1-2 Learning Differences

The candidate uses understanding of differences in individuals, cultures, and communities to ensure
inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet rigorous standards.

One beautiful aspect of music is that it is not limited to one culture. In fact, it would be quite
hard to find a song that is without influence from a culture outside one’s own. It would be
wrong to think that the music we teach is only for technical development. The music I teach
must always help students understand not just technical skills, but historical context, cultural
norms associated with the piece, cultural customs reflected in the piece, etc. As a student at K-
State, I had the opportunity to present a culturally relevant literacy lesson to a group of
education students. The process of creating this lesson proved to further my knowledge and
skill at developing culturally relevant lessons. However, I do not think it is enough to fit in a
“culturally relevant lesson” into a unit and assume we have done our job. It can be very easy to
separate technical skills from all other aspects of music, but we must not do so. Rather than
compartmentalizing our lessons, we should seek to make every lesson culturally responsive.
Providing culturally responsive teaching requires one to grasp and understand the cultures of
the students around them. As I reflect even now, my mind goes to Nico, a student of mine who
immigrated to the United States not long ago. There are also students like Jayden, who has no
father figure in his life. These different cultures are all found within the same room. Rather than
pretending they don’t exist, I deem it crucial to utilize these cultures to further inform students
on the subjects being taught as well as informing myself on how to better teach said subjects.

My students will benefit from my skillset in seeking to make every lesson culturally responsive
because they will be provided with a more accessible means of finding connection to pieces
being rehearsed. Finding connections to pieces allows for a higher sense of ownership to be
taken by students. They will begin to seek to better their sound without instruction. This sense
of ownership increases student self-efficacy as well as motivates them to continue bettering
their sound as an ensemble. Above all this, their worldview will be widened to see and
understand the vast differences of life that consist between all of us.