they truly, what they were saying didn’t make any sense, and so it really softened the blow of like, okay, this child is not a hateful being, they are just repeating this thing that they heard somewhere else. And, at some point, I think, you have to recontextualize with the rest of the class, to address what happened in the moment, but I think giving that child space to talk and explain themselves a little bit can be helpful. And, in a perfect situation, you’d be able to touch base with a guidance counselor, or if you have a LGBTQ coordinator, principal, whoever it is in between to say, “Hey, this kid made this comment, and we’re going to have a conversation later, I just wanted to touch base with you.” And in that situation, I’ve also run into the guidance counselor saying, “Oh, this has been an ongoing issue with this kid,” or the principal saying, “Oh, we just had a fifth-grade discussion about that.” So touching base with higher-ups, who might know some larger context, things that are happening at the school; but I think, giving the kid some space to talk and explain themselves and not telling them, you know, shutting them down and saying we’re not going to talk about this, this is not appropriate to talk about, but giving them some space to talk, and let you know if they know what they’re saying, especially when it’s younger.
SOPHIE
Okay, I’ll probably try that next time, because the reason I’ve had such difficulty with this, is that the rest of the class will start jumping down their throat and be like, “No, you can love who you love!” And I was just like, “Yeah, people can just love who they love and it’s not a big deal,” and we kind of just moved on. But the rest of the class already nitpicks those two all the time, because they act out a lot, and so it’s like, even though that opinion is not a valid one, they’re feeling attacked for stating their opinion. And I don’t want them to feel isolated, and then that’s just going to drive them further down the path of, “Oh, this is wrong and I’m going to stick to my guns.” But then I also don’t want to have the other kids think that I’m giving it any sort of validity by being softer on them. I try to treat them with grace and stuff like that, because I know one of them at least has a really hard home life, but then they’re also like… I already had to hold them after class today to have a different conversation because they both keep making fun of each other’s hair and skin color – mind you, they’re both Black, so I don’t really like, I don’t know where they’re getting off because…
ELISE
It could be a cry for attention, regardless of what the behavior is, and it could be, “I want attention, and from an adult, and I don’t care if it’s positive or negative attention, I’m going to say the things that have clearly elicited a response from my classmates or my teachers.” And it could just be that they want to have lunch with you one day, and just sit and eat.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
This exchange highlights teachers’ sense of overwhelming responsibility for their students, as well as the importance of developing positive and meaningful relationships with them.
ELIZABETH
I had a recent episode with a student with an attitude that made me rethink how I’m interacting with students, too.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAY
Elizabeth is bending over in an awkward stance toward a FEMALE STUDENT.
ELIZABETH (scolding)
You have an attitude. You are talking to me with a lot of attitude!
FEMALE STUDENT
But you were talking to me with a lot of attitude first!
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen. Elizabeth continues.
ELIZABETH
And I stopped, and I said to myself, surprised and ashamed, “Oh, my God! You are doing to her exactly what you’re telling her not to do.” This experience has reshaped my attitude. If a student is short with me, I’m gonna to ask myself, “Am I modeling the behavior I want to see?” Kids want to be treated as people; they want a relationship with their teachers. How am I supposed to teach her to speak respectfully if I’m not doing that first?
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Music is often incidental to what music teachers are actually teaching. Music teachers are teachers with feelings of overwhelming responsibility for the well-being of their students.
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen.
SOPHIE
It’s hard to compete for their interests because they all would rather be watching TV and playing video games and things like that. That’s one of the biggest problems I’m facing right now – kids just not being interested in the lessons I’m teaching. So, I’m trying to mix it up a little bit every lesson. I just did one over Michael Jackson, and the kids loved that. They’re all about Michael Jackson. I’m doing an album project with fifth grade where they get to make their own song about themselves, so I’m really excited about that; they seem really into it. Normally it’s a little hard to get fifth grade engaged in anything, but I’m doing that, and then we’ve also done some Socratic seminar-like things, talking about “What is music?” and “Why do we learn music?” And they really enjoyed that and had a lot of ideas so that made me really excited. And then, some of my younger grades are getting really into the solfege Dojo that I am doing, and other music activities. So, I’m really excited about that. And the musicians I’m introducing to them every week. I try to give them a broad scope of different musicians from around the US and around the world.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Sophie raises the specter of student interest. On one hand, students are genuinely interested in things. On the other hand, sometimes we see those interests as problematic rather than beneficial for their education – their interests distract them from what we want to teach. One strategy for teachers is to try to make our content more interesting and our lessons more engaging by incorporating student interests and weaving them into the instructional fabric, to some degree. Another strategy that is less discussed and much less implemented is to allow and even encourage students to follow their own interests as they see fit.
EDEN
You know, we have to pick and choose what we do. I mostly do classical music. We dabble in some other things. I don’t really offer too much pop – on occasion, if a student wants that, I might incorporate a piece or two, but not too much. A little introduction to jazz, but if they really want the heavy, heavy jazz, I send them to an actual jazz teacher. I mean, I’m good enough to get them maybe into the jazz band, but you know, a jazz musician needs someone far more aware than I am. I incorporate some music theory, some music history, but none of my students get the same things. They all get a pretty similar classical playing experience, but some kids are really into theory, and I follow that, and they’re doing AP music theory, and other kids hate theory, and if I can just get them a basic foundation, I feel very lucky. I tend to be a very student-led and family-led kind of teacher.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Eden acknowledges teacher limitations but offers a solution. Students are limited by teachers only if their options are limited. When teachers are not isolated individuals but part of larger networks, students can get the expertise they seek from the right person at the right time. This would appear to have more potential and applicability in private teaching than in most public school settings.
