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Brian O Ackles

Leading Voices: Self-Generation

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“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.”

John Dryden

“Another Op’nin, Another Show”

It’s that time of year here in Central New York – musical season.  Each year it always amazes me how the talented and dedicated students and a team of directors turn books full of words and music into a vibrant and living theatrical experience.  It is a  truly remarkable and rewarding experience for all.

https://concord.com/tams-witmark/

That being said – one habit I recently discovered is that if I am not careful, I can get caught up in my day to day teaching responsibilities and forget something fundamental to teaching: connecting with my students.  I have found that if I’m not mindful and become too busy, I do not see the students grow and become more confident musicians and individuals.

Marcellus High School Tech Rehearsal of KISS ME, KATE

Professional Reading –Presence-Based Coaching

Last summer, I read an exceptional book that influenced my personal life and transformed my teaching.  It is titled Presence-Based Coaching: Cultivating Self-Generative Leaders through Mind, Body, and Heart.  I started practicing several of its principals during my vacation in Ocean City, New Jersey, and now apply many of the same concepts in my teaching.  Chapter two, How Humans Change: Conditioning, Identity, and Self-Generation is a must-read! 

Self-Generation

The section on Self-Generation in chapter 2, gave me the skills needed to uncover my habits, and become more present and aware in the classroom.  Silsbee (2008) breaks the process of Self-Generation down into four steps: Self-Observation, Realization, Reorganization, and Stabilization. 

Self-Observation (p.51) – First, observe yourself in action – with no judgment.

  • “I’m talking a lot.”
  • “I’m rote teaching now.”
  • “I’m modeling correct vowel placement now.”

Realization (p.52) – Next, become aware and label your habit.

  •  “I talk a lot during rehearsals.”
  • “When rehearsing a new song, I do a lot of rote teaching.”
  • “I model correct vowel placement a lot.” 

Reorganization (p.54) – Now notice this habit when it occurs, and be aware of another possible choice.

  • “I could talk less and have the students sing more.”
  • “I could have the students focus more on music reading techniques.”
  • “I can ask a student or section to model correct vowel placement.” 

Stabilization (p.55) – Lastly, integrate this new choice into your teaching.

  • “I will talk less, and have the students sing more during rehearsals.”
  •  “I will initiate new strategies to help the students become better readers.”
  • “I will ask a student or section to model correct vowel placement.”

This four-step process takes some time and practice, but I assure you, it will strengthen your relationships with your students and transform your teaching.  For example, during the first full run of our musical last week, several students had questions and concerns with some challenging music.  When they approached me, I was also working on my list of issues and concerns.  In the past, I would try to address many problems at the same time, and not give my full attention to either – a bad habit.

By using Self-Generation techniques, I now focus on one task at a time.  When a student comes to me for help or has a question/concern, I will stop what I am doing and give the student my full attention.  If, at that moment, I have another issue I must address first, I will communicate this to the student, restate their concern, and make a plan to meet with them and discuss their question/concern soon.

“Self-Generation is the capacity to be present and a learner in all of life in order to make choices from the inner state of greatest possible awareness and resourcefulness.”

Presence-Based Coaching (p.50)

This year I also discovered a bad habit I have while teaching.  Many times during rehearsals, I become so focused on my rehearsal plan and the tasks at hand that I forget to tell the ensemble what and why we are focusing on a specific concept or skill.  I know the plan/purpose, but they do not.  I now call it the “read my mind” syndrome.  It is the ‘I teach, you learn” mentality.  This philosophy of teaching does not answer our original question, but it does begin to point us in the right direction.

How do I actively engage students in lifelong music learning and participation?

By becoming aware of our habits in the classroom.

Conclusion: Self-Generalization

Self-Generalization is a tool we can use to discover and label our habits while teaching and working with others.  The four-step process of Self-Observation, Realization, Reorganization, and Stabilization allows us in a non-judgmental way to discover, label, choose and initiate a new responses while teaching. 

Google Meet

Our next online meeting will be held on Sunday, March 8 at 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, and will last for about a half an hour.  If you are interested, you can email me at or use the link below to join the meeting.

https://meet.google.com/xjn-okdm-ebd?hs=122

Leading-Voices-Meeting-GuidelinesDownload

References:

Silsbee, Douglas K., and Richard Strozzi-Heckler. Presence-Based Coaching: Cultivating Self-Generative Leaders through Mind, Body, and Heart. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2008.

Ackles, Brian O., 2018.  Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF): A New Strategy for Student-Centered Music Education. Choral Journal, September 2018. Vol. 59, No. 2

Marcellus High School Select Choir

Leading Voices: Becoming a Student of Reorganization and Adaptation

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Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash

“It is much more difficult to reorganize the brain than it is to organize it

in the first place. Organization inhibits reorganization”.

