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ADIF - Agile Development Instructional Framework

Leading Voices: From the Rehearsal Room to Independent Learning

April 6, 2022 by Brian O Ackles Leave a Comment

Recently, our district asked each content area to meet, discuss, and submit a plan for teaching our students how to study and prepare for local and state exams.  My initial reaction was to roll my eyes and view this request as just another example of something that applies to other subjects and not to music education.  

As I listened and watched my students study for their classes, I quickly realized that the district was correct.  Unfortunately, many of the students do not have good studying skills.  You can blame COVID, technology and social media, teacher-centered direct instruction, or silo education practices.  But the main reason students struggle and lack sufficient studying or practicing skills is because we do not adequately teach, model, and reinforce these skills during instruction. 

When was the last time your students heard you practicing your voice or instrument?

Show Your Work & Teach by Example

It basically comes down to labeling and explaining the teaching and learning techniques you use during rehearsals in real-time – to lead by example.  You can start by writing a short outline of your lesson on the board or hold up and explain your lesson plan to the choir.  In this way, your students will see and understand that each rehearsal has a focus, beginning, middle, and end.  You can then share and explain to your students that they can use the same structure when planning their practice and study sessions.

Madeline Hunter has a great book you can turn to if you need a refresher on selecting lesson content and lesson planning.  Take some time and check out Madeline Hunter’s Mastery Teaching: Increasing Instructional Effectiveness in Elementary and Secondary Schools.  This book is a must-read for teaching any subject and a necessity for teaching music.  It is a bit “old school,” but the pedagogical principles presented in this revised edition provide the essential structure that we must incorporate to successfully and effectively teach our students.


Chapter 10, Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect is a great place to start as you help your students learn how to structure and develop their own plan for practicing.  To get the planning ball rolling, incorporate and label the following Four Principles to Improve Performance with your classes (Mastery Teaching, Hunter, p. 86).

Four Principles to Improve Performance

1.  How much material should be covered?  
Break down a section or skill into manageable sections
 
2.  How long of a practice session? 
Divide the practice session into 2 – 3 segments with a suggested total time of 30 – 45 minutes.
 
3.  How often should I practice? 
Use “Distributed Practice” Several short practice periods are more effective than one or two longer sessions 

4.  How well did the practice session go?  Reflect and assess your progress by answering the following: 
* What went well? 
* What did not go well? 
* How can you do better next time?

I use question number four all the time during instruction.  It provides immediate feedback that helps the choir evaluate their work and discover areas where they need to grow and improve.  By having the students learn to incorporate personal reflection in both the rehearsal setting and in their practice sessions, they begin to take more ownership of their learning and contribution to the ensemble. 

Steps to Mastery – shedthemusic.com

Another outstanding resource for high school and post-secondary teachers is the website The Shed (you will want to bookmark this resource!).  In particular, our department decided to incorporate the Steps To Mastery into our instruction.  The Steps To Mastery presents the organized steps that ascend in the order that our brains can “handle” as we learn new concepts and skills.  We believe this paradigm will be a great reference and will use it as a guide to help students learn in class and practice at home.

   The Shed

Marcellus High School Three Tiers

For the past few years, the high school band director and I have collaborated and created a Three-Tier Learning system that we use during instruction.  It fits well with the Sheds’ Steps to Mastery and provides us with a structure of skills and common terms that we use with our ensembles.  For example, when an issue arises during rehearsals, we can easily select the Tier skill level – 1, 2, or 3 – and focus on one specific skill and outcome.  Our students have become accustomed to this system and refer to it often during rehearsals, when working one-on-one, and when they work independently. 

Tier 1 – Technical Skills – Knowledge and comprehension of basic musical skills such as   
Pulse and Rhythm, Key Signatures and Solfege, and Posture and Tone Consistency 

Tier 2 – Intellectual Skills – Application of Tier 1 skills and: 
Application of Phrasing and Dynamics, Proper Intonation, Expression, and Articulation, etc. 

Tier 3 – Emotional Skills – Interpretation and Synthesis of Tier 1 & 2 Skills 
Musical and Stylistic Considerations, Repertoire Purpose & Function, and Time-Period/Style

From the Rehearsal Room to Independent Learning

Mitchell (2007, p 44) reminds us that each singer must develop their own method for learning new repertoire.  For example, I use “RIP into Woodshedding” with my students during rehearsals and voice lessons as we work through new material or learn tricky spots.  This sequence provides the students with a structure for learning while also allowing for individual autonomy and choice. 

RIP into Woodshedding 
Rhythm – Count or takadimi the selected music section and annotate if needed; perform rhythm on one pitch.   
Intervals/Solfege – Write in the key and solfege; sing each pitch of the phrase devoid of pulse and rhythm (we call this technique “Stop-n-Lock”) 
Practice – Count off, practice each chunk until correct, and then chain the successful chunks together.

The first step is to define and isolate only the rhythmic content – meter, time signature, and dominant pulse.  When practicing, students are more successful when performing short 3 – 5 tonal pattern chunks and then chaining the successful patterns together.  Next, define and isolate only the melodic content – tonality and key signature.  Now comes the tricky part!

Combine the rhythmic and melodic content using a neutral syllable (Mitchell, 2007, p 47).  * Do Not combine the rhythmic and melodic content until both are accurate (Ledbetter, 2016).  And finally, add the text to the rhythmic and melodic content.  If you want to have some fun, record this procedure in class and challenge your students to do the same by recording their practice sessions.  Maybe for extra credit? 

Readthrough Review

Sometimes, students say they do not know “where to start” when planning their practice session.  So, I created the Readthrough Review activity to give them guided planning experiences during rehearsals.  This process takes about seven minutes to complete and provides concrete examples of where the trouble spots are.  If some students struggle or can not “find” the problems, I ask them to reach out and ask their neighbors for help. 

Fly Me to The Moon



Sight Reading Exercise Procedures (the total SR activity takes about five minutes) 
1.  Students identify and annotate the key signature 
2.  Teacher plays only the tonic triad or resting tone; students establish key center with so la so fa mi re ti do for major and mi fa mi re do ti so(si) la for minor.    
3.  Students sing their starting note (no pitch given)  
4.  Students count off singing their starting note – “one, two, ready go.” 
5.  Sing through the exercise – No Stopping!