ELISE
I think it’s tough. It’s hard for me to imagine, in public school, like, thinking of the kindergarten team at my school. They have this kindergarten curriculum, that’s out of the box, that they have to teach as is, and the tests that they’re all given… If they were all given total freedom, I have to wonder if then, I would imagine a parent suddenly hears about this class versus this class, and says, well I’m more aligned with this teacher, and now you’ve got not only a parent picking a school but now they’re going to want to streamline to a certain teacher, which is not inherently bad, but logistically is problematic. And then so all the six year olds at this school, these hundred kindergarteners, if they’re not all learning the same things, then when they all advance to first grade, and second grade, and then third grade, and their classes get mixed up and different kids get mixed in with different classes, then… Maybe I’m looking at it as knowledge-based, rather than how the knowledge is taught, but those are the issues that start to come to mind. It all sounds theoretically great, but I feel like in practice there’d be issues that come up because we as teachers would value different things and go down different paths. 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?
DENNIS
Right, yeah, good point. It’s like, 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? You’d have to redesign the system.
ELISE
Right. I mean, I love the idea when teachers loop with students. Like if you had, I mean, I guess at some point it’s getting into the same idea as homeschooling… But if you had the same teacher from kindergarten through twelfth grade, and then moved with that same group of students, and they were able to fully develop them, and I think that’s the benefit that we have as music teachers. That I have 500 kids that I can see through seven years of schooling, and I can help them get to wherever it is I want them to be at the end of seven years. 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?
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
There are successful schools, such as the Waldorf schools, that keep class teachers consistent with a cohort for all eight years of primary school. Regarding the dichotomy of standardization versus individualization of curriculum, discussions evidence that even teachers themselves sometimes struggle to trust in teachers and their own expertise.
SOPHIE
I feel like what you just said also kind of relates to what you were saying earlier about, if we gave teachers free range, would their students go to the next teacher with different levels, like, what you were saying is you already have students coming to you, even within the same state, at completely different levels of knowledge, despite the standards and everything that’s in place. Not to say it wouldn’t be exacerbated, but we still have this in the current system.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Observations of this nature are noted frequently. Someone suggests that if we implement a particular solution, then “these problems” will result. But upon closer inspection, or perhaps a more honest assessment, it becomes evident that “these problems” exist already.
KERRIE
You know, I just feel like the education system is definitely meant to make kids more obedient and more complacent. It is a really unnatural environment, and it works really well for a handful of people, but for the most part, no, it doesn’t. And I would say that most musicians, you know… I grew up in the 1970’s, and so I went to school, and started to play in jazz band, and met a bunch of people… They all left school to go play. They just were like, I’ve already done this, and it’s not getting me where I need to go. And yeah, I get it, you know, if you gave people a choice, most people wouldn’t pick sitting in a chair quietly and listening to repetitive things. Boring.
DENNIS
Yeah. Super boring.
KERRIE
Super boring. Yeah, so in my classes, we do play parties, we do circle dances, we do, you know we’re always in a circle, we’re always interacting in some way – as close as we can get right now. But, you know, the idea of just sitting down and listening to someone talk, no. Why? After a day of doing that, just sitting all day? Uh-uh. When I was in high school, I was in this little thing that they called a learning community. It was a small group of us that met in the English department, and it was variable credit, and you could choose – it was like a college schedule. So I had world religions three days a week, I had science the other two days at that time slot. And it was great! It wasn’t at grade level, specifically, it was just people that took that class. And so I was with a lot of older students, had different influences, had different social circles. And the only time I was in regular school was in band. Which is not regular school at all. I loved it. They did it in my sophomore year and in my junior year, and then in my senior year they got rid of it. But by then, I had enough units to graduate, and I didn’t need any classes. So, I just took band.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
School is exciting, even world religions and science classes, when a student is interested in them.
DENNIS
Do you know why they got rid of it?
KERRIE
Yeah, because it wasn’t popular; they didn’t have the numbers.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Money, money, money.
KERRIE
But it was very effective – I’m still friends with the people I was in learning community with fifty years later. It was really a great program. And maybe that’s the future. Now we have a lot of magnet schools, a lot of the high schools are magnets for something. So, if you’re interested in hospitality, you go to this school, you know, the arts or engineering or whatever. They have specific learning environments, which might make it a little more intimate. But I don’t know. Even that’s kind of substandard. (beat) I don’t think we trust kids to come up with their own set of, I want to say, learning criteria, or interests that they’ll stick to. I feel like that might be a way to do it.
DENNIS
I agree. Why don’t we let kids follow their interests more? 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? Whereas when they’re forced to do all this stuff they can’t stand, then reading becomes an enormous chore. I think it’s just because of this model where we have to get so many kids through the system in a certain way, and we have these objectives that we have to meet, and nobody can figure out how to do that in an individualized way. It’s like if we’re going to educate, we have to turn it into a factory, where we can just kind of push ’em through, and everybody does the same things, otherwise we’d never be able to do it. If we’re going to individualize, then we have to change our expectations of what comes out on the other end.
KERRIE
Yeah, I get that. And also, when I was getting my multiple subject credential, we had reading classes, literature classes that we went through, where they gave these really great examples of teaching kids through graphic novels, comic books, you know, give them access to those in the classroom. And in theory they were really for it. Design your own unit, what would you have your kids do, and there were a lot of creative ideas. Then you get hired, and it’s like, here’s the textbook, here’s the script, here’s the library that you have access to, and then you’re under water trying to do anything else to supplement to try to make it more interesting for your kids. And so, it’s a false sense of what it’s going to be like as a teacher.
BOB
Towards the end of my public school career, I really took my choirs in a CCM – as we call it in the voice pedagogy world, “contemporary commercial music” – direction, specifically the last four concerts being with full rock band accompaniment, everything mic’d, drums mic’d, PA thumping… So that was my little, hang-my-hat kind of choir-teaching moment. The program just thrived; the kids absolutely loved it. Even when we did a 70’s concert, which the kids didn’t think was really going to be a great idea, until we started learning the music, and then it’s like, “This is actually really good!” (laughs) And I’m, “Yeah, you think?!”
