Happy almost New Year!
I hope whatever ways you celebrate this time of year are comforting and that you enjoy spending time with whoever you like to spend time with.
I’d say I’m dreaming of a White Christmas in AZ but at this point I’d be happy if it was cool enough to warrant wearing a long sleeve shirt . . .
Here’s the last #ImaginingPossibilities Newsletter of 2023:
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Contents
Wonderments & Curiosities
When and how are we creating time and space for reflection?
Winter breaks are great for taking time to pause, relax, and refresh.
Time away from the hustle and bustle of teaching and other responsibilities is also an opportunity to reflect.
Recently, while writing about reflection in music programs I kept circling back to this question that Hanley & Montgomery (2002) pose:
“Has music education moved beyond the having of good ideas ” to asking good questions (Wing, 1992)?” – Haley & Montgomery (2002)
For reference, Liz Wing, who they cite here was writing about the role of questions in curriculum study.
Sure this is also about inquiry and I’m all for good ideas, but I think Hanley & Montgomery (& Liz Wing) invite us to pause and reflect on what questions we are asking, what questions we should be asking, and how we might answer these questions.
It’s an opportunity to pause on consuming or creating (good) ideas & reflect.
While Haley & Montgomery (& Wing) were focusing on educators asking curricular questions, we might consider how we make time and space for questions and reflection in our programs.
How much time do we dedicate for students to ask questions or even reflect on what questions they are curious about?
How much time do we dedicate for students to reflect on their engagement and learning outside of more formal assessments?
When do we support reflection as part of the curriculum itself in addition to a means of focusing on a specific concept or skill?
How are you supporting reflection and what are you or students reflecting on?
By the way, if you were wondering: In 2002, Haley & Montgomery answered their own question, writing “At theoretical and research levels, the answer is a qualified yes: we are moving in this direction.”
In almost-2024, what do you think?
Hanley, B., & Montgomery, J. (2002). Contemporary curriculum practices and their theoretical bases. In R. Colwell & C. P. Richardson (Eds.), The new handbook of research on music teaching and learning: A project of the Music Educators National Conference (pp. 113-143). Oxford University Press.
Wing, L. B. (1992). Curriculum and its study. In R. J. Colwell (Ed.), Handbook of research on music teaching and learning: A project of the Music Educators National Conference (pp. 196-217). Schirmer Books.
Ideas & Inspirations
- The National Guild for Community Arts Education is sharing an inspiring approach to reflection and growth from when they entered “The Portal of Transformation” to their current work towards “A Beautiful Evolution“
They are refreshingly transparent about their process for re-imagining what a strategic transformation could be and how they plan to move forward and offer a model of an equity-focused approach to developing a strategic plan.
What types of beautiful evolutions might be in store for you and your programs in 2024?
- The latest issue of Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education is full of ideas and inspiration
The special issue features work developed from presentations at MayDay Group Colloquium 33 (2022), with the theme of “Social Media for Good or Evil in Music Learning & Teaching.” The special issue also features work by Madelyn Stein and Gareth Dylan Smith honoring Janice Waldron’s life and work.
Emmet O’Leary and Rhiannon Simpson in their respective articles offer compelling perspectives and research that could inform how we make sense of and engage in emerging forms of music teaching & scholarship in multimodal settings
Thomas Fienberg and Francis Ward in their respective articles provide a close look at digital cultures and participatory cultures in relation to music learning and teaching in the context of First Nations popular music and Irish Traditional music, respectively.
Lorenzo Sánchez-Gatt shares how Afrofuturism offers a lens to understand antiblack racism in music education and possible futures that matter to Black youth.
My own Janice Waldron Project is included as an epilogue – cool!
This ACT issue is definitely worth a read and free without a paywall !!!
Sparks & Springboards
- Consider chatting with students about sustainable approaches to instrument invention such as luthier, Rachel Rosenkrantz’s choice to forgo wood for biomaterials like mushrooms when creating guitars.
- Here’s a great example of an open text approach to composition (a la Randall Allsup) & participatory culture in ensembles with Nina Shekhar’s piece Mad Libs – more of this in large ensembles in music programs please!
- OK, this is a little geeky but one of the things I like to do towards the end of long breaks is tweak systems for saving time. Two of my go to tools that reduce friction and save me time are TextExpander and Keyboard Maestro.
I’ll share more info at some other time on how I use these apps to reduce friction and stress throughout the day but for now here’s an oversimplified explanation and the links so you can explore on your own:
Text Expander lets you assign an abbreviation to paste anything from a sentence to an entire email template. It even lets you know how much time you save yourself.
Keyboard Maestro (Mac only – sorry!) is a bit more challenging to explain briefly but it lets you do things like what I do when I’m about to start teaching a class and type “caps lock + D,” that then opens a set of specific websites, opens Spotify, and opens my class plans, all at once without me having to find anything.
You can find tons of resources and “How To’s” online – trust me – it’s worth the time and the geekification setting up some time saving shortcuts for yourself with either or both of these apps !!
THANK YOU!!
To those of you who participated in my research survey on curricular experiences and perspectives. I appreciate it!
I’m already learning so much and excited to start phase 2 in 2024 with conversations. If you volunteered for an interview, I’ll reach out sometime during January after I share the survey more broadly.
If you didn’t participate but are interested in doing so – don’t worry the survey will stay open for quite a while and I’l send a reminder in January as well.
Don’t Miss. . . .
NAfME is still accepting applications to join professional learning communities through the Connected Arts Networks initiative
and just because. . .
We came SO CLOSE to having our moment of Orff instruments being mentioned in the context of space exploration – but they went with a generic reference to the xylophone Now, about that celestial slide whistle!!
I guess we’ll have to be satisfied with Laurie Anderson’s role as NASA Artist in Residence back in the day.
Thanks for reading & #ImaginingPossibilities with me !
Check ya in 2024!!
Thank you for imagining possibilities for music learning & teaching with me!
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Share your perspectives by responding to any of the questions from this newsletter!
Until next time, keep on #ImaginingPossibilities
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