The 10-Minute Window

Another way to help our students develop efficient practice and study skills during class and rehearsals is by teaching students to use the 10-Minute Window.  When the ensemble encounters a challenging section of music, they are asked to:
(1) identify the area of concern,
(2) reflect on what they can accomplish in 10 minutes,
(3) collectively decide specifically what to “woodshed,” and
(4) set the timer for 10 minutes and go. 

Through this process, students can select practice sections with efficiency in mind, learn more about their learning process, reflect on what they can accomplish in that time frame, and feel more reward and confidence from the thoughtful and deliberate preparation of their music.

TL;DR Teaching Music Practicing Studying Techniques

Why do most students find it difficult and challenging to practice and study independently?  Because they have not been explicitly taught how to work independently and practice on their own.  I know I was never taught how to practice and learn my music on my own.  Like my students, I fell into the same trap many years ago: reading through my notes, memorizing the required information, and taking the test. 

The problem is, that is precisely what many of our choir members try to do during our choir rehearsals.  They come in and “re-read” the music, memorize their part, sing for the concert, and repeat the process.  Unfortunately, not much learning going on. 

But fortunately, if we provide a consistent presentation, awareness, reinforcement, and re-practice of the learning strategies and techniques we use during class, we can teach students autonomy and independent music-making.

The Agile Development Instructional Framework and Resources

The Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF) goal is to draw the students into an active teaching and learning environment where they learn to participate and think as autonomous musicians.  This awareness is accomplished by presenting learning experiences that engage, challenge, and deepen our students’ cognitive and metacognitive processes, while also fostering independence and personal musical enjoyment.  There is no longer a need for strict Banking Education or to retain the Silo Effect for each content area or skill.  ADIF promotes and supports only one “Silo,” the Silo of metacognitive autonomy.

All activities, rehearsal strategies, and projects developed through applying the Agile Development Instructional Framework are research-based.  They contain elements of the following teaching models and instructional theories: Self-Regulated Learning, Self-Directed-Learning, Experiential Learning Theory, Understanding by Design, Cognitive Coaching, and the Universal Design for Learning.

References

Gordon, E, E. (2021).  Learning Sequences in Music: A Contemporary Music Learning Theory, Chicago, Il. GIA Publications, Inc.

Hicks, Charles E.  “Sound before Sight Strategies for Teaching Music Reading.” Music Educators Journal 66, no. 8 (1980): 53–67.  https://doi.org/10.2307/3395858.

Newport, C., (2007) How to Become a Straight-A Student.  The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less.  Broadway Books, NY

Mitchell, C. A. 2007, Audiation and the Study of Singing.  FSU Digital Library

Filed Under: Curriculum and Instruction, Leadership Tagged With: ADIF - Agile Development Instructional Framework, Curriculum and Instruction

Leading Voices: Developing Audiation in the Choral Classroom

December 1, 2021 by Brian O Ackles 1 Comment

I almost stopped conducting. It was the first song for our first concert of the 2021 school year.  My 9-12 Select Choir was singing Set Me As a Seal by René Clausen, and they struggled to lock in D major for the first few measures – it was a bit wonky. By the second phrase, the choir found the groove, locked in D major, and had a great concert.  But my disappointment remained – what did I miss?

After the concert, I came up with several reasons why the choir stumbled.  Maybe it was because (1) It was their first concert of the year, (2) they are a young choir, (3) they are relatively inexperienced (they did not sing much last year), or maybe (4) they did not hear the starting pitch given by one of our choir members who has perfect pitch. 

As I look back on what happened that night, I have come up with a few more possibilities.  Maybe they do not audiate the beginning of each song like I do.  And if they didn’t, perhaps they were reacting to their singing after phonation and not before.  Maybe they audiate very little, or even worst, not at all. 

The Music Learning Theory (MLT)

Edwin Gordon defines audiation as “the ability to hear and give meaning to music when sound is not physically present or may never have been physically present” (Roots of Music Learning Theory and Audiation, p.10).  To teach that skill is a tall order.  Imagine if our choir members could obtain the ability to “hear and give meaning” to all their music-making both at school and at home.  If so, we would always have incredible concerts, but most importantly, we would develop incredible young student musicians.

Music Learning Theory Links and Resources

Gordon, E. (2003), Learning Sequences in Music: Skill, Content, and Patterns: A Music Learning Theory.

Gordon, E. (2011), Roots of Music Learning Theory and Audiation, Chicago: GIA Publications.

AUDEA – A Journal for Research and Applications of Music Learning Theory

Ledbetter, J. (2016), Audiation in The Secondary Choral Ensemble: A Look at Music Learning Theory

 Bluestine, E. (2000). The Ways Children Learn Music: An Introduction and Practical Guide to Music Learning Theory. Chicago, IL: GIA Publications.

Developing Audiation in the Choral Classroom

To help all my students grow musically and learn how to apply audiation to their music-making, I identified the following three tiers of audiation acquisition for the rehearsal setting.  Each tier contains explicit audiation skills that must be purposefully experienced, developed, and internalized in order to move forward. 

Through the internalization of each tier skills, students can cross conceptual thresholds in which their new understandings become implicit and their audiation conceptual complexity increases.  “A threshold concept can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learner cannot progress.” (Land and Meyer, 2003, p. 3, emphasis mine)

The Three Tiers of Audiation Instruction

Tier 1, Rote and Mechanical Audiation

In Tier 1, students study foundational music literacy and the Music Learning Theory (MLT) audiation skills and vocabulary through rote teaching and discovery.  For Tier 1, think K – 6 general music teaching standards.
Tier 1 Tonal Skill – Sing the resting tone/tonic of a short melody or phrase in various tonalities.

Tier 2, Structural and Collaborative Audiation

For Tier 2, students apply and expand their MLT audiation skills through purposeful instruction that focuses on collaboration and conceptual discovery and recognition.  Tier 2 is where students show the most growth as they learn to transform explicit audiation to implicit understanding.  This is also the tier where we spend the majority of our time teaching. 
Tier 2 Tonal Skill – Audiate the resting tone/tonic for a melody or phrase in various tonalities.

Tier 3, Abstract Individual Audiation

In Tier 3, students continue to practice and internalize foundational, structural, and abstract MLT audiation through explicit and implicit learning. Tier 3 is extremely challenging.  If we are not careful, we may pull or carry our students through audiation threshold concepts and deny them the opportunity to develop their audiation skills.  In order to audiate, our students must learn that it is through trial and error that we learn and succeed.  (That is how we made it through our undergrad and grad studies) 
Tier 3 Tonal Skill – The audiation of a resting tone/tonic becomes implicit in all tonalities.

