Collaborative Action for Change

Collaborative Action for Change presents new directions in the preparation and lifelong professional development of music educators. The book's chapters are based on some of the most effective presentations from the 2007 Symposium on Music Teacher Education. The Symposium focused on examples of successful partnerships and collaborations between music teacher educators, classroom teachers, school and district administrators, and other individuals and organizations. Two invited keynote addresses, given by Marilyn Cochran-Smith (Boston College) and Don Gibson (Florida State University), raise important questions for music teacher educators to consider in shaping and assessing preservice teachers' learning experiences and curricula. Three chapters encourage expansion of college curricula to facilitate genuine interaction among preservice teachers, teacher educators, and the musics and cultures of their own and their students' worlds. Beginning teachers' socialization and skill development is explored by three authors. Examples of two effective university-school partnerships, as well as a collaborative effort among university faculty, discuss the challenges and rewards encountered in pursuing such cooperative ventures. Also included are descriptions of two different mentoring programs for novice and experienced music teachers, and suggestions for better preparing future music teacher educators. Together, the book's authors present concrete visions of music educators engaged in music teaching and learning, growing from discussions in classes, over coffee, and/or (often tedious) meetings, and taking individual and collective action for change in music teacher education.

Margaret Schmidt is associate professor of music education at Arizona State University (ASU), where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music education and is director of the ASU String Project. Her research focuses on ways teachers, particularly beginners, think about teaching.