Curriculum Development in Appalachian Ohio:
Philosophy and Practice
Doug Espie
Boston University
CFA ME 759 (Spring, 2017)
Professor: Tawnya Smith
Facilitator: Jennifer Wojcik
Table of Contents
Teaching Context………………………………………………………………………………….4
Scioto County………………………………………………………………………………
Wheelersburg……………………………………………………………………….
Wheelersburg Local School District………………………………………………………
Musical ethnography………………………………………………………………
Band program goals………………………………………………………………
Logistical considerations…………………………………………………………
Philosophy…………………………………………………………………………………………
Dialectical View…………………………………………………………………………….
Theory………………………………………………………………………………
Praxialism…………………………………………………………………………
Critical Pedagogy…………………………………………………………………………
The banking concept of education………………………………………………….
Rationale……………………………………………………………………………………………
Musical Analysis……………………………………………………………………………
Music literacy.………………………………………………………………………
Auditory processing………………………………………………………………
Instrumental Fluency………………………………………………………………………
Student Assessment Methods………………………………………………………………
Curriculum Content………………………………………………………………………………
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………
References…………………………………………………………………………………………
Appendix A: Musical Interests Survey Results……………………………………………………
Appendix B: Musical Offerings on Wheelersburg Radio…………………………………………
Curriculum Development in Appalachian Ohio:
Philosophy and Practice
The purpose of this paper is to design and defend a comprehensive curriculum for the sixth grade instrumental music class at the Wheelersburg Local School District in Wheelersburg, Ohio, where I teach instrumental music to students in grades six through twelve. Starting with an overview of my teaching context, I go on to outline my beliefs regarding music education and instrumental study that inform my curricular design, particularly how these beliefs relate to and take into account my specific teaching situation. Next, I rationalize my curricular content, and finally I discuss how I reflect and enact my philosophy in specific aspects of my curricular plan.
Teaching Context
In order to develop a comprehensive curriculum design, one must consider the communal, cultural, and educational context of its implementation. A curriculum must “[meet] the needs of students and communities in a specific location and time” (Jones, 2006, p. 26). An overview of Wheelersburg and its musical culture, as well as an examination of the band program goals will clarify contextual influences on my curriculum and inform my curricular choices.
Scioto County
In July 2016, Scioto County was estimated to have a population of 76,088 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016). Located in the tri-state area near Kentucky and West Virginia, the county is ranked third in the state for dependency on income support at 36.1%, and 37.1% of minors live in poverty (Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, 2013). As of 2015, 94.6% of residents were white only, and 14.4% have education beyond a high school diploma (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016).
Wheelersburg. Wheelersburg is located east of Portsmouth, Ohio, alongside the Ohio River. The 5.8 square miles that make up the CDP is home to 6,437 residents, with 97.3% identifying as white only, and 22.3% with education beyond a high school diploma, placing it higher than the county average in both categories (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010).
Wheelersburg Local School District
Wheelersburg Local is an open enrollment district contained within a single building that is separated into three schools. The Ohio Department of Education has identified the elementary school as Title 1. 39.1% of students in the district are identified as economically disadvantaged, and 10.2% are identified as having disabilities (Ohio Department of Education, 2016a). On the state report card, the district received a component grade of 50.1% in Gap Closing and 58.1% in Achievement Indicators Met, while the middle school scored a 0.0% in Gap Closing and 40.0% in Achievement Indicators Met (Ohio Department of Education, 2016b). I am in my third year as a music educator in Wheelersburg, and my administrators and fellow music educators have remained consistent throughout my employment. Student enrollment in the district has been slowly increasing since the current building was built in 2008 with 1,480 students to 1,596 students in 2016 (Ohio Department of Education, 2008, 2010a), resulting in tighter budgeting efforts across the district.
Musical ethnography. A consequence of the lack of ethnic diversity in Wheelersburg is the limited scope of community musicking. I distributed a questionnaire to 67 students from various classes in January, 2017, with the purpose of revealing various elements of student musical interests and musical involvement. The first question asked, “What styles of music do you listen to outside of school?” 27 replied with rock music, 23 with pop, and eighteen with orchestral. The second question asked, “What performance opportunities do you know about outside of school?” 28 students did not know of any opportunities to perform outside of school, and the majority of other responses referred to county honor ensembles, church ensembles, and the Portsmouth Wind Symphony. The third question asked, “What musicking do you participate in outside of school?” 27 responded with none, and 24 practice instruments such as piano and guitar. The fourth question asked, “What courses, if any, would you be interested in taking if they were offered at the school?” 29 stated that they are either not interested or content with currently offered courses, eleven would like to participate in musicals, and ten would like to participate in rock bands. In my following research, I found that many of the community offerings are related to stage performance, and the instrumental programs relate to Appalachian music outreach. Additionally, of the 26 music stations available in the area, nine play rock music, four play pop, and only one plays orchestral music. Neither the courses offered in our school nor the community offerings directly reflect the most popular styles of music among students.
