To go back to the example of a tour guide – the lesson might start with some together teacher led / discussion time, followed by pupil centred / led discussion and creation time, concluded by some co-led sharing / discussion. In terms of the routines of the lesson, these would involve a lot of freedom. The concept of differentiation would be even more central to the resource building of an emergent curriculum that the alternative. They should not be a one size fits all model. What resources would you need and what routines of the lesson need to be altered to reflect emergent principles? The resources needed, just as with the learning environment, would need to be malleable and ready for change. To go back to my fire analogy, a good tour guide could stroke the fire, or extinguish the flames entirely.
Then, following the brief tour, the pupils would be set free to metaphorically walk around and explore the music themselves thus creating their own knowledge and meaning, with the teacher interjecting when something pricks their ear, or when one of the pupils asks a question / for guidance. The pupils would arrive, be shown around the content / room by the teacher, who shares their experiences / expertise of the music etc. What would your role be as teacher and how could you best prepare for this? Having just said that the teacher would need to be a unique mix of Fire Bug and Fireman Sam, for me the role would be more akin to that of a tour guide. The teacher would need to be a Fire Bug and Fireman Sam at the same time. When the dialogue or creation dies down, the teacher could throw some propellant on, conversely if the dialogue or creation burns too bright, the teacher could help to bring the fire under control. These activities would be pupil led, stoked by the fire of teacher interaction. Again, the discussion and creation would be both dialogic and musical. What sort of activities would they be involved in? A continuous cycle of discussion and creation. Change would need to be viewed as a good / necessary reflexive entity. This would be fluid, and any prior planning would need to be done so with the caveat that said plan could be changed almost immediately, or at any time, dependent on the circumstances. How would students be grouped? The students would be grouped in whatever manner necessary for the task(s) at hand. Just as with the environment, the sounds would need to be malleable and movable. In terms of the sound, it would be vibrant and conversatory, both from a dialogue and music perspective. How it looks from day to day, and class to class, would need to fit the experiences and tendencies of the individual pupils present at any one time. Vaughan Fleischfresser would the learning environment look and sound like in an emergent curriculum? The learning environment would need to be malleable and movable, so the young people and teacher could shape and influence the content and experiences in whatever way necessary. Rather than the starter being the emphasis on what is being learnt, allow the pupils to engage with the music and spend more time and resources on the reflection.
Allow pupils to see for how them being immersed in a task has helped them acquire knowledge and the importance of understanding this. The routines of the lesson would need an emphasis on the plenary to allow pupils to reflect on the tasks and what was being learnt. The role of the teacher as the facilitator of this is nothing new, but I feel it is important that the ‘planning’ of the curriculum needs to have the knowledge at the forefront, with the activities and resources being used to help pupils apply it. I feel this can be overlooked by the pupils when the task is taking place. I often find pupils engage better when you state why they may be completing a particular task. I feel the most important step is to make this explicit to the pupils, and ensure they understand why they may be taking part in an activity. The practical nature of most Key Stage 3 music allows pupils to be emerged in content through listening, composing and performing music. Mike Morgan idea of an emergent curriculum is something I am sure happens in lots of music classrooms. What resources would you need and what routines of the lesson need to be altered to reflect emergent principles?.
This is the second week responding to the tasks in chapter five in Learning to Teach Music in the Secondary School. Post thirty-two in our (re)learning to teach music series.