Advocacy Chair
Advocacy Toolbox . . . focusing locally
H Evan Bradley
ello Fellow Music Educators! With the new school year upon us, and the challenges we will face, what better time to begin thinking about advocacy and the role it plays in our field?
I may be wrong, but I believe that regarding advocacy there are three kinds of teachers: Teacher #1 will say, “Why do I need to advocate for music? Music is a necessary part of human life and will advocate for itself.” Teacher #2 will say, “Advocacy? I don’t have time for that.” Teacher #3 will say (shout), “Advocacy!” as they ride in on a hobby horse with music symbols painted on it, Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” playing in the background, “your children MUST participate in music or society as we know it will crumble!”
While I know that each of these three
teachers are a bit of an exaggeration, I think we can all identify with at least one, less extreme version of these teachers. I don’t think we should pour our lives into advocacy. If we did then we would have no time for developing great lessons or for spending time with our families, but we should consider a few ways to advocate for music, especially now.
First of all, I find that advocating
for music to my students and creating advocates out of them is very effective. If we can light the fire in our students about the importance of music to the developing person, community, nation, and world, then we do not just have an army of one telling the masses that music is important, but hordes of elementary-aged students and teenagers speaking the praises of music through their actions and words.
When we stop to chat in the grocery
store or coffee shop, to the local barber or a visit with a parent about how important music is, it can sometimes come across as
30 the audience of business
owners and marketing experts, but it touches on some concepts that apply to us as well. He speaks about what makes certain ideas, videos, and products go viral, and the ways that businesses and organizations (music programs) can make their product (music) go viral.
The most pertinent strategy that we
can use is to make the private become public. Most of the things we do every day in the classroom will not be seen in the
musical propaganda or us just striving for job security, though not always. But when our students, the niece and nephew of the barber or the granddaughter of the mayor, talk about how great music class is or what an impact the group you brought in for a guest performance made on them, that’s advovacy.
We can make advocating for our
programs automatic by making our programs contagious. This summer I read the book, “Contagious, Why Things Catch On” by Jonah Berger. This book is primarily
geared towards WMEA Advocacy Chair
concerts or the programs. The friendships that students build on long bus trips or the super silly moments that happen in a general music classroom, the things that kids sometimes remember most, never make it to the stage. Similar to making the students advocacy warriors on our behalf, making the private become public can become an advocacy weapon that is self- targeting.
A few ideas to help make your
program more public: social media is a great tool, but be careful of your district’s policies regarding images of students online, especially those of children in foster care or similar situations. Almost every parent and virtually every student above the age of 14 has a Facebook page; and if you are sharing school related activities on a Facebook page run by the school, district, or even your own program, many eyes will see it.
Electronic means are not the only
vehicle for making your program more public. Many secondary band, choir, and orchestra programs are having “Bring Your Parent to Band/Choir/Orchestra Days.” This could easily be transformed for elementary to hold an open house in your classroom during the day for parents to see the true meat of what we do in our elementary music classrooms.
Also, don’t forget to take advantage
of your NAfME membership and use the advocacy materials available to you on the website. A few quick clicks around the website will take you to the advocacy homepage where you can find updates on
Wyoming Windsong
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