KERRIE
Well, if you’re trying to teach music in 2021 at the elementary level and you’re not including the vast majority of pop music and R&B from the 1950’s and things that people are attuned to in their family settings, and in their personal tastes, you know, if we’re just saying that AP music theory is just based on figured bass from the Baroque era and these models which are very useful for people who want to become composers, or background information for people who want to understand how music works from the inside out. But generally, I find that my students relate to and respond to things that are in their personal lives. And so, if I can teach rhythms or AB form or whatever through a Stevie Wonder song or a Beyonce song or you know, whatever is coming down the pike, I’m going to do that. And I’ll also give them another example, but I’m also going to include and honor what they are interested in listening to.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Here Kerrie uses the word “honor” when speaking of students and their interests.
SOPHIE
This one fifth grade class is insanely into anime. I don’t know much about anime, but I really want to do a unit for them just on anime music, because they’re doing their student album projects right now. And a lot of them have the theme songs from the different animes that they watch. Like Attack on Titans, and stuff like that. So, I want to do that, and I guess I’ll see how that goes, whenever I do it, and see what happens. Showing what they like, bringing the music that they listen to at home and explain why they like it, what it means to them… they seem a lot more happy and engaged and motivated in class, especially being fifth graders.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Isn’t motivation closely related to interests?
BOB
I think student motivation as a topic in general is huge. How do you make it happen? I had a superintendent once who lasted in our district for like a semester. And he, in front of the entire teaching staff, which was around 500 at the time, said, “How do we find a way to intrinsically motivate these students?” To which I immediately thought, “You idiot – that’s not how intrinsic motivation works.” But how do we? That’s the thing. Especially outside of a fun class. I mean, I think of math teachers and science teachers and history teachers… At least we have music and things that make loud sounds and can be exciting. But yeah, student motivation, I think, is something that isn’t researched enough, or it just seems like no one’s talking about it when it could be such a huge thing.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
In Chapter 8, I’m going to draw a parallel between trying to “cause” intrinsic motivation and trying to “cause” transformation. Listening to participants speak about these things, it becomes apparent that motivation happens, and transformation happens. They’re internal. 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?”
ELISE
I try to use what I think of as naturally-occurring consequences and rewards for my elementary students. “Do what you’re supposed to do, and we get to play the cool stuff that makes the loud noise. ”And if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do then we don’t get to play the cool stuff that makes the loud noise. And it gets them to behave, and then we get to do all the fun stuff and be safe and have fun.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Getting kids to do things, getting kids to behave, getting kids to follow instructions or obey, all require rewards and punishments. Consequences. We can call them naturally-occurring or make them seem as naturally-occurring as possible, but they are still external. They are artificial to a degree – pressure applied from outside. They require compliance. They are not internal, they are not intrinsic, they do not arise from within, as do our efforts to satisfy true desires and follow true interests.
BOB
There was a recent Facebook post in one of the groups and a choir director asked…
DISSOLVE TO: ON SCREEN - MOBILE DEVICE - FACEBOOK POST
We see the TEXT as we hear the words spoken.
CHOIR DIRECTOR (O.S.)
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…?
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen. Bob continues.
BOB
Some of the responses related this to a violent act at school, or one of those vandalism TikTok challenges, or whatever. In my district, which is a lot of haves and have-nots, the choir kids are literally the ones who can’t afford to rent an instrument for band. Of course, you have the 20% who love to sing, and they’re in it for the right reasons. Then you’ve got the middle half who’re just kind of like there, but really quiet, then you got the other fourth who are just there to screw around and wreak havoc, and you know, try to piss off the teacher, because that would be funny. And it’s like teaching with defense. Someone trying to inhibit you from achieving your goals in the classroom, which is so messed up.
DENNIS
That gets me into the whole question: 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?
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Sarah PLAYS a recorder at her desk.
SARAH (setting down her instrument)
Right now I’m seeing that students are actually not afraid to say stuff. When in normal years when I do my Newsies unit, and we discuss if you could stand up for one thing, what would you stand up to fight for? And I’d always get the kids that didn’t understand how they could. And now my kids, they will stand up and tell you everything that’s wrong and how they want to change the world. So, I look forward to that – it’s almost like if we can refine it to teach levels of respect again, because some of it’s great and some of it’s like, those are not things that should be spoken. It’s harder than we thought. In my Newsies unit they form a protest, they form a group, and they decide what they’re fighting for. I feel like I can do that with my seventh and eighth graders, and I feel like my second graders don’t understand that this is fully going on, because they’re still in a place with rose-colored glasses, whereas some of my seventh graders go everyday…
FEMALE VOICE (O.S.)
(very loudly; over the loudspeaker)
Sadie Johnson. Sadie Johnson. If you are in the building, come to the student office now. Sadie Johnson.
Sarah looks upward to the speaker on the wall.
SARAH
I’m going to remove myself before the dismissals start because that’s going to be very loud. So, I’m going to go right outside… Let’s see… I don’t need my mask…Sarah unplugs and then picks up her laptop and moves to the door, using her body to push it open, and exits the building to a space just outside her classroom.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Music teachers are more likely to use the term “protest,” as in “protest songs,” which is more in the vernacular than “activism.” “Anti-racism” is another term used in discussions. Also, music teachers tend to teach students how music is used by other people as an outward form of expression to support a protest, or a protest movement, or to support activism or anti-racism. Sarah takes students a step forward and asks them to invent a protest as a learning exercise, to pretend to be a protester. I used Juliet Hess’s work to spark a discussion about how music education might actually be activist in the classroom, in the school, or in the community. Can music be used in an educational setting to actually protest something?
