“It Really Comes Down to the Community”: A Case Study of a Rural School Music Program

Interrogating intercultural competence through a “pedagogy of interruption”: A metasynthesis of intercultural outreach projects in music teacher education

“…This interruption of the known difference is not only a process of learning new ways of learning and teaching music but also one of getting to know the self. Our analysis identified the context in which intercultural outreach projects take place as an important component in interrupting the known difference, with student teachers “crossing [a] metaphorical and literal border” (Nichols & Sullivan, 2016, p. 162) as a prompt for self-examination and critical reflection (Emmanuel, 2005; VanDeusen, 2019). However, traveling abroad was not necessarily a prerequisite for having one’s views of the world contested, which could also occur in a context that is geographically nearby, but socioculturally distant.…”

“…In the selected publications, it was reported that student teachers often resisted these interruptions and the demands for reflection-in-action, improvisation because of the unexpected, and experimentation in highly complex situations often even without a shared language. Both Kallio and Westerlund (2020) and VanDeusen (2019) describe student teachers adopting deficit discourses, or erasing difference in attempts to conserve their prior assumptions as to what constituted a “normal” classroom or student hence also resisting the development of intercultural competences that could have come through a change of attitudes concerning what music teaching is about and how it is organized (Deardorff, 2006; MacPherson, 2010). For example, a student teacher in VanDeusen’s (2019) study assumed that a child without English language skills had “a special need” (p. 50) and another in Kallio and Westerlund (2020) expressed frustration in considering whether to adapt their teaching approach for particularly vulnerable student populations, instead just wanting to “get on with it and teach” (p. 54).…”

A Pilot Project Exploring Rural Classroom Music Teachers’ Perceptions and Practices via an Online Professional Development Course

“…To address the frustration our participants reported about the lack of community musical resources, we suggest leveraging atypical but effective resources. For rural music teachers, intentional relationship building with students, parents, administrators, and community plays a major role in the success of programs (VanDeusen, 2016). Causby (2019) recommended deploying a larger circle of relationships to consider new ensembles, music courses, and performances that are more befitting a particular location, student culture, and surrounding group of residents.…”

“…Similarly, Bates (2011) articulated the personal and professional benefits related to close community connections in rural settings. VanDeusen (2016) found that rural music teachers with "interest in and openness to the community" (p. 63), who created a truly place-based education for students, enjoyed significant benefits from situating their work within "the presence of a music program tradition within the greater community" (p. 63). Adapting and enhancing curricular materials with local or regional content is not limited to rural settings but may be a more common practice there.…”

Novice and experienced music teacher resilience: A comparative case study

“…Many teachers will attest to the fact that the children’s home realities affect their school lives in many ways (Gorski, 2008; McAnally, 2013; Vandeusen, 2016). In many schools across the United States, both urban and rural, children living in poverty face daily stressors including lack of parental support, lack of resources, unsafe living conditions, and poor nutrition and health (Willingham, 2012).…”