Audiation Instruction and Student Awareness

The strength of Three Tier Audiation Instruction lies in the fact that students become aware that they are constantly working towards a Tier Three understanding of music learning and audiation during rehearsals.  When my ensembles stumble on a challenging song or concept, I tell them that we will shift to Tier 1intervention strategies for a bit and work our way back towards our goal of Tier 3. 

I find that the choirs don’t mind reviewing basic music literacy skills.  It is an excellent way of engaging and challenging all students.  My students also know not to give their power away by waiting for the choir or me before they can individually practice a skill in a higher tier. So if we are working on a tier 2 skill and they can apply their own Tier 3 skill to the activity or exercise, they are encouraged to move ahead on their own.  They are expected to take the initiative. 

Teaching Strategies to Promote Audiation

The following are just a few effective teaching strategies that directors can use to help their ensembles discover, develop, and refine their audiation skills. 

Every Other – (A label my students created using Mitchell (2007, p 48) strategies for audition) 
1. Only sing the first and last note of each phrase – audiate the other notes in silence. 
2. Alternate beats singing and audiating silently. 
3. Sing for one measure, and then audiate for one measure. 

Four-Step Process to Experience Audiation 
1. Listen to the exercise/phrase, show the melodic contour, and “audiate with your hand.” 
2. Sing the resting tone/tonic/” Do” on the first beat of each measure. 
3. Sing only the first pitch of each measure.  4. Babble the phrase, and then solfege or sing the text. 

Teaching a New Exercise (Mitchell, 2007, p 42-43)
1. Director demonstrates 
2. Ask students to audiate the exercise in silence 
3. Identify essential and non-essential pitches (think Schenkerian Analysis) 
4. Students perform the full exercise 

The Gordan Scale – My students gave this label to Gordon’s strategy on establishing tonal context. Major – so la so fa mi re ti di       minor – mi fa mi re do ti so(si) la 
Tier 1 – Babble the Gordon Scale  
Tier 2 – Solfege Gordon Scale  
Tier 3 – The Gordon Scale becomes implicit  

Chaining – Break down tonal or rhythmic pattern by measures or into short 2-4 beat “links.”  Then chain together the segments creating the complete phrase.  Example: Sing link 1, audiate link 2, sing link 3, etc.

Stop-n-Lock
1. Sing each pitch void of any pulse. 
2. Audiate each pitch showing melodic contour void of any pulse (with and without piano)
3. Initiate “every other” audition. 

Shaw Chord or Whole-Tone Cluster (D, E, F#, and G#).  My students prefer 4ths – C, F, B flat, and E flat. For SATB ensembles, sing the rhythm of their phrase on one specific pitch.  Add audiation teaching strategies.

Pivot System (Vacca, 2013, p. 28). – The ability to sing and audiate a specific pitch and its function (1, 3, or 5) as it relates to the other pitches within a root position triad or seventh chord.  For this Tier 3 Skill, Audiate C as the root in C major triad, Audiate C as the third in A flat major triad, and Audiate C as the fifth in F major triad. 

TL:DR – Teaching Audiation in the Choral Classroom

Learning and attaining skills in audiation is both rewarding and demanding.  It can be exhilarating and relieving as a new conceptual understanding opens previously inaccessible and advanced ways of thinking and performing.  It is the “aha” or eureka moment we experience with our students as they gain insight into a challenging skill or concept as they cross a threshold from their previous skills to new and transformed understanding. 

The strength of Three Tier Audiation Instruction lies in the fact that students learn to become aware of and responsive to their own audiation and musical skills.  Teachers cannot give students the ability to audiate – audiation must be earned.  Through purposeful trial and error, students can extend their understanding and ability to think for themselves and think musically.  We must provide

Postlude

Our track and field coach recently discovered the SHEMA97 Functional Active Mask by HelmetFitting.com.  A few of my choir members use them during rehearsals and love them. They are light, you do not suck in the mask every time you breathe, and best of all, they have excellent sound transmission.  I now teach and sing with one every day.  They are a must try!

Resources

Gordon, E, E. (2021). Learning Sequences in Music: A Contemporary Music Learning Theory, Chicago, Il. GIA Publications, Inc.

Hicks, Charles E. “Sound before Sight Strategies for Teaching Music Reading.” Music Educators Journal 66, no. 8 (1980): 53–67. https://doi.org/10.2307/3395858.

Liperote, K. A. (2006). Audiation for Beginning Instrumentalists: Listen, Speak, Read, Write. Music Educators Journal 93(1) DOI: 10.2307/3693430

Mitchell, C. A. 2007, Audiation and the Study of Singing. FSU Digital Library

Meyer, J., and Land, R., (2003) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practicing. (available at www.etl.tla.ed.ac.uk/docs/ETLreport4.pdf)

Saunders, T. C. (1991). The Stages of  Music Audiation: A survey of research. The Quarterly, 2(1C2), pp. 131C137.(Reprinted with permission in Visions of Research in Music Education, 16(2), Autumn, 2010). Retrieved from  http://wwwCusr.rider.edu/~vrme

Trusheim, W. H. (1991) Audiation and Mental Imagery: Implications for Artistic Performance. The Quarterly, 2 (1-2), 138-147

Vacca, S. (2013), Developing Audiation Through Internalisation: using the pivots system as an example.https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons/94

Filed Under: Curriculum and Instruction Tagged With: ADIF - Agile Development Instructional Framework

Leading Voices: The Many Voices of the Polyphonic Classroom

October 6, 2021 by Brian O Ackles Leave a Comment

Do not accept the concept of failure.  You are Antifragile.

The idea of antifragile is one of the concepts that I am asking my students to experience this year as they learn to sing, work, and learn together during rehearsals.  I am asking them to trust me and take a vacation from some of their defeatist self-talk, unsuccessful habitual learning behaviors, and sometimes just basic laziness. 

I discovered the term Antifragile (Taleb, 2016) while reading The Coddling of the American Mind, How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up A Generation for Failure (Lukianoff & Haidt, 2019).  One aspect of the book discusses how complex systems such as our muscular system, economics, and I submit music learning require a certain state of strain or pressing tension to promote adaptation and activate growth.

The problem is, a number of my music students will side-step and back away from uncomfortable and challenging learning and default to their musically gifted peers and let them lead.  Throughout my career, I have searched to find ways to help all my students lean into, wrestle with, and move through learning challenging concepts and skills.

Mikhail Bakhtin and The Polyphonic Novel

The inspiration and foundation for the Polyphonic Classroom lie in the work of the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin and his concept of the polyphonic novel.  Bakhtin contends that Dostoevsky created a new novel genre as multiple independent and distinct characters in his novels were given equal voices, and each had valid individual perspectives.  Polyphony in fiction allows the author great freedom as characters or voices can be interdependent and allows the freedom to interact, coexist, develop feely, and are not subordinate to each other.  The Agile Classroom interprets Bakhtin’s concept of polyphony and provides the teacher and student the opportunity to present and experience many different voices and understandings in the music classroom. 

In the same way, the polyphonic music classroom provides an environment in which all students’ voices -literally and figuratively –  are treated equally and are valued.  Music students’ perspectives, learning styles, and abilities are given the opportunity and freedom to interact, coexist, develop feely, and are not subordinate to each other.

The Voice of an Open Mindset

To help my students relate with the concept of antifragile and move towards being more self-regulated, I incorporate the work of Carol S. Dweck and her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success into my rehearsals.  I use this poster to remind my students that learning and growing take hard work and discipline.  When the students experience a challenging rehearsal and encounter uncertainty and frustration, I quickly review the open mindset characteristics, and we dig in.

Adams (2019), in her article Developing Growth Mindset in the Ensemble Rehearsal, encourages educators to teach and reinforce the open mindset, develop and strengthen positive achievement strategies, and provide the students the opportunity to apply these new skills for their future music learning.  Promoting and creating an open mindset in the classroom is the first step in helping students develop their awareness of and label their habitual responses to frustrating and challenging learning experiences. 

The Voice of the Agile Classroom

I believe that each choir is enriched and enhanced by all its members’ unique gifts and talents.  In my classroom, each choir member receives the title of Subject Matter Expert (SME).  One soprano SME has the gift of observation and is keenly aware of a melodic line’s lack of precision and expression.  In the alto section sits another SME with an aptitude for languages and helps the choir learn Spanish for Esto Les Digo.  A bass SME has the gift of rhythmic accuracy and helps the bass section learn how to TaKaDiMi their part for Fair Phyllis. 

I believe each student has something musical and non-musical to offer the ensemble.

PMEA-The-Agile-Classroom-1Download

The concept of teaching individuals collectively integrates the philosophy of valuing both the individual within the group and valuing the group which contains the individual.  The emphasis of the individual within the ensemble, and the ensemble as the sum of its members, establishes the foundation of the Agile Development Instructional Framework and dynamic teaching.

The Voice of Multiple Intelligences

To help my students become more aware of their musical and non-musical abilities, I spend a short amount of rehearsal time at the beginning of each year and introduce them to Gardners’ Multiple Intelligences.  Dr. Howard Gardner, a psychologist and professor of neuroscience from Harvard University developed the Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) in 1983.  According to Gardner, human beings have nine different kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world.  Each person has a unique combination of all nine intelligences, and no two individuals have them in the same configuration – similar to our fingerprints.

Using this handout, my students learn that they and their classmates have unique musical and non-musical abilities and talents that all help the ensemble learn, grow and perform better.  Choir members come to realize that they do not need to have the perfect voice, be the best sight-reader, or have extra-special musical insights and instincts.  They begin to become more antifragile through learning about their strengths and weaknesses and come to realize that others have theirs.  Now, if one of my ensembles struggles with a song’s movement, I can call upon choir members who identify with the Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence, and they help lead and teach the choir. 

The Voice of Crosscutting Concepts

The awareness of MI in the classroom is much like our science colleagues, who now use crosscutting concepts in their curriculum.  Crosscutting concepts as defined by the National Research Council’s Framework for K-12 Science Education are “concepts that bridge disciplinary core boundaries, having explanatory value throughout much of science and engineering. These concepts help provide students with an organizational framework for connecting knowledge from the various disciplines into a coherent and scientifically based view of the world.” To move toward being antifragile, I consistently encourage my students to bring their expertise and corresponding skills from other disciplines into the choral setting.

The Seven Science Crosscutting Concepts

1. Patterns
2. Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation
3. Scale, proportion, and quantity
4. Systems and system models
5. Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation
6. Structure and function
7. Stability and change

 If you go back and review the list above, you will notice that all seven crosscutting concepts in the Next Generation Science Standards can not only be applied to studying music but also most disciplines.  All of our students are successful in some field of interest and study.  The Polyphonic Classroom validates these skills and experiences and asks our music students to bring all their abilities and skills to the rehearsal room – musical and non-musical.

TLDR – The Voices of the Polyphonic Classroom

To achieve a new conceptual understanding in any subject, students must actively experience, wrestle with, and move through conceptual reconstructive changes.  For our ensembles, this learning transformation may feel counter-intuitive, uncomfortable, and frustrating.  The struggles and discomfort they feel when learning new skills are how knowledge and understanding enter the mind and body. 

The Polyphonic Classroom style of instruction requires students and teachers to modify their thinking, music processing, and how they relate to learning in general.  The awareness and development of 1) applying an open mindset, 2) cultivating each students’ contributions to the ensemble (SME), 3) becoming aware of the Multiple Intelligences, and 4) applying Crosscutting Concepts across disciplines empowers all our students and strengthens the ensemble.

The paradigm of teaching individuals collectively integrates the philosophy of valuing the individual within the group and the group which contains the individual.  The emphasis on strengthening each individual within the ensemble establishes the foundation of the Agile Development Instructional Framework and the Polyphonic Classroom.

References

A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas

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.

Adams, Kari. “Developing Growth Mindset in the Ensemble Rehearsal.” Music Educators Journal 105, no. 4 (2019): 21–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432119849473.

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House Publishing Group

Lukianoff, Greg, and Jonathan Haidt. The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure. United Kingdom: Penguin Books, 2019.

Nesari, Ali Jamali. (2015) Dialogism Versus Monologism: A Bakhtinian Approach to Teaching. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 205: 642-47. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.09.101.

New York State Arts Standards: Music Standards At-a-Glance

Next Generation Science Standards For States, By States (2013)

Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (2020). Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. In Instructional guide for university faculty and teaching assistants. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder. New York: Random House, 2016.

Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF)

All activities, rehearsal strategies, and projects developed through applying the Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF) and Skills Quests are research-based. They contain elements of the following teaching models and instructional theories: Self-Regulated Learning, Self-Directed-Learning, Experiential Learning Theory, Understanding by Design, Cognitive Coaching, and the Universal Design for Learning.

Filed Under: Curriculum and Instruction Tagged With: ADIF - Agile Development Instructional Framework, Agile Centered Instruction Leading Voices

Leading Voices: Summer Reading

August 4, 2021 by Brian O Ackles Leave a Comment

Whether you are recovering this summer from the past sixteen months of teaching vocal music during a pandemic or currently preparing for the next year, our challenge is that we have no way of knowing what the new school year will bring.  The undeniable reality is that we will not and actually should not go back to the way things were before COVID.  We must be bold and look ahead and discover new and innovative musical learning experiences for both our student’s future, and for our own sanity. 

Each summer, I recharge personally and professionally by spending time with my family, working part-time as a boat captain for Midlakes Navigation, and reading current educational publications and music research.  Currently, I am beginning to prepare for the new school year by reading Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman.  My daughter participated in a few Professional Development days in July and recommended the book to me.  Last year, I began using Specs Grading with my students during virtual and hybrid instruction, and I am curious to see how this book might help me refine and improve my current grading system. 

Below are a variety of books and professional resources that have shaped and influenced my teaching and instructional philosophy.   I hope you will find these resources interesting and thought-provoking as you prepare for the new school year

Best,

Brian

Summer Reading

Costa, Arthur L. Cognitive Coaching Developing Self-directed Leaders and Learners. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. 

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House Publishing Group 

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. 

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 

Nagoski, Emily, and Amelia Nagoski. Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. New York: Ballantine Books, 2020. 

Nilson, Linda Burzotta, and Claudia J. Stanny. Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time. Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2015. 

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 

Wiggins, Grant P., and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2008. 

Research and Instructional Resources

Agile Development Instructional Framework

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. 

All activities, rehearsal strategies, and projects developed through applying the Agile Development Instructional Framework are research-based. They contain elements of the following teaching models and instructional theories: Self-Regulated Learning, Self-Directed-Learning, Experiential Learning Theory, Understanding by Design, Cognitive Coaching, and the Universal Design for Learning.  

Specifications Grading

What is Specifications Grading and Why Should You Consider Using It?
Yes, Virginia, There’s a Better Way to Grade
Specifications grading: We may have a winner
Specifications grading with the EMRF rubric
Advocating a new way of grading

Lev Vygotsky & Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development

Cognitive Apprenticeship in Educational Practice: Research on Scaffolding, Modeling, Mentoring, and   Coaching as Instructional Strategies. 
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory and Contributions to the Development of Constructivist Curricula. 
Sociocultural Cognitive Development
Zone of Proximal Development

Paulo Freire

10 Concepts About Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy All You Need to Know
Paulo Freire (1921–1997) Conceptual Tools, Philosophy of Education, Criticism

Exit Tickets

Exit tickets’ effect on engagement in college classrooms
Understanding students, adapting instruction, and addressing equity
Exit tickets as formative assessments
Exit Tickets’ Effect on Engagement and Concept Attainment in High School Science
Understanding how teachers engage in formative assessment,   
10 ideas for digital exit tickets (and some analog ones, too) 
Keeping learning on track: Formative assessment and the regulation of learning
Keeping Learning on Track: A Case-study of Formative Assessment Practice
The Classroom is Alive with the Sound of Thinking: The Power of the Exit Slip
The Many Uses of Exit Slips

Experiential Learning

Kolb Educator Role Profile


Experiential Learning Cycle 
On Becoming an Experiential Educator: The Educator Role Profile 
Kolb Educator Role Profile   
Using Experiential Learning Theory to Promote Student Learning and Development in  Programs of Education Abroad 

Self-Regulated Learning

A Review of Self-regulated Learning: Six Models and Four Directions for Research 
From Cognitive Modeling to Self-Regulation: A Social Cognitive Career Path 
Developing Self-Efficacy to Improve Music Achievement. 

Threshold Concepts

Meyer, J., and Land, R., (2003) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge 
Meyer, J., and Land, R., (2006) Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding 
An Introduction to Threshold Concepts 
Threshold Concepts in Practice   
Threshold Concepts: A Short Introduction and a Bibliography from 2003 to 2018 
Threshold concepts: Impacts on teaching and learning at tertiary level 
Threshold Concepts & Undergraduate Mathematics Teaching 
Learning Portals: Analyzing Threshold Concept Theory for LIS Education 
Threshold Concepts and the Integration of Understanding in Economics 
Threshold Concepts and Modalities for Teaching Leadership Practice 
Liminality as thought and action.  
Managing the Monsters of Doubt: Liminality, Threshold Concepts and Leadership Learning. 
Dialogism Versus Monologism: A Bakhtinian Approach to Teaching.  
The Many Faces of Constructivism 

Crosscutting Concepts

Crosscutting Concepts     
Using Crosscutting Concepts to Promote Student Responses    
Next Generation Science Standards for States, By States (2013)     
A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas 

Miscellaneous

How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching    
The Protégé Effect: How You Can Learn by Teaching Others     
Collective Efficacy Belief, Within-Group Agreement and Performance Quality Among Instrumental Chamber Ensembles     
The application of critical pedagogy to music teaching and learning     
Critical Pedagogy for Music Education      
Music Education in the Twenty-First Century   
Educational Outcomes of Tutoring: A Meta-analysis of Findings.     
A “Discomfortable” Approach to Music Education Re-envisioning the “Strange Encounter”      
The Learning Benefits of Teaching: A Retrieval Practice Hypothesis     
Failing Forward    
Concept-Based Teaching and Learning      
On Two Metaphors for Learning and the Dangers of Choosing Just One 

Postlude


A dear friend of mine lent me his copy of Letters of Note: Music this summer.  I really enjoyed the book – it would make a great gift.

Letters of Note: Music

Filed Under: Curriculum and Instruction Tagged With: ADIF - Agile Development Instructional Framework, Agile Centered Instruction, Leading Voices

Leading Voices: Adjusting to the New Dynamics

July 7, 2021 by Brian O Ackles Leave a Comment

“Hey Susan, your work in choir this year was outstanding – thank you for a great year” In disbelief of what I just wrote in Susan’s yearbook, I looked up and said, “You did such a great job this year in and really grew as a musician, congratulations!  You know, considering everything we went through, we actually had a relatively good year in choir.  How can that be?”    

