A Longitudinal Examination of Music Teachers' Developing Vision for Music Teaching and Learning

Kimberly Lansinger Ankney, Christopher Newport University

Teachers’ visions for teaching and learning are deeply personal and influential on their choices to stay or leave the field of education (Hammerness, 2006). Teachers that have vision and work toward their visions are viewed to be some of the most accomplished teachers in the profession (Shulman & Shulman, 2004). Therefore, the importance of developing and maintaining teachers’ vision seems paramount to their continued success and satisfaction in the field.

Teacher vision is not a complex construct, but rather a visual image teachers’ hold of their classroom setting, the activities within it, their roles, and their students’ roles. Through longitudinal research Hammerness (2006) found that teachers’ vision in disciplines outside of music tended to be subject-centered or student-centered. Over time, teachers with subject-centered visions had difficulty identifying students’ needs and adapting their visions for their teaching settings. Teachers that were unable to negotiate their visions for teaching with the needs of their students’ were more often dissatisfied and left the profession.

Music education researchers have not specifically studied the construct of teacher vision and its influence on teachers’ satisfaction in the field. Rather researchers have focused on component parts that are important to preservice teachers’ developing vision including whether they see themselves as performers or teachers (Dolloff, 1999; Haston and Leon-Guererro, 2008; Isbell, 2008), and their beliefs regarding effective music teaching (Austin & Reinhardt, 1999; Hourigan & Scheib, 2009). More recently, researchers have also focused on preservice teachers’ shifting concerns for teaching using Fuller and Bown’s (1975) model of self, task, and student impact (Berg & Miksza, 2010; Campbell & Thompson, 2007). Berg & Miksza (2010) suggested that longitudinal work is needed to understand how teachers concerns shift through their preservice teaching experiences into their teaching careers.

For this presentation, I will present findings from an ongoing longitudinal study that follows the development of teachers’ visions in relation to their teachers’ shifting concerns. The study follows five preservice teachers from the beginning of their undergraduate career through their student teaching experiences and into their first year of teaching. In the first phase of research, participants’ visions were collected early in their music education coursework and were identified as being: (a) subject-centered, (b) community-centered, (c) or student-centered. Preservice teachers’ visions were either strongly aligned with their secondary music experiences, or their visions were purposefully different.

This presentation will focus on findings from the second phase of research including data from second year follow-up interviews, student teaching experiences, and their first year of teaching. I examine shifts in participants’ visions in relation to experiences they have with students, curriculum, professors, cooperating teachers, and their K-12 school communities. Using narrative inquiry, I consider what concerns pull on their teaching vision, as well as how and why they choose to alter their visions, if at all. I will also discuss whether the categorizations of preservice teachers’ visions in the initial phase of research remain appropriate descriptors for their developing visions.

References

Austin, J. R., & Reinhardt, D. (1999). Philosophy and advocacy: An examination of preservice music teachers' beliefs. Journal of Research in Music Education, 47(1), 18-30.

Berg, M. H. & Miksza, P. (2010). An investigation of preservice music teacher development and concerns. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 20(1), 39- 55.

Campbell, M. R., & Thompson, L. K. (2007). Perceived concerns of preservice music education teachers: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Research in Music Education, 55(2), 162-176.

Dolloff, L. A. (1999). Imagining ourselves as teachers: The development of teacher identity in music teacher education. Music Education Research, 1(2), 191- 208.

Fuller, F., & Bown, O. (1975). Becoming a teacher. In K. Ryan (Ed.) Teacher education part II: The 74th yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (pp. 25-52). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Hammerness, K. (2006). Seeing through teachers’ eyes: Professional ideals and classroom practices. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Haston, W., & Leon-Guererro, A. (2008). Sources of pedagogical content knowledge: Reports by preservice instrumental music teachers. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 17(2), 48- 59.

Hourigan, R. M., & Scheib, J. W. (2009). Inside and outside the undergraduate music education curriculum. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 18(2), 48- 61.

Isbell, D. S. (2008). Musicians and teachers: The socialization and occupational identity of preservice music teachers. Journal of Research in Music Education, 56(2), 162-178.

Shulman, L. S., & Shulman, J. H. (2004). How and what teachers learn: A shifting perspective. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 36(2), 257-271.