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We’re All Singing the Same Melody in Our Own Way: A Narrative Exploration of a Culturally Responsive Choral Music Educator’s Experiences in a Multicultural International School Context
Gilliam, Tianna Marin
Gilliam, Tianna Marin
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Abstract
In this qualitative study, I used narrative inquiry to explore an international school choral music teacher’s experiences with culturally responsive education, including their cultural and contextual knowledge, their preparation to be culturally responsive, and their implementation of culturally responsive pedagogical practices. I purposefully sampled a participant who had experience teaching secondary choir at an international school to a culturally heterogeneous group of students. I collected data primarily through unstructured interviews, and triangulated interview data with teaching artifacts and documents. I analyzed data through both emergent and prefigured coding processes based on the extant literature regarding culturally responsive education. The findings of this narrative study revealed that one international school choir teacher gained cultural and contextual knowledge to inform their teaching primarily through forming relationships with their students. In-depth knowledge about their students enabled them to employ a holistic, student-centered pedagogical approach that fostered, recognized, and sustained facets of students’ cultures, including their values, beliefs, and worldviews. Conclusions from this research support previous authors’ suggestions for teachers to expand their definition and interpretation of culture, recognizing students as unique individuals. In doing so, teachers can foster unity within pluralistic, heterogeneous classrooms, allowing students to express their cultures without sacrificing the complexities of their individual identities.
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2021-01-01
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University of Kansas
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Gilliam_ku_0099M_17815_DATA_1.pdf
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- Embargoed until 2171-05-31
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Keywords
Music education, choral pedagogy, culturally relevant pedagogy, culturally responsive education, culturally responsive teaching, culturally sustaining pedagogy, international schools