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Agile Development Instructional Framework

Leading Voices: Promoting a Sense of Agency within the Ensemble

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While I was out sick recently for a week with COVID, one of my lesson plans for the Select Choir consisted of having the students break into their Sectional Sprint Groups and check and memorize their music for their upcoming Pops Concert the following week.  At the end of each student-run Sectional Sprint rehearsal, I always ask my students to reflect on the following Sprint Retrospective.

We can pull out a lot of great information about the choirs’ current abilities and our effectiveness through periodically asking our students these three questions.  Here is a response from Jessie, who was a part of the Select Choir Soprano Sprint Group.  

What went well? 
Jessie’s observation – “We were able to sing most of the song correctly and were able to identify what needs to be fixed next time we sing it.”  My assessment – The soprano section has the ability to work independently, assess their performance, and identify areas for future improvement.

What did not go well? 
Jessie’s observation – “We could use more dynamics when singing the song, especially on the half and whole notes we are holding out.”  My assessment – Not only did they determine that their dynamics were lacking, but they identified the specific issue of not holding out note values.

What could be done better next time?    
Jessie’s observation – “Next time we can try to incorporate dynamics and emotion into the song, crescendo-ing, and decrescendo-ing when needed.”  My assessment – I will now reinforce and share the soprano’s attention to dynamics and emotions with the rest of the choir and apply this concept to other songs we will be singing for the Pops Concert.

Promoting Agency with Sprint Retrospectives

Using Sprint Retrospectives in the classroom is beneficial because I can quickly and easily assess the students’ understanding, apply the Specification Grading, and use this new information to shape future learning.  I believe teaching our students to become aware of, reflect upon, identify, and act on new understandings is at the core of teaching lifelong musical skills and a love for learning. 

Encouraging and promoting awareness during a rehearsal will develop self-confidence, self-regulation, and outstanding independent student musicians.  As musicians and educators, we have learned to ask ourselves these Sprint Retrospective questions, but have we taught our students to do the same?

When I look back at my K – 12 public music education and growing up participating in many church choirs, I would say no.  Usually, after a concert or worship service, the director would give us an assessment of our performance, the director would tell us how we could improve, and the director would implement their observations and ideas.

Promoting Agency within the Lesson Structure

Usually, our students are not taught how to become musically self-sufficient and independent under the traditional director-centered paradigm.  This time-tested paradigm effectively produces outstanding performances, but it inherently cannot nor will not promote choral independence and agency.  The problem is not with the traditional lesson or rehearsal structure but rather in the presentation and implementation of music learning and agency skills.  I was trained in the classic Seven-Step lesson plan design and continue to use the following basic elements with great success. 

My warm-ups are my (1) Anticipatory Set and hook for the day.  I always write on the whiteboard the rehearsal plan and (2) State the Objective(s) right after warm-ups.  Through my lesson preparation and score study, my rehearsal activities and sequence present the desired (3) Instructional Input.  As the choir works through the lesson, I (4) Model learning strategies and skills that reinforce and point to the stated objectives.  Through (5) Guided Practice, I continually (6) Check for Understanding and modify instruction as needed.  Throughout the rehearsal, I integrate the Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF), which gives the students opportunities to assess, plan, and (7) Practice independently.  My lesson (8) Closure is presented periodically throughout the rehearsal and points back to the lesson objective and purpose.

The Instructional Theory into Practice (ITIP) developed by Madeline Hunter offers an excellent structure for curriculum and instruction.  The design of this model is successful, time-tested, and musically sound.  But strictly following a lesson plan formula does not intuitively promote student agency and musical independence in the classroom.  

But if we are not careful, our choirs can become trained consumers of musical skills and abilities and not become creative, independent producers of their learning. 

We all have experienced this phenomenon.  We attend a concert and are amazed by the technical precision and excellence of a choir – yet the performance leaves us flat.  Soon after, we experience an outstanding performance of the same song by a different ensemble that moves us to tears – minor mistakes and all.  What causes this paradox, I would argue, is the absence and presence of agency within the ensembles.

Promoting Agency with Praxis-Based Instruction

Music Matters : A New Philosophy of Music Education

The key to promoting agency in the classroom at any level lies in the application of musical skills and understanding – not in the presentation.  Therefore, promoting and developing ensemble agency must be structured around implementing the praxis-based philosophy as defined by David J. Elliott in his book, Music Matters.

“Praxis connotates action that is embedded in, responsive to, and reflective of a specific context of effort.” (Elliot 1995, p. 14, emphasis mine).

