Patrick Ware (Tuesday, 02 January 2018 14:45)

Knowing that teacher education programs are crammed full of NASM musts I would suggest partnerships with local chapters. As an undergrad I had a mandated number of hours I had to attend recitals as well as mandated time that I had to spend observing music educators. I believe implementing a similar requirement would be beneficial to pre-service students. And to not simply add onto what the undergrad already has to do, there could be a substitution of a chapter workshop in lieu of a recital or the like. Where there is no local chapter for students to attend the possibility of a partnership with a school system or another institute of higher learning could serve a similar function.

Lisa Leach (Monday, 20 November 2017 09:21)

I don't think I took an elementary methods class in college? I will say that as a music supervisor, I appreciate potential hires who took the initiative to take a year of Orff, Gordon or Kodaly. Their access to a support network of colleagues, schema for lesson planning and organization and repertoire is much broader than the student with an elementary methods course. Perhaps, teacher education programs could support summer programs?

Patrick Ware (Wednesday, 15 November 2017 12:26)

Like Amy I am very interested in what other have to say on this topic. As someone that is not in higher ed it's easy for me to say, "you should be doing this or you should be doing that." But that wouldn't be fair. I can say that when I was in undergrad we spent about a quarter of one lecture discussing the Schulwerk and it wasn't even close to inclusive of all the things that we do.

I am concerned that Sarah felt as though being on a cart precluded her from using the tools of the Schulwerk. Being labeled as the approach that uses the instruments is true but it only tells part of the story (as we all know). Perhaps we (AOSA) need to attempt to shape the way the Schulwerk is presented at the undergraduate level.

Amy Beegle (Monday, 13 November 2017 21:15)

Sarah, I'm so glad to read your response, and happy to report that I know of many teacher education programs that are doing all or most of what you are suggesting here, even with limited time!

I find that as a professor in a music teacher education program, I have similar concerns about lack of time that I had during my 12 years of teaching general music and band in elementary schools. For my first six years, I only saw my elementary general music classes for a total of 17 hours per school year (once a week for 30 minutes).

With my undergraduates, I usually have a total of about 37 hours to teach the only elementary methods class in our curriculum, and it is during their sophomore year. Compare that to one Level of Orff Schulwerk teacher education that is usually 60-65 hours!

I have much more to say on this topic, but I'd rather wait to read the perspectives of others here before I do.

Sarah Joncas (Monday, 06 November 2017 20:58)

Teacher education programs can facilitate access of Orff Schulwerk pedagogy by providing an introduction to Orff-Shulwerk (and other pedagogies/methodologies/philosophies) early in the teacher preparation program. They can proactively make students aware of local opportunities to learn more about Orff Schulwerk, and can ensure that students have the opportunity to observe excellent model lessons which incorporate Orff pedagogy. They can also address challenges that future teachers may face in incorporating Orff-Schulwerk into their teaching, including lack of instruments. In my first teaching position, I was on a cart and had no access to instruments. As a brand new teacher without much support, I did not know how to cope with this situation besides throwing all of the Orff lessons I had collected out the window. Teaching future teachers how Orff can work in a variety of situations would better prepare them for the field.