You're Not the Only One Who Can Teach Us: Teacher Facilitation in Three Secondary School Music Contexts

Over the last half-century, school music reforms have focused more on content than process, and the directive teaching that serves as the dominant method used by secondary school music teachers is not adequately meeting the needs of the students who currently occupy American high schools. To improve teaching practice in one such high school, an action research study was conducted to investigate the use of facilitative teaching strategies, how those teaching strategies impact students’ learning experience, and what the perceived impacts of those strategies are. A qualitative case study methodology was employed to determine how an intervention period of facilitative teaching was perceived by students. Data collection through interviews, observations, recordings, and artifacts revealed nine impactful facilitation strategies, falling under one of four emergent themes: community, agency, enculturation, and active engagement. Teacher-facilitators may improve their students’ school music experience by: (a) incorporating collaborative learning opportunities in flexible groupings, (b) promoting agency through student choice and discussion, (c) enculturating students into school music through listening and curated resources, and (d) implementing a cycle of teaching strategies promoting active engagement into instruction. While the primary goal of this action research study was to improve local practice, it may also inform the work of other music educators who are trying to move away from directive teaching toward facilitative teaching.