Susan smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and we both just looked at each other and shook our heads in disbelief.   

After Susan left my office, I reflected upon the 2020 – 2021 school year and the challenges we faced.  
1. For the entire first semester, the high school vocal music program was virtual.  
2. For the second semester, we returned to in-person instruction, but the entire high school student body and each ensemble were separated into two cohorts.  Each choir met once a week for thirty minutes, and we sang twelve feet apart wearing masks.  It was very disheartening. 
3. In March, the High School Drama Club was able to begin virtual and after school rehearsals for the musical The Theory of Relativity. In May, we presented four socially distanced in-person performances.
4. Starting in early April, the entire student body returned to five days a week instruction, and the two cohorts combined and met twice a week for thirty minutes.  We continued to wear masks but could now sing six feet apart.  What a difference!
5. And in mid-June, all the high school choirs and bands performed their Spring Concert in the auditorium for a limited, socially distanced audience.  This was our first concert in over a year and a half.

Teaching High School Vocal Music during COVID

Below you will find an introduction to each posting of Leading Voices that coincides with the experiences my students and I faced during the 2020-2021 COVID school year.  From my first post in September 2020 focusing on Teaching and Singing While Wearing a Mask to Purposeful Teaching Through Agile-Centered Instruction last month, the links below offer a window into the challenges, resources, and response to teaching high school vocal music during COVID. 

I am incredibly proud of my students for their maturity, tenacity, and dedication as they continued singing and study choral music during COVID.  Out of necessity, they had to continually modify and adjust their perception of what it meant to musically survive during a pandemic.  Bravo Marcellus Mustangs!

Teaching and Singing While Wearing a Mask:
Why it is a Challenge and How to make it Better

Vicke King, Choir Director
Wallace B Jefferson Middle School

Speaking and singing while wearing a mask is incredibly challenging.  Although there is limited research thus far, we identified four aspects of singing and speech which are impacted by wearing a mask: masks diminish decibel levels, attenuate certain speech sounds, distort word boundaries, and block visual facial cues. 
When teaching or singing with a mask, our first instinct may be to push and make our voices louder.  This, of course, is not sustainable or even a healthy way to be heard.  Our collaboration produced several recommendations to compensate for the mask.  These include slowing speech rate, attending to articulatory markers that identify word boundaries, and augmenting our spoken instruction with visual aids.  Read more

Adapting Specs Grading for the Virtual and Hybrid Choral Classroom

As I start the fall semester, I find myself right where I left off at the end of last year – trying to keep my students engaged in a virtual high school choral program. This year, my high school moved to a two-semester scheduling system with students taking four classes per semester in 80 minutes blocks.  For the first semester, I will teach all my choir students online.  For the second semester, we will return to in-person rehearsals, with some students choosing to remain virtual for the entire year. 
Last Monday, I graded my first assignment using Specs Grading – most outstanding!  In about 30 minutes, I reviewed the Google Sheet, applied the specs, graded their work, and entered 72 grades into SchoolTool.  But better than that, 83% of my students completed the assignment on time and achieved the grade they were shooting for.  Read more

Learning Outcomes and Our Ability to Pivot

https://teachingcommons.lakeheadu.ca/backward-design-introduction-templates

It seems like every month, there is a new term or phrase that surfaces as we journey through the COVID-19 educational landscape, such as Hybrid Learning, the Digital Choral Classroom, Synchronous, and Asynchronous Instruction.  Now here in Central New York, we have another new phrase going around called “the pivot.” With most CNY schools teaching in-person or using a hybrid model, many of our colleagues are planning for the pivot as they anticipate their schools moving to all virtual learning. 
With the realization that we will need to remain fixable and pivot our instruction this year and that our traditional school concerts will not resume for some time, we need to reevaluate our course design and our required learning outcomes.  Many of our best practices from the past have been successful and will remain.  But there is a danger in maintaining the expected – the known – not realizing that education is changing right before our eyes.  Elements of Backwards Design and Specs Grading offers teachers a new perspective and a way to review, redefine, and reimagine our instruction.  Read more

Who is Your Vygotsky?

Who is that colleague you can call or email to help you work through a challenging situation or technical question?  If you are like me, chances are it is not your superintendent, chancellor, or curriculum coordinator.  Though they may be outstanding educators, your Vygotsky is probably someone who is in the trenches with you – a peer MKO. 
I believe the same needs to be and must be true for our students.  Each student would benefit from receiving help and learning from their peers and friends as well as through their teachers.  Our challenge lies in providing our students with the experiences and skills they need to become autonomous and successful music students.  One way to provide this opportunity and have our students achieve musical independence and autonomy is to allow them to teach, to question, and to stumble at times – to become someone’s Vygotsky.  Read more

Positive Reappraisal: Adapting Instruction and Managing Stress

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle

I am growing weary of being told that teaching virtual and hybrid vocal music is only “temporary.” I emphatically disagree.  The virtual and hybrid vocal music model may be temporary, but its adverse effects on my music students and our program will be felt for years.

Teaching high school vocal music during a pandemic is demanding and stressful.  Experiencing this traumatic event will reshape our teaching models and profession for many years and possibly for the foreseeable future.  As educators, our challenge and responsibility is to retain the ability to remain approachable, flexible, and teachable through unpleasant and difficult times.  Read more

Promoting Student and Ensemble Autonomy:
The Individual Ensemble Musicianship Project

It became extremely clear last March that the reason many of my students struggled with their studies was because all their learning experiences are based upon the institutionalized aspects of public education.  Without the school building, bells, personnel, and the social-emotional support of their peers and teachers, most students lack the skills they need to learn independently.  This deficiency of teaching self-regulation in our classrooms reinforced my determination to search for ways to help my students become musically autonomous and achieve independence in their musical and general studies. 

