Myth, Maxims, and Moxie

1
Myth, Maxims, and Moxie
Practical Applications of Research for Urban
Music Educators

• Music in Urban Schools Conference
• New Jersey Music Educators Association
• February 23, 2006

Dr. Carol Frierson-Campbell, William Paterson
University http//euphrates.wpunj.edu/faculty/fri
ersoncampbellc
2
MYTH

• Wikipedia
• . . . a myth is a sacred story concerning the
  origins of the world or how the world and the
  creatures in it came to have their present form.
  In saying that a myth is a sacred narrative, what
  is meant is that a myth is believed to be true by
  people who attach . . . significance to it. Use
  of the term by scholars does not imply that the
  narrative is either true or false.

3
MAXIM

• Oxford Concise Dictionary
• noun a short statement expressing a general
  truth or rule of conduct.
• ORIGIN from Latin propositio maxima most
  important proposition.
• http//www.askoxford.com/concise_oed

4
MOXIE

• Britanica.com
• Main Entry moxie Pronunciation
  'mäk-sEFunction nounEtymology from Moxie, a
  trademark for a soft drink1 ENERGY, PEP2
  COURAGE, DETERMINATION3 KNOW-HOW, EXPERTISE
• http//www.m-w.com/dictionary/moxie

5
MYTH 1

• Theres no one way to teach music

6
MAXIMS FOR MYTH 1

• Modeling (demonstrating)
• Using recorded models
• Cooperative Learning
• Sight-reading
• Accompaniment
• Movement

7
Modeling (Demonstrating)

• Nonverbal teacher modeling is effective in
  promoting musical skills across a wide age
  distribution. The better the model, the better
  students perform.
• Dickey, M. R. (1992). A Review of Research on
  Modeling in Music Teaching and Learning. Bulletin
  of the CRME, 113, 27-40.
• Henley, P. T. (2001). Effects of Modeling and
  Tempo Patterns as Practice Techniques on the
  Performance of High School Instrumentalists.
  JRME, 49 (2), 169-80.
• Sang, R. C. (1987). A Study of the Relationship
  Between Instrumental Music Teachers' Modeling
  Skills and Pupil Performance Behaviors. Bulletin
  of the CRME, 91, 155-59.

8
Recorded Models

• Directors of middle and and two high school bands
  systematically included professional recordings
  as part of their preparation of selected pieces
  for 5 weeks.
• No difference in achievement between model and
  no-model pieces on performance recordings.
• Other student responses with model pieces and
  non-model pieces differed by age level.
• Morrison, S. J. Montemayor, M. Wiltshire, E. S.
  (2004). The Effect of a Recorded Model on Band
  Students' Performance Self-Evaluations,
  Achievement, and Attitude. JRME, v. 52 no. 2
  (Summer 2004) p. 116-29.

9
Sight Reading

• Overall sight-reading accuracy of high school
  singers was significantly higher with 30-second
  preparation time. Less accurate singers, however,
  did not benefit from practice time.
• High scorers tonicized (vocally established the
  key), used hand signs, sang out loud during
  practice, physically kept the beat, and sang the
  melody significantly more frequently than did low
  scorers during practice.
• Sight-singing system used made no significant
  difference.
• Killian, J. N. Henry, M. L. (2005). A Comparison
  of Successful and Unsuccessful Strategies in
  Individual Sight-Singing Preparation and
  Performance. JRME, 53 (1), p. 51-65.

10
Cooperative Learning

• In a 1995 study, cooperative learning techniques
  (student/student interaction) were related to
  higher achievement in an urban secondary piano
  class.
• The data revealed a decrease in absenteeism,
  classroom behavior, tardiness, and cutting class.
• Goliger, J. M. (1995). Implementation of a
  program of cooperative learning in an urban
  secondary piano laboratory. Doctoral-dissertation,
  Teachers College, Columbia University.