KERRIE
I just got through doing a bunch of Martin Luther King stuff with my kids, and teaching them the history of We Shall Overcome, and I showed a video, I put a compilation of images, with a song, and then I showed them this video about the history, and then we sang the song. 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? You know, but there is a bit of that, going deep with elementary school kids. But I’m still inclined to do it, but it’s political, and it’s controversial.
SOPHIE
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?
KERRIE
You’re right, it would come up regardless, you know, I mean, because I think they’re looking for that kind of connection.
ELISE
In the first chapter of her book, Juliet Hess talks about differentiating social justice versus activism. And she talks about how activism is too broad of a term, and a lot of people don’t like it, but how she looked at it as the combination of action and imagination. And I follow a lot of anti-racist Instagram accounts that talk about like a key part of an anti-racist education is the ability to imagine, or the space to imagine, something better than what we have now. And I think it can feel limiting to say, “Well, homework is a part of life, I hate it, but what am I going to do?” But to imagine what the world would look like if homework didn’t exist or whatever thing that you could change, I think, is space that would have to be made that takes time and doesn’t go exactly step by step as you want it to. Speaking as a teacher myself, I think that’s something you can be afraid of, or if you’re like, I don’t know what the end result of this project is going to be, or “What on earth are they going to imagine?” But to give that space of what could be better, I think is so important in encouraging activism.
KERRIE
And giving kids a choice, I mean, like we’re talking about eliminating homework, or, you know, changing this or that in the social structure of school, but then incorporating the arts to say, okay, well, maybe we could do a week of no homework but your task is to write a poem about what’s going on. You can create some homework, you know, bring it in and share it.
SOPHIE
Talking about ways in which we can be activists in the classroom, I like the idea of letting students all give their opinion, even if you don’t think it’s valid, as long as it’s not hateful, obviously. And then, using music to see if you can find a solution to that, or like, advocate for change, even within your school or within a smaller level.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Sophie relates activism to voice.
KERRIE
I think safety is the main thing for me.
DENNIS
I’ve heard conservative-leaning people say they don’t like activism, or when other people are doing activist things, or they seem to assume that activism refers to liberal progressive agendas, and mock activist work. The term “community organizer” might be intended as an insult, like it’s another one of those second-rate activities. 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?
BOB
All of the anti-maskers showing up at school board meetings; that’s activism, in a sadly conservative way. Even though that’s really not conservatism, it somehow got lumped in with it.
ELISE
Our city as a district had rallies for smaller class sizes. Anybody who wanted to participate could, but it was mostly the teachers union members. I couldn’t participate that day – I don’t know if it was during my COVID time or something else was going on – but afterwards, our union rep was saying thank you to folks, and she said…
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ELISE’S SCHOOL STAFF ROOM - DAY
Elise, the UNION REP, MISS SECOND GRADE TEACHER, and other teachers are enjoying snacks.
UNION REP
Oh, thank you, Miss Second Grade Teacher for picking the song that we sang while we were out there!
ELISE (O.S.)
Wait – What? They had a song? They were singing while they were out there?
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Elise continues.
ELISE
And it made me so happy to think that, like, the music teacher wasn’t there to facilitate it but who cares, we are people, and we sing and we music. And they started chanting or singing or whatever it was, to rally for smaller class sizes, which is something I think that everybody wants, regardless of your position, and it’s cool.
BOB
Everybody wants smaller class sizes except the people in charge of funding.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Money, money, money.
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen.
KERRIE
It’s certainly not a system that works for everyone. I’ve said it before: it works well for very few people. I’ve noticed that much of our dialog gravitates toward giving kids more freedom, and more voice, and in teachers picking our own lessons, picking our own pedagogy. And potentially, the more we let people interact with, and engage with, and determine their own lessons, the more equitable education might be for everyone.
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?
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Kerrie reiterates that the system does not work for everyone. In a few short words she touches on access, inclusion, exclusion; money; interests, self-determination, autonomy, trust in teachers, and trust in students. Elise shows a passion toward improvement and new thinking and extols all of us to do the right thing, and to demand the right thing be done.
SOPHIE
I agree, the thing we keep coming back to is the restructuring of our education system, and breaking down the barriers of inequality, in music education specifically.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Sophie recognizes the extent that we discuss education in general along with music education. Music teachers are teachers; involve them in everything. Kerrie highlights potential difficulties with this.
KERRIE
But teachers already feel like they don’t have enough time to do what they need to do just on a basic level. So short of upheaval of the system, I don’t know how all a lot of these ideas would work in a public school setting.
DENNIS
I agree we keep coming to the conclusion that the only way to make things truly better is to redesign the whole system. I tend to feel that way, too, that until we finally decide to fundamentally redesign everything, changes are going to be incremental and situational. One district might make some really good improvements, but then it doesn’t go anywhere else, and maybe even when those people leave, it all dies. Like changes are only sustained by the people who were initially enthusiastic about them.
ELISE
Our city just got a new mayor, and so he has a new chancellor, who’s head of the schools, who sent us an email today to welcome in his seven new deputy chancellors. There was a little description of each one, and I’m thinking, “Okay, you are a six-figure person, and you probably get a quarter of a million, and you might be closer to a third of a million…” It is so much money, and it’s bureaucracy, and testing, and sorting through paperwork. It’s just…
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
I wonder if those changes will stick longer. Money, money, money. Unfairness. And probably not doing the right thing.
KERRIE
I do say burn it down. But wait eight years until I retire, and then I want you to do that. I’ll collect my pension and I’ll root for you. I’m joking, but I’m not joking. Some of those older teachers feel things are exactly the way they should be, and it’s always been this way. They’re kind of old and crusty and not the people who would be making these kinds of decisions.
BOB
I would love to burn it down.
