International Journal of Education & the Arts

In a music education graduate class addressing teaching and learning strategies for learners with special needs, teachers were invited to consider the experience of the children in their music classrooms. Using narrative to enter into the learner's experience of school, teachers confronted their own perspectives and reconsidered those of their students. In this article, I seek to connect notions of wakefulness and empathy as I, too, make meaning of the story of one teacher and her encounter with Tyler, a learner with special needs in her classroom.