The praxis-based curriculum focuses on the doing and purposeful action of learning that is embedded within the instruction – not because of the instruction.  It is the realization that each student has the inherent capacity to assess, plan, execute, and evaluate their musical experience in a way that is valuable to both the individual and the ensemble.  Therefore, we must be willing to vary our planning and teaching style so our students will gain the ability and capacity to learn with each other, for each other, and themselves.

We must strive to lean with the students and not for the students.

The dialogue between the teacher and student, subject and skills, and the learning process creates an environment that requires the music instruction to contain purposeful agency-centered focus. 

Promoting Student Agency in the Rehearsal Room

When we modify the Hunter Seven-Step Lesson Format and integrate Praxis-Based Instruction, the traditional director-centered rehearsal form and structure takes on a whole new focus – Student Agency.  Now the ensemble as a unit becomes responsible for actively participating and assessing their (3) Instructional Input, (4) Skills Modeling, (5) Guided Practice, (6) Checking for Understanding, and the ability to (7) Practice Independently. 

This new understanding of personal and choral agency will grow and strengthen as choir members become comfortable and confident in taking responsibility for their musicianship.  Here is the last substitute plan I posted on Google Classroom for my 9-12 Select Choir just before I returned to school.  It was a 45-minute lesson that I posted on Google Classroom.  My students did an excellent job.

Through this assignment, I was able to assess that my students can: 
1.  Teach each other (Instructional Input) 
2.  Help each other learn (Skills Modeling)    
3.  Work on specific areas of concern (Guided Practice)    
4.  Assess for accuracy (Checking for Understanding)    
5.  Have the ability to learn independently (Practice Independently)

Soprano Section Burn Down Chart

What can you learn from their lists?    

What are the implications for future learning?    

What does this tell you about my teaching? 

TL;DR: Promoting Agency, It’s all in the Implementation

By continuing to rely on traditional paradigms and old instructional schemes, we as a profession continue to perpetuate the great divide between performing choral music and teaching choral music.  You can do both.

By incorporating the Praxis-Based Instruction within the Hunter Seven-Step Lesson Format, we can create a space where our ensembles will actively achieve musical excellence and agency.  We can either train our ensembles or teach our students.  Through promoting agency in the classroom, we can help our students become aware of their responsibility for the subject content, the rehearsal process, and their active minds-on participation in the music classroom.

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

Agile Development Instructional Framework Resources

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.

Resources

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

Elliott, D. J. (1995).  Music matters: A new philosophy of music education.  Oxford University Press.

Leading Voices: Re-envisioning and Rediscovering Singing

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Suddenly, the bass section broke out in full, boisterous song.  After they finished, I said, “That was great! what were you singing?” They all heartily replied, “The Wellerman,” with a few Arrr’s thrown in for effect.  

It was the beginning of the school year, and each section of the choir was working on their Skills Quests.  The bass section was looking through the Musical Skills Quest Item List and deciding what items they were going to learn and perform for the choir.  The bass section chose item #1 – Sing a Sea Shanty. 

What really caught my attention was their enthusiasm and how strongly and boldly they sang.  Masks and all!  With great eagerness, they proceeded to show me The Wellerman TikTok mashup and other sea shanties they discovered online. 

And thus, the theme of rediscovering strong, healthy, full singing was born.

Re-envisioning Masks 

MasterClass

The first step to helping our choir members rediscover their voice is to teach them how to sing and communicate safely through a mask.  At first, the masks were seen (and felt) as a huge obstacle and a total interference to choral music.  And they most definitely still are.  But now, my students are so happy to be back together singing that the masks have almost become a non-issue.  They have learned how to adapt to the pandemic singing regulations and move forward healthily and safely. 

In September 2020, my sister-in-law Susan Butterfoss, an ASHA Certified Clinical Speech-Language Pathologist, and I co-authored a Leading Voices post titled Teaching and Singing While Wearing a Mask: Why it is a Challenge and How to Make it Better.  Through our research, we uncovered four areas in which PPE masks negatively affect spoken and sung communication.

1. Reduced Decibel Levels
2. Attenuated Frequencies
3. Diminished Word Boundaries
4. Blocked Facial Cues

Each specific area of concern may not seem too discouraging on its own. Still, when they come together, they can create a loss of quality and enjoyment of sung and spoken communication. 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.  Susan also created the following handouts for you and your students.