DENNIS
We have these little lights out there, but they don’t burn bright enough. They don’t last. Because they are not built into the system.
KERRIE
That’s the truth. What’s built into the system is regiment.
DENNIS
You know I keep coming back to, what if teachers ran the schools?
KERRIE
Yeah, and I’ve thought a lot about that. I think a model like that would be kind of a co-op. Something that would be harder to do on a public level, perhaps easier in a private or charter situation. Maybe like-minded teachers who believe in a particular pedagogy could get together, start a school, and then have a director that rotates, and you know, meet and work together. But then you also have to have time for public interface, I mean, teaching is already way more than a full time job. Our district is so huge I can’t imagine what each of my five schools would look like if the teachers ran it. I’m not saying I’m not intrigued, but I think it would have to be another burn it down and start over again moment, you know. And like I said, maybe we should do that.
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?
KERRIE
I think a lot of older teachers, more established teachers…
SOPHIE
Teachers would flip out.
KERRIE
We have a union; we have a pension that is managed by an entity set up by the district… Not to say that these things couldn’t happen, but it’s just like a complete restructuring of how things would work. Charter schools may be these microcosms where you could experiment and see how it goes, and maybe branch out from there, but…
BOB
I think if nothing else, we’ve validated that this is the direction public school music teaching needs to go. High school choir, for example, has been dying a slow death for at least a decade, if not longer. I know some high schools who have thousands of students enrolled and only fifty or sixty kids in choir. That’s a huge red flag.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. UNIVERSITY HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE - DAY
The INTERVIEWER is on one side of the desk, and the AGING RAPPER is on the other side.
INTERVIEWER
So, you are a professional rap musician?
AGING RAPPER
I am. I have three gold albums, two platinum singles, and I have toured for the last twenty years. I’m very proud of my career.
INTERVIEWER
That’s terrific. We’d be thrilled to have someone who can share real world experiences with our music students here at the conservatory. And let’s see, you haven’t listed any academic degrees beyond your bachelor’s on your resume.
AGING RAPPER
No. I’m working on my master’s now. I started my performance career right out of college.
INTERVIEWER
I see. Well, that’s terrific. (standing) Thank you, we will give you a call.
INT. UNIVERSITY HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE - NEXT DAY
The Interviewer is on one side of the desk, and the RELATIVELY YOUNG MAN is on the other side.
INTERVIEWER
So, you have no professional music performance experience listed here?
RELATIVELY YOUNG MAN
No, I do not.
INTERVIEWER
Well, okay. But you received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Some State, and a master’s degree from Some Other State, and your doctorate from This Really Fine University?
RELATIVELY YOUNG MAN
I did.
INTERVIEWER
Do you have any professional teaching experience?
RELATIVELY YOUNG MAN
No. Well, I was a grad assistant and a TA at This Really Fine University for two semesters.
INTERVIEWER
And you completed your dissertation on rap and hip hop music in K-12 education settings?
RELATIVELY YOUNG MAN
Yes, I did.
The Interviewer stands, and the Relatively Young Man stands, too; they shake hands.
INTERVIEWER
Okay, well, that’ll do. Thank you so much for coming in, and, congratulations, you’ve got the position. We’ll draw up the paperwork, and my office will take care of the details from here.
RELATIVELY YOUNG MAN
Thank you very much. I look forward to getting into the classroom again.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen. Elise continues.
ELISE
Because, you know, we’re a tier-one research university and it was a tenure track position, so it had to be someone with a doctorate, of course. I just hope for the future and for things changing.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Although this story relates to higher education, it impacted Elise as a future elementary music teacher because it was all related to her teacher preparation at the university. I see two aspects in addition to this. One, that in education and academia we often put a greater emphasis on book learning over real world experience, especially if there’s a racial component involved, and two, that teachers who spend all day teaching and prepping for the next day have very little time to practice their art or craft as well. Kerrie notes this.
KERRIE
You know, Freire talked a lot about how it used to be that teachers were actually practitioners, right, and so they were the experts who took time out to teach, as an apprenticeship, or as a teacher, whatever, but they were still engaged in the process themselves and learning as they went, and disseminating that information… And then it became, what, well, you can get a degree in it, and learn about what other people learned about it. And then tell people that. So now it’s just watered down, secondhand versions of the information. You know, here’s a guy that’s been on the road, he has actually embodied this thing for many years, but the person who’s learned about it academically has more credibility and will push aside the person who is the expert.
EDEN
I do like the idea of reestablishing the level of professionalism and expertise of teachers. I was at a curriculum meeting recently, and someone said, “Well, I read the whole curriculum, and I didn’t like X, Y, or Z.” And I’m thinking, okay, well, some people got their Ph. D.’s in curriculum development. The fact that you read the whole curriculum doesn’t mean you are suddenly a curriculum expert. That’s hard for me, that someone has dedicated their whole life to developing curriculum and knows what they’re doing and knows what they’re talking about, and I don’t have to agree with everything, and then someone comes along and just reads it, and all of a sudden, on a whim, they decide that their knowledge is equal. And their knowledge is not equal. I want to respect everyone’s opinion, and where they’re coming from, and what their goals are. I don’t know anyone’s child as well as they do; they’re the expert in their children. But in a large setting, I just really want to pass the trust over to the people who are the experts in the group – the group dynamics, the group culture, and things I cannot possibly understand, because… I have two children, and I’m not even expert in them, frankly, so.
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?
EDEN
It would absolutely be hurtful and very difficult, I think. And then there’s this other piece, what does it look like if someone outside the community comes in and doesn’t understand… You know, maybe the parents do understand the unique culture of a community better than someone who came in from outside the community, and is trying their best to teach… You know, I ran into that when I taught in a rural community, back when the Internet was developing but rural communities were very isolated, and I was in the hollers of Appalachia, and it was very different. And let me tell you, some of my ideas (laughs) they were not taken well. And I had to have some really great coaching by people who understood the children far better than I did, and understood the unique family cultures. I’m glad parents were patient with me and helped educate me. So, I don’t want to dismiss the idea that parents might know the community better and have a better clue, either. Right? It’s really tricky.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Who should design, define, and determine curriculum and pedagogy?
