Music Educators Journal

In recent years, the national discourse on social justice has inevitably bled into the music classroom. This article suggests ways in which these discussions can be welcomed into music pedagogy in a manner that can support those who have been marginalized by society. The author relates Jacque Derrida’s principle of hospitality to our pedagogy and explores how this principle could allow music educators to reexamine the way we teach music, from the names of the voice sections in our choirs, to the very names of musical genres, to the structure of lesson plans.

Music educators are responsible for teaching students with an array of personality types and must be able to reach them all. Introverted or quieter students may constitute up to 50 percent of participants in a given music class or ensemble. In this article, we discuss differences between extroverted and introverted music learners and synthesize research findings into commonsense teaching strategies that support a variety of student personalities. Music educators can make small adjustments to their existing practices to ensure all students grow and thrive, even the quieter ones.

Autonomy-supportive teaching, self-determination theory, and self-regulated learning can be effective methods for increasing student motivation in a range of classroom settings. However, music educators struggle to apply principles of student autonomy in ensemble rehearsals. Using intent-based leadership as a practical model for guiding students toward self-directed habits, I describe one approach to shape self-sufficient student musicians in the ensemble setting. By creatively harnessing students’ capacity for independent learning, their musical skills and motivation for music learning can improve dramatically.

With the ever-growing diversity of students in our schools, so too are the cultures and experiences that our students bring with them into the classroom. Yet many teachers feel ill-equipped to teach their students in a culturally responsive way. This article includes strategies for music mentors to successfully mentor beginning teachers toward becoming more culturally responsive, even as they themselves are also striving toward that same goal. Strategies include shared reflections, using targeted “conversation starters” to foster beginning teachers’ self-reflection, and harnessing the characteristics associated with beginning teachers’ developmental stages. Recommendations for reframing beginning teachers’ expectations for culturally responsive pedagogy are offered.

An essential element of creative musicianship is the ability to seek, provide, and respond to feedback. This article presents a method of teaching elementary music students to respond to creative work in a way that is productive and uplifting, using a discussion protocol. Grounded in the work of Lerman and Borstel’s critical response and Seidel’s collaborative assessment conference, this protocol is designed to give young students the language to participate in creative discourse. This protocol can be used in the revision or assessment stages of a project, and it allows students to take ownership of their own creative community while laying the groundwork for meaningful and authentic assessment.