Elementary Music Teachers' Instructional Changes for Fostering Musical Creativity Through District-Based Collaborative Learning

• In Event: Music Education in K–12 Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine elementary music educators’ dialogue and changes to practice through district-based collaborative PD. Five elementary music teachers implemented creative tasks and analyzed videos of instruction over eight full-day sessions. Data included videos of instruction, video club recordings, and interviews/ Analysis revealed that educators articulated a shared vision for open-ended creative tasks but their musical and pedagogical identities mediated the ways in which they facilitated creative music making. Dialogue evolved from logistics-focused discussions to deeper conversations of pedagogy. Despite educators’ critical orientations, their discussions often reinscribed the position of Western art music and the traditional elementary “canon” as dominant paradigms, even when their students’ creative music making disrupted these norms.

Author

• Donna Gallo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign