A Case Study of Middle School General Music Curriculum: A Critical Inquiry.

A Case Study of Middle School General Music Curriculum: A Critical Inquiry.

Over the last decade, there has been an influx of research and policies around critical pedagogy, care, SEL, and gender in K-12 settings and the music classroom. However, less explored are the ways in which music teachers use these components to drive their planning and instruction, namely, their curriculum. This collective case study focused on the instruction and documentation of general music teachers’ values of the self-identity and moral development of their middle school students. Using Gilligan’s framework of self-identity and moral development, coupled with Critical Pedagogy, this study analyzed the ways in which three middle school general music teachers describe, document, and implement their teaching values of student self-identity and moral development. Findings in this study suggest that teachers might be able to help their students’ moral development through teaching and curricular strategies based in critical pedagogy. While the teachers in this study expressed values in their students’ moral development, their
curricular documentations were inconsistent with their descriptions and therefore did not promote their values to administrators, parents, or community members.

Lampe, Nichola

Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Music Education Department

Bernard, Cara

Adobe Acrobat PDF

English

Thesis