Module 8 Reflection Post: Course Applications to Your Teaching

• How will what you have learned in this course about philosophy and aesthetics affect your teaching in the future?

I think that this course had really opened my eyes into child development. I never really considered aspects such as conformity being such a big deal for children, but after reading about it in the text I've started to become more aware. For the future, I'm planning on making some of my listening activities more centered on individual opinions, where I ask students to write or draw rather than verbally share aloud. I've noticed that once I ask students to share if one student says something and I comment on it then I suddenly have 15 more students with a similar reaction.

• How will what was covered in the parts on sociology, social psychology, or psychology affect your teaching in the future?

It's so interesting to find out how cultures can really affect a student. I'm glad this course came up this year for me because my district has been providing my school with training on ESL students. What we often forget is that when we ask students to do something, it might actually be disrespectful or not customary in certain cultures. For example, I always offer solo opportunities (through singing and playing) to all of my students. But I've noticed that my students from latino cultures often refuse. After going through the training and doing some of the readings in the book, I've concluded that this might be something that is culturally frowned upon. Instead, I plan to work harder to making all students feel comfortable and not singled out. 

• Choose any one of the previous seven units in the course, and explain how what you have learned will affect your teaching in the future.

As if you couldn't tell from my previous answers, my biggest take away comes from module 6 "The Social Psychological Foundations." I find the impact of society and culture on our students fascinating. I'm slowly becoming more aware of students' cultures and how exposed they are to different things based on their taste in music. A common trend in students who come from lower SES families is that they have rarely heard art music before. I'm working on expanding students musical knowledge and using the variety of cultures in my district to expose students to different types of world music. 

Module 8 Reflection Post: A Hong Kong Odyssey

When I first read this brief article my first thought was, "Wow! What a waste of money!" Obviously I don't think the Hong Kong trip was a good idea. I feel the band director could have done so much more for the band students and kept things closer to home that would have had a more positive impact on the students and the community.

When I was a student I know I went on a few school trips through the music department. None of them were as extensive as going out of the Country, but I still felt that I learned a lot on these trips. I think one of the things that this band director could have done was to take the band on trip that was within driving distance. I know a lot of band programs that go on a Disney World trip once every four years. One of my experiences was going to New York City - we were able to participate in various musical opportunities, sight-see, and see a Broadway musical.

The fact that the director was so dead-set on taking the band to Hong Kong is just frustrating. After reading that the band didn't raise enough money. I think the director should have made an executive decision to either refund the money OR to use it for something else - either a cheaper trip or an investment in new materials/technology.

Another option that would been better would be to take the band to see a professional performance. Many educators can receive discounts on tickets to professional orchestras or wind ensembles. In fact, if it weren't for those opportunities to see these professional musicians I don't think many students would ever go. To benefit the entire school community - I think the band director could also pursue inviting a professional music group to perform for the entire school. If he couldn't get a professional group I think a college group would have also been a nice treat for the school. It might also inspire students who aren't involved in music to join the band.

Module 7 Reflection Post: Teaching Beethoven Two Ways

I'd like to preface this by saying that my instrument is voice, so teaching this would not be a reality for me. However, here