A Teacher Educator and Social Justice Advocate: Observing a Master Teacher Robert C. Jordan Teachers College Columbia University
Abstract I became acquainted with Dr. Lisa DeLorenzo when reading Sketches in Democracy: Notes from an Urban Classroom. This book presents a riveting account of her choice to teach general music in a newly formed, urban high school during a year-long sabbatical from Montclair State University. Her compelling story encouraged me to arrange a semester-long teaching observation of her secondary general music course with periodic semistructured interviews. During the semester, DeLorenzo’s students and I reflected on three exemplar music lessons integrated with social justice themes. In doing so, DeLorenzo prepared her preservice teachers for the challenges of public-school teaching including how to apply issues of social justice to the music classroom and how to meet difficulties with compassion and creativity. This article portrays my experiences with Dr. DeLorenzo and her preservice teachers focusing on how her teaching invited us to challenge and transform our pedagogies. Keywords: Higher education, interview, lesson planning, Montclair State University, music teacher educator, pedagogical renewal, secondary general music methods, social justice teaching, teacher observation, teacher/student power relationships, transformation A Teacher Educator and Social Justice Advocate: Observing a Master Teacher On the first day of class, Dr. Lisa DeLorenzo asked her undergraduate music education students to take a piece of paper and describe a time when a teacher used words that hurt them or shut them down. Students shared experiences of abusive applied instructors or classroom teachers who criticized their engagement and TEMPO
learning styles. Next, DeLorenzo directed, “Take the paper, and crumple it up! Now, throw it at this target on the dry-erase board…throw it as hard as you can!” I watched, beaming, as wads of paper whirred through the air from surprised yet enthusiastic students. “Do you feel better?” she asked, explaining the activity: “Your words as a teacher have a great deal of power.” This experience gave me an inkling of how she modeled a key theme in the course: the music classroom as a safe space. DeLorenzo’s activity introduced her students to a semester-long pedagogical transformation centered around recognizing and interrogating teacher power. As the semester continued, I became increasingly aware that the examination of power, privilege, and justice is what educators need as we respond to unprecedented challenges. For me, this examination generalizes to COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests of 2021 which have highlighted inequities and injustices in ways that are inescapable. Consequently, I feel obliged to reimagine my practice towards social justice. I looked to DeLorenzo for inspiration to change my pedagogy, and this article presents what I found. I became acquainted with DeLorenzo, Professor of Music Education at Montclair State University, when reading Sketches in Democracy: Notes from an Urban Classroom (DeLorenzo, 2012). This book presents a gripping account of her yearlong sabbatical from music teacher education to teach general music in a newly formed, urban high school. Her compelling story encouraged me to reach out in hopes of arranging an observation. She felt that her secondary general music methods course would be an ideal opportunity for me to learn more about intertwining music pedagogy and social justice. “The goal of the course is to advance [my students’] thinking/practice about teaching from a social justice perspective.” She 32
MARCH 2021
