Peer-teaching in the Secondary Music Ensemble

Abstract

Peer-teaching is an instructional technique that has been used by teachers world-wide to successfully engage, exercise and deepen student learning. Yet, in some instances, teachers find the application of peer-teaching in large music ensembles at the secondary level to be daunting. This article is meant to be a practical resource for secondary school music teachers to incorporate peer-teaching into their classroom. Additionally, several philosophical angles associated with peer-teaching are presented for teachers to consider including the theoretical underpinnings of collaborative learning, the cultural conceptualization of “struggle to learn,” and the suggested degree structure in peer-assisted learning exercises.