Abstract

As a Reggio Emilia inspired elementary school music educator, I partake in many non-traditional music-making experiences with my students. I believe that such non-confirmative learning endeavours tend not to fit within the realm of quantitative research – measured and decoded as statistics. The value in those endeavours is not derived by numerical data, but through the experiences of learner and teacher. Thus, to frame and guide my research I turn to arts-based research practices, specifically those that allow me to explore and interpret my findings in a storied manner.

This session will explore my practice of autoethnography – influenced by the autoethnographic texts of Laurel Richardson, Peter Gouzouasis, and Carolyn Ellis. Through autoethnography I seek to story my research in a way that learners, parents, teachers, and researchers can read themselves, or the possibilities of themselves, in the text – thereby, enabling my research to be considered more than stories about children’s experiences in the classroom, but as narratives that are pedagogical in nature.

Matthew Yanko is a doctoral candidate in the faculty of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of British Columbia, Canada. His research focuses on formative assessment practices in music education. Inspired by the early childhood centers of Reggio Emilia, Matthew has adapted this approach to his elementary school music classroom, which has evoked the creation of a musical atelier for his students participate in music making, learning, and inquiry.