Band program goals. The band program at Wheelersburg spans grades six through twelve, with one instructor for all grade levels. According to the district website, “The mission of the Wheelersburg Local Schools is to ensure the highest quality education to prepare all students for their futures through an innovative and diverse learning environment” (Wheelersburg Local School District, n.d.). The goals of providing an innovative and diverse learning environment are joined by an expectation of increased student retention. In addition to these administrator expectations, the middle school band students in particular should be able to develop skills that prepare them for success in the high school band program. A concern of these goals is the hegemonic imposition of performance skills, which results in “the loss of any altruistic vision teachers had for enriching the musical lives of their students in tangible, consequential, and lasting ways” (Regelski, 2012, pp. 22-24). Rather, the development of skills should have the objective of improving skills in music “which students can and will choose to perform on their own socially” (Jones, 2007, p. 13).
Logistical considerations. Wheelersburg Middle School serves a population with a predominantly uniform sociological background and widespread musical interests. The band program at Wheelersburg has seen a high rate of growth, increasing from 60 participants to over 100 in the past three years. This growth has introduced new challenges for the district, such as availability of materials and space for students. The tight budgeting efforts of the district coupled with the high rate of economically disadvantaged students result in innovative approaches being implicit across all areas of study. For the band program in particular, this results in sharing of instruments between two or three students at times, and many students do not have the opportunity to practice at home on a consistent basis. An additional point of consideration is the fluctuation of student population due to open enrollment. While recent trends show growth across the district, students can enroll or withdraw at any time, resulting in constantly shifting classroom paradigms. The band program takes in students at any grade level with varying degrees of experience.
Philosophy
The expectations placed upon my program by the school and district administration reflect a desire to involve more students and develop skills that prepare them for their futures. I believe that student involvement is related to the interest level in not only the subject matter, but the classroom dynamic as well. My teaching philosophy is guided by a dialectical view of the classroom,
Dialectical View
A guiding principle for this teaching philosophy is a dialectical view of theory and practice, which is the belief that both feed one another and are practically interrelated (Jorgensen, 2001). This view places curriculum as the place between theory and practice, and it is in a constant state of development (Jorgensen, 2002). Curricula develop for and with students based on the unique teaching situation. The focus changes between the co-existing theory and practice according to immediate classroom needs, which allows transformation of theory and practice to occur (Jorgensen, 2001). This view aligns with praxialism, which is concerned with “the critical and rational knowledge of both means and ends needed to bring about ‘right results’ for people” (Regelski, 1998, p. 28). A dialectical view also aligns with the concept of empowering students in critical pedagogy, in which the focus is on “development of the student and the teacher” (Abrahams, 2005, p. 7).
Theory. The use of theory has the behavioral purpose of growth, and aims for reflective thinking (Tanner & Tanner, 2007). The method of attaining a growth objective is problem solving or hypothetical thinking, and requires students to make evaluations based on qualitative objectives. This gives students the power to make decisions about curriculum (Schmidt, 2005). Critical reflection, musical problem solving, and creative generation of musical ideas are key elements to the process of growth (Elliott, 2005). The student-led reflection of music will be a guiding principle in my curriculum, shifting the power and responsibility to students by giving them “responsibility for and ownership of the learning process” (McPhail, 2013, p. 162)
Praxialism. The development of skills is a behavioristic purpose, and aims to master a subject (Tanner & Tanner, 2007). The method of attaining a subject objective is using quantitative measurements to improve a score. The information gathered from this measurement would inform the development of a growth objective, which is the central goal of dialectic teaching (Jorgensen, 2005). However, focus merely on detached musical elements risks dissociation of those elements from the musical contexts they exist within (Szego, 2005). The praxial implementation within a musical context is the application of knowledge in a critical way that contributes to the “right results” (Regelski, 1998, p. 28).
Critical Pedagogy
In order to better learning instrumental music should relate to the musical interests of the students. This favoring of curricular relevance utilizes the framework of critical pedagogy, in which the “banking concept of education” is rejected (Freire, 2013, p. 72). This also means the curriculum must be dynamic, as questioning in regard to content helps to empower students (Schmidt, 2005). In my curriculum, I will take on the role of facilitator rather than lecturer, and give my students a voice.
