Applications of SCRIBE in the Teacher Preparation Process

Mary Ellen Cavitt

The University of Texas at San Antonio

mcavitt@utsa.edu

The teaching of music performance skills is a highly interactive and complicated process in which teachers must monitor a variety of instructional variables and respond to multiple cues while attempting to effect positive change in student performance. This highly interactive process is so complex that for many observers, any efforts to systematically describe the components of teaching skills are viewed as insufficient or inadequate (Duke, Buckner, Cavitt & Colprit, 1997). However, those devoted to improving the teaching process and assisting novice teachers in improving their skills know how important it is to identify and define variables associated with successful, effective teaching.

Systematic observation of the teaching process helps to narrow the focus for the novice teachers. Several methods of systematic observation have been applied to research in the music classroom: (1) time sampling of specific behaviors (Duke & Madsen, 1991; Madsen & Madsen, 1974; Madsen & Yarbrough, 1980), (2) observation of sequential patterns of instruction in which the teacher presents a task, the student responds or performs, and the teacher gives feedback (Goolsby, 1997, 1999; Price, 1983, 1992; Price & Yarbrough, 1991; Yarbrough & Hendel, 1993; Yarbrough & Price, 1981, 1989; Yarbrough, Price, & Hendel, 1994), and (3) computerized recording of student and teacher behavior while attempting to accomplish music goals (Buckner, 1997; Cavitt, 1998;; Younger Flores, 1995). Others have used comprehensive evaluations to identify exceptionally high and low quality performance among teachers.

Describing the behaviors of experienced and expert teachers is essential both for the purpose of understanding the process of teaching, and for providing an accurate model for novice teachers. Interactions between student and teacher, timing, and pacing have all been studied as important components of effective teaching. Often, when things happen is as important as what happens (Madsen, 1996).

Goolsby (1996, 1997, 1999) examined the use of instructional time in instrumental music classes to describe effective music instruction and rehearsal pacing. In the first of these studies (1996), that compared student teachers, novices and experienced teachers, Goolsby found that student teachers talked the most and allowed students to play the least. Experienced teachers talked the least, provided more break time, used more nonverbal modeling, got students on task the quickest, and asked students to perform more than half of the class period.

Building on previous studies of direct instruction, Goolsby (1997) examined teacher verbalizations, modeling, performance variables, and sequential patterns of instruction within videotaped band rehearsals. Results indicated that rhythm/tempo was targeted more frequently than any other performance variable. More time was devoted by expert teachers to overall ensemble sound, while novice teachers spent more time tuning, and student teachers spent more time on pitch accuracy. Expert teachers completed 23% of sequential patterns of instruction, while novices completed 12% and student teachers completed 13%.

Goolsby (1999) found that experts allowed students to play more and address style, tone, balance, and intonation more frequently than did novices. Novice teachers spent more time in concert preparation but talked more and performed less than experienced teachers. Novice teachers also stopped and restarted ensembles more frequently without providing instruction than did the experts.

A great deal of research has described what takes place in the music classroom but very few have attempted to link what teachers do with the accomplishment of goals. Duke (1994) outlined a procedure for dividing instrumental music rehearsals into segments, or rehearsal frames, devoted to the accomplishment of identifiable goals. Each rehearsal frame begins at the teacher’s implicit or explicit identification of a performance goal and continues until a subsequent goal is identified or until the goal is abandoned for another activity. Once the targeted goal is identified, the teacher may decide to decontextualize or reduce the size of the ensemble or scope of the music in order to effect a positive change in the target. Duke (1999/2000) points out that the “organizing principle for each rehearsal frame is the target—the proximal goal toward which the instruction efforts are directed, and not the teacher behaviors and instructional strategies employed to effect changes in student behavior”.

Buckner (1997), Cavitt (1998), and Derby (2001) chose rehearsal frames as a unit of analysis to assess teacher and student behavior in relation to the accomplishment of performance goals and used the SCRIBE computer program (Duke & Farra, 1996) to record event timings in teacher-student interactions. Buckner found that within the context of piano lessons, teachers with the highest proportion of successful frames had: faster teacher/student interaction, more opportunities for performance, more successful trials within the frame, twice as much positive feedback, and three times the rate of negative feedback. Cavitt found that the error correction process, rate of teacher-student interaction, and pace varied systematically with the type of error addressed. The nature of the targeted error and the error correction process associated with it influenced the rate of interaction. Derby examined how expert teachers accomplish goals in choir rehearsals. She found that while teachers talked 33% of the time, each verbalization was brief (7.5 seconds on average) and occurred frequently (3 per minute). Teachers modeled frequently and students performed each target passage an average of 10 trials per rehearsal frame group.

The SCRIBE program creates the following data records: (1) a graphic timeline of the events during an observation period, (2) a chronology of recorded events, and (3) a summary table which includes the event frequencies, rates, total durations, proportions of total time for each observation category, mean durations calculated across instances of a given behavior, and corresponding standard deviations. For this presentation, I describe the application of the observation program, SCRIBE, and how it is used in the teacher preparation process at my institution. I will describe how the results of several research studies can be related to observations of pre-service field experiences. Although the software described has been in use for several years, the process of customizing observation templates to focus on salient aspects of teacher and student behavior can provide a focal point for novice teachers. It is hoped that this presentation will provide useful information for those who instruct future teachers and provide meaningful prescriptions for the improvement of teaching.

References

Buckner, J.L.J. (1997). Assessment of teacher and student behavior in relation to the accomplishment of performance goals in piano lessons. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin.

Cavitt, M.E. (1998). A descriptive analysis of error correction in expert teachers’ instrumental music rehearsals. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin.

Derby, S.E. (2001). Rehearsal of repertoire in elementary, middle, and high school choirs: How teachers effect change in student performance. (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, 2001). Dissertation Abstracts International, 62(03), 954.

Duke, R. A. (1994). Bringing the art of rehearsing into focus: The rehearsal frame as a model for prescriptive analysis of rehearsal conducting. Journal of Band Research, 30 (1), 78-95.

Duke, R.A. (1999/2000). Measures of instructional effectiveness in music research. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 143, 1-48.

Duke, R. A., Buckner, J.L.J., Cavitt, M.E., & Colprit, E. (1997). Applications of SCRIBE: Systematic observation and analysis of teacher-student interactions in music. In K. Walls (Ed.), Proceedings of the Fourth International Technological Directions in Music Education Conference. San Antonio, TX: Institute for Music Research.

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