Build Back Better: The COVID-19 Pandemic and My Evolution as an Urban Music Educator
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Authors
Roche, Michael
Issue Date
2021-07-14
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Urban education , Music education , COVID-19
Alternative Title
Abstract
This thesis is an action research study exploring the impact the pandemic has had on my own teaching, and more generally, education and music education in the city where I teach. Data includes my own reflections on the pandemic, my own evolution as a teacher over the past eleven years, as well as interviews conducted with colleagues, parents, and students. This study seeks to explore the following questions: How has the experience of schooling during the pandemic changed my students and I? Could aspects of this experience change music education for the better going forward? The study is significant because, as Fitzpatrick (2015) says, the real experts on urban education are the students and teachers themselves. It is also a primary source historical document chronicling a significant time in history, both general and of our profession. The COVID-19 pandemic amplified long-standing inequalities in American society, and the community I serve. Technology served both as a barrier to learning and an opportunity for learning during the pandemic. As a teacher., the pandemic changed my priorities and approach to teaching music, causing me to move beyond unexamined assumptions. This has implications for my future practice as well as that of my colleagues.