At the end of September, Tucson Unified sent a couple of representatives to the 2024 Biennial National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Conference in Atlanta. Joshua Ethan Floyd, an Opening Minds through the Arts (OMA) teacher at Warren and Lineweaver, was recognized for his work on a research project conducted last year.
He was accompanied by Fine and Performing Arts Director Joan Ashcraft, as well as project partner Anni Peng, a PhD student from the University of Arizona.
Floyd and Peng presented their work, titled “Exceptional Music Education: Looking into the Effective Teaching Practices in Self-Contained Classrooms,” to attendees of the conference. The course delves into how creating a music curriculum that engages students in self-contained exceptional education classes is crucial to students’ social and academic growth. “Creating a learning environment that is responsive to student needs and proactive in management, therefore, is pivotal to the success of this curriculum,” a description of the session read.
Floyd said the research has impacted the way he approaches his lessons, activities, routines, and even optional activities for his students throughout the day.
“It’s been helpful in giving me alternative routes to similar outcomes,” Floyd said.
As to what’s next, Floyd said he looks to continue to learn and try new things. He hopes to continue to better himself as an educator, and maybe grow in his career down the line.
“Every year I feel comfortable and confident that I can explore and kind of get to have a little fun with it, which makes it more exciting for me to not be doing the same thing over and over again,” Floyd said. “But also, I am interested in higher education. So that’ll happen at some point, too.”
