Sigma Alpha Iota

Winter 2021 14 14 P A N P I P E S MUSIC EDUCATION Resiliency in the Face of Distance Learning L ast spring, COVID-19 caught the world by surprise. In education, abrupt school closures across the country led to distance learning (also called remote learning or virtual learning). Without notice or preparation, educators transitioned to providing instruction in very different ways than ever before. But as they have done throughout time, educators adapted. Since then, schools in every state have gone through a period of distance learning lasting at least six weeks. Even now, some are still in the midst of distance learning, or are teaching a hybrid of in-person and online students. Depending on school or district policies, distance learning could be either synchronous (teaching "live" over a video conferencing platform like Zoom) or asynchronous (coursework that students would do independently at their preferred time, whether online or in hard copy), or a combination of the two. Remote music education looked very different from in-person classes. No hand games or partner dances for elementary general music students. No regular informal group assessments of playing or singing skills. In some districts, grades were frozen, making motivating students incredibly difficult. Across the country, millions of digital devices were handed out to students to guarantee access to academic content. Music teachers who may not have had even a computer in their classroom found themselves overwhelmed by requirements and resources for the virtual environment. Managing and engaging kindergartners in person was hard enough without doing it through a computer screen! Content delivery looked different, as did the result of learning. With concerts cancelled, how could students demonstrate their learning? Why bother practicing repertoire if there wasn't a culminating performance? And yet, without the pressure of those calendar deadlines, many music teachers found themselves strangely relieved. Without the focus on the "product," they could more thoroughly teach the "process." ey could ensure that students were becoming independent musicians and thinkers. Cultivating students as well-rounded and artistically literate musicians is one of the founding principles of the National Core Arts Standards (NCAS). e NCAS consist of four artistic processes – Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting – which are the same in all five artistic disciplines (dance, media arts, music, theatre, visual arts). ese processes are then broken down into grade-level or experienced-based standards in each discipline. Since the establishment of the NCAS in 2014, many states have adopted them or used them as the model for new state music standards for grades PK-12. Distance learning was difficult for music education. But it also showed us how to incorporate the NCAS's four artistic processes in new ways. Creating e Creating process encompasses the entire cycle of making your own music: you generate ideas, select the ones you like best, refine them, A first-grade student A first-grade student composes with Chrome composes with Chrome Music Lab's Song Maker Music Lab's Song Maker

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