The central idea of Beuhl's two chapters was literacy. Chapter one focused on the different texts that accompany different subject areas, along with how to train students to actively and effectively navigate their way through a variety of different literature. Beuhl discussed identity and how it relates to the literature we come in contact with. He also discussed the different stages of academic literacy and the journey students should travel while learning in the different stages. He then stated that the end result should be that students should be able to read, write, and think effectively within all academic disciplines (Beuhl 10). Chapter two continued this discussion and answered more of the "How?" question, though it did not specifically address music. Chapter two also centered on comprehension and complex texts, discussing how to train one's students to comprehend well, along with what exactly a complex text embodies.
To begin, Beuhl gave a thorough explanation of all that one's identity can be comprised of. According to him, an identity has four parts. First, he explained that we have identities that are simply part of our nature and that we have little control over. For myself, this would be my Caucasian background and young adult age. The next type of identity relates to the different positions that we have attained and are participants in. This part of my identity could be explained by saying that I am a college student and a resident of Illinois. The next type of identity stems from personal traits or characteristics that others recognize in us and define us as. For instance, I am quiet, gentle, and good with music. The last type of identity is one we might share with others through our associations with them. This part of my identity could be described by saying that I am a National Association of Music Educators member, and a band member in Finding Home.
The main discussion of chapter one was on how students need to be able to develop the ability to read different literary texts through different mindsets. In Beuhl's words, "... students need to be mentored to read, write, and think in ways that are characteristic of discrete academic disciplines" (Beuhl 10). He is essentially telling us that different kinds of texts require different ways of analyzing those texts, and students need to be trained in how to analyze in all of those different ways. For example, this means that a student who ends up in my class would need to be able to read a text about music through the eyes and mind of a musician, which, as one can imagine, might be difficult for a student who is not musically inclined. To fluidly read a musical literature, whether it is a passage about music, or music itself, the student would need to know the vocabulary, symbols, and signs all characteristic to musical literature. This may be easy for a student who has already been in music lessons for a good portion of their lives, but for the fifth grader playing trumpet for the first time, this would be extremely overwhelming. This is where identity ties in. If part of a child's identity is musical training, then this type of literature would not be daunting. However, if a new music student in beginning band has no form of musical identity, reading this kind of text would be extremely frightening. This is the challenge that academic literacy and identity collides with, and it should be readily addressed in the classroom.
Beuhl goes on to explain the three different phases of academic literacy, those being basic, intermediate, and disciplinary. Disciplinary literacy is where this subject-specific knowledge comes in. He says, "As learners, students are expected to fine-tune generic comprehension strategies to accommodate the demands of each of these different subject areas" (Beuhl 13). Essentially, he is telling us that when students engage in the disciplinary stage of literacy, they are learning to recognize and utilize the set of comprehension skills that accompanies a given text.
The question then becomes, "How?" How are we as teachers to adapt our curriculums so that we can engage our students in disciplinary literature? This answer will look different for each type of classroom, both dependent upon the age being taught, as well as the subject. It also must be noted that disciplinary literature is for upper middle school and high school students, so if a teacher is teaching elementary, they will be teaching either basic or intermediate literature. However, what a teacher teaches in these elementary classes can set a child up for success in a class with disciplinary literature.
One piece of advice Beuhl gives is, "Provide excellent instruction to beginning readers, and they will be inoculated as readers, able to subsequently withstand increasingly more complex reading challenges without help or explicit teaching" (Beuhl 17). I feel as if this can manifest itself in multiple ways in the music classroom. When I think back to my elementary music classes, I do not remember doing any supplementary reading. I only recall singing to tapes or learning sheet music. I feel as if it would be extremely beneficial to have my younger music students do some reading, so as to learn vocabulary. Music classes are not necessarily set up the way other classes are, so time to learn vocabulary is not always prominent. At least, it never was in my music classes, since most of our time was spent practicing music. However, it would be so helpful and beneficial for the students to read some literature with musical vocabulary, so as to help them become more fluid - to help them take on a musical identity.
Another way I can see this manifesting itself in a beneficial way would be to give them more difficult music to work through from a younger age, or perhaps even teach them to read music at a younger age. This is getting more into the technical side of music, but another way to become fluid with musical vocabulary would be to put it into practice, and what better way than to perform musical techniques one is trying to learn the concept/definition of? Though it is easier to give one's class easier music, it may not always be beneficial. Perhaps even giving them more difficult pieces of repertoire, along with accompanying literature would be challenging, yet helpful in the formation of a strong, musical understanding and identity. However, whatever method I will choose for certain classrooms, I am determined to make an effort to include pieces of literature into the curriculum, along with the repertoire, as Beuhl tells us that it is essential that middle and high school teachers integrate literacy practices into the instruction of their disciplines (Beuhl 18). I feel as if this is a bigger challenge in the music classroom, but one that can be worked around with the right resources and determination.
In chapter 2, Beuhl discusses what specifically accompanies a challenging text, and he tells us that there are seven fundamental steps in the comprehension process. These steps are making connections to prior knowledge, generating questions, visualizing and creating sensory mental images, determining importance, synthesizing, making inferences, and monitoring reading and applying fix-up strategies. He also tells us that when deciphering complex text, we need to look at vocabulary density, the author purpose, the text structure, and the writing style. This can be looked at in two ways in the music classroom, in the form of musical scores/repertoire, and "normal" literature (books, articles, etc.). In a way, I feel as if music teachers almost have an advantage when teaching musical literacy, as we readily have two "texts" to look at - the music and the reading. When looking at a score, deciphering the vocabulary density, author purpose, text structure, and writing style will look different than when you are looking at a piece of "normal" literature, however this is a challenge that can and should be conquered by music students. This will challenge students to take vocabulary words that they are learning in class and through their supplemental reading and to quickly find it in the song, or, in better words, to find it in action. This is practical application for musicians, and that is essential to their musicianship.
Beuhl ends chapter one with a story of how he became a sawyer. He recalls his mentor and explains the ways that his mentor effectively taught him how to be a sawyer. He ends the story with explaining how he was able to move from novice status to independence (Beuhl 26). This is essentially what we are trying to teach our students in whatever subject we teach them. We can know that we have effectively taught our students if they are able to stand on their own in the subject we have taught them. For my students, this may look like them learning a difficult piece of music completely on their own.
The biggest point that I gathered from this reading was that students need to be well rounded in their ability to read different types of literature. However, as teachers, we will likely only have the opportunity to teach them about one type of literature, so we need to do this to the best of our ability. Being able to navigate through so many types of literature will be very helpful and prove them to be well rounded individuals in whatever field they choose to pursue. This encouraged me to be just as intentional with teaching the students I know will not pursue music, as the students who I know will. Just because they are going into the medical field does not mean that they do not need to be musically literate. Quite the opposite. In fact, they may encounter a patient someday who was once a musician, and being able to have an intelligent conversation with them about music would form a connection and help them to serve their patient better. Both the ideas and encouragement I gained from these two chapters have spurred me to be very intentional about both score and literature selection, so as to choose a collective repertoire of musical and "normal" literature that will enhance my student's musical knowledge and to help them form a solid musical identity.
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