The vocal jazz curriculum has been designed to address the learning needs of all students studying vocal jazz in the province. The curriculum allows for in-depth study with the potential for interdisciplinary studies if desired.

To achieve a deep understanding of jazz and fully appreciate jazz music throughout life, students need to study content and processes that reside at its core. Studying vocal jazz needs to include learning history, improvisation, a variety of styles (such as swing, latin and bepop), theory, performance, vocal skills and listening, with an understanding of the overlap among categories, as is the case in almost any musical practice.

Students in an effective vocal jazz program will have opportunities to:

• apply creative processes in a variety of styles within the scope of jazz music;
• develop self-confidence in their own creative abilities;
• recognize that artists are thinkers and that their imaginations and creativity contribute to the understanding of human existence;
• investigate community and global issues explored by historical and contemporary jazz artists;
• discover how societies have expressed and continue to express their histories, values and beliefs through the story of jazz;
• work together as an ensemble to create something greater than the individual contribution;
• communicate a meaningful message to the audience;
• celebrate the rich cultural and artistice heritage of jazz artists from Saskatchewan, Canada and around the world

Current research on learning indicates that arts education, including the study of jazz, has extremely positive outcomes in the area of student engagement. Students are more likely to develop deep understanding when they are actively engaged and have a degree of choice about what is being learned and how it is being learned and assessed. Student engagement is affected by a complex range of variables, but studies show that engagement is increased dramatically through effective instructional practices that include high quality arts education experiences.

• an inclusive stance with accessibility
• active partnerships between schools and arts organizations and among teachers, artists and community;
• shared responsibility among stakeholders for planning implementation, assessment and evaluation;
• a combination of development within the study of jazz (education in the arts) with artistic and creative approaches to learning (education through the arts);
• opportunities for public performance, exhibition and/or presentation;
• a provision for critical reflection, problem solving and risk taking;
• an emphasis on collaboration
• detailed strategies for assessing and reporting on students' learning, experiences and development;
• ongoing professional learning for teachers, jazz artists and the community;
• flexible school structures and permeable boundries between schools and community.

(Adapted from Bamford, 2006, p. 140)

Student engagement depends on more than a charismatic teacher. The learning program must be relevant to students' lives and interests and co-constructed with them. This type of democratic interaction requires a shift in ownership of the learning program from a solitary teacher-delivered program to increased teacher-learner-community collaboration.

Students who are engaged in quality vocal jazz programs take pride in their work and accomplishments and recognize that their individual and collective voice is heard and respected.

Adam Fletcher, on his website Soundout:Promoting Student Voice in School, defines student voice as "the individual and collective perspective and actions of young people within the context of learning and education." Fletcher states that student voice is formed from the "unique perspective of the young people in out schools...experience and education help students create opinions, ideas and beliefs to which they give their voice." Teachers and students who interact within high quality arts and learning spaces have learned how to negotiate and co-construct democratic learning models.

Arts education is one of the most effective vehicles for empowering students to reflect on, act on and give voice to their own opinions, beliefs and ideas through the creation and presentation of their own arts expressions.

The following provides examples of jazz experiences and instructional approaches that encourage increased student engagement and respect for student voice:

• become involved in planning a variety of personalized ways to achieve learning outcomes.
• explore ideas and concepts, take risks, experiment and improvise with processes and media;
• develop understanding, skills and abilities within meaningful contexts;
• investigate and find solutions for a variety of musical challenges;
• ask questions about big deals and topics that have relevance to their lives;
• design and collaborate on inquiry projects that address their questions;
• make connections among jazz, the arts and other disciplines;
• work in partnership with teachers and jazz professionals, in formal and informal settings;
• have flexibility and choice among a variety of learning approaches;
• negotiate assessment practices, including self-assessment;
• design assessment criteria and rubrics collaborativley
• work with teachers, artists and community members to document and share their learning with others.

Inquiry learning provides students with opportunities to build knowledge, abilities and inquiring habits of mind that lead to deeper understanding of their world and human experience. The inquiry process focuses on the development of compelling questions, formulated by teachers and students to motivate and guide inquires into topics, problems and issues related to curriculum content and outcomes.

Inquiry prompts and motivates students to investigate topics within meaningful context. The inquiry process is not linear or lock-step, but is flexible and recursive. Experience inquirers will move back and forth among various phases as new questions arise and as they become more comfortable with the process.