Vocal-Health-for-TeachersDownload
A-Vocalist-Guide-to-Singing-with-a-MaskDownload

Re-envisioning Voice Lessons

https://www.voicescienceworks.org/ 
https://www.facebook.com/voicescienceworks

Just before the pandemic hit, I discovered an excellent website called Voice Science Works.  I have this website bookmarked and refer to it daily during my voice lessons.  On the Voice Science Works home page, you will find many great resources ranging from Warm-up Exercises and Handouts to their Vocology Toolbox.  Currently, I am using the following Vocology Toolbox links and focusing on the basic singing skills of posture and breathing, vocal production, and back pressure (SOVT Exercises).

Voice Science Works is an excellent resource and a must for all vocal instructors.  It is helping me build momentum back into voice lessons by motivating and inspiring my students to produce good, quality singing and appreciate their voices.  Also, take a few minutes and check out the Pink Trombone. It’s a lot of fun, and the students love it. 

A Few Voice Science Works Publications:
Seven Essential Voice Science Tools for Choral Singing, Choral Journal:2019
The Voice Teacher’s Cookbook, Contributing authors 2018
The Unfiltered Source,  Publishers, 2016

Re-envisioning Rep

My biggest curricular shock of the year was re-envisioning and selecting the appropriate repertoire.  I never fully understood the educational and performance momentum we create with our ensembles as we move through our curriculum and a year of concerts and music festivals.  I have found that building and sustaining a new energy and drive this year to be a very challenging experience.

Fire Within

My 9/10 Treble Choir took the biggest hit in membership, vocal ability, and musical understanding over the past two years.  This ensemble traditionally has about 25 students and performs level 3-4 SSA rep.  This year, we are down to 11 soft-spoken students at a 7/8 grade ability level and are working on unison, 2-part, and some basic 3-part music.  I also lost about twenty percent of the 9-12 SATB Concert Choir, but luckily, the auditioned 9-12 Select Choir roster remains at twenty-four. 

All my ensembles are now about two years behind in their vocal skills, music reading abilities, and rehearsal/performance etiquette.  The pandemic has shaken me out of my self-inflicted belief that each concert must be better and more musically impressive than the previous performances.  This year we are focusing on quality repertoire that I hope will motivate and encourage strong, healthy, and full ensemble singing.  Here is an example of some of the music we are currently studying.

Be Like a Bird Libana, from their album Fire Within. 
A Girl’s Garden, Randal Thompson
Simply Gregorian, Arr. Donald Moore
Dormi, Dormi, O Bel Bambin, Arr. Robert DeCormier   
All For Me Grog, Arr. Stephen Hatfield   
City Called Heaven, Arr. Josephine Poelinitz 
Stodola Pumpa, Arr. Mark Weston 
Tshotsholoza, SATB Adaptation by Jeffery Ames
Smile, by Charlie Chaplin, John Turner, and Geoffrey Parsons, Arr. Ben Bram

Re-envisioning Instruction  

The most beneficial resource I have found to help my students rediscover their singing voice and rebuild the vocal music program is the work and support of my colleagues.  This fall, I have spent a lot of time going over my old notes from observing past music festival rehearsals, reviewing conference workshop materials and reading sessions, and professional reading. 

Through my work, I have rediscovered many long-lost instructional gems and teaching resources that are now revitalizing my teaching.  The experiences and effects of the pandemic on my students and the music program continue to be challenging and frustrating. Yet through this adversity, I have experienced several positive outcomes and a few paradigm-shifting experiences. The instructional and performance momentum that was paused can move forward once again as I re-envision my curriculum and rediscover my voice in the classroom.

Re-envisioning Resources
Pass the Baton: Empowering Students in the Music Room 
The Improving Musician 

Self-Regulated Learning 
Self-Directed-Learning 
Experiential Learning Theory 
Understanding by Design 
Cognitive Coaching 
Universal Design for Learning

TL;DR   Re-envisioning and Rediscovering Singing

I am repeatedly amazed at how my students continue to be adaptive and resilient in the music classroom and during rehearsals.  They have an earnest desire, masks and all, to rediscover how to sing confidently together with conviction.  What was at first the most devastating part of teaching vocal music through a pandemic – the loss of group singing and learning – has now given my students a new resolve.  

I am an advocate of teaching and modeling student agency and self-directed music learning in the classroom.  Helping our students rediscover their voice applies to their singing voice as well as their voice as a young person and musician.  Promoting student agency in the music classroom and rehearsal setting is a must if we want our students to become and remain musically active and musically self-sufficient throughout their lives.

Agile Development Instructional Framework  
Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF) Sprints   
Purposeful Teaching Through Agile-Centered Instruction  
Agile Centered Instruction 

Building A Community of Practice 
By Teaching We Learn – Students Teaching Students  
Promoting Student and Ensemble Autonomy: The Individual Ensemble Musicianship Project: 
Oh, Now I Get it! – Understanding Threshold Concepts 

Leading Voices: Oh, Now I Get it! – Understanding Threshold Concepts

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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.