Jane M. Healy

The week of February 17 – 21 was winter break for many schools here in the Central New York area.  During the break, I attended and presented a session for the NJMEA 2020 State Music Conference in Atlantic City.  I once again return home from a music conference with new ideas, new understandings, and a renewed appreciation for my colleagues and the subject I teach. 


NJMEA February Music In-Service Conference

A New Idea

The quote above is from a presentation given by John Feierabend titled “Endangered Musical Minds.”  This outstanding session that got me thinking about student learning and musical understanding.  The line “Organization inhibits reorganization” gave me an “Aha” moment – 

That is what I am asking of my students!

I realized that this is the key to Agile-Centered Music Education.  Through Minds-on-Learning and using Reflection-in-Action in my classroom, I am continually asking my students to reorganize and adapt their learning by:

1. Building a repertoire of experiences, actions, understanding, and images

2. Seeing unfamiliar situations as both similar and different from their past challenges and problems.

3. Internalizing their repertoire of experiences (skills and processes)

4. Constructing their own experiences to where they individually gain the ability and insights to create interventions and understand new concepts. 

Donald Schon (1987) calls this Reflective Practicum in chapter 7, Using Reflective Practicum to Develop Professional Skills.

A New Understanding

As I write, it occurred to me that this is also how I learn and experience music conferences and professional development in-services.  Through the years, I have:

1.  Built a repertoire of experiences, actions, understanding, and images

2. Organize this learning into similar/different, useful/not useful, practical/ineffective teaching methods

3. Internalize the information and create new teaching strategies and methods

4. Reorganize and adapt this new understanding for instruction

My students know, and now expect, that after I attend a music festival or conference, I always bring back new ideas, activities, or warm-ups to the class and reorganize and adapt our learning.

An Appreciation

I also left the conference with a renewed appreciation for my colleagues and new friends.  I am thankful to those who attended my session and participated and engaged in the activities, and to the following clinicians for sharing their knowledge and experience with those who attended their session. 

 Rachel Grimsby, A Universal Approach to Music Education (her passion for teaching and learning)

John Feierabend, Endangered Musical Minds (his outstanding publications and research)

Shawna Longo, Mindfulness in Music: It’s not just for the students! (her concern for others)

Richard T. Tinsley II, Oakcrest High School Select Choir (his dedication to his students – and thank you for the great concert and repertoire information: The Music of Stillness, Elaine Hagenberg – nice tune!)

Conclusion: Becoming a Student of Reorganization and Adaptation

In one session, a colleague with over 40 years of experience shared her repertoire suggestions for middle school SAB ensembles.  After the session, I introduced myself and asked: “With over 40 years of teaching experience, what motivates you to participate still and attend Music Conferences?”  She responded with a smile, “I always find a new song or two, or an idea that I incorporate into my teaching.”  Even though she has many years of experience, she is still a student of reorganization and adaptation.

“It is much more difficult to reorganize the brain than it is to organize it in the first place. Organization inhibits reorganization”.

Google Meet

The next online meeting will be held on Sunday, March 1, at 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, and will last for about a half an hour.  If you are interested, you can email me at or use the link below:

https://meet.google.com/dag-fiuj-yfv?hs=122

Leading-Voices-Meeting-GuidelinesDownload

References:

Reimer, Bennet. “Music Education in the Twenty-First Century.” Music Educators Journal 84, no. 3 (November 1997): 33-38.

Schön, Donald A. Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint, 2016.

Smith, M. K. (2001, 2011). ‘Donald Schön: learning, reflection and change: the encyclopedia of informal education. [www.infed.org/thinkers/et-schon.htm. Retrieved: 2/22/2020].

Leading Voices: The Paradox of Learning

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Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash

“ . . a student cannot at first understand what he needs to learn,

can learn it only by educating himself,

and can educate himself only by beginning to do what he does not yet understand”.

Educating the Reflective Practitioner, Donald A. Schon (P.93)

When I first read this quote, I had to go back over it a few times to get it to sink in.  Many times while teaching, I feel like my students are just waiting for me to tell them what to learn, for me to tell them how to learn, and for me to tell them how they can show understanding

How do I actively engage students in lifelong music learning and participation?

In his book, Educating the Reflective Practitioner, Donald Schon discusses several strategies that are very relevant to engaging our students in the learning process.  After reading chapter two: Teaching Artistry Through Reflection-in-Action, I realized that Reflection-in-Action is what many of us do naturally as we teach.  When I taught K-5 general music on a six-day rotation, many times my lessons on day one evolved and looked much different than the lesson I taught on day six of the rotation.

Why?  Because if an activity/procedure failed, I would say to myself: “Well that bombed, what else can I try?”.  This is the idea behind Reflection-in-Action – it is our ability to reflect, adapt, and initiate new strategies while teaching.

