Te three research questions guiding this study were: 1. How is positionality defined in the teaching spaces of EGMTs? 2. How is perceived positionality defined in how EGMTs go about their daily routines/ yearly responsibilities? 3. What negotiations are used by EGMTs to navigate power and identity issues in their schools and school districts to create community?


I used SurveyMonkey, a commercially available, inter- net-based program, to collect survey data. It is a web-based survey that is easy to set up and easy for respondents to use, and it organizes the data immediately and automatically for the researcher. Te survey was emailed to all EGMTs who worked in public elementary schools in the state of Michi- gan for whom I could locate a school email addresses. Te survey was comprised of multiple-choice and free-response questions in seven sections entitled: (a) You and Your Job; (b) Teaching Schedule and Teaching Space; (c) Colleagues and Personal Interaction; (d) Colleagues and Collaboration; (e) Mandated Teacher Meetings; (f) Leadership Practices of the Principal, and (g) Problems and Ideals. Tose who participated in this survey were invited to a face-to-face in- terview about the positioning of EGMTs in the elementary schools where they worked. Te semi-structured interview questions mirrored the survey with new sub questions and provided a greater opportunity to explore each topic.


Te survey results illuminated the many different situations in which many EGMTs in Michigan found themselves. Te free-write responses of the survey provided insight into the individual experiences of music teachers. Te interview data was reported in the form of portraits and groups of portraits: one group of teachers worked alone (isolated or autonomous) while the other group found themselves in one of four different kinds of teacher Professional Learning Communities (school-based, itinerant, music, or com- munity of musicians/music teachers). Positionality of the teacher in most cases was determined by a mix of the fixed conditions around them and their unique personal charac- teristics.


Amorette B. Languell (Northern Michigan University) Music Teacher Preparation for the Urban Classroom


Te purpose of this multiple instrumental case study was to explore music teachers’ preparedness for teaching in an urban setting, looking specifically at beginning music teachers’ perceived preparedness for the urban environment and possible changes to pre-service music teacher educa- tion. Fiese and DeCarbo (1995) identified that pre-service music education coursework may not prepare the majority of music teachers for success in the urban environment.


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Fitzpatrick (2011) and Doyle (2012) agree that a special skill set must be developed for successful urban music teaching. Research questions were (a) Why did participants decide to teach in an urban setting? (b) What are participants’ percep- tions of their preparedness to teach in an urban setting? (c) How did participants’ perceive the experiences their university programs offered for preparing them for urban teaching? and (d) What other experiences or individuals, as identified by participants, may have prepared them for urban teaching?


Participants: Four participants were selected for this in- strumental case study through purposeful sampling. Tree participants completed traditional undergraduate music ed- ucation programs and one received a graduate certificate in music education; three diverse locations within the United Stated were represented; three participants were female and one was male; three were instrumental specialists and one was a vocalist; their teaching experience in an urban setting was between two and three years, with two participants possessing some previous experience as long- term substi- tute teachers; participants represented elementary, middle, and high school classrooms with topics including: general music, World Drumming, choir, drama, music appreciation, band, and art; two participants taught in public schools, one taught in a public charter school, and one taught in a private Catholic school.


Methodology: Tis instrumental case study included multi- ple forms of data, such as a background survey for contex- tual knowledge of each participant, three semi-structured interviews, two full days of participant observations, and a series of five participant journals (Seidman, 2013; Stake, 1995).


Findings/Results: Te themes derived from the research questions were opportunity knocked, perceptions of pre- paredness, perceptions of pre-service experiences. Emergent themes were urban fit, varying relationships, and challenges and rewards of the urban setting.


Implications: Some implications for future practice may include field experience requirements in urban settings; guided observations in urban settings, which are followed by immediate discussion in an effort to weaken stereotypes or biases as perceived by pre-service teachers; and require- ments that involve both observation and teaching prior to student teaching. Further, adjustments to pre-service curriculum may include a focus on popular music learning; the importance of arranging and non-traditional ensembles; and modeling culturally relevant teaching for pre-service teachers.


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