© John Krzesinski, 2012

“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)

To become an interior designer, you must be able to understand and apply color theory 
To study basic economics, you must grasp the concept of opportunity cost 
To become a music teacher, you must learn to audiate and internalize scale degree relationships

The word threshold in the context of a threshold concept does not represent a boundary or an end of something, such as the threshold of hearing or the threshold of pain.  But rather, it implies a “place or point of entering or beginning.” (Merriam-Webster)

Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments (ETL) Project

Through their research in economics and working with their colleagues at the University of Edinburgh, Land and Meyer sought to identify prominent factors that led to high-quality learning environments in undergraduate classes within five interdisciplinary contexts.  The Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments (ETL) Project focused on learning outcomes and sought to differentiate between (1) core learning outcomes and (2) threshold concepts through which students learn to see and experience their field of study in a new and transformative way.  Through their research, the following characteristics were conceptualized and can help us identify the attributes we all experience when a threshold concept is realized. 

Threshold Concepts Characteristics

Transformation – There is a conceptual shift in perception and practice as the internal mental framework becomes modified and reworked.  Once grasped, the new learning experience leads to a deeper view and awareness of the subject and oneself as a learner. 
Integration– Current experiences, commonalities, patterns, and interconnectedness are recognized, explored, and applied to the existing mental structures of a discipline. 
Bounded and Irreversible – As a student’s conceptual knowledge expands and multiplies, the recently acquired understandings and skills define new boundaries and create new concept thresholds. This new thinking or skill is generally irreversible and is unlikely to be forgotten or unlearned, much like swimming. 
Troublesome – Conceptual adjustments require a reconstructive change that involves a shift of thinking, practice, and identity.  This unfamiliar learning transformation may feel counter-intuitive and takes time.

Conceptual Transformation and Troublesome Knowledge

Attaining and grasping a threshold concept in any subject is both rewarding and demanding.  It can be exhilarating and relieving as the 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 past beliefs to a transformed deeper understanding.  Through this realization, students become aware of the limitations of isolated perspectives and learn to acknowledge, accommodate, and value multiple perspectives and new practices. 

Threshold concepts are also challenging and demanding because to achieve new conceptual understanding, students must actively experience, wrestle with, and move through what Perkins (1999) calls Troublesome Knowledge.  Hawkins and Edwards (2013) define this experience as Managing the Monsters of Doubt.   Recent research by Davies and Guest (2009) titled Towards the Bigger Picture discusses student acquisition of knowledge through Threshold Concepts.

  • The transformation experience is both cognitive and affective. 
  • The change in a students’ conceptual structure is not based on the acquisition of knowledge. 
  • Students’ beliefs are highly resistant to change; this challenges their current way of thinking. 
  • A conceptual shift is complex and requires time to rework and revisit current understandings.
  • Students must break the cycle of using fixed views and unproductive beliefs and behaviors.
  • New understandings can be emotional and may involve shifts in the students’ sense of identity.
  • Student responses to reflection and self-assessment could be defensive and disheartening.

To help my students work through the difficult process of troublesome knowledge, I incorporated the work of Carol S. Dweck and her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success into my classroom and rehearsal environment. 

The sign hangs just above the threshold as you enter and leave my classroom.  It serves as a reminder that learning and growing take hard work.

Teaching Music Through Threshold, Procedural and Base Concepts

Keeping the above challenges in mind, how then can we apply and incorporate threshold concepts into the music curriculum and the choral classroom?   Davies and Mangan (2007) incorporated threshold concepts into teaching economics and present a new model of instruction.  Their work offers the following three conceptual categories: Basic Concepts (I will refer to as Base Concepts), Procedural Concepts, and Threshold Concepts. 

Below is an example of how this model used in teaching economics can be applied to music instruction.
Threshold Concept – Melodic and harmonic correlations
Procedural Concepts – Key Signatures identification and relationships within the circle of 5th  Base Concepts – Pitch recognition, alterations, and the corresponding notation

Agile Development Instructional Framework

The Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF) provides a structure that allows flexibility in content and delivery as students learn to move through a variety of threshold concepts by reworking and revisiting base and procedural concepts. 

By using the ADIF model, teachers can freely and effectively move holonomicly through their instruction and foster metacognition and autonomy.  ADIF allows directors to teach through the repertoire and not teach to the repertoire. 

