Question 1: During the first face to face we used the language of Urgent vs Important to help frame our discussions and thinking around the use TIME. Reflect on why you joined Cohort 21 and your professional goals for this year. Now that the year has begun and you have met your students what IMPORTANT goal might you like to address and leverage this community to get support with.
I recently took a long walk by Taylor Creek. I spent most of my time watching the water.
Live streaming, I found myself thinking.
With the language of Eisenhower’s urgent/important matrix in my mind, my professional goals for the year fall under three major themes: (1) the importance of process over the urgency of product-oriented performance; (2) the importance of continually revisiting the themes of equity, diversity, inclusion, justice, and reconciliation throughout my teaching and learning practice over the urgency of “returning to normal” in music education; and (3) the importance of joyful relationship-building and wellness over the urgency of “grind culture.”
The water’s movement and sound were so calming. It went where it needed to go–moving over rocks, meandering around bends. Soft and powerful. Flexible and enduring. There was no urgency to the water’s movement — and yet it existed with so much importance.
These themes in turn give way to many questions.
(1) How might we re-imagine performance to be more focused on the process rather than the products, while keeping the valuable components of performance itself? In what ways can we re-design the rehearsal process to nurture true creative collaboration? How might we identify the blind spots within our artistic medium and processes in which we as educators and students operate, contemplate how can we work to change this, and reflect on how some positive aspects of traditional music pedagogy and assessment be retained in authentic and student-centred ways?
(2) What is the role of music in our schools and in what ways does this align or not align with social justice standards? With our schools’ current student populations, how might we approach musical exploration in a non-Eurocentric way without falling into cultural appropriation or being performative? How might we reimagine music education to be more equitable, inclusive, and just? How does my own identity as a Chinese-Indonesian Canadian come into play? I believe that one of the purposes of my curriculum area is to drive positive social change; in what ways can we make our experience in the classroom better reflect this goal?
(3) In addition to the wonderful organically joyful moments that come hand-in-hand with musical experiences, how might we intentionally design learning experiences that prioritize joy and relationships, leveraging current spaces and given circumstances (with distancing, masking, and limited space)?
Multi-layered and intertwined.
It is hard to decide on one goal to tackle! Perhaps the third — and its focus on relationships — forms the cornerstone to the first two.
Question 2: Which of the Season 10 Strands did you choose and why? Share what you feel is both urgent and important about it for you and your school at the moment and some of the questions you have around moving forward. Feel free to change strands should you want to.
During our first F2F session, I chose the Pedagogy and Wellbeing (K-6) strand. I think Primary/Junior students have unique circumstances and needs (tied to learning and socio-emotional wellbeing and growth). I feel excited to learn from and alongside my fellow C21 participants, who I know have so much expertise and insight in this area.
There is urgency and importance here with the COVID-19 pandemic being a significant source of trauma on everyone — including kids. I think about the experiences of grief, loss, fear, isolation, and illness experienced by so many. Hard as an adult; how do we support the youngest kids in our community?
Beyond COVID, how can I be as intentional as I can about my pedagogy in order to prioritize the wellbeing of my kids? As a specialist teacher who sees many students with less frequency, how might I leverage the time that we share together most effectively?
I also have a strong interest in the EDIJ strand and know that EDIJ is an integral part of both pedagogy and wellbeing.
So glad you joined Cohort 21! Looking forward to your posts.
Edmee, I am so appreciative of the depth of thought you have put into this and I am so excited to talk more about this with you.
I agree that trauma is absolutely an area of importance to consider right now. I have been a specialist teacher and it can be so hard sometimes to find the time to make those connections with the kids. From the sounds of it you really put that energy forward with you and I am sure they feel it in your classroom.
I am also so interested in hearing more about your thoughts for collaborative time during rehearsal and how that might look. I’m looking forward to seeing where you go from here!
-Robin
Thanks, Robin! I am WITH you! Connecting with the kids is the priority.