The IEM Model is the foundation of the Agile Centered Classroom

Teaching musical autonomy, like playing an instrument or singing in a choir, needs to be practiced, understood, and ultimately owned by the students.  Understanding by Design and the Backward Design Framework challenges educators to look beyond instructional challenges and help our students succeed by teaching them the skills needed to foster individual and choral autonomy in the classroom.  Read more

By Teaching We Learn – Students Teaching Students

It wasn’t until I started teaching that I understood how to become a better student and a more effective teacher.  The education I received as a child and adolescent was primarily subject-centered and focused on the acquisition and consumption of factual knowledge.  As I moved from one grade to another, I formed the understanding that the main goal in school was to memorize information and provide my teachers with the correct answers.
As I plan and run my rehearsals, I participate in the dance between the inevitability of direct instruction and the necessity of indirect instruction.  I move back and forth between fostering interdependence within an ensemble and the independent responsibility of each choir member.  Like our experiences teaching, I believe it is essential that we allow students the opportunity during the learning process to question, get frustrated, feel a sense of accomplishment, fail miserably, and succeed with joy.  Read more

No, Really . . . They are Worth Your Time

They can be used once a week, when a choir starts learning a new song, or just before an adjudicated choral music festival.  They are a quick and effective instructional and assessment tool appropriate for the upper Elementary Choir through the Collegiate Honor Ensemble.  They can be designed using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, aligned with the National Core Arts Standards, and enhance your professional practice and teaching philosophy.  They are invaluable but seen as superfluous.

Bloom’s Taxonomy by Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University

In the music classroom and within the choral rehearsal, teachers know the value of a good lesson anticipatory set and the importance of effective vocal warmups.  We dedicate a few minutes at the beginning of each rehearsal to release tension in the body, engage the breath, activate phonation, reinforce correct vocal placement, and support and strengthen good choral singing skills.  But if we are not careful, we can miss supporting and warming up the most essential part of the singers’ voice, the musical mind.  Read more

Oh, Now I Get it! – Understanding Threshold Concepts

Have you ever wondered how some of our students seem to naturally catch on and succeed in their studies?  They may or may not have an extraordinary aptitude in any particular content area, yet they can grasp and apply the fundamental concepts in a variety of subjects and excel. 


Some would say it is because they are gifted or talented in a specific discipline, while others may say it is because they are intelligent or smart.  Though this may be true for some, economists Land and Meyer (2003) would say that gaining valuable insights and transforming conceptual understanding in any subject is dependent upon attaining the unique and specific Threshold Concepts that are inherent within each discipline.  Read more

Initiate a Discipline with Lesson Prompts

“Do you call yourself a vocal music teacher or a choir director?” At first, this question seemed relatively simple and straightforward.  I was wrong.  I was asked this question along with a few of our colleagues during an interview for a research study earlier this year.  As each of us took turns responding to the question, I listened intensely to my colleagues and began examining and rethinking my view and beliefs about teaching music.  Through the experience of contemplating this question, I came to realize that I see myself more as a music teacher than a choir director.  

Herein lies the importance and value of a well-placed and presented question; its function is to stimulate investigation, seek clarification, and at times may be unsettling.  Though I do not use essential questions in the classroom, I use standards-based concept-centered lesson prompts to guide and focus my lesson planning and instructional preparations. Read more

Purposeful Teaching Through Agile-Centered Instruction

I remember memorizing the phrase “whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half” many years ago when I began taking piano lessons in third grade.  My piano teacher Mrs. Peterson was incredibly pleased that I had the phrase memorized and could recite it at a moment’s notice.  She would smile and congratulate me on my new skill.  The problem was, even though I knew how to play whole and half steps on the piano, I did not understand why this phrase was so important to memorize.

Agile-Centered Instruction (ACI) is a pedagogical philosophy that provides flexibility and autonomy for teachers and students alike.  It is dynamic and responsive to the present and real-time instructional learning environment.  By becoming more instructionally agile in the classroom, we can empower students to discover interdisciplinary and cross-curricular connections and understandings, learn through challenging and rewarding situations, and provide space for creativity and flexibility. Read more

Resources for the Agile Development Instructional Framework

All activities, rehearsal strategies, and projects developed through applying the Agile Development Instructional Framework are research-based. They contain elements of the following teaching models and instructional theories: Self-Regulated Learning, Self-Directed-Learning, Experiential Learning Theory, Understanding by Design, Cognitive Coaching, and the Universal Design for Learning.

Filed Under: Curriculum and Instruction, Others Tagged With: ADIF - Agile Development Instructional Framework, Agile Centered Instruction Leading Voices

Leading Voices: Purposeful Teaching Through Agile-Centered Instruction

June 2, 2021 by Brian O Ackles Leave a Comment

I remember memorizing the phrase “whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half” many years ago when I began taking piano lessons in third grade.  My piano teacher Mrs. Peterson was incredibly pleased that I had the phrase memorized and could recite it at a moment’s notice.  She would smile and congratulate me on my new skill.  The problem was, even though I knew how to play whole and half steps on the piano, I did not understand why this phrase was so important to memorize.

My piano teacher provided the subject knowledge but not the conceptual understanding. 

My experience with my piano teacher and the public educational system in the 1960s and 1970s is what many of our students continue to experience to this day.  Most, if not all of us, were taught from kindergarten through post-secondary education, primarily through teacher-centered direct instruction.

Banking Education

Paulo Freire called the instructional paradigm of filling and depositing knowledge into students’ heads “Banking Education” (Freire, 1993, chapter 2). Make a deposit, check the balance, and hope for good returns. I must confess that from time to time, I fall into the choral music banking education paradigm. I teach the choir their parts, check for understanding (right notes and my interpretations), and then move on. And if I’m not careful, my curriculum may become primarily product-driven and not process-centered.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Freire proposes a curriculum structured around student and teacher collaboration through which students learn to develop self-regulation and autonomy in the classroom.  A Freirian teacher takes the role of initiator of dialogue and consciously tries to blur the boundaries between the knower and known and between the learner and teacher.  We are all lifelong learners – students and teachers alike.  

Rather than depositing and dispersing information to students, the core of a Freirian music curriculum is centered on inquiry and questioning.  This problem-posing approach is student-centered, with the teacher taking the role of facilitator, and student/teacher dialogue and reflection are valued and encouraged. 

Here is our dilemma.  We cannot always be student-centered in the classroom.  There is an Opportunity Cost of only teaching in or favoring one pedagogical methodology – whether this is due to our post-secondary education, training, or personal preference.  Sometimes, our music instruction is Teacher-Centered.  Sometimes it is Product-Centered.  I agree with and incorporate the Freirian music curriculum into my teaching, but there are situations when I must direct teach, and there are times when I am product-centered. 