With this in mind, I incorporate and communicate the following steps to my students as we engage in an activity:

  • Reflection-in-Action – During the lesson, and without interrupting the process, be aware and reflect on the activity and its present outcome.  Focusing on the present and not the anticipated result, gives us the ability to adapt and adjust while teaching.
  • Initiate a Discipline – When my students get stuck with a concept or skill, we go back to the basics.  We follow the specific rules and procedures that I have set to reach the desired outcome.  
  • Soften the Discipline – Once the initial skill is practiced and integrated into the activity, we then soften the disciple and only use the skill sparingly. 

I now teach the students this three-step learning procedure as we focus on specific concepts and skills.  For example, I use Reflection-in-Action in the beginning of our voice lessons as we warm up with sight reading exercises using standard written exercises or Sight Reading Factory.

INITIAL SIGHT-SINGING PROCEDURE:

  • Reflection-in-Action – Sing through an eight-bar sight-reading example and ask the students to reflect on their performance: “How can we be more successful?”
  • Initiate a Discipline – Write in visual reminders: all solfege and all rhythm.

EXTENDED SIGHT-SINGING PROCEDURE:

  • Reflection-in-Action – Sing through a new example and ask the students to reflect on their performance: “What/where are the trouble spots?”
  • Soften the Discipline – Write visual reminders for the challenging sections: solfege and/or rhythm.

Sing through the same exercise and ask the students “Where you successful?”

Now take the formula used for sight-singing from the example above, and apply it to other concepts and skills:

  • Reflection-in-Action – activity/concept     ______________________________
  • Initiate a Discipline – write/perform/etc.   ______________________________
  • Soften the Discipline – write/perform/etc.    _____________________________

I used the same formula to lose a little weight . . . . .

  • Reflection-in-Action  – I would like to be healthier
  • Initiate a Discipline – Eat Keto, no carbs (I love bread)
  • Soften the Discipline – OK, a wrap and M&M’s once and a while. 

Conclusion:  The Paradox of Learning

Reflection-in-Action is a process many of us were trained to use, and is just good teaching.  The big take away is to share the learning procedures with your students, and encourage them to understand that:

“ . . . a student cannot at first understand what he needs to learn,
can learn it only by educating himself,
and can educate himself only by beginning to do what he does not yet understand”.

Resources

Schön, Donald A. Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint, 2016.

Leading Voices: How Do We Actively Engage Students in Lifelong Music Learning And Participation?

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How do we actively engage students in lifelong music learning and participation?

L. M. Knowton Elementary, NISD

1985, The early years

For my first three years of teaching, I taught kindergarten through fifth grade general music for two elementary schools in Texas (one had no air conditioning!).  I traveled from room to room teaching the Texas Essential Elements with my “Music Box” – a large suitcase filled with rhythm sticks and handouts.  I learned early on in my career to keep the students during the lesson as active and engaged (movement) as possible – an essential survival technique.

Three years later, I got another job teaching K – 5 elementary music for a school just outside of San Antonio.  I remember being very excited, for I now had a large music room and a full set of Off instruments – what a blast! We sang, played, moved, danced,  and of course, surviving the good old recorder unit in third grade. 

www.utsa.edu

After a few more years of experience, and earning my master’s degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio, I made an alarming discovery; sometimes, even though the students were physically active in the lesson (hand signs, melodic contour, patchen, et.), they were not thinking musically. They were actively responding to my instruction, but their minds were not engaged.  Bennett Reimer (1997) calls this “hands-on learning”. 

What I wanted in my classroom was “mind-on learning” (Reimer, 1997).  As a teacher, I realized I was the focal point of the lesson.  I wanted the students to think/work through music and have the students discover and create possible solutions or ideas. I did not want my students to just wait for me, the teacher, to tell them how to respond or what to think.  

Syracuse Vocal Ensemble

Fast forward to 2015

It is Sunday night, and I am singing tenor at the weekly rehearsal for the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble.  A regional choir performing advance choral literature here in Central New York.  At one point, the director stopped the choir and turned to the sopranos to fix an area of concern. Tom, my fellow tenor turns to me and kindly mentions that I was missing the F# on the top of page 5 (Ahh!).  After we talked and I marked my mistake, I looked around and noticed several things:

The baritone next to me was practicing and humming his part.

Two basses further to my right were pointing to the music and discussing the music.

A tenor to my left was looking at his music and conducting.

A few altos in front of me were marking their music

. . . . . . and the director was working with just the sopranos.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks:

Wouldn’t it be great if my high school music students could engage in the rehearsal the same way?

