scholarly journals Revealing Whiteness in Preservice Music Teacher Preparation

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-141
Author(s):  
Andrea VanDeusen
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Critical Whiteness Studies ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
Music Teacher Preparation ◽  
Critical Whiteness

Educational institutions and teacher education preparation programs tend to reflect White Eurocentric beliefs and values. Additionally, White preservice teachers may have little understanding of their own cultural backgrounds, as they are largely unexamined in a structure of White norms. In this paper, I draw upon elements of critical whiteness studies as a framework to further analyze data from a prior, larger study about an immersion field experience to reveal the ways in which whiteness was largely unacknowledged but always lurking in the background of the experience—in participants’ discourses about their experiences and interactions with students of color in the music classrooms. This deepened understanding of whiteness embedded in the experience was imperative for considering how to better facilitate field experiences for White preservice music teachers and how to better prepare them to work successfully with students of color.

A Case for Decentering Whiteness in Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 19-34
Author(s):  
Jamie Utt
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
White Students ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
Traditional Curriculum ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Critical Whiteness Studies ◽  
Cultural Wealth ◽  
Critical Whiteness ◽  
Social Studies Textbooks

Ethnic Studies undermines and challenges the racism inherent in dominant education systems by centering identities and epistemologies of people of Color. While much focus has been paid to the damage done to students of Color by White teachers and the White standard curriculum, this paper addresses the intellectual and material benefit White students disproportionately gain from this curriculum. Through a mixed-methods empirical study examining social studies textbooks and standards from Texas and California, the author argues that the standard White canon acts as a form of White/Western studies that directly privileges White students. Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, Pierre Bourdieu cultural reproduction, and Tara Yosso’s community cultural wealth provide theoretical frameworks in calling for a broader implementation of Ethnic Studies programs and pedagogies while calling for reform of traditional curriculum and standards that act as couriers of dominant capital for White students.

The App Scavenger Hunt

2021 ◽  
pp. 56-66
Author(s):  
Gena R. Greher ◽  
Savannah H. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Theory To Practice ◽  
Creative Music ◽  
Music Methods ◽  
Music Teacher Preparation ◽  
University Professor ◽  
Teaching Music ◽  
Creative Music Making

The chapter focuses on projects designed to enhance student engagement with, and exploration of, mobile devices. Helping preservice teachers manage the often steep learning curve that goes hand in hand with connecting theory to practice is but one aspect of music teacher preparation. For the methods student and university professor alike, staying abreast of the current PK-12 school population’s musical needs poses unique conditions for curriculum development. Learning how to use technology while working with a diverse range of students presents challenges for all who are involved in teaching music with technology. The App Scavenger Hunt is an introductory project intended to foster collaboration by exploring the variety of apps available for later projects such as spontaneous musical jam sessions, group composition, and the (re)creation of cover tunes. These musicking experiences, in conjunction with field experiences in music methods classes, aided university students’ embrace of the potential for creative music making with mobile technology.

Whiteness as a Dissonant State: Exploring One White Male Student Teacher’s Experiences in Urban Contexts

2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 306-318
Author(s):  
Stephanie Behm Cross ◽  
Nermin Tosmur-Bayazit ◽  
Alyssa Hadley Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
White Male ◽  
Male Student ◽  
Whiteness Studies ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Critical Whiteness Studies ◽  
Critical Whiteness ◽  
K 12

Studies on student teaching continue to suggest that preservice teachers’ feelings of dissonance are related to disparate views of teaching and learning between universities and schools. Drawing on interview, artifact, and observation data, the authors utilize Cognitive Dissonance and Critical Whiteness Studies to make different sense of the experiences of one White student teacher (Brett). Results indicate that Brett experienced dissonance related to fractured relationships, misaligned teaching strategies, and disengagement as he taught youth of color. Importantly, the use of Critical Whiteness Studies helped to additionally reveal the way Whiteness affected Brett’s movements toward consonance—mainly through rationalization and problematic notions of perseverance. The authors suggest that Whiteness itself is a dissonant state, and argue that conversations focused on dissonance from misaligned university theory and K-12 schooling practices is dangerously incomplete. Implications for research and practice are included.

Traditions and Ways Forward in the United States

2017 ◽  
pp. 522-538
Author(s):  
Jay Dorfman
Keyword(s):  
Content Knowledge ◽  
Skill Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Music Technology ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Complex Task ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Music Teacher Preparation ◽  
Do So

This chapter focuses on the structure of music teacher preparation programs, how they currently accommodate technology studies, and how they might do so in the future. The chapter discusses music technology skill development and the roles of faculty in overseeing skill development under the theoretical model known as technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK). The chapter concludes with suggestions for researching the complex task of integrating technology into music preparation.