The Liminal State and Mimicry

One of the biggest challenges in teaching music through threshold concepts occurs when an individual or ensemble gets stuck in a Liminal State.  This is the space where they have not totally left their old understanding behind, yet they are not fully cognizant of their pending new knowledge or skill. 

What once had been familiar and known is now distressing, disorienting, and unknown.  Students tend to want to return to their old learning states and patterns where it was comfortable and safe.  If we are not careful, our students and ensembles will unknowingly settle in a liminal state and, as a coping strategy, replace authentic learning with mimicry (Cousins, 2006) and rote learning. 

When this happens, the remedy is to temporarily usher the ensemble or individual back out of the liminal space and revisit and rework underlying procedural and base concepts needed for that threshold concept.  We must teach them that to grow musically and not rely on old patterns or the usual way of learning and performing.

A Word of Caution

If we are not careful in our desire to help our students succeed, WE tend to pull and carry our students through threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge by using successful rehearsal techniques, teaching strategies, and at times sheer talent.  We tend to default to our teacher training and conditioned responses, and WE end up carrying our students through liminal spaces and troublesome knowledge.  I know I am guilty of this at times.

This teacher-directed-conceptual-understanding methodology is successful and can produce outstanding concerts, but it will not and cannot create self-sufficient, self-discovering, or self-actualized young musicians. 

“Being willing to explore liminal spaces means that a music teacher must be a risk-taker, someone who is not afraid to go against the grain, who is willing to let go of preconceived ideas about power, status, and the taken-for-granted. . . . . .  letting go of the barriers that traditional education has put into place, and admitting there are things not known, not accessible.” (Emmanuel, D 2011, p. 63)

tl;dr: Threshold Concepts and The Three Umpires Story

“The story goes that three umpires disagreed about the task of calling balls and strikes.
 
The first one said, ‘I calls them as they is.’   (Base Concept) 

The second one said, ‘I calls them as I sees them.’   (Procedural Concept)
 
The third and cleverest umpire said, ‘They ain’t nothin’ till I calls them.'”   (Threshold Concept)

(Simons 1976: 29 as cited in Weick in The Social Psychology of Organizing 1979: 1)

Threshold Resources:

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

References

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

Argyris, C., & Schon, D. (1978). Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Cousin, G. (2006) An Introduction to Threshold Concepts, Planet, 17:1, 4-5, DOI: 10.11120/plan.2006.00170004

Davies, P.  Guest, R., (2009)  Towards the Bigger Picture.  International Review of Economics Education, Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages 6-12,  ISSN 1477-3880, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1477-3880(15)30082-7. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477388015300827)

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

Emmanuel, D (2011)  Liminality as thought and action. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 10(1): 47–68. http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Emmanuel10_1.pdf

Hawkins, B, and Edwards, G. (2013) Managing the Monsters of Doubt: Liminality, Threshold Concepts and Leadership Learning. Management Learning 46, no. 1 (2013): 24-43. doi:10.1177/1350507613501736.

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)

Meyer, J., and Land, R., (2006) Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding. doi:10.4324/9780203966273.

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.

Perkins, D. (1999). The Many Faces of Constructivism, Educational

Leading Voices: No, Really . . . They are Worth Your Time

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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.

To be honest, I did not use Exit Tickets (aka Ticket Out the Door, One Minute Essay, or Exit Slips) for over twenty-four years.  I saw no need.  Within a choir rehearsal or general music class, I continually and in real-time assess, adjust, and modify my instruction for the students.  Music instruction and performances inherently activate and encompass all formative assessment components, so why take up valuable rehearsal time with documentation?

Reflection-in-Action

In Educating the Reflective Practitioner, Donald Schon calls the dynamic interplay through which “our thinking serves to reshape what we are doing while we are doing it” reflection-in-action (1987, p. 26).  Most times, reflection-in-action occurs so naturally in the music classroom (like riding a bike) that we forget about the interacting skills and techniques that merge and allow us to shape and respond to our musical experiences (like balance, steering, and peddling).  We use and understand this dynamic, but do our students?  To help our students become more independent and our ensembles more responsive, we must consciously label, reinforce, and support reflection-in-action in the classroom.

I use Exit Tickets in my classroom because it keeps my choirs cognitively on their toes and fosters rehearsal awareness.  It encourages choir members to become cognizant of the rehearsal experience and responsible for describing and assessing what they have learned.  Using Exit Tickets reminds students that they just participated in a learning experience and asks, what did you learn?  Or, “What strategies did we just use that helped us succeed today“?

