Students’ Social and Emotional Needs in Music Classrooms
Children encounter myriad social and emotional challenges impacting their daily functioning. These challenges can involve home life, peers, communities, and school. Social emotional needs and difficulties (SENDs) can have negative effects on attention span, interpersonal relations, and self-confidence (Zins, Bloodworth, Weissberg, & Walberg, 2004). Of profound importance for educators are the effects SENDs can have on academic performance, test taking, and social behavior issues in the classroom. Teachers, parents, mental health professionals, school counselors, and psychologists can implement strategies to help students successfully navigate their SENDs and decrease negative impact (CASEL, 2003).
Music teachers can have a profound effect on their students ranging from passion for the subject, emotional attachment, to future career choice: “The music teacher holds an important and influential role in the lives of their students. The influence of the school music teacher in the career decision process of those who become music educators or undergraduate music education majors is powerful” (Rickels, Councill, Fredrickson, Hairston, Porter, & Schmidt, 2010, p. 293). Because of this connection, students could be more apt to approach music teachers for help with their SENDs. What do you believe is the role music teachers should have in guiding their students through social and emotional needs and difficulties, if any?
I have also observed music teachers utilize the power of music to guide students through difficult times. For example, one alternative high school general music teacher assigns projects where students need to represent their struggles in an artistic product. This process of creation is cathartic. What musical and interpersonal techniques could be implemented to best help students?
CASEL. (2003). Safe and sound: An educational leader’s guide to evidence-based social and emotional learning programs. Chicago: Author.
Rickels, D. A., Councill, K. H., Fredrickson, W. E., Hairston, M. J., Porter, A. M., & Schmidt, M. (2010). Influences on career choice among music education audition candidates: A pilot study. Journal of Research in Music Education, 57, 292-307.
Zins, J.E., Bloodworth, M.R., Weissberg, R.P., and Walberg, H. (2004). The scientific base linking social and emotional learning to school success. In J. Zins, R.P. Weissberg, M. Wang and H.J. Walberg, (Eds.), Building academic success on social and emotional learning: What the research says. New York: Teachers College Press.
MLK Tribute: Let’s All Work For Change
In celebration of the life and work of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I attended the 2011 Keynote Memorial Lecture presented by civil rights activist and former Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the USDA, Shirley Sherrod, held at the University of Michigan. Garnering negative attention for a misinterpreted statement she made regarding her approach to helping a white rural farmer, she was forced to resign from the USDA in July 2010. Despite this unfortunate circumstance, she has steadfastly stood by her mission to help others in rural Georgia in order to build stronger and better communities.
Ms. Sherrod shared many insightful stories from her life regarding growing up in the segregated South, a place she desperately wanted to flee. Her father’s murder when she was 17 years old was a turning point, when she decided that instead of leaving and moving north, she would stay and work for change. That mission which she began in the 1960′s carries through today.
The message Shirley Sherrod imparted to the audience was that each one of us has the capacity to work for change. The catalyst for this capacity lies in our desire for change and a willingness to work for it. Too many people expect change to come from the outside, that it is something for someone else to do. But in reality, for change to happen, we need to work within our own communities, such as in the music classroom, school, church, local government, and local civic organizations. By building a grassroots effort towards achieving the kind of world we wish to live in, we will learn much through the process and realize a more harmonious society.
Now what does this have to do with music? Music can serve as an important vehicle for the purpose of bringing people together, for sharing and learning about different cultures and musical genres, and to help us all recognize what it means to be human. Music invites people into intimate spaces and provides opportunities for mind-body-spirit connections in shared moments. Sharing music with others through music education and performance can inspire people to recognize possibility and opportunity.
My experience listening to Shirley Sherrod today and the reflections I had on Dr. King’s influential role on civil rights in our country inspired me to share these thoughts. I would love to hear about your experiences and reflections on this holiday and the message you wish to share to affect change.
Doctoral Seminar Format
A common element in doctoral work in music education is the doctoral seminar. This usually takes the form of faculty and Ph.D. students meeting to discuss pertinent issues in music education, teacher education, professional development, etc. The format of this varies drastically from institution to institution. We would like to know what it looks like at your college or university. So we pose the question: What is the structure and content of doctoral seminar at your institution?
Critical Theory in Practice
In a recent conversation with Cathy Benedict concerning the National Music Standards, the issue of adopting a more critical approach to teaching music arose. Macey (2000), in referencing Raymond Geuss (1981) defines critical theory as follows: “Critical theory provides a guide for human action, is inherently emancipatory, has a cognitive content, and unlike a scientific theory is self-conscious, self-critical, and non-objectifying” (p. 75). In short, it is a theory that seeks to challenge and question the status quo in order to bring about change. An example of a critical theory analysis would be recognizing positions of power and privilege and seeking ways to change the situation to help those people who are marginalized.
Based upon your understanding and application of this theory to your own teaching situation, what ways have you sought to challenge the status quo by changing your curriculum? How have you experienced issues of social justice, equality, and promotion of democratic values in your classroom/school?
Geuss, R. (1981). The idea of critical theory: Habermas and the Frankfurt School. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Macey, D. (2000). The Penguin dictionary of critical theory. New York: Penguin Books.
Thank you
Thank you for your responses to our initial question! We are very excited about this column and hope that it will develop into a venue for dialogue on important issues. Please let us know if there are any issues that you would like to see addressed here. A new topic will added shortly. Please spread the word to your colleagues and encourage them to post as well! It is clear that music education is slow to change, by your responses, now the question will be what to change, and how to do it!
Thank you again,
Scott Edgar, on behalf of Michael Palmer, and Lisa Furman
The University of Michigan
Does Music Education Need Change?
The MayDay Group began in 1993 as a result of the desire of its founders to critically examine music education practice and to create dialogue about it. In February 1997, seventeen members of the organization met and developed the Action for Change in Music Education document (see website). This document outlined seven ideals that the signatories believed were (are) essential to music education practice. This fall, the book “Music Education for Changing Times; Guiding Visions for Practice” was published. It contains a series of essays by prominent philosophical thinkers in the MayDay Group who speak to the issues outlined in the original Action for Change document. The editors of the book, Thomas Regelski and Terry Gates suggest in the preface and introduction that music education has been slow to change with the times. The book is a public acknowledgment beyond MayDay meetings to the world at large, of the need to initiate a dialogue bringing new ideas, perspectives and suggestions for improving music education.
Question: As a former, recent, or current teacher in P-12 education, do you think music education has been slow to change with the times and in what ways? Why? (Click on the title above to respond.)
