The Experiences of Elementary Music Teachers in a Collaborative Teacher Study Group.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of three elementary music teachers in a collaborative teacher study group (CTSG). The CTSG met seven times to discuss elementary music student collaboration by analyzing video from each participant’s classroom. The study was a social constructivist inquiry. Using interview and meeting transcripts, the researcher investigated how the CTSG members’ perceptions were affected by group interactions. The evolution of the group’s definitions of elementary music student collaboration was traced and documented. Research questions were: How do the participants describe their experience in the CTSG? How has the focus on collaboration in the CTSG changed their teaching practice? What can these music teachers tell other music educators about collaboration? Four elements of the CTSG emerged as central to the participants’ experiences: the group’s collectively generated knowledge, the necessity of video, the importance of a protocol in classroom analysis, and creating a definition of student work in music. The participants indicated they had increased confidence in professional knowledge through the opportunity to share teaching expertise, an expanded vocabulary to analyze and describe student behavior, a more habitual reflective examination of teaching, an expanded understanding of student collaboration, and a knowledge of the teacher’s role in facilitating student collaboration. Three principles of collaboration were extracted from the group’s definitions of collaboration in elementary music: 1. Collaboration facilitates student self-expression and independence. 2. Students who are collaborating share goals. The teacher allows space for, or guides students in creating, productive student-student interactions. 3. Collaboration between students and teachers facilitates movement toward a shared goal. Teachers provide necessary background skills, create student buy-in for the goal, and then fade away allowing students to take ownership. This study has implications for how professional development may be structured as a non-hierarchical community that includes protocol-oriented analysis of teaching and learning, and focuses on the creation of locally meaningful knowledge. The principles of collaboration may be located in the teaching and learning practice of others, including students in all areas of music education. Evidence of and for student musical collaboration is a rich area for future study.