DENNIS
I have a lot of experience with Catholic schools, as a student, parent, and teacher, and most of them mandate parent involvement. Many classrooms have maybe more than one parent helping out all the time, and there’s always parents at recess and lunch doing all kinds of things. I wonder how that impacts the way parents think about teachers.
ELISE
Thinking about teachers having the expertise, and classroom teachers being able to develop their own curriculum, and not having to just do the curriculum out of the box. I think, having the time to figure all that out is a huge missing piece. Even when we have PLCs and inquiry groups in our current class, we have it with the standardized testing, and with all the other things that have to be taken care of. So, it’d be just another thing on our plate, instead of clearing some room to actually do that inquiry.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
Again, how would teachers make time to do anything besides teach?
SOPHIE
I heard of a guy who ran a big company, who one day a month or quarter or something he gave his employees a…
DISSOLVE TO: INT. COMPANY STAFF ROOM - DAY
The CEO is holding a staff meeting with EMPLOYEES.
CEO
Work-on-anything-you-want day! Take your budget, get the resources you need, and work on whatever project you want to work on!
DISSOLVE TO: INT. COMPANY EXECUTIVE OFFICE - DAY
The CEO is giving an interview with an INTERVIEWER.
CEO
And I’ve seen how much ingenuity and creativity has come out of that. Instead of always requiring my employees, my team, to do what I want them to do, my vision, I’ve seen what they can do on their own, their vision, their ideas. And it’s been exciting.
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen. Sophie continues.
SOPHIE
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?”
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
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? She also extends the idea to trust in students.
KERRIE
I remember one time in particular, when I was a substitute teacher, I think it was a fourth grade class, and they left a script for me. You know, “Say this, say this, then say that. Have the kids read the selection and if they want to discuss it, here are the prompts, these are the responses, you know, I just want to add to that,” or blah blah blah… They had a script for when they respond to whatever we were talking about, and it was super robotic and weird. And finally, after about ten minutes, I was like…
DISSOLVE TO: INT. FOURTH GRADE CLASSROOM - DAY
Kerrie is teaching at the front of the class. A discussion prompt is written on the whiteboard: “Why did the colonists want independence from Britain?” Underneath the prompt is a sentence starter: “The colonists wanted independence from Britain because…”
KERRIE (sighs)
Okay, you guys, can we just talk about this? I mean, no offense, but I feel like maybe you just want to tell me something, and you don’t have to preface it with this thing that you’re supposed to say, dot dot dot, and then your idea. Just say your idea. It’s fine!
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - DAY
Participants are on screen. Kerrie continues.
KERRIE
But it was mind blowing, right? If I ever had to be a classroom teacher, and do that? Out. I’m out. I’m done. I couldn’t do it.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
I’d want to quit.
SOPHIE
It’s like, not teaching them how to have organic conversations, and thoughts about things.
KERRIE
It was all so cotillion, you know, “Pull your pencil out, and say this thing, before you say the thing you want to say.” I know. Mind-blowing.
SOPHIE
What’s the point of me teaching if you could just stick anybody else there and just have them read off the script?
DENNIS
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
It would depend on whether what they were doing was in line with what I wanted. Which, hearing it come out of my mouth seems counterintuitive to the whole, you know, CRT argument that’s happening in education right now, but… I remember during the pandemic having a discussion with my principal about how it’s so difficult to teach over Zoom. 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? 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? And he had a strong reaction, “I wouldn’t like that at all. My kids in music class and should be learning notes and rhythms.” It was interesting how non-musicians suddenly have a strong reaction against what was a hypothetical at that point and not even with their kid, about what might be taught in a music class – not even a core class like math or English. I don’t know.
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
The question of whether it mattered if everyone learned the same things or not persisted. It’s also interesting that even music teachers see – have been trained to see – music education as “not even a core subject.” These discussions, however, indicate to me that music teachers are teachers, and should be involved in everything, at least to the extent any teacher is involved, or desires to be involved.
SOPHIE
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?”
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
This discussion highlights a potential dichotomy between students and teachers benefitting from individualized instruction, curriculum, and pedagogy, versus striving to ensure that some students aren’t being privileged over others, or excluded, or receiving something that other students are not receiving. 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? In a deleted scene, one that got cut from the final script, Bob has an awesome line, he says, “Authentic is a great word, because that is when I started to become more authentic to my students, being my own true self in the classroom, teaching music I really loved and was passionate about.”
BOB
My district over the last five years has been doing this whole curriculum alignment stuff, and in our performing arts department meetings, the adults in the room would say, “You guys realize they are not talking about us.” “I know it, but let’s still do it. We don’t want admin to have any, well, you didn’t blah blah blah, you didn’t blah blah blah. So, yes, we’re still fielding the marching band at every game, we’re still putting on fabulous concerts, and we’re also going to try to align our curriculum. Because it is a K-12 policy that is being shoved through in our entire school district.” And one of the ways it was described, was if a student in Mr. So-and-so’s class in Westside Middle School moved and started class in Miss Smith’s class, in Eastside Middle School, they should be able to walk right in, and know exactly what’s going on, and be able to go right with the flow. Ugh. I’m not a fan.
DENNIS
As if all the kids in that class could do that anyway.
BOB
Right.
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen.
DENNIS
Is there anything you feel like you are doing differently since all of this?
RUNNING COMMENTARY (O.S.)