Collaborative rehearsal has been fun but challenging, given the necessary but difficult restrictions to our physical spaces this year (e.g. the grade 8s sing from the balcony of our auditorium while I am teaching choir from the stage).
All that said, we had some really wonderful moments while we rehearsed “The Dream Keeper” by Rollo Dilworth, text by Langston Hughes; the students were so invested and engaged in exploring the dedication to MLK together, digging deep in the meaning of the song, listening to their own process recordings and making active suggestions, and reflecting on how our collective music-making served the intention behind the piece. It was pretty magical.
The final performance/recording of the piece came together well; I’m very proud of the students for their performance and the students are proud of themselves… but I’m most proud of the steps they took along the way, even though the audience doesn’t see it!
Thanks for this great post @enataprawira, and I particularly liked this question “(1) How might we re-imagine performance to be more focused on the process rather than the products, while keeping the valuable components of performance itself?” because it is something that is universal to schools like ours. We have a program that touts building a love of music, which would focus on the product; however, if the product is not to a certain level, then the program is not looked upon favourable. This is a real tension – especially given the time taken from such programming over the last two years.
It looks like your in the right strand group and getting yourself in front of a critical question!
See you soon,
Garth.
Hey @enataprawira!
What a great first post and it’s even better the second time I read it. You have identified three very heavy areas of exploration and all are excellent problems to fall in love with. I am curious to know which of these ideas you wish to explore in more depth and how you see them weaving together. I can’t wait to hear how you want to distill this into small actionable steps that we can take before the break, and also, which you have started to take since the first face to face.
I like what @gnichols had to say about the quality of the program, and I don’t think you mean that the performances would be somehow less impressive. There is something about a performance that allows students to do their best but if they are constantly in this zone, it can be taxing.
I wonder what the equivalent of Big Basket Quizzes (BBQ’s) would be as you explore all three of these themes? BBQs are an idea I learned from Powerful Teaching – it’s a way for students to learn things deeply by engaging in interleaving and active recall strategies. These are not graded, which allows students to discover the power of yet, as well as knowing with certainty what they know, and what they think they know when their notes are in front of them. https://www.powerfulteaching.org/resources
I wonder if @dkwan, @cmcinnes, @enegrii and @lyorke might be good people to pull into this conversation. As former Cohort21ers, they might also have some keen insights.
Hi Edmee!
I loved reading your post. As a fellow music educator, I have very similar questions. The role of music education in our schools is definitely changing. We have a role to play in SEL as well as priming students’ brain for learning. How might we align our curriculum to meet these needs as well as prepare students performances which is still an expectation in our schools. Currently there isn’t enough time with students to do both well. I struggle with this daily.
As a chorister, I have been very fortunate to be part of a project this fall. We worked with three composers who are immigrants to Canada from Israel, Persia and the Sudan. They composed pieces for us and were part of our rehearsal process, which was so interesting and inspiring. We filmed three videos which have been released weekly. Once the final video is released next week, I will focus my blog entry on this process. My major takeaway was that when immersing ourselves in a musical experience from a different culture, we ourselves can be our own barrier preventing us from fully immersing ourselves in new experiences. I hope we continue to work with more new Canadian composers in the future.
Let’s chat further about this!
Lisa
@enataprawira
Happy new year! I hope these past two weeks have been ok for you and your colleagues.
We are looking forward to connecting this weekend. If you have a free moment before Saturday; create a 2nd post that answers the following 2nd F2F reflection questions and post your HMW question.
This will be really helpful to your coaches/facilitator in their support of your Action Plan. It should not take more than 5 minutes so don’t overthink it. We just want to pile on the support and the blog is the most efficient way to do it.
1) What was the process like in coming up with your HMW question at the last face-to-face? Where did you land? Share your first attempt so we can see where your action plan is headed.
2) Who should you talk to next to help guide your inquiry? In order to answer your HWM question, what voices and perspectives need to be consulted? What did you learn when you talked to them?
3) Why are you engaging in this line of action and inquiry? What important unmet need sits central to your question?
See you Saturday!
Justin