ERIC Number: EJ852084
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004-Dec
Pages: 9
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1545-4517
EISSN: N/A
Preserving Music Teaching Field Experiences Utilizing an Urban Minority After School Program
Neill, Sheri L.
Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, v3 n3 Dec 2004
The preparation of music educators involves many facets. Students obtain pedagogical knowledge, understanding, and skill development during the college experience. In addition, preservice music teachers do numerous writing and reading projects as well as peer teaching. One area that tends to be lacking in the preparation before student teaching is the inclusion of preservice teaching experiences within the school classroom. Numerous music education programs offer field experiences before student teaching. However, many of these occurrences are not normally with students at urban and/or predominantly minority schools. One important aspect of training is to create an awareness of multi-ethnic classrooms. In an effort to equip future music educators to teach in an urban Hispanic student population, 11 music education majors enrolled in an elementary music methods course participated in the formation of a Latin American Festival Children's Choir. Their involvement included the preparation of 75 children from 3 after school programs to sing in a chorus. Children were to sing folk music from several Latin American countries in Spanish. In this article, the author describes this project which aims to enable preservice teachers to have a unique teaching experience. This experience gave students the opportunity to see a project process from beginning to end. In addition, they were able to have teaching experiences with children and not peers.
Descriptors: Education Majors, Preservice Teachers, Methods Courses, Teacher Education Curriculum, Music Education, After School Programs, Field Experience Programs, Music Activities, Cultural Activities, Hispanic American Culture, Knowledge Base for Teaching, Minority Groups, Urban Education
MayDay Group. Brandon University School of Music, 270 18th Street, Brandon, Manitoba R7A 6A9, Canada. Tel: 204-571-8990; Fax: 204-727-7318; Web site: http://act.maydaygroup.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A