Daniel's Service-Learning Reflection

Service-learning Reflective Writing

University of Kentucky – MUS 664

Daniel Holder – Drum It Up! Program

Introduction

         Recently immigrated students and families often move to a new environment with many stressors and preoccupations that they must overcome on their journey towards self-assimilation into our American culture. Often times, these students and families come with a deficit of English language proficiency, which often manifests itself throughout their daily lives. Several of these such linguistic populations have grown in recent years at my school, specifically those from Spanish-, Haitian creole-, French-, and Vietnamese-speaking communities.

Teaching in my school community over the last few years, I have always wanted to provide a special opportunity for students from these such linguistic backgrounds. I have decided to put in the work to develop a collaborative drum circle style experience for these students, with the goals of helping the students grow their own feeling of belonging at school, providing them a means to engage in active music-making with other peers, and to give them an experience to look forward to when we have our meetings.

All of that being said, I was very excited to try out this type of music group at my school for my service-learning project. Although it doesn’t quite fit the mold of the coursework and readings we had completed in MUS 664, I believe that the “hidden benefits” of such an opportunity for emergent multilingual students and recently emigrated students and families would be a huge benefit to their overall sense of belonging in a new environment.

Outcomes About Myself

         Throughout the group’s meetings, I was able to build a sense of belonging and community within the group. Even in the instances when my instruction and method of delivery may have seemed confusing or even frustrating to the students, there was still often a very playful and lighthearted mood during our time together. Through this, I was able to accomplish my objectives with this group to provide musical experiences for students of varying linguistic backgrounds. This was expanded upon through my non-verbal and non-linguistic of instruction.

         From my time in my undergraduate and in student teaching, all of my observation feedback results gave me very similar messages – I needed to talk less. I have a tendency to ramble and go on unrelated tangents when I am stressed and/or ad-libbing my lessons. Having to be intentional with my activity planning and instruction was imperative for me in being successful with the students in the group. I have certainly learned quite a bit about nonverbal instruction, and have already utilized some of these strategies in my regular music class instruction as well. Sometimes, it’s for the increase in student engagement, and other times it’s for giving my voice a break.

Outcomes Regarding the Community Partner

         My community partners were my students themselves – I am very fortunate to have already developed and built a relationship with all of them seeing them at school, in the hallways, in the cafeteria, in the bus lanes, and in my music classroom. This relationship helped them already feel a sense of safety and comfort with me as a music teacher – they knew that they could trust me in the activities, especially with regards to creative exploration and improvisation. What I had assumed would be a struggle for them would be building a safe community space amongst themselves as fellow musicians and students participating in this group.

         This preconceived notion was quickly disproven, as the students very quickly built great relationships with each other (especially since several of them come from the same homeroom classes). I suppose that, from the students building stronger relationships with some of the members, they felt more comfortable to explore and try things out in the larger group.

         When I was looking to receive feedback from my students, I found that they were a tad reluctant to be honest and share improvements that I might be able to implement. I think that providing a more student-friendly method of providing feedback might benefit me in the future if I am to implement this with my new school.

Outcomes Regarding My Knowledge and Skills

         With regards to this course, I feel like I had substantial gaps in my knowledge as a music teacher, specifically with regards to supports and strategies for teaching students with physical disabilities and impairments. Although my service learning did not touch upon these types of learners, I do believe that many of the strategies that I used could also be used to differentiate for other populations. Through the course readings, discussions with fellow students in the course, and my work on my service-learning project, I feel more confident as a music teacher capable of adapting to any learners who may come through the door to my classroom.

         I am eager to learn more about supports for emergent multilingual students, methods to incorporate their home culture into my teaching, and ways to support their language and music acquisition. I already have plans to meet with Victor Lozada once more in a few weeks to possibly work on a research presentation to show my colleagues and other music teachers. I look forward to learning more from other experts in the field in a topic that is very applicable to my teaching situation, and something that I am incredibly passionate about!

         Outcomes About My Values

         I have always valued a diverse classroom environment, linguistically and culturally. Though, through the various course readings and content, I have gained an increased understanding of the value of a diverse classroom with students of different abilities in addition to cultural and linguistic characteristics.

         Regarding these students with varying degrees of ability or impairments, I had always been reluctant and unsure about how best to provide meaningful musical experiences for them. My values have only strengthened through the semester, and I must do my due diligence as a music specialist to learn better and do better to create a classroom culture that is conducive for all students.

         Outcomes About Action

         With regards to my service-learning project, I have felt that the growing numbers of immigrant populations within the United States (particularly those seeking asylum from civil unrest or war, such as Venezuela, Haiti, Ukraine, Russia, Mexico, El Salvador, and Palestine, just to name a few). Providing an quick opportunity for them to get acclimated to their new school and plug into their community is imperative to provide a safe space for them at school. Many of these students carry with them the trauma from their home situation, the stresses of the trek, or they may just miss their old friends and family. Following Maslow’s hierarchy, all students will need to feel loved and safe before any substantial learning can occur.

         The future steps of a project like this would be to develop it into a more substantive and sequenced program that might be implemented by teachers, community members, and music therapists for a variety of ages, abilities, and linguistic backgrounds. My future work with Victor Lozada will prove useful in working on this project.

         As I transition to a new school next year, I need to hold myself accountable in providing these opportunities for nonverbal music making to occur. This promise to create an “even playing field” so to speak will only help all students, regardless of whatever their strengths may be within my music classroom.

         Outcomes and Conclusion

         Reviewing the course goals and service-learning objectives below…

1.     Identify and describe general characteristics of specific disabilities.

2.     Demonstrate foundational knowledge regarding music and sociocultural aspects of disability, special education, Universal Design for Learning, and Social Emotional Learning.

3.     Analyze literature and multimedia content regarding the disability community in educational, therapeutic, and community settings.

4.     Apply course concepts regarding disability, accessibility, inclusivity, age-appropriateness, Universal Design for Learning, and Social Emotional Learning to music-based activities in a service-learning experience, as is appropriate to your training, skills, and scope of practice.

1.     Enhance learning objectives through application of course concepts and theories to real-world experience;

2.     Increase sensitivity to disability, social justice, and inclusion issues as engaged citizens and scholars in partnership with communities;

3.     Develop professional skills related to careers in music therapy, music education, and related professions that include music-based experiences (e.g., self-efficacy, leadership, problem-solving, observation, interdisciplinary collaboration, information gathering, communication, responsibility, time management);

4.     Gain exposure to various worldviews regarding disability, diversity, and inclusion within the community to facilitate understanding and appreciation of equity, justice, and fairness for all community members;

5.     Advance critical thinking skills through problem-solving, connecting theory to practice, analyzing abstract information gathered in the field, and reflecting upon the aims and accomplishments of one’s actions;

6.     Enhance understanding of the process to identify and develop community partnerships and the various roles of participants who are involved in community service and civic engagement; and

7.     Facilitate exploration of personal and professional values, attitudes, ethics, beliefs, philosophy, and approach.

I believe that I am a more knowledgeable and aware music teacher than I was before. Not only that, but I feel more prepared to do the work continued training and development to strengthen my craft as a culturally responsive music teacher and one who is able to provide opportunities for all students in my school. I have greatly enjoyed my time learning these concepts and making myself a stronger music teacher.