Resting between the beat: The musical metaphor of preservice teachers practicing rest to maintain wellness

• In Event: Straight, No Chaser: Critical Explorations of Endarkened Experiences in a Teacher Residency Through Jazz Aesthetics

Abstract

Objectives
In this paper the author discusses musical silences (hereafter referred to as rests) (Clifton, 1976), as a metaphor for rest and wellness practice among teacher residents in a school district primarily comprised of students of color. Residents’ created a shared understanding of the metaphor resting between the beat, though the ways they practiced differed. The author discusses residents’ engagement and responses to a wellness curriculum, which encouraged them to embrace rest as “a healing portal to [their] deepest selves”, care, and a radical practice (Hershey, 2022). The author also highlights the significance of this work to the field of education for retaining teachers of color.
Theoretical framework
Data from this study was interrogated using Tenets of the Nap Ministry (Hershey, 2022) alongside Clifton’s (1976) analysis of rest to illuminate residents’ resting practices and perspectives. Articulated within the tenets is disruption to white supremacy, liberation of the body, resting to foster intellectualism and creativity, and a reclaiming of dreamspace stolen from our ancestors. The author illustrates how residents take up these ideas during their engagements with intentional rest for wellness.
Methods
This study is part of a larger critical ethnography (Madison, 2011) examining resident experiences and development as equity-focused educators in an urban teacher residency. The researcher attended and recorded observational field notes at nine six-hour monthly meetings and twelve classroom observation debrief meetings. Additionally, the researcher interviewed six resident participants three times each during the 2023-24 academic year.
Data & Analysis
The author analyzed data using inductive and recursive analysis to explore how residents discussed and practiced rest. Additionally, the author developed a conceptual framework consisting of Tenets of The Nap Ministry in tandem with Clifton’s (1976) analysis of rest to explain the ways that residents conceptualized rest and how the metaphor of resting to a beat might be applied to their conceptualizations.
Findings:
An analysis across data sources reflected Tenets of the Nap Ministry in concert with Clifton’s (1976) analysis of the poetics of musical silence. For example Hershey (2022) describes “naps as a portal for intellectualism and creativity” while Clifton (1976) notes that silence (or rest) provides a momentary opportunity to “grasp the rhythm of the movement from another perspective”. Both are synonymous with residents’ description of rest as a method fostering their curricular imagination. As an illustration one resident commented, “ rest and stepping away from the tasks that helped me to come back and be more creative when I lesson plan”. At the core of residents’ rest was the desire to continue equity-focused education.
Significance
Resting between the beat is a metaphor for taking time to sustain self while engaging in justice-oriented work. Often literature cites teacher burn-out as a catalyst for teachers leaving the field Albright (et. al, 2023). This research seeks to reframe conversations to understand how teachers of color practice wellness and how these practices might provide solutions for retaining diverse, equity focused teachers--from the perspective of those who are currently entering the field.

Author

• Glenda Chisholm, Georgia State University