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As an international educator, to step into another space where you will experience values, traditions, identity that look different from your own, it is especially important to make an effort to understand things from your students' perspectives. One way to do that is to directly involve the students and families in shaping lessons in the music room. Tapping into these cultural characteristics, experiences and perspectives can be very effective learning tools and can lead to some beautiful moments.
As an international educator, to step into another space where you will experience values, traditions, identity that look different from your own, it is especially important to make an effort to understand things from your students' perspectives. One way to do that is to directly involve the students and families in shaping lessons in the music room. Tapping into these cultural characteristics, experiences and perspectives can be very effective learning tools and can lead to some beautiful moments.
Pictured above are my 5th grade students during the winter concert of 2019 introducing their choral piece. Since the community in Casablanca is multi-lingual, the introductions were read in English, French and Arabic to reach as many families as possible in attendance that evening. A staff member remarked to me after the concert she had never heard all three languages represented before in a school performance, and I was proud of my instinct to be inclusive to families who may not speak English as their first language.
One of the most exciting guest musicians was a parent of one of my students who is from Brazil. He offered his musical skills in connection with Carnival, a time in February or March when people in Brazil are celebrating before a time of fasting. This parent not only taught us some basic percussion patterns that were authentic and could be heard at the parades and street parties, he explained the origin of the drums & percussion in South America and how they have direct roots with enslaved people of Africa. My students were happily engaged in percussion while learning a very important detail about how colonialism resulted in the blending of traditions.
One of my students who had Indian heritage was studying with a tabla teacher, and I thought it was a perfect way for his peers to learn a bit more about the unique musical aspects of the tabla, and the dedication it takes to study an instrument. I created this video so I could show it to many classes in conjunction with our cross-curricular unit, The World 1000 Years Ago. (see below)
3rd grade students enjoying the colorful scarves in the Chinese folk dance, Diu Xie
The school at which I taught for many years was noticing a change in the demographic and cultural identity of their students. There were many more black, indigenous and people of color than in the past, and time-old traditions in the curriculum, such as the Medieval Unit and Ellis Island didn't really include non-European students within the project-based learning activities in a thoughtful way. Instead, our school adapted and changed to more culturally responsive teaching, adopting a new unit called The World 1000 Years Ago. In grades 3 & 4, this unit explores how different cultures began to meet each other and how they used trading to their advantage. This idea of "contact and exchange" can be closer examined by focusing on the route of the Silk Road through China, India and the Middle East. In music, the possibilities to study pentatonic melodies from China, rhythm exploration from the Indian tradition, for example, or movement and folk dance from any region are quite rich. There is a wonderful opportunity to talk about the similarities between percussion and drums, strings, wind instruments in these regions, as well.
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