Successful urban elementary music educators : a phenomenological investigation

The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics and experiences of teachers who have been successful in urban elementary music classrooms. I aimed to garner an authentic picture and capture the essence of what it means to be a successful urban elementary music educator. This hermeneutic phenomenology was guided by two research questions: (1) What are the lived experiences of urban music educators who have been successful in teaching music at the elementary level? (2) What are the pedagogical approaches used by elementary music educators in urban contexts? The related sub-questions were as follows: (1) What characterizes success in the urban elementary music classroom? (2) What are characteristics of these educators (e.g., personal, educational, interpersonal)? Data collection included approximately 60-minute semi-structured interviews from eight participants. A constant comparative method was utilized to examine the coded transcripts. Trustworthiness was established through data triangulation, participant checking, and peer checking. Through the three-part analysis, six themes emerged: (a) relationships are key; (b) understanding how music functions for students; (c) willingness to perform unofficial job duties; (d) concerns about urban teacher preparation; (e) curricular and pedagogical decisions; and (f) urban music teacher characteristics. The findings of this study, as well as that of other scholars in music education, suggest that being a successful urban elementary music educator is the result of a composite set of skills. The teachers who participated in this study use creativity when making curricular and pedagogical decisions, possess a complex knowledge and understanding of their students, their students' families, and their students' community, and have a deep affection for what they do and whom they serve. Successful urban elementary music educators can serve as valuable resources to provide understanding and offer suggestions for improving urban music education, including ways to nurture and develop the next wave of music educators.

Technology Integration with the Kodály Approach

Amy M. Burns integrates technology into the approach developed by Zoltán Kodály. With the current educational paradigm shifting to include more distance learning, these lessons demonstrate how to create online manipulatives that can be used in a classroom setting as well as an online platform. With the addition of a supplemental website that includes downloadable manipulatives, elementary music educators can successfully teach the approach in a variety of settings and scenarios with novice to advanced technological skills. In addition, the lessons can also be used for assessments, cross-curricular connections, higher order thinking skills, and sharing music making outside of the music classroom.

Why Would We Use Technology in the Elementary Music Classroom?

If the music classroom is meant to be a creative, safe, music-making space, how do educators balance technology in that space? Technology can be used in the simplest teacher-directed ways, as well as in a more student-centered “doing music” environment, depending on how the teacher wants to utilize it and how the students respond to it. Using approaches like Dr. Ruben Puentedura’s SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition) model and Liz Kolb’s Triple E (Engage, Enhance, Extend) Framework can help elementary music educators realize how much technology they want to use and when it would be the best tool for the students’ learning styles.

Technology Integration with the Orff Schulwerk Approach

Amy M. Burns integrates technology into the Orff Schulwerk approach so that students with various learning styles can successfully create and make music. With the recent developments of teaching through distance learning, these lessons assist elementary music educators in teaching from a traditional classroom setting to teaching in an online platform. In addition, the supplemental website gives teachers downloadable manipulatives to successfully use in a variety of learning environments.

Technology Integration with First Steps

Amy M. Burns integrates technology into the 8-step workout offered in Dr. Feierabend’s First Steps in Music series. With the recent introduction of distance learning, these lessons not only can be used in a classroom setting but can also be used in an online format. With downloaded manipulatives from the supplemental website, elementary music educators can utilize these lessons with a variety of classroom settings, as well as with novice to advanced technological skills.

Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches

Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches is a comprehensive guide to how to integrate technology into the popular elementary music approaches of Dr. Feierabend’s First Steps, Kodály, and Orff Schulwerk. It also includes ideas of integrating technology with project-based learning (PBL). It is written for elementary music educators who want to utilize technology in their classrooms, or possibly fear using technology but are looking for ways to try. It can be used by new teachers, veteran teachers, teachers with very limited technology, teachers with 1:1 devices in their music classroom, and undergraduate and graduate students. Edited and authored by Amy M. Burns, this book contains ideas, lessons, a supplemental website for resources, and examples that are field-tested and utilized in her own elementary music classroom. Burns has successfully integrated technology into her elementary music classroom for over two decades. She is a sought-after presenter and keynote speaker for integrating technology into the elementary music classroom and has written three additional books and numerous articles on the subject. She has also won four music education awards at state and national levels. In addition, the summary of each approach was written by four excellent elementary music educators and experts in the approaches: Dr. Missy Strong (Feierabend), Glennis Patterson (Kodály), Ardith Collins (Orff Schulwerk), and Cherie Herring (project-based learning (PBL) with music technology).

Troubling Whiteness: Music education and the “messiness” of equity work

At the elementary level, White, female music teachers largely populate music education. In the diverse schools of Toronto in Canada, teachers navigate their White subjectivities in a range of ways. My research examines the discourses, philosophies, and practices of four White, female elementary music educators who have striven to challenge dominant paradigms of music education. Their practices include critically engaging issues of social justice, studying a broad range of musics, and emphasizing contextualization. In many ways, these teachers interrupt the Eurocentric paradigm of music education to explore other possibilities with students. However, equity work is messy, and there were also moments that unsettled these teachers’ active equity agendas. This article describes both the subversions and the reinscriptions in a way that might be instructive to music education.