11
Accompaniment for Young Singers

• Harmonic accompaniment (defined as a root melody
  accompaniment) had no significant effect on the
  tonal achievement of children in K and 1
  however, children who received song instruction
  with root melody accompaniment improvised
  melodies w/ better intonation.
• Guilbault, D. M. (2004). The Effect of Harmonic
  Accompaniment on the Tonal Achievement and Tonal
  Improvisations of Children in Kindergarten and
  First Grade. JRME, 52 (1) (Spring 2004) p. 64-76.

12
Movement in Music Class

• .Movement . . . assists children in developing
  schematic templates for the unfolding ideas
  presented in music.
• . . . the continued use of movement in the music
  classroom should strongly be encouraged. . . .
• Having ample classroom space is an important
  practical consideration, as is sufficient
  preservice and in-service teacher training for
  increased comfort in planning appropriate
  movement activities with children. (p. 30)
• Ferguson, L. (2005). The Role of Movement in
  Elementary Music Education A Literature Review.
  Update Applications of Research in Music
  Education (Online), 23 (2), 23-33.

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MOXIE for MYTH 1

• Remember ENERGY, PEP, COURAGE,
  DETERMINATION,KNOW-HOW, EXPERTISE
• Use research-based practice to improve students
  musical achievement.

14
MYTH 2

• Children are children wherever you go.

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MAXIMS for MYTH 2

• How People Learn Brain, Mind, Experience, and
  Schoolhttp//books.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/
• FIVE THEMES THAT CHANGED CONCEPTIONS OF
  LEARNING     
• Memory and structure of knowledge
• Analysis of problem solving and reasoning
• Early foundations
• Metacognitive processes and self-regulatory
  capabilities
• Cultural experience and community participation

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Memory and structure of knowledge

• Knowing how learners develop coherent structures
  of information is useful in understanding how
  different learners organize the knowledge that
  underlies effective comprehension and thinking.

17
Problem solving and reasoning

• There is a clear difference between the ways
  novice learners solve problems and the
  specialized expertise of individuals who have
  proficiency in particular subjects.

18
Early foundations

• There is a strong relationship between children's
  learning predispositions and how they learn to
  organize and coordinate information, make
  inferences, and discover strategies for problem
  solving.

19
Metacognition and self-regulation

• Individuals can be taught to regulate their
  behaviors, and these activities enable
  self-monitoring and executive control of one's
  performance.

20
Cultural experience

• Learning is promoted by social norms that value
  the search for understanding.
• Learning involves becoming attuned to the
  constraints and resources, the limits and
  possibilities, that are involved in the practices
  of the community.

21
MOXIE for MYTH 2

• Learn to recognize stages of development among
  students
• Teach self-regulation along with skills and
  knowledge
• Familiarize yourself with the social norms your
  students are immersed in

22
MYTH 3

• Good teachers are born, not taught.

23
MAXIMS for MYTH 3

• Music teacher learning
• Music teacher development

24
Music Teacher Learning

• Three indicators of effectiveness--teacher
  knowledge, teacher comfort, and frequency of
  teacher use--can be significantly improved in a
  1-week technology workshop setting.
• Music educator participants were tested before,
  immediately after, and 10 months after the
  workshop.
• Moderate correlation between participants'
  frequency of technological use and the degree to
  which they reported their access to technological
  resources.
• Bauer, W. I. Reese, S. McAllister, P. A.
  (2003). Transforming Music Teaching via
  Technology The Role of Professional Development.
  JRME, 51 (4), 289-301.

25
Music Teacher Development

• Emerging as a Teacher What Gets Easier?
• Security and self-confidence, Classroom
  management, Administrative organization
  (preparing a budget, and so forth), Lesson
  planning Finding materials and resources for
  lessons, Community relations/parent interactions.