Well-formulated inquiry questions are broad in scope and rich in possibilities. Such questions encourage students to explore, observe, gather information, plan, analyze, interpret, synthesize, problem solve, take risks, create, develop conclusions, document and reflect on learning and generate new questions for further inquiry. The following graphic represents various phases of this cyclical inquiry process:

In vocal jazz, a simple inquiry question would be: How can I get better at what I am doing? This should lead the students and the teacher to develop many strategies to improve their skills and understanding in the study of vocal jazz. Nothing replaces the amount of practise, how to practise and why they are practising. The answer to these questions can come out of a joint inquiry between the teacher and the student, allowing him/her to take ownership of the will to improve and the direction that takes. Refer to the chart on page 13 for more sample inquiry questions.

Inquiry is not a simple instructional strategy. It is a philosophical approach to teaching and learning, grounded in constructivist research and methods, which engages students in investigations that lead to disciplinary and trans disciplinary understanding.

Inquiry builds on students' inherent sense of curiosity and wonder, drawing on their diverse backgrounds, interests and experiences. The process provides opportunities for students to become active participants in a collaborative search for meaning and understanding.

Inquiry builds on students' inherent sense of curiosity and wonder drawing on their diverse backgrounds, interests and experiences. The process provides opportunities for students to become active participants in a collaborative search for meaning and understanding.

Students who engaged in inquiry:

• construct deep knowledge and deep understanding rather than receive information passively;
• are involved and engaged directly in the discovery of new knowledge;
• encounter alternative perspectives and differing ideas that transform prior knowledge and experience into understanding;
• transfer new knowledge and skills to new circumstances;
• take ownership and responsibility for their ongoing learning and mastery of curriculum content and skills

(Adapted from Kuhlthau & Todd, 2008, p.1)

Teachers and students can begin their inquiry at one or more curriculum entry points. However, the process may evolve into transdisciplinary integrated learning opportunities, reflective of the holistic nature of out lives and interdependent global environment.

It is essential to develop questions that are evoked by student interests and have the potential for rich and deep learning. These questions initiate and guide the inquiry and give students direction to develop deep understanding about topics, problems, ideas, challenges, issues or concepts under study.

The process of constructing compelling questions can help students grasp the important disciplinary or transdisciplinary ideas that are situated at the core or a particular curricular focus or context. These broad questions lead to more specific questions that can provide a framework, purpose and direction for the learning activities in a lesson or series of lessons and help students connect what they are learning to their experiences and life beyond school.

Effective Questions for Deeper Understanding

• cause genuine and relevant inquiry into the key ideas and core content;
• provide for thoughtful, lively discussion, sustained inquiry and new understanding as well as more questions;
• require students to consider alternatives, weigh evidence, support their ideas and justify their answers;
• stimulate vital, ongoing rethinking of big ideas, assumptions, or prior lessons;
• spark meaningful connections with prior learning, personal experiences and ways of knowing;
• naturally recur, creating opportunities for transfer to other situations and subjects.

(Adapted from Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 110)

Before and during the inquiry process, students and teachers will formulate specific questions as a result of the larger inquiry question. These specific questions will help to direct students' investigations and research towards answering the initial inquiry question. For instance, questions may be specific to one style or apply to several styles and may be investigated by individual students and/or groups. Part of the teacher's role is to guide students towards achieving the learning outcomes throughout the inquiry process.

Important parts of any inquiry process are student reflection on their learning, the documentation needed to assess that learning making this learning visible to themselves and others. Student documentation of the inquiry process in the study of jazz may take the form of reflective journals, digital records, essays, performances (for the public, peers, the class or the student), multimedia displays and audio and video recordings of rehearsals and performances.

Students are encouraged to extend their learning beyond the classroom. They may wish to share their learning through community performances or performance at local, provincial and national festivals, or to present their work to local, national and international audiences through the use of technology.

Teachers can also benefit from using inquiry as a way to ask questions about and reflect upon their own professional practice in jazz education. teachers may form partnerships with other teachers and members of Saskatchewan arts and cultural communities to document and present the results of their own collaborative inquiry processes. As teachers and artists engage in inquiry for their own professional development they serve as excellent role models for students as lifelong learners.

The following demonstrates some sample inquiry questions that teachers and students might explore in their study of jazz. The examples are from the three goals (critical/responsive, cultural/historical and creative/productive) of arts education. All three goals and each of the outcomes associated with them need to be addressed in each year of study.