I must confess, most students at that time could not.  During my rehearsals, the choir would wait for me to teach – to give them direction. I kept them active (body movement), but the fact was, I was still direct teaching all the time, and not leaving space for the students to take ownership of their learning.  Sandra Snow (2011) calls this approach microrehearsing.  As ensembles work through a selection of music, the director stops, the director talks, the director demonstrates how to fix the problem, and then the director moves on to the next point of concern that the director has chosen. This is not “mind-on learning”.

What if I taught my students the knowledge and skills needed
to be able to identify and correct their own mistakes?

Barney from, How I Met Your Mother

For the past five years, and with the help from my students, I have developed a new framework for learning and student-centered instruction in the classroom called the Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF).

The following video was presented in my previous post and provides a quick introduction to the ADIF process. I encourage you to watch the video two times:

1. One time with the volume on.

2. One time with the volume off.

(For your second viewing, ignore me, and observe the students working during our rehearsal) 

What is your reaction to this video?

Conclusion: Leading Voices through Google Meet

A major goal of Leading Voices is to create a learning community centered on music education and to provide an opportunity to have an open dialogue about several topics. This dialogue can be done through the traditional leave a reply section below, or by meeting with me and other educators through Google Meet.

These online meetings will be held on Sunday evenings at 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, and last for about a half an hour. The first meeting will be on Sunday, February 16 at 5:00 PM. If you are interested, please email me at or use the link below:

Google Meeting ID: meet.google.com/avf-susj-xpb

Leading-Voices-Meeting-GuidelinesDownload

Special Note:

I will be presenting for the New Jersey Music Educators Association (NJMEA) State Conference in Atlantic City on Thursday, February 20, from 9:15-10:15 AM.  The session is called Agile Centered Music Education: Fostering Student-Centered Instruction.

References

Snow, Sandra. “Dreaming, Musing, Imagining: Preparation for Engaged Teaching and Learning in the High School Choral Classroom.” Choral Journal 51, no. 7 (February 2011): 10-17.

Reimer, Bennet. “Music Education in the Twenty-First Century.” Music Educators Journal 84, no. 3 (November 1997): 33-38.

Ackles, Brian O. 2018.  Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF): A New Strategy for Student-Centered Music Education. Choral Journal, September 2018. Vol. 59, No. 2.

Leading Voices: In the Beginning . . .

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1985, K-5 General Music

As a first-year teacher in 1985, my emotions ran high as I meet with the principal of an elementary school in San Antonio, Texas. She welcomed me to the school and began to inform me of my teaching responsibilities: kindergarten through fifth-grade general music. There was not a music room available, and I would travel throughout the school and push into the general ed classrooms to teach. Doable. What I did not anticipate was my Tuesday afternoon schedule with the kindergarten classes. And I quote:  “and on Tuesday afternoons, you will meet with all five kindergarten classes [over 100 students!] at the same time in the cafeteria from 1:45 – 2:25.” 

I laughed thinking it was a joke.  She did not laugh nor smile – it was not a joke.

2020, 9 -12 High School Vocal Music

And now with more than 34 years of experience teaching K-12 vocal music, from time to time I read and hear about new teaching expectations or instructional initiatives, and I sometimes laugh to myself and think;

“This must be a joke.”  It is not – this is my job.

Welcome to Leading Voices

When I first started teaching elementary music, I asked myself “How do I actively engage students in lifelong music learning and participation?” As a music educator in Texas in 1985, there was a strong possibility that I would be responsible for the students’ only experience in formal music instruction. Now, after teaching secondary vocal music for the past 23 years in Upstate New York, I find myself asking the same question:

How do I actively engage students in lifelong music learning and participation?

Leading Voices is dedicated to answering this question. In the weeks ahead, we will look at educational research, professional writings, current practices, and you will get a glimpse inside my classroom – successes and failures. The best resource I know of that will help us reach our goal and answer this question will be you. 

What a resource – imagine the possibilities!

Below is a video I recorded during one of my rehearsals last year. It introduces a new framework I developed that encourages active learning and student-centered instruction. It is called the Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF).

With this first post, I hope to begin a dialogue with readers about what you just viewed. What thoughts or questions came to mind? 

I look forward to reading your thoughts in the Leave a Comment box below .

In future posts, interested readers will be given the opportunity to join an online discussion group using Google Meet.  Through this platform, participants will be able to discuss and comment on instructional practices, explore teaching and learning strategies, suggest modifications for future lessons, and reflect on student outcomes.

Conclusion: Leading Voices Goals

The goal of Leading Voices is to create a learning community around music education and provide an opportunity for active dialogue on posts, reader’s ideas, and other topics of general interest.  Below is our first talking point:

How do we actively engage students in lifelong music learning and participation?

Reference

Ackles, Brian O. 2018.  Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF): A New Strategy for Student-Centered Music Education. Choral Journal, September 2018. Vol. 59, No. 2.

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