Reflection-on-Action

Schon calls the second question, Reflection-on-Action. “We may reflect-on-action, thinking back on what we have done in order to discover how our knowing-in-action may have contributed to an unexpected outcome” (1987, p. 26).  The rewards of Reflection-in-Action and the necessity of Reflection-on-Action helps students become aware of and uncover the dynamic relationship between a musical performance and its corresponding preparation.  The product of music education becomes the learning process, and its application to making music becomes the focus.

What is Next? Exit Tickets
What is Next? Exit Tickets sorted by the choir
Exit Tickets for Erev Shel Shoshanim (Evening of Roses) – arr. Jack Klebanow Messiah College Concert Choir

Traditional Exit Tickets

The research and professional writings that support formative assessment and Exit Tickets are extensive and well documented.  Traditional Exit Tickets are not graded and can:

Encourage students to take stock in their learning 
Provide descriptive feedback and actionable data for teachers 
Help students identify problems, think critically, and contemplate solutions 
Encourage all students, shy and boisterous, to participate and reflect on their learning 

Exit Tickets’ Effect on Engagement and Concept Attainment in High School Science  
Exit tickets motivated students to pay closer attention and increased behavioral engagement among typically engaged and disengaged students (Discussion, p.98).   

The Classroom is Alive with the Sound of Thinking: The Power of the Exit Slip 
Written student reflections are a vehicle for content review, aides absorbing new material, encourages divergent thinking, provides a safe way for students to ask for clarification, promotes self-expression, and fosters the ownership of ideas (Conclusion, p. 195). 

Exit Tickets’ Effect on Engagement in College Classrooms  
Exit tickets help students to be actively engaged in the learning process, encourages students’ connections to content and self-reflection, provides evidence of mastered content and challenges, and improves student behavior and academic achievement (Conclusion, p. 5917). 

Exit Tickets are Teacher-Centered

As soon as I began using Traditional Exit Tickets periodically in class, I noticed a shift in my thinking and ensembles musical abilities.  My students became more engaged in the lesson, and our rehearsals grew to be more productive and enjoyable.  For me, I came to realize that even though I covered a concept or presented a skill, that did not mean my students could transfer their new knowledge and apply it to new experiences.  I found myself experiencing The Expert Blind Spot.  Exit Tickets made this perfectly clear.   

I soon discovered that using traditional Exit Tickets places the responsibility and ownership of learning and assessment away from the students and on to me, the teacher.  The teacher presents a prompt, the students provide feedback, and the teacher adapts their instruction. The teacher – not the students – initiates higher-order thinking skills and evaluates, assesses, and modifies the learning.  If we want high functioning, independent and interdependent student musicians, we must teach Ensemble –Centered Assessment.

Lesson Retrospectives and Ensemble-Centered Assessment

The purpose of a Lesson Retrospective is to provide the choir as a group the opportunity to initiate higher-order thinking skills through assessing, evaluating, and modifying their shared rehearsal and class experience.  It builds upon the Exit Ticket format and requires the ensemble to discover challenges, generate insights, and create actionable items needed to move forward.  By learning group formative assessment skills, students individually and collectively take ownership of their musical growth and the ensemble’s success.

A Lesson Retrospective is an educational modification of a Scrum team’s assessment, and planning meeting called a Sprint Retrospective.  The purpose of a Sprint Retrospective is to provide a Sprint Group time after their independent work on a group project to come together and plan ways to increase the quality and effectiveness of their project.  The Agile Development Instructional Framework incorporates the Scrum methodology and Agile Development principles and provides a clear outline of steps and skills in the rehearsal setting that facilitates active student and ensemble problem solving, collaboration, and accountability. 

Sprint Retrospective Resources

7 Great Agile Sprint Retrospective Ideas 
The Guide to Retrospectives – Remote or in Person 
11 Ideas to Spice up Your Retrospective 
6 Effective Sprint Retrospective Techniques 
Sprint Retrospective Ideas 
Fun Retrospectives: Activities and ideas for making agile retrospectives more engaging. 

Lesson Retrospectives Prompts

In his work Art and Science of Teaching, The Many Uses of Exit Slips, Robert Marzano presents four types of prompts that focus on specific and intended outcomes.   

1. Prompts that Provide Formative Assessment Data    
“On a scale of 1 – 5, how would you rate your current level of understanding _____________?” 

2. Prompts that Stimulates Student Self-Analysis, Self-Regulation 
“What could you have done today to help yourself learn the material better?” 

3. Prompts that Focus on Instructional Strategies   
“How did your sprint group work today help you understand the music better?”
 
4. Prompts that are Open Communications to the Teacher  
“What is something I could do to improve your understanding of ________________?”   

