And yet, you, as music educators may sometimes be leſt feeling more like gray crayon:


Dear Duncan, 8Ibid.


Gray crayon here. YOU’RE KILLING ME. I know that you love Elephants. And I know that elephants are gray…but that’s a lot of space to color in all by myself…and don’t even get me started on your rhinos, hippos, and HUMPBACK WHALES. You know how tired I am aſter handling one of those things? Such big animals….Baby penguins are gray you know. So are very tiny rocks. Pebbles, How about one of those once in awhile to give me a break?


Your very tired friend, Gray Crayon.12


Concerts, community events, SGOs, doc logs, meetings. Do you know how tired we are aſter handling those things? We may be tired from the pressures associated with the daily grind of music teaching, but being creative in craſting practices that aim to make music education more inclusive can actually invigorate and inspire us, making us more like orange and yellow crayons. While these two colors argued over who is the true color of the sun in the book, they both illuminate and make visible everything in their path. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in PRACTICE and ACTION in our classrooms requires love, creativity, pa- tience, and a willingness to literally think outside the box to challenge the parts of our profession that constrict, restrict, and confine; to illuminate new ways forward and reimagine and reconstruct the box in ways that enable all our students to be visible, valued, and loved so that like Duncan’s crayons in their newly constructed fort, each student will always feel at home when they are with us. Tank you.


Endnotes 1


Michael Cooper. “Music Education Group’s Leader Departs


Aſter Remarks on Diversity.” Te New York Times, May 12, 2016, accessed August 14, 2018, https://www.nytimes. com/2016/05/13/arts/music/music-education-groups-lead- er-departs-aſter-remarks-on-diversity.html.


2Drew Daywalt. Te Day the Crayons Quit. (New York: Phi-


lomel Books, 2013). 3


Drew Dayalt. Te Day the Crayons Came Home. (New York:


Philomel Books, 2015). 4


lomel Books, 2013). 5


Ibid. 9 Drew Daywalt. Te Day the Crayons Quit. (New York: Phi- 9Ibid. 10Colleen Sears. “Seeking Aporia: Experiences with Teach-


ing Social Justice in the Undergraduate Music Education Program,” Action, Criticism & Teory for Music Education 15, 5 (2016):16.


11Drew Dayalt. Te Day the Crayons Came Home. (New


York: Philomel Books, 2015). 12


Drew Daywalt. Te Day the Crayons Quit. (New York: Philomel Books, 2013).


Dr. Colleen Sears is an associate professor and the coordinator of music education at Te College of New Jersey where she also leads curriculum development and interdisciplinary programming for the Institute for Social Justice in the Arts which she co-founded in 2014. Dr. Sears spent ten years as a music educator in New Jersey’s public schools and enjoys exploring her research interests through innovative collaborations with K-12 music educators and students. Her research focuses on equity and access in music education. Her current projects engage students and educators with issues of social justice through music performance and interdisciplinary aesthetic experiences. She has published in Music Educators Journal, Action Criticism and Teory for Music Education, and Music Education Research. She recently authored a book chapter entitled, “Put Your Big Girl Panties On: A Female Band Director’s Career in a Culture of Masculinity” which appears in the book, Marginalized Voices in Music Education. She frequently presents her work at regional and national conferences including the New Directions in Music Education Conference, the MayDay Group Colloquium, the Society for Music Teacher Education Conference, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, and the CBDNA (College Band Directors National Association) West/Northwest and National Conferences. Dr. Sears regularly guest lectures at institutions across the country, facilitates social justice educational initiatives with composer Ted Hearne, and coordinates professional development sessions for local music educa- tors. She holds a Bachelor of Music from Te College of New Jersey, a Master of Arts from the Eastman School of Music and a Doctor of Education in music education from Teachers College, Columbia University.


6Ibid. 7Ibid.


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