In 1990, the concept of teacher research was new to me. I was intrigued, as I listened to teachers present their research on a cold February Saturday at the University of Pennsylvania's Ethnography and Education Forum. School-based teachers had joined the forum to present their research-research that honored their "insider" knowledge of the classroom. Teachers read from journals they had kept throughout the year and talked about ways they had studied their students' learning. They spoke of the importance of collaboration and the sense of renewal they derived from their work as researching teachers. The partnerships between school-and university-based teachers were calling for new ways of thinking about what is research and who does research. I was sitting at what felt like a new intersection of research and practice, and I wanted to learn more. It had never occurred to me that teachers could research their own teaching. Had I done this? Did I know other music teachers who had conducted research in their own classrooms? Were teaching and research two sides of the same coin? The possibilities seemed intriguing.Like all inquiry, teacher research begins with questions about practice that are never far from the surface. Teacher researchers' classrooms become laboratories of learning in which teachers remain open to new ideas and discoveries about both their teaching and their students' learning. Becoming a teacher researcher essentially involves "becoming a student of teaching" (Bullough & Gitlin, 1995). Britton (1987) writes, "Every lesson should be for the teacher, an inquiry, some further discovery, a quiet form of research" (p. 15). This quiet form of investigation might not appear like other types of research but, like its qualitative ancestor, teacher research involves systematic and intentional inquiry (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993). Although many definitions of teacher
The article analyzes professional development in music education considering the ways in which policy change depends on conditions where renewed practice can become self supporting. The authors situate professional development amid the current politico-educational climate while offering an interpretive framework based on key issues and actions identified by other authors in this issue of Arts Education Policy Review. Further, they suggest a pragmatic policy agenda focused on the notion of a strategic architecture for professional development in music education, arguing that it may bring (1) greater confidence in teacher's capacity to adapt, engender concepts, intervene in instructional patterns, and establish positive feedback loops; and (2) improvement in teacher retention and productivity. The article calls for a professional development agenda that sees teachers as capable change agents and that is jointly incentivized by union leaders, government, and institutions of higher learning.
The purpose of this study was to engage preservice teachers in thoughtful examination of teaching and learning in music classrooms through application of ethnographic and portraiture techniques, and to ascertain the efficacy of this approach in undergraduate music teacher preparation courses. Participants included faculty members at three universities and the preservice students enrolled in elementary general music methods courses. Students were coached in ethnographic data collection techniques (e.g., observations and field notes, memos, peer debrief, collection of artefacts) by their respective professors. Schwab's (1973) four curriculum commonplaces served as frames for students' observations in music classrooms. Students constructed ethnography-portraiture projects based on their data records and participated in exit interviews at the end of the semester. Data, comprised of students' projects and interviews, were analysed by the faculty participants for evidence of preservice teachers' ability to engage in the ethnography process, their thoughtful critique of the culture of the music classrooms and the teachers and children they observed, and changes in preservice teachers' perceptions and thinking about music teaching and learning. Analysis indicated that ethnographic techniques enabled the preservice teachers to articulate a multi-layered picture of teaching and learning in elementary music classrooms, to engage in nuanced reflections about their identity as teachers, and to provide detailed descriptions that were both analytical and critical as supported by data and informed by connections made with material from their methods coursework. Additional findings include evidence of insightful learning characterised by clarification of career goals, appreciation of the unexpected, changes in perspective, and emerging teacher identities.
At the 2004 MENC preconference session sponsored by the Society of Music Teacher Education, the question of "What partnerships must we create in our teacher education programs?" was addressed in one of three breakout sessions. We began the discussion by looking at the types of partnerships that currently exist. Our thinking was that only when we have taken stock of where we've been can we begin to think outside the box in response to Jeffrey Kimpton's call for change in music teacher education.Many of the participants reported on methods classes that apply a clinical model. These sitebased methods courses vary in the degree of collaboration that exists. On one end of the spectrum is the lab school approach in which university professors and students provide music instruction in schools where music otherwise doesn't exist. A more collaborative model is the Professional Development School (PDS), in which the methods class relocates to a school and is taught by both university and school-based teacher. Other collaborative ventures that were discussed included service learning that partnered university students with community organizations and after-school programs. The conversation then turned to examples of "internal" partnerships that involve the integration of music education courses with other disciplines, both outside music as well as within music departments.It is clear that there are many angles to consider when thinking about the kinds of partnerships we need to create or reenergize in music teacher education. The literature on partnerships in music education reaches far beyond the scope of our discussion in the breakout session and includes partnerships between universities and professional artists and arts organizations, as well as collaborative enterprises between universities and corporations. The following discussion draws upon selected sources as a way to frame the current conversation on partnerships and to serve as a springboard for future planning.
This chapter takes an expanded view of practitioner inquiry to include multiple traditions being conducted by P-12 teachers, in-service teachers, teacher candidates, and teacher educators. Discussion includes the historical roots and defining qualities of four traditions of practitioner inquiry: action research, teacher research, self-study, and communities of practice. Selected studies in music education are examined to provide a view of the kinds of focusing questions prompting the many versions and variants of practitioner inquiry, as well as to illustrate the dialogic relationship of inquiry and practice. Critiques of practitioner inquiry and current obstacles facing researching teachers in music education are reviewed for the purpose of forwarding the conversation about the promises and pitfalls of practitioner inquiry. Suggestions for new voices, networks, and venues are made in order to move the tradition of practitioner inquiry into fuller view within qualitative research in music education.
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