Lesson Retrospectives Design

Lesson Retrospectives can range from a simple 1-5 rating scale, to facilitating autonomy and metacognition by designing prompts using Bloom’s Taxonomy Hierarchical Framework.

Bloom’s Taxonomy by Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University

Remember – What interval/key signature/music term did we focus on today? 
Understand – How do dynamics enrich our musical performances? 
Apply – How did the major/minor scale relate to learning part of our song today? 
Analyze – What was the rehearsal sequence we followed this afternoon? 
Evaluate – Why did our rehearsal and learning this section of music go well (not go well) today?
Create – List three ways you/the choir can review, reinforce, or solidify what we accomplished today? 

Leading Voices Blog Retrospect

Here is an example of using a Google Form as a digital Exit Ticket.  If you have two minutes to spare, I would appreciate your thoughts and ideas about using Exit Tickets and Lesson Retrospectives in the Choral Classroom.  Thank you for your time. 

TL;DR – Fostering Individual and Ensemble Autonomy

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 and engage the breath, activate phonation and 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.

Traditional Exit Tickets and Lesson Retrospectives are essential in mentally attracting and engaging students into the lesson and cultivating mindful presence in the rehearsal room.  These ensemble-centered assessment strategies promote student and group reflection, provide authentic and actionable feedback, and foster individual and ensemble autonomy.  They are short and quick activities you can integrate into your instruction that will transform your students’ musicianship and foster ensemble autonomy.

Try not to let the trauma from a Professional Day gone wrong or the educational jargon prevent you from researching and giving Exit Tickets and Lesson Retrospectives a try.  I now agree with my principal, who sensed my skepticism (I mentally rolled my eyes) when he suggested I try Exit Tickets with my choirs and said:   

“No, really . . . .  they are well worth your time”.

Postlude

A lesson Study is a form of professional development where teachers collaboratively design research lessons and improve instruction using the evidence they have observed and gathered on learning and concept development.  Lesson Retrospectives also uses this framework and provides our students the opportunity to design, implement, and assess learning experiences with their peers.  Allowing students to participate in Reflection-on-Action offers educators the opportunity to step back, observe, and evaluate the students’ instructional modifications or adaptations.

Agile Development Instructional Framework Resources

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

ASCD. “Art and Science of Teaching, The Many Uses of Exit Slips.” The Many Uses of Exit Slips – Educational Leadership.

Fowler, K., Mark Windschitl, M., & and Richards, J. Understanding Students, Adapting Instruction, and Addressing Equity  

Keeping Learning on Track: A Case-study of Formative Assessment Practice and its Impact on Learning in Meridian School District

Little, G. Faith, Exit Tickets as Formative Assessments

Sondergeld, T., Bell, C., Leusner, D. 2010. Understanding How Teachers Engage in Formative Assessment Project: Keeping Learning on

Track, Wiliam, D.  2006. Keeping Learning on Track: Formative Assessment and the Regulation of Learning

Leading Voices: Positive Reappraisal: Adapting Instruction and Managing Stress

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Adapting Instruction and Managing Stress

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. 

In response to the pandemic, music education and the education profession is having to adapt, modify, and transform their traditional practices and procedures.  Here in Central New York, school districts adjusted and altered their daily schedule, course offerings, class size, school calendars, extracurricular programming, sports seasons, along with the cancellation of most state and local tests.  

This current transformation in education is unsettling and frustrating.  Music teachers are looking for a source of support and stability as they sadly watch strong and vibrant music programs decline and weaken. The music profession and teaching community are changing right before our eyes.  And though stressful, we must take an active part in this transition by reshaping our thinking and instruction.

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle

One of our colleagues Amelia Nagoski, DMA, and her twin sister Emily Nagoski, Ph.D. offers some helpful insights and suggestions for dealing with unwanted change in their book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle.  This book presents several strategies to effectively deal with uncontrollable stressors and offers several approaches to help the reader self-generate productive thoughts and emotions, creating positive outcomes during stressful situations. 

My daughter recommended Burnout to me as she knew this school year is very challenging and stressful.  For me, this semester feels as demanding as my first year of teaching.  Besides redesigning my music program, I am also trying to manage the emotional and professional void between what was and what is.  Sad times.

Positive Reappraisal

The ability to self-generate healthy thoughts and emotions and foster positive outcomes during adverse circumstances is called Positive Reappraisal.  Positive Reappraisal is not as simple as looking on the bright side or being optimistic.  It challenges us to approach and label discomfort, obstacles, and uncertainty honestly and head-on.  During difficult times, we need to become aware of the following and acknowledge that:

  1. A stressful situation is complicated and unnerving.
  2. The obstacles and failures we experience are worthwhile.
  3. Difficulties and obstacles are opportunities for growth.