The banking concept of education. Conservative efforts in education treat the student mind as a “vessel to be filled with facts and truths” (Tanner & Tanner, 2007, p. 194). Freire (2013) identified this concept as “banking” (p. 72), and asserted that it promotes the lack of critical thinking. The banking system is not applicable to my teaching situation since my students exhibit a variety of musical interests, and a fixed set of criteria instilled by the teacher could not incorporate the needs of each student. Additionally, the emphasis on storing information impedes the development of “critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world” (Freire, 2013, p. 73).
Rationale
Having elucidated the social context and philosophical views that influence the curriculum design process, it is practicable to put these considerations into application. The purpose of this section is to rationalize my curricular decisions in terms of these contextual and theoretical elements. The content of my curriculum will develop student skills of musical analysis of both visual and aural stimuli to facilitate a deeper comprehension of performance. These learned skills will lead to enhanced performance skills among students to develop instrumental fluency. Lastly, I will discuss methods of student assessment that reflect a dialectical view and critical pedagogy.
Musical Analysis
Listening to music enables the recognition of aesthetics and the value of artistic
phenomena (Barrett, 2002). Dunbar-Hall & Wemyss (2000a) identify a concern with popular music being a “little researched, and consequently a little taught, area” (p. 30). According to my student survey, the most common genres of music among my students are rock and pop. The curricula “must include both musics with which the pupils identify and musics present in the communities from which they come” (Jones, 2007, p. 17). Developing a curriculum with this emphasis in mind, I will enhance student analysis techniques through the study of popular music genres students value, which Campbell (1991) stated are worthy of study (p. 218). This emphasis on popular music echoes critical pedagogy, as it promotes a dialogue between students and teacher, empowering the student in the classroom (McQuillan, 2005). Discussions with students will prevent the curriculum from becoming static and will illuminate the relevance of musical skills to the daily lives of students.
Music literacy. The development of skills related to music reading is a core tenet of the band program at Wheelersburg. Because the district score in K-3 Literacy is a 42.4% (Ohio Department of Education, 2016a), the improvement of student reading skills is a district priority, particularly in the middle school. This relates directly to music reading, as “comparisons of research … reveal patterns demonstrating that music learning is beneficial to the reading process” (Hansen & Milligan, 2012, p. 79). However, using the notation present in western music as the sole system of music transference may result in hegemony, as the system excludes students with other musicological backgrounds. Providing rudimentary notation pairs music reading skills with auditory skills, “giving rise to the student’s need to develop a relationship between what the eye sees and what the ear hears” (Dunbar-Hall & Wemyss, 2000b, p. 54).
Auditory processing. An aural understanding of the various elements of music should precede music reading activities (Petzold, 1993). The introduction of aural stimuli to children takes place prior to the comprehension of linguistic symbols. By focusing comprehension efforts first on sounds and then relating them to symbols, students will not treat musical elements as “separate entities to be combined into musical wholes at some later time” (Petzold, 1969, p. 87). In my curriculum, I will introduce students to new musical concepts by aural methods, and then relate those sounds to a variety of music notation systems. This emphasis enables students to focus on cultural considerations of performance, and to see “aesthetic qualities which have intentionally been placed in the objects to be seen” (Dutton, 1993, p. 20).
Instrumental Fluency
Experimenters who have researched the development of performance skills in instrumental music (e.g., Bolden, 1967; Boyle, 1968; Greer, 1980) is reliant upon audiation
Student Assessment Methods
Students’ musical interests as identified by my survey results are vast, so their assessments must reflect diversity. Music and other performing arts “simply cannot be subjected to measurement, standardized analyses and tests” (Salder, et al, 2015, p. 13). While a portion of my curriculum addresses the praxis of instrumental fluency, my more important goal is to develop students’ ability to apply concepts to their own musicking. A standardized or universal assessment would not provide an appropriate analysis of student development, because this would force student learning into “generalized expectations or predetermined curricular goals” (Rideout, 2002, p. 35), which opposes the flexibility of curriculum in critical pedagogy. Such an approach dismisses the “musicianist” (Regelski, 2012) imposition of the teacher’s values. Assessment methods will instead be defined by the classroom, and assessment criteria will be determined on an individual basis, both for the student and with the student. This student-centered model reflects the proposal of Braa and Callero (2006) in which students “accept the standards for evaluation as collectively defined in a common evaluation document” (p. 366).
Curriculum Content
Having rationalized my approach to curriculum design in terms of my underlying philosophy regarding instrumental music education, specific components of the curriculum and how they reflect applications of the philosophical process of these curricular choices will be examined. This analysis will address the
in Wheelersburg Middle School
Popular Music
In my courses, students will be exposed to reading and listening skills through analysis of popular music genres, because of their “pervasive and undeniable influence on the daily life of young people” (Hebert & Campbell, 2000). This stands in stark opposition with the claim by Anderson (1968) that “the music educator’s job is to perpetuate Western art music” (p. 87).
Conclusion
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