Assessing Musical Development

2019 ◽  
pp. 418-446
Author(s):  
Joshua A. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Music Programs ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Music Teacher Preparation ◽  
Education Courses

This chapter discusses the general landscape of assessment education in music programs and possible means of incorporating assessment learning in music teacher preparation programs. The chapter outlines a possible sequence of activities that would cover the more pertinent topics of assessment in an instructional sequence that would encompass all 4 years of a typical music education undergraduate program, as well as possible prototypical music education courses in which the topics could be incorporated with the ultimate aim of potentially leading to a more assessment-literate music education profession. The chapter describes steps that music teacher educators can take to help student teachers prepare for what their potential districts may require for teacher evaluation and teacher certification. It also emphasizes the importance of discussing contemporary school legal issues within the student teaching semester, even if students already are required to take a course that covers these issues.

White Teachers, Racial Privilege, and the Sociological Imagination

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (10) ◽  
pp. 1462-1488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Crowley
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
White Teachers ◽  
Sociological Imagination ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Critical Whiteness Studies ◽  
Racial Privilege ◽  
Critical Whiteness ◽  
Personal Experiences

The author draws from critical Whiteness studies and the sociological imagination to show how three White preservice teachers in an urban education program used personal experiences with racial privilege to understand structural racism. These stories depart from portrayals of race-evasive White teachers who struggle to engage with critical perspectives on race and racism. The participants’ stories—which openly critique meritocracy and color blindness—not only demonstrate possibility, but they also raise concerns about the use of personal experience by dominant groups and note how considerations of White privilege do not necessarily lead to an understanding of how one is complicit in the reproduction of White supremacy.

Service-Learning Opportunities for Preservice Music Teachers within Community Music Settings

2019 ◽  
pp. 641-667
Author(s):  
Jared R. Rawlings
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Teacher Preparation Program ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Learning Opportunity ◽  
Learning Programs

Authentic teaching opportunities are important for all preservice teachers, and service-learning opportunities within community music settings support preservice music teacher development. The purpose of this chapter is to document a service-learning opportunity within a community music school and showcase the benefits and challenges of a partnership between a music teacher preparation program and this school. After defining service learning and describing how it is utilized in music teacher education, the chapter uncovers the following topics: establishing a community music partnership, designing a service-learning opportunity, and evaluating the outcomes of service-learning programs. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of and recommendations for utilizing a multi-tier service-learning program alongside a preservice music teacher curriculum.

Diversifying Musical Experiences in Schools and Music Teacher Preparation Programs

2019 ◽  
pp. 891-901
Author(s):  
Robert H. Woody ◽  
Mark C. Adams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
The United States ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Large Ensembles ◽  
Classical Traditions

This chapter discusses the innate differences between vernacular music-making cultures and those oriented in Western classical traditions, and suggests students in traditional school music education programs in the United States are not typically afforded opportunities to learn skills used in vernacular and popular music-making cultures. The chapter emphasizes a need to diversify music-making experiences in schools and describes how vernacular musicianship may benefit students’ musical development. It suggests that, in order for substantive change to occur in music education in the United States, teachers will need to advance beyond simply considering how to integrate popular music into their traditional large ensembles—and how preservice music teacher education programs may be the key to help better prepare teachers to be more versatile and philosophically open to teaching a more musically diverse experience in their future classrooms.

Pushing the Boundaries from the Inside

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Colleen Conway ◽  
Shannan Hibbard
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Adaptive Expertise ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Classroom Relationships ◽  
School Based

This chapter situates the study of music teacher education within the larger body of music education and teacher education research. It problematizes the terms teacher training, teacher education, and best practice and introduces the concept of teaching as an “impossible profession.” Goals of teacher education, including reflective practice and adaptive expertise, are discussed. The chapter outlines the challenges that music teacher educators face as they try to prepare preservice teachers for the realities of P-12 school-based music education while instilling in these new colleagues a disposition toward change. It concludes with narratives that examine teachers’ descriptions of classroom relationships throughout the lens of presence in teaching as a way to remind teacher educators of the importance of their work to push the boundaries of music teacher education in order to serve the profession at large.

Music Teacher Education Program Practices: Preparing Teachers to Work With Diverse Learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
Mara E. Culp ◽  
Karen Salvador
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Diverse Learners ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Education Programs

Music educators must meet the needs of students with diverse characteristics, including but not limited to cultural backgrounds, musical abilities and interests, and physical, behavioral, social, and cognitive functioning. Music education programs may not systematically prepare preservice teachers or potential music teacher educators for this reality. The purpose of this study was to examine how music teacher education programs prepare undergraduate and graduate students to structure inclusive and responsive experiences for diverse learners. We replicated and expanded Salvador’s study by including graduate student preparation, incorporating additional facets of human diversity, and contacting all institutions accredited by National Association of Schools of Music to prepare music educators. According to our respondents, integrated instruction focused on diverse learners was more commonly part of undergraduate coursework than graduate coursework. We used quantitative and qualitative analysis to describe course offerings and content integration.

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