My classroom is not exclusively student-centered, subject-centered, teacher-centered, performance-centered, concept-centered, or product-centered.   It is a diverse interaction between and within all of the above.  It is flexible, responsive, and dynamic – it is Agile.

Agile-Centered Instruction

Agile-Centered Instruction (ACI) is a pedagogical philosophy that provides flexibility and autonomy for teachers and students alike.  It is dynamic and responsive to the present and real-time instructional learning environment.  The focus of ACI is not about achieving specific skills, outcomes, or behaviors but rather the mental process that gives rise to conceptual understanding and skilled performances. 

An agile educator strives to be mindful of, responsive to, and willing to shift their instructional and pedagogical paradigms.  This instructional awareness facilitates and empowers students to learn from challenging and rewarding situations and helps them discover interdisciplinary threshold concepts and cross-curricular crosscutting concepts, connections, and understandings. 

Critical Pedagogy for Music Education (CPME)

Frank Abrahams (2005), in his article The Application of Critical Pedagogy to Music Teaching and Learning, offers music educators one way to structure and frame their teaching and instruction.  Critical Pedagogy for Music Education (CPME) is a praxis-oriented philosophy based on Freire’s dialogical “problem-posing” approach.  CPME provides structure, support, and flexibility, for both the teacher and the student and creates an encouraging and supportive learning environment.  

CPME Lessons Sequence Model 
1. Honoring Their Word – Activate and engage students in real-life problem-solving   
2. Sharing the Experience – Students and teachers explore, process, and reflect together 
3. Connecting Their World to the Concept – Linking both in and out of school conceptual experiences   
4. Dialoguing Together – Students and teachers ask questions, gather evidence, and examine ideas    
5. Practicing the Concept – Teacher and students practice together and model mastery 
6. Connecting Word to World – Students are encouraged to connect and find new alternatives and solutions 
7. Assessing Transformation – Dialogic assessment and conceptual viability become realized 
8. Acknowledging Transformation – Initiate and activate the new skill towards current and future learning 

Three Activities to Engage Students in
Agile-Centered Instruction

The activities below are examples of how to implement Agile-Centered Instruction into the rehearsal setting and incorporates aspects of the CPME model.  To help our choirs acquire and attain musical skills and understandings, members must actively practice integrating and combining a variety of conceptual components throughout the rehearsal.
 

Warmup Color ID (purpose-centered)

Range – Blue

Vocal Placement – Orange

Vowels – Lime Green

Breath Support – Purple

Pitch Accuracy – Red

Diction/Consonants- Green

Singing Energizer – Light Blue

Warm-up Color ID asks the students to perform, uncover, and identify the purpose of a specific warm-up exercise used in the music classroom and rehearsal setting.  I use this warm-up activity during voice lessons and ask the students to analyze a variety of vocal exercises and color code their purpose.  Then, during choir rehearsals, we can quickly review the warm-ups’ objective(s) and concentrate on the specific purpose of the exercise (this conceptual review takes only about 10 seconds of the rehearsal to reinforce). 

Right Now (performance-centered)

ADIF adaptation from Collective Efficacy Belief, Within-Group Agreement and Performance Quality Among Instrumental Chamber Ensembles

I have found that inevitably during the year, a song that the choir is preparing and refining can lose forward momentum and musically stall.  This musical plateau may happen because a majority of choir members feel that the song is “learned” and is ready to be performed.  This next activity asks the students to assess either their section, sprint group, or the full choir and estimate to what extent they are performing correct technical and expressive elements.  This activity also works very well as an exit ticket.

What’s Next?  (process-centered)

This final exercise is one of my favorites.  I introduce this activity by showing the choir my lesson plans and informing them that their responses on this form will become the lesson plans for our next rehearsal.  The first question asks the students to think back on past rehearsals and recall the sequence of events and teaching strategies they have experienced.  The second question engages the students in critical thinking and brings the ensemble into a dialogue about effective rehearsal strategies, processes, and procedures.

And here is the fun part.  At the beginning of the next rehearsal, I bring out the slips, shuffle them, turn them face down, and ask one choir member to select a form.  I then fold part of the paper over (so I cannot read the name) and use “What should be next?” numbers 5 – 8 as a rehearsal sequence for part of the class.  My students enjoy this activity, and their responses and ideas are informative and very enjoyable.

tl;dr: Purposeful Teaching Through Agile-Centered Instruction

Agile-Centered Instruction (ACI) is a pedagogical philosophy that provides flexibility and autonomy for teachers and students alike.  It is dynamic and responsive to the present and real-time instructional learning environment.  By becoming more instructionally agile in the classroom, we can empower students to discover interdisciplinary and cross-curricular connections and understandings, learn through challenging and rewarding situations, and provide space for creativity and flexibility.

Current research reminds educators that though we possess strong musical metacognitive skills, we should not assume that our students will naturally and inevitably develop musical understanding and become musically autonomous.  Metacognitive skills and successful learning habits must be taught and reinforced through thoughtful and purposeful instruction.

“It is not the strongest that survive environmental changes.
It is the most flexible – the most intelligently agile”. 

Attributed to Charles Darwin (Megginson, 1963)

Postlude – The Kolb Educator Role Profile  

One way for us to become more agile in the classroom and reimagine our instruction is to take the Kolb Educator Role Profile (KERP).  This instructional assessment survey is specifically designed to help teachers identify their teaching tendencies and shift between the roles of the Facilitator, Expert, Evaluator, and Coach. 

References

Abrahams, F. (2005). The application of critical pedagogy to music teaching and learning. Visions of Research in Music Education, 6. Retrieved from http://www.rider.edu/~vrme

Freire, Paulo, 1921-1997. 2000. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.

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

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.

10 Concepts About PAULO FREIRE’s Pedagogy | All You Need to Know

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) Conceptual Tools, Philosophy of Education, Criticism


Read more: Paulo Freire (1921–1997) – Conceptual Tools, Philosophy of Education, Criticism – Students, Social, World, and Process – StateUniversity.com https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1998/Freire-Paulo-1921-1997.html#ixzz6vDNeppBv

Another excellent CPME resource:  Critical Pedagogy for Music Education – Thorne Palmer

Filed Under: Curriculum and Instruction Tagged With: ADIF - Agile Development Instructional Framework, Agile Centered Classroom, Agile Centered Instruction Leading Voices

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