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Sheridan Hills music teacher highlights culturally responsive program as behavior incidents fall
Summary
Principal Yvette Garcia and music teacher Claire Yamamoto showcased Sheridan Hills' culturally responsive music units, saying they have increased student engagement and reduced the share of behavior incidents attributed to the music room. Board members praised the program and asked how elements can be scaled districtwide.
Principal Yvette Garcia and music teacher Claire Yamamoto described a year of culturally responsive music instruction at Sheridan Hills Elementary during the April 6 Richfield School Board meeting.
Garcia said the school has framed its approach around Zaretta Hammond's "culture tree," teaching staff to use students' cultural knowledge at surface, shallow and deep levels to build trust and engagement. Yamamoto outlined classroom practices that include "passports" for students exploring music from around the world, a K-pop unit for upper-elementary learners and an electronic music-production unit that used school Chromebooks. She said performances and recordings from those units are shared with families.
Garcia presented behavior-incident data tied to the music room: historically the music room accounted for about 6% of behavior incidents, rose in intervening years to as much as 24%, and this year was reported at 7% (district presenter's characterization). Garcia and Yamamoto attributed the reduction to higher student engagement and instruction that draws on students' funds of knowledge.
Board members and participants asked how the elementary work connects to middle- and high-school ensembles. Yamamoto said the music group has held professional-development sessions across K'12 that included high-school band and choir members and that she has built relationships with the secondary ensembles to ease transitions. The board pressed for ways to replicate program elements across other schools; Garcia and the superintendent noted targeted professional development and staff-led sharing sessions are in place.
The board offered praise: members said they wanted to visit classrooms and asked the administration to explore how Sheridan Hills' approaches could be scaled. The presentation concluded with thanks from the superintendent and no formal action was required.
The program was described as part of the district's broader culturally responsive teaching work, and board members emphasized interest in both maintaining rigor and spreading successful practices to increase student engagement districtwide.