26
Music Teacher Development

• Emerging as a Teacher Career-long Challenges
• Time management, Advocacy, Isolation (left out of
  decision making), Curriculum concerns (choosing
  literature and classroom activities), Scheduling,
  Keeping up with educational trends, Finding time
  for one's own musical growth.
• Conway, C. M. Hibbard, S Albert, D. Hourigan,
  R. (2005). Professional Development for Arts
  Teachers. Arts Education Policy Review, 107 (1),
  3-9.

27
MOXIE for MYTH 3

• Professional development Find university courses
  that help you target areas of need.
• Make a point of developing a relationship with a
  more experienced teacher.
• Take responsibility for your own learning.

28
MYTH 4

• Good teachers are color-blind

29
MAXIMS for MYTH 4

• Ethnic Diversity
• Cultural Differences
• Cultural Consciousness
• Perspectives of Normal

30
Ethnic Diversity

• The demographic breakdown in the 100 largest
  school districts in the United States includes
  Latinos at 31.7 and African Americans at 29.4
  furthermore, in the 500 largest school districts
  in the country, Latinos and African Americans
  account for 52 of the students population
  (Young, 2002). By the year 2050, the average
  U.S. resident will trace his or her descent to
  Africa, Asia, the Hispanic world, the Pacific
  Islands, the Middle East almost anywhere but
  white Europe (Taylor, 1990, p. 1) and the U.S.
  will mirror the rest of the present world
  populace as a majority non-White nation (Davis,
  1996).

31
Cultural Differences

• In urban schools children of color are the
  majority. These children are and will continue to
  be, well into the future, served by teachers and
  other school authority figures of whom 88-90 are
  of a middle-class White European background. The
  gulf between music educators, 94 of whom are
  White, and urban students is even wider (U.S.
  Bureau of the Census, 1999). It is clear that
  U.S. teachers and many of their students lie in
  geographically, ethnically, linguistically and
  socioeconomically different worlds.

32
Cultural Consciousness

• In Teaching Other Peoples Children, Delpit
  (1995) reminds us that people are experts on
  their own lives. Young children in particular
  know how to behave in their community and at
  home, but they experience frustration in settings
  that do not share the same norm (Hobgood, 2001,
  p. 1).
• Many children of color experience this
  frustration, this discontinuity when they attend
  school and find that their home culture does not
  fit with the school culture. These children may
  become alienated and disengaged, and are clearly
  at a disadvantage in the learning process
  (Sheets, 1999 Irvine, 2001 Delpit, 1995
  Ladson-Billings, 1998).

33
Perspectives of Normal

• Research has indicated that many well-meaning
  teachers who have difficulty accepting
  differences may be assuming that normal
  students are White, middle class, heterosexual,
  and at least outwardly well adjusted to school -
  the presumed majority .
• Darling-Hammond, French Garcia-Lopez, 2002, p.
  9

34
MOXIE for MYTH 4

• AVOID political correctness
• Risk conversations
• Use culturally responsive teaching
• Develop a knowledge base about cultural diversity
• Include ethnic and culturally diverse content in
  the curriculum
• Demonstrate caring in the learning community
• Develop cross-cultural communications
• Use cultural congruity in classroom instruction
• Geneva Gay (2000). Culturally Responsive
  Teaching Theory, Research, and Practice.

35
MYTH 5

• Good teachers can teach anywhere

36
MAXIMS for MYTH 5

• School facilities impact teaching
• Urban teachers face more stresses with less
  reinforcement
• Information about the Small Schools Initiative

37
School facilities impact teaching

• Teachers in Chicago and Washington, DC who rated
  their working conditions and perceived those
  conditions affected their job performance and
  teaching effectiveness. Teachers evaluated their
  surroundings (e.g., degree of overcrowding,
  availability and adequacy of specialized
  facilities, and physiological factors). They
  noted the inadequacy or lack science, music, and
  art classrooms. Over 40 percent of teachers
  considered their classrooms the wrong size for
  the type of education they delivered.