A Road Less Traveled

After learning about Positive Reappraisal, I realized that a decision I made many years ago had had a profound and lasting effect on my teaching.  Between 1984 and 1989, the state of Texas implemented a new appraisal system called the Texas Teacher Appraisal System.  At the time, I didn’t think much about it.  I was a new teacher with a young family and had no professional experience, so I implemented the new appraisal system requirements into my teaching and moved on.

Many of my colleagues reacted differently.  Most complained, some sought council, and those who could retire, retired.  Due to this very unpleasant experience, I made the following decision: No matter what came down the educational pike during my career, I would (1) validate the situation but not complain, (2) initiate and evaluate the new initiatives, and (3) implement what I felt was useful, leave the rest behind, and move on.

I am continuing with this philosophy as I adapt my pre-COVID instruction models to my present virtual and hybrid teaching situation.  I am not maintaining my pre-COVID instruction models and waiting till my normal schedule returns.  That may not happen.  Instead, I am adapting and altering my teaching with the determination that the changes I make will be successful both now and in the post-COVID classroom.

Positive Reappraisal and Online Teaching

Small Teaching Online

I found an excellent resource last spring for teaching online classes in the book Small Teaching Online.  One big takeaway for me was the need for virtual teachers to develop and maintain an online presence with their students.  This visual presence helps motivate and engage the students and encourages their participation in our weekly assignments. 

To this end, I now use Screencast-O-Matic each Monday as I record myself and introduce the week’s assignments to my ensembles.  The Chrome Extension Mote: Voice Notes & Feedback allows me to record audio feedback for my students as I grade and return their work.  At first, my students said it was “kinda strange,” but now they like it because they get to hear my voice.  I also joined the bitmoji craze and added a few picks for our class assignments and my video responses.

Positive Reappraisal and ADIF Sprints

One huge obstacle I am experiencing teaching virtual high school choral music is not being able to use Cognitive Modeling or Teaching Out Loud during rehearsals.  An essential part of the Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF) is modeling procedures, expectations, and music learning strategies in real-time.  My upperclassmen have experience with ADIF Sprints, but my new choir members do not. 

Hybrid Sprint Planning Form

My new website on Google Sites is proving to be invaluable, as it allows much more flexibility as I present, teach, and review material.  This month, students are learning It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year through performing Self-Sprints.  Here is a link to a Google Form that my students will complete as they practice this song and prepare for a recording we will make later this month.  I also created this Self-Sprint how-to and review video for all my groups.

Positive Reappraisal and Specs Grading

Specifications Grading, Linda Nilson

My implementation of Specification Grading or Specs Grading this year for my classes has been very successful.  I have worked through several iterations and edits and now feel confident in the basic grading structure I currently have in place. 

Specs Grading is a system that develops a learning-centered environment that focuses on students learning outcomes and student autonomy.  Specs grading is a competency-based grading system that saves a lot of grading time by incorporating elements of the pass/fail system of assessment.  I know it may sound a bit harsh and foreign to music education, but it works.

Conclusion: Managing Stress and Adapting Instruction

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.  Our challenge and responsibility as educators is to retain the ability to remain approachable, flexible, and teachable through unpleasant and difficult times.

A student comes to our class dwelling in their negative backstory,
So we encourage them to see things differently.

A close colleague becomes disillusioned with teaching,
So we implore them to renew their passion.

One of our tried and true instruction models is no longer effective,
So we challenge ourselves to search for something better.

Postlude: La or Do based minor?

I recently asked our colleagues in the ACDA Facebook group the following question: My high school virtual choirs will be solfeging Wilhousky’s arrangement of Carol of the Bells for one of their assignments right after Thanksgiving.  A quick question:

Do or La based minor?
135 – La based minor
32 – Do based minor
3 – Fixed Do
2 – Letters

References

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

Mcrae, Kateri, and Iris B. Mauss. “Increasing Positive Emotion in Negative Contexts.” Positive Neuroscience, 2016, 159-74. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199977925.003.0011.

Panadero, E, “A Review of Self-regulated Learning: Six Models and Four Directions for Research” Psychol., 28 April 2017, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00422

Zimmerman, Barry J. “From Cognitive Modeling to Self-Regulation: A Social Cognitive Career Path.” Educational Psychologist, 48, no. 3 (2013): 135-47. doi:10.1080/00461520.2013.794676.

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.

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