At this point in the film, I am going to end my running commentary and allow you to sit back and enjoy its conclusion. From here out, participating teachers discuss personal transformations, their hopes for the future, new ways of thinking, and how education might become more accessible and inclusive, hopes for their ongoing learning and professional development, forming new and better relationships with colleagues and peers, and the potential for regular opportunities to connect with other teachers in communities such as the one we created. Thank you for coming along with us on this journey.
SOPHIE
This work has been eye-opening, it’s made me think more critically about what I teach, and how I teach, and what I’m doing well, and what needs improvement. I’ve been introduced to new philosophies, and readings, ideas I don’t think I would have come across otherwise until maybe when I do my master’s, depending on what I chose to focus on. I’ve ordered a few books and I’m excited to think about how I can integrate these ideas into my classroom and teaching.
KERRIE
When this all started, I suppose I was feeling a little salty, and felt these topics of social justice, equity, culturally responsive teaching, were just buzzwords. Because I was really tired of all five of my schools pushing these things down everyone’s throat, and it seemed really fake to me, the way the district has been approaching it. But as we’ve gone on, I think it’s made me slow down and listen to people a little bit more. And in my classes, rather than timing myself for that 30 minutes that I have with the kids, I’ve noticed in the last few weeks that I’m not in a hurry to get through my lessons and to get to the next thing. I’m trying to back off a little bit and let there be space to have some questions or have a discussion that I might not otherwise have had with my kids.
MARY
Being inclusive. Including all students and not catering only to the most talented students. Diversity of ethnicity but also diversity of talent and interest. I really got excited – and made a lot of notes! – about the different formats for recitals. The frequent playing performance sessions and the salon-type setup where students are playing background music. Giving students a lot of different kinds of opportunities, less stressful opportunities, to make music.
SOPHIE
I’ve really appreciated hearing people talking about treating students more like equals, and more respectfully, than I think we sometimes do in public education.
MARY
And the idea that even if a student isn’t going to practice consistently, I can still help them make progress by making the lesson more like a practice session.
SOPHIE
Sometimes when we were asking questions like, “Why is education the way it is?” I would realize I never thought about why things were structured the way they are. But now that we’re talking about it, I’ve started to slowly question everything. And after reading bell hooks, for example, I’ve started to think more about how I manage my classroom, how I teach my kids… 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? Which is going to be a long process, it’s not something I’m going to accomplish in a few weeks or months. But the cogs are turning.
ELISE
When we were talking about the idea of teachers running the schools, and developing their own curriculum, and I had it in my brain that it would be much easier if everyone were using the same curriculum, and I was making that argument. And then I spent the whole rest of the evening, and the next day, reflecting on it, and it made me realize how so many parts of our education system are so ingrained in us, the same way white supremacy is ingrained in us, and we argue against it, or we argue for it, until we realize how messed up things really are, but you have to get unplugged from the matrix before you can start to see the different perspectives.
SOPHIE
We focus on education as preparing students to be a part of the workforce. Our mission statements say, “The purpose of education is to prepare kids to participate in the global economy.” Although I believe education is a lot more than that, I never stopped to reconsider those mission statements within schools or education as a whole. They might actually be one of the big driving factors for a lot of problems we face in education today. It’s fascinating to reconstruct that and think about it in different ways. Why are business leaders and politicians looking to schools to fix everything? So, they can have more high-functioning employees to serve the economy. But so many of them appear unwilling to work on all of the other things outside of school that are contributing to why many people are supposedly unprepared.
ELISE
I’m thinking about that kind of thing, too, especially related to the pandemic, and people not being able to participate in the workforce, and thinking about the way we value human life, and how in a capitalist society it becomes all about the workforce, and if that’s not a well-functioning component any more, how can we all still contribute in valuable ways that’s not just about clocking in from 9 to 5. I remember in my first couple of years at my school, we were doing these “inquiry groups” every afternoon and looking at “data” and considering different ways of doing things, and then it just all went away. So, when they talk about educational fads, that’s exactly what I saw in teacher inquiry. But now I’m reading about the Philadelphia Project, and the Bay Area Project, and other projects that have led to meaningful impacts from using teacher inquiry. But from what I can tell there are so many factors that have to be in place, plus the buy-in from the teachers themselves, and the fact that it is omitted from teacher preparation programs, to consider ourselves as teacher-researchers, rather than simply transmitters of knowledge from one place to the next, that it’s a whole reimagination of the system, it seems to get people on board to make something meaningful of the inquiry. And not make it feel like every other Monday afternoon meeting that you’re attending.
INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen.
EDEN
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? And we have our Facebook forums, but in the Facebook forums it is very difficult to convey a thought. This is a better setting for that. And they can get a little nasty and critical, and not very helpful, like, wow, if you ask a question that everyone thinks you should know the answer to, it can be very unkind. And I don’t think that’s helpful. But I like this idea of having more time to reflect, and think about things, and to be a better, more supportive community, somehow.
DENNIS
Facebook discussions are great, you hear a lot of ideas that you wouldn’t have heard before or reinforce things that maybe you weren’t too sure about. But it’s just not the same. I also really appreciate having actual speaking conversations, too, whether it’s in person or on Zoom or whatever.
SOPHIE
Plus, on Facebook groups it’s hard to tell tone of voice and actually understand the intent. You can’t always tell if they’re trying to be sarcastic or argumentative or if they’re genuinely trying to ask the question. 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.” In a group setting, you get to know the people a little bit more, and you can actually have a civil conversation with them instead of just attacking each other and saying, “You’re being racist!” or sexist or whatever it is.
DENNIS
So many conversations get derailed in so many different ways on those forums.
KERRIE
When I did my master’s, it was a small survey of beginning teachers, and teachers who had been there for a while, and how they handle stress. And then recommendations that I had for incorporating mindful breaks or getting focus groups together at individual sites to support teachers.