38
School facilities impact teaching

• (continued) Over 25 percent had taught in
  non-classroom spaces. About one-third of teachers
  had little or no teacher workspace. Most teachers
  reported fair or poor indoor air quality.
  Significant numbers noted poor thermal comfort,
  poor lighting, dirty and inoperable windows, and
  dirty restrooms. Many teachers . . . believed
  that school conditions affected their career
  decisions.
• Schneider, Mark. (2003). Linking School Facility
  Conditions to Teacher Satisfaction and Success.
  ED480552. Web site http//www.edfacilities.org/pu
  bs

39
Urban teachers face more stress

• The factors that most impact music teachers are
  time, student apathy, and inadequate salary.
• Urban teachers reported significantly greater
  differences in discipline and motivation issues
  as well as with the lack of professional
  improvement opportunities. Additionally,
  inadequate preparation, insufficient program
  budgets and facilities . . . and lack of
  collegial and administrative support were
  reported to be large sources of stress.
• Gordon, D. G. (1997). An investigation and
  analysis of environmental stress factors
  experienced by k-12 music teachers (stress). DAI,
  58, no. 11A, (1997) 4171.

40
MOXIE for MYTH 5

• Document everything
• Get involved with your union
• Work to make the whole school environment better
• Consider a new placement
• Know the law

41
The Small Schools Initiative

• Bill McDevitt, Vineland Schools
• More student contact with an individual teacher.
• By 2008 at high school level in Abbott Districts
  there will be no more general classes.
  Everything will have to be on a college level.
• Schools will be broken down into smaller
  components.
• Implications for music If music teachers do not
  know, it will be imposed rather than
  negotiated.
• Arts are seen as a place to send students while
  other teachers have common planning time.

42
MYTH 6

• Administrators and non-music educators do not
  care about music in school.

43
MAXIMS for MYTH 6

• Grade-level teachers perceptions
• Instruction
• Interdisciplinary integration
• Music Teacher Leadership
• Social Capital

44
Grade-level teachers perceptions

• Instruction
• Elementary teachers in Illinois were surveyed
  about the value they placed on arts instruction
  in their classes.
• Participants ranked the fine arts last in
  importance when compared to other areas of
  development, and rarely used them in their
  classes.
• Kriehbiel, H. J. (1990). Illinois fine arts
  Elementary classroom teachers perceptions of
  music instruction. DAI, 51 (3a), 778.
• BUT . . .

45
Grade-level teachers perceptions

• Interdisciplinary integration
• A study in central Florida indicated that
  grade-level teachers DO believe that music
  integration is beneficial to students.
• Key findings indicate that awareness and
  training were the 2 most important issues
  affecting music integration.
• Shuck, C. M. (2005). Music integration
  Educators perceptions of implementation and
  student achievement in public school elementary
  education. DAI, 66 (03a), 901.

46
Arts Teacher Leadership

• An urban high school in Toronto made a decision
  to support the arts and arts participation by all
  students.
• As a result, the arts were credited with turning
  the school climate from failure to success.
• Individual arts teachers had a significant impact
  on the strength of the programs and of the school
  itself, but those teachers gave themselves little
  credit for the change. They did not view
  themselves as leaders.
• Zederayko, M. W. (2000). The impact of
  administrator and teacher leadership on the
  development of an exemplary arts program and its
  role in school reform A case study. DAI, 61, 04A.

47
Social Capital

• Sociologists who studied teachers in several
  urban schools in Chicago noted that teachers
  constructed other teachers as leaders on the
  basis not only of cultural capital, but of human
  and social capital (p. 2).
• Ordinary (i.e., grade-level) teachers did not
  see specialist teachers as leaders that is, as
  people who had the capacity to help them learn
  about and change their teaching practices (p.
  11).
• The lack of social capital (networks of
  reciprocity) between specialist teachers gave
  them lower status in the school.
• Spillane, J. P., Hallett, T. Diamond, J. B.
  (2003). Forms of capital and the construction of
  leadership Instructional leadership in urban
  elementary schools. Sociology of Education, (76),
  1-17.

