Including Everyone

Many practical books for music educators who work with special needs students focus on students' disabilities, rather than on the inclusive classroom more generally. In Including Everyone: Creating Music Classrooms Where All Children Learn, veteran teacher and pedagogue Judith Jellison offers a new approach that identifies broader principles of inclusive music instruction writ large. As she demonstrates in this aptly-titled book, the perceived impediments to successfully including the wide diversity of children in schools in meaningful music instruction often stem not from insurmountable obstacles but from a lack of imagination. How do teachers and parents create diverse musical communities in which all children develop skills, deepen understanding, and cultivate independence in a culture of accomplishment and joy? Including Everyone equips music teachers with five principles of effective instruction for mixed special needs / traditional settings that are applicable in both classroom and rehearsal rooms alike. These five guidelines lay out Jellison's argument for a new way to teach music that shifts attention away from thinking of children in terms of symptoms. The effective teacher, argues Jellison, will strive to offer a curriculum that will not only allow the child with a disability to be more successful, but will also apply to and improve instruction for typically developing students. In this compelling new book, Judith Jellison illustrates what it takes to imagine, create, and realize possibilities for all children in ways that inspire parents, teachers, and the children themselves to take part in collaborative music making. Her book helps readers recognize how this most central component of human culture is one that allows everyone to participate, learn, and grow. Jellison is a leader in her field, and the wealth of knowledge she makes available in this book is extensive and valuable. It should aid her peers and inspire a new generation of student teachers.

Judith Jellison is the Mary D. Bold Regents Professor of Music in the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin where she is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers and holds the title of University Distinguished Teaching Professor.

Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Who's Here? Overview Describing, Grouping, and the Bell Curve Definitions, Assessments, and Attitudes Schoolwide Services: An Overview IDEA Section 504 RTI Music Capabilities Chapter 2. What's the Point? Overview The "Traditional" Music Program: Who Decides What and How to Teach? Facing the Good and Not So Good Facts Adult Participation and Attitudes Status of Music Education Student Participation and Achievement Rethinking Issues of "Stuff" and Time Making Changes with Ideas That Work Principles of Transition and Transfer Steps for Designing Meaningful Music Programs Chapter 3. Where Do I Start? Overview Principle 1. Culturally Normative Music Experiences and Socially Valued Roles Theory and Research: Quality of Life Applications and Strategies: Quality of Life in Music Classrooms Principle 2. Frequent, Positive, and Reciprocal Peer Interactions Theory and Research: Social Ecology Influences Learning Applications and Strategies: Musical and Social in a Climate of Inclusion Principle 3. Fostering Self-Determination Theory and Research: The Concept of Self-Determination Applications and Strategies: Experiencing Autonomy, Competence, and Good Feelings Principle 4. Collaboration and Coordinated Efforts Theory and Research: The Process of Collaboration Applications and Strategies: Getting Involved and Building Relationships Chapter 4. Now What? Overview Universal Design: Architecture to Education Significant Changes in Curricular and Instructional Practices A Model for Effective Inclusive Music Programs Creating a Quality Music Program and a Culture of Inclusion Gathering Information Planning and Implementing Strategies Thinking Ahead Appendix A. Historical Timeline Appendix B. From Exclusion to Inclusion Appendix C. IDEA: History, Premises, Interpretations Appendix D. Significant Changes in Practices: 1970s to the Present Learn More: Individual and Group Activities Notes Index