ELISE
Or a weekly Zoom meeting or a space where you can ask questions where you know that you’re not going to be judged or stuff like that. Not that I’m trying to sell Kodaly, but that was one of the things that I loved about doing that certification program. At one point there were twenty teachers in my cohort, and by the time we got to level three, there were ten of us, and I became really close with four of them, and we all live in different states, and we have a group text, and since we’re teaching from the same curriculum, we are texting each other almost daily.
DISSOLVE TO: ON SCREEN - MOBILE DEVICE - VARIOUS THUMBS TEXTING
ELISE (O.S.) (texting)
Are you still using this song? How did you change this game for COVID?
DISSOLVE TO: INT. ONLINE MEETING ROOM - NIGHT
Participants are on screen. Elise continues.
ELISE
And being able to relate after 300 hours of learning that curriculum together. And now one of them is mostly a drummer, and one of them is mostly a pianist, and one’s a trombone player… and we all have our own perspectives, the things we want to supplement and add and focus on, but at the core we have the same curriculum that we’re building from. And I do love having that community to discuss and build and modify that from. Even though I’m alone in my building, and don’t have a district meeting…
KERRIE
It is amazing the amount of diversity of assignments we have as music teachers, and still have that common thread of how to reach students. It doesn’t matter how old they are, it’s still the same path going forward. Everyone’s trying to level the playing field and find equity for our students and for ourselves.
EDEN
And think of how many more hundreds of hours of knowledge you have now that someone else might not have – any – you know, so in that forum, if we pick different experts, you could be on that panel to share with people who are newer. There’s a lot of knowledge that we each have that could be shared.
BOB
This study group has been like a little microcosm of going to a conference, where everybody there is a music teacher, and you get to huddle up with like minds. It’s so cool, especially when we’re “specials” teachers and we’re often alone on islands.
KERRIE
During the pandemic we initiated a happy hour with my colleagues that I never see because we are all at different schools. But I’ve learned so much from just meeting with the other classroom teachers once a week, plus you guys, I mean this has been so good and so valuable, to think about. And I carry it with me into my teaching when I’m at school; it’s super valuable, way better than PD. Dennis for President! Dennis for Professional Development!
(cheers and laughter)
KERRIE (cont’d)
Yay! (chuckles) Before the pandemic, any teacher interaction was very hit or miss. We started to kind of beg for it, especially the vocal music teachers who wanted to have days where we could get together and share curriculum, but it happened very seldom.
ELISE
Before our meetings I’m always thinking about what we had talked about last week. Or thinking about things that were said the previous week. And then after the meetings, little things would stick in my head for days. I’d be thinking, “Oh, yeah, Sophie was talking about that.” It would stick with me. And my friend, who’s a history teacher and also deals with lots of issues around equity, though not related to music, and I would bring those things into our conversations. It has really made me reflect on my practice when I sit down for lesson planning every week. Like, what am I doing to push myself or to incorporate new ideas, besides what I’ve been stuck with…? And oftentimes I’d come back to the conversations from our study group to think about new ideas or new ways to approach something. One of the things that was so important to me was the possibility of the way that things could be – the different perspectives on the way that things could be. I feel as human beings, and as teachers and as many other qualifiers, we get really stuck in ranting about the past, like, “Oh, this happened to me one time,” or, “One time this happened at my school, and this is what I did.” But, Dennis, I really loved how it felt like you were constantly pushing us to not just rant about things in the past, but to think about the way things could be in the future.
SOPHIE
Being in this group really helps me be more mindful and also makes me feel like I have a sense of community and getting to talk about all these things. It’s a shame that we don’t have this as a standard, across the board, being able to get together with people and discuss these ideas – and not just people at your school, because sometimes maybe you don’t get along the best, and it’s nice to get perspectives from all across the country. I think that’s what’s most interesting about this.
MARY
And also, the mix of public and private school; the classroom music teachers and the private studio music teachers, because those are very different formats of teaching music. 99% of my experience is with the private teaching side of things, and even though I’m probably not going to go into public school music teaching, I think there’s a lot to learn from those who do – they have to be really organized, they have to create really clear lesson plans, they can’t just wing it, they have to have classroom management skills and this type of thing for engaging students, and those skills can really benefit private music teachers in their one-on-one lessons as well. I enjoy learning from them.
BOB
And it was helpful that many of you taught different age groups from what I have experience with. So, it was cool, and interesting, how some of the problems and issues that you have to deal with aren’t really that different from middle school choir, but different enough that we know when you’re talking about a seven-year-old compared to a fourteen-year-old. That’s a big difference, so I enjoyed that.
DENNIS
And this should be the standard, you know. It should be built into the workday. So, it wasn’t an extra thing you had to do on your own time, but actually part of your career, what you do for your work.
KERRIE
Real professional development, right?
DENNIS, SOPHIE (and others)
Right!
KERRIE
But also, Dennis, when you’re talking about an action, like going to speak someplace or whatever, maybe this is your action. I mean, maybe this group, maybe this is more valuable than going to talk once to people, but also having this forum, like a live phone-in, like, “Hey, this is what we’re going to do; let’s talk!” I mean, that would be really valuable, too, you know?
DENNIS
Yeah, I appreciate you guys saying that. I would definitely participate, all the time, if it were available. That is definitely something I’ll write about.
KERRIE
Great.
SOPHIE
Maybe that’s what the end goal of this should be, not necessarily that it has to be led by you, but like a…
KERRIE
Just a forum, you know, just a place, I mean, it’s a long summer, I would definitely tune in once a week and just talk about strategy, or philosophy, or share readings. I’ve been kind of depressed lately, you know, half my kids are gone, and I’m worried about getting sick, or I’m worried about getting someone else sick, and that’s not teaching at all. So, when I can have these conversations with you guys, then it makes it better, the next day, you know.
FADE OUT
THE END