Teaching this year has me feeling like a first-year teacher all over again, and I am trying to make the best out of the situation.
There are so many things that are different about this school year that it is impossible to approach our jobs the same way. In order to address this year’s new challenges, a divided nation, a health crisis, teaching through a pandemic, a society reckoning with social justice, we can not plan/teach the same way or use the same materials. We have to start from scratch, and that is ok.
Starting from scratch, with our music standards to guide us, provides the opportunity to really look at what we are teaching and how we are truly impacting our students.
I am a goal-oriented person and my goals for this year are:
To survive
To keep the joy of music alive in my students
And most importantly, to keep inclusion at the center of everything I do, “let them be seen”
To keep inclusion at the center of my teaching, these are the things I keep in mind when I sit down to plan:
Who are my kids? Where do they come from?
Who is our community? Where do they come from?
What resources do I need that allow my students to feel represented?
Create spaces for your students to tell their stories and lead.
As I learn more about my students, I am able to recognize what is important to them. By addressing that, I am able to gain their trust and to expand our musical experiences beyond our comfort zones.
As I have mentioned before, my school has a diverse population. This diversity includes students for whom some of our traditional life experiences are not traditional to them, such as birthdays.
I love singing “Happy Birthday” to my students and they love it too. They always make sure to tell me if they are having a birthday the day or close to the day of the music lesson because they know that I will immediately get to my piano or ukulele and we will sing “Happy Birthday.” Their happiness at that moment is magical; they feel special, as they should.
A few weeks ago, we did just that, we sang the happy birthday song to a student through our Google Meet. After concluding the song, other students mentioned that someone else was also having a birthday that day. I went on to ask the person if that was true, and the person didn’t reply, the person froze. I assumed it was shyness and I sang the birthday song, but the person reacted by leaving our virtual meeting. I felt sad as I didn’t know what I did wrong. After the meeting was over, the art teacher told me that the reason for the reaction was because this person doesn't celebrate birthdays, for religious reasons. Everything made sense.
Later that day, I contacted the person, we talked about it and I apologized for being insensitive. I didn’t know, but now I do. I also asked that next time they try advocating for themselves. I also mentioned that it will be good for the class to learn about it, as clearly they don’t know either. I inform the person that it was not my intention to create an uncomfortable situation and that I respect and value their presence and contributions to our class.
After this conversation, it made me wonder, how can I be better at knowing such important information about the identity of my students?
At the beginning of the school year, I often design activities to gather information about my students to create a student profile. For example, I asked their names, how they would like to be called, prefer pronouns, favorite songs, cultural background, etc. I am still working on how to phrase it, but from now on I will also include if there are certain traditions that they do not participate in. These types of information are so valuable and useful. For example, our classroom playlist is made out of my students' favorite songs, so when we play a song, someone is bound to be super happy that day.
When I gather this information, I will add one more column to my roster. You see, in my roster, I write notes about all of my over 400 students. I write things like IEPs accommodations pertaining to music, who should I be contacting at home, and behavioral interventions; now I will add a column for alternative instruction.
I am thinking of alternative instructions to note that these students will need an alternative plan for when we talk about cultural traditions that they might choose to not participate in. Winter traditions, such as Kwanza, Hanukkah, or Christmas; or when we acknowledge “Dia de Muertos”, sing spooky songs around Halloween or talk about Diwali, to mention some examples.
The more I know about my students, the better I can plan for all of them and meet their needs. This particular family is a very musical family and they deserve the same quality instruction even if they don’t take part in these cultural traditions. I am responsible for their musical education and they deserve the same attention.
Also, I find it very important not to call them out in front of the class.
This idea also applies when I include songs from the cultures that I know are present in my classroom. If they want to identify themselves in front of their peers, it is their choice and we welcome whatever insight they can bring into our collective experience.
In order to keep our families informed so they can make the best decision for their students, I send a generic note to everyone notifying them about what we are going to do for the upcoming weeks and that alternative instruction will be provided, and where to access it. Then, the rest is up to them to make the best decision for their families.
Winter is coming and we all have very deep-rooted traditions around this time of the year. It is important to keep inclusion at the forefront. Provide as many choices as you can for your students.
The silver lining of the times we are going through is that we are all collaborating and creating so much content that will be useful for years to come. What looks like an insane amount of work right now, is creating an opportunity for the future of our students, community, and music field.
When we practice inclusion, we create an environment where we all can feel respected and connected helping us to move forward into progress as better contributing members of our community.
Here are some free resources that I created for my students when they might need an alternative plan. Feel free to make a copy for yourself and to adapt these materials to your needs.
Thank you for sharing. I have a question if you'd kindly like to reply. When you said that you ask your students what pronoun they prefer, what do you mean?
ReplyDeleteI teach in a very diverse and inclusive community and I have students examining their sexual identity from a very young age. I ask them how they would like me to refer to them. He, She, They, etc.
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