SMTE Update – Spring 2013

SOCIETY FOR MUSIC TEACHER EDUCATION

Update – Spring, 2013

Doug Orzolek, Chair

In this update:

SMTE Fall Leadership Retreat

This past fall, the SMTE board met in Minneapolis to make its plans for the 2013 Symposium and discuss the many facets of our society’s efforts. In addition to updates from each of our divisions and the development of plans and the logistics for our 2013 Symposium, the group also considered minor changes to our bylaws, reviewed the content of our websites, received updates on the Journal of Music Teacher Education, the wonderful collaborative work being done by our ASPAs, as well as recent happenings in NAfME. We also officially welcomed the new position of “Communications Chair” to our board. We are pleased that David Rickels has agreed to serve in that capacity.

2013 Greensboro Symposium – September 26-29, 2013

The theme for this year’s will be Navigating Crossroads. That theme seems especially appropriate given the immense amount of change that seems to be occurring in our profession and we plan for it to be one of the threads running through the entire event. In addition to our keynote address and the wonderful peer-reviewed presentations and posters for which the symposium is known, we are working on three plenary sessions that will be dedicated to examining our profession more closely. As of today, those sessions will consider: navigating and examining our conceptions of music teaching; navigating the building of capacity in music teacher education; and, aligning conceptions and capacity by turning visions into reality.” We are also planning to dedicate time for discussion on the many issues related to teacher evaluation and its impact on both pre-service and in-service teachers which will likely result in the formation of a new teacher evaluation ASPA. And, as always, our ASPAs will be afforded plenty of time to continue the good work that has been a mainstay of our organization. We look forward to having you join us!

2013 Symposium Keynote – Dr. Karen Hammerness

The keynote of this year’s Symposium will be Karen Hammerness, Associate Professor and Director of Program Research at Bard College in the Master of Arts in Teaching Program. Prior to joining the Bard MAT faculty, Dr. Hammerness has been involved in a number of research projects in teacher education, exploring the relationship of pedagogy and novice teacher’s learning, and policy and practice. She is particularly interested in the ways that teachers’ images of ideal classroom practice—their visions—develop over the course of their careers, as well as how they intersect with their preparation for teaching and their commitments to the profession. She recently returned from a year in Oslo, Norway where she was a Fulbright Fellow, studying teacher education (including music educators!) in Norway, the Netherlands as well as in Finland.

Dr. Hammerness will present a framework of three features that characterize powerful teacher education. Based upon research in the U.S. on effective programs, this emerging research suggests that teacher education programs need to promote a clear vision of teachers and teaching; must be coherent, reflecting a shared understanding of teaching and learning among faculty and students; and finally, need to be built around a strong core curriculum deeply tied to teaching practice. In her presentation, she will focus in particular upon the conception of program vision, discussing the role visions may play in contributing to program coherence and in reducing fragmentation between theory and practice. She will also describe the three types of teacher education visions she has identified thus far in her work: a vision of service that conceives of teaching as only one of many opportunities to “give back” or contribute to society; a vision of social justice that conceives of teaching as a direct means of addressing social inequities; and a vision of practice that focuses upon teaching as a profession that has a knowledge base and set of practices that can be learned and developed over time. Drawing upon this framework, she will then share initial findings from her study of vision in Norwegian teacher education programs and in the United States.

Call for Proposals

The 2013 Symposium on Music Teacher Education will be held September 26–29, 2013 at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro. The call for proposals, posted below, encourages submissions focused on the 2013 symposium theme Navigating Crossroads. Proposals related to the work of the ASPAs and other topics in music teacher education are also welcomed. To submit a proposal, download the Submission Form below, complete, and submit as indicated. Submissions will be accepted through April 15, 2013. More information about the call can be found at smte.us

ASPA News

The purpose of our ASPAs (Areas of Strategic Planning and Action) is to develop and implement action plans related to current critical issues in music teacher education. Most recently our “Teacher Recruitment ASPA” has received word that two collaborative publications have been accepted in JRME and MEJ. Congratulations to the members of the ASPA and please look for both articles in the upcoming editions of both journals!

Upcoming Events

  • September 26-29, 2013 – Symposium on Music Teacher Education, Greensboro, NC
  • October 27-30, 2013 – NAfME National In-Service Conference, Nashville, TN
  • April 10-12, 2014 – NAfME Research and Music Teacher Education National Conference, St. Louis, MO
  • October 26-29, 2014 – NAfME National In-Service Conference, Nashville, TN