48
MOXIE for MYTH 6

• Work with non-music colleagues to provide
  resources.
• See yourself as a school leader and act
  accordingly.
• Cultivate Social Capital in your building

49
MYTH 7

• Music makes you smarter

50
MAXIMS for MYTH 7

• Arts-related non-arts outcomes
• Visual arts
• Music
• Multi-Arts
• Cautions
• Missing Links

51
Arts-Related Academic and Social Outcomes

• James Catterall, "The Arts and the Transfer of
  Learning," in Critical Links Learning in the
  Arts and Student Academic and Social Development.
  
• Critical Links http//www.aep-arts.org/PDF20File
  s/CriticalLinks.pdf
• Chart http//www.michigan.gov/documents/CLTransfe
  rChart2_103474_7.pdf

52
Visual Arts Critical Links

• Drawing Content and organization of writing
• Visualization training Sophisticated reading
  skills/interpretation of text.
• Reasoning about art Reasoning about scientific
  images.
• Instruction in visual art Reading readiness

53
Music Critical Links

• Early childhood music training Cognitive
  development
• Music listening Spatial reasoning, Spatial
  temporal reasoning, Quality of writing, Prolixity
  of writing.
• Piano/keyboard learning Mathematics
  proficiency. Spatial reasoning.
• Piano and voice Long-term spatial temporal
  reasoning.
• Music performance Self-efficacy. Self-concept.
• Instrument training Reading. SAT verbal scores.
• Music with language learning English skills for
  ESL learners.

54
Multi-arts Programs Critical Links

• Integrated arts/academics Reading, verbal and
  mathematics skills.
• Creative thinking Achievement motivation.
  Cognitive engagement, Instructional practice in
  the school, Professional culture of the school,
  School climate. Community engagement and
  identity.
• Intensive arts experience Self-confidence.
  Risk-taking. Paying attention. Persevering.
  Empathy for others. Self-initiating. Task
  persistence. Ownership of learning. Collaboration
  skills. Leadership. Reduced dropout rates.
  Educational aspirations. Higher-order thinking
  skills.
• Arts-rich school environment Creativity.
  Engagement/attendance. Range of personal and
  social developments. Higher-order thinking skills.

55
Cautions Missing Links

• The Arts and Academic Achievement What the
  Evidence Shows http//www.pz.harvard.edu/Research/
  Reap/REAPExecSum.htm
• Cautions that research linking arts and academic
  achievement may not meet rigor of scientific
  proof.
• Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland, Harvard Project
  Zero

56
Cautions Missing Links

• Three Areas Where Reliable Causal Links Were
  Found
• Listening to Music and Spatial-Temporal Reasoning
• Learning to Play Music and Spatial Reasoning
• Classroom Drama and Verbal Skills

57
Cautions Missing Links

• Seven Areas Where No Reliable Causal Links Were
  Found
• Arts-Rich Education and Verbal and Mathematics
  Scores/Grades
• Arts-Rich Education and Creative Thinking
• Learning to Play Music and Mathematics
• Learning to Play Music and Reading
• Visual Arts and Reading
• Dance and Reading
• Dance and Nonverbal Reasoning

58
MOXIE for MYTH 7

• Share the wealth
• Consider taking a course
• Find out whats happening in your school and
  district
• Get involved with action research

59
Myth, Maxims, and Moxie

• Whats most important?
• For students Learn students developmental needs
  and understand their cultural mores.
• For teachers Find ways to make connections
  w/music and non-music colleagues integrate
  yourselves into your buildings.

60
Myth, Maxims, and Moxie

• Whats most important?
• For administrators Be sure music teachers have
  the same opportunities for professional growth
  and development as non-music teachers.

61
Myth, Maxims, and Moxie

• So what?
• Music teachers who are knowledegable about
  research and practice
• Are better teachers
• Are seen by peers as leaders
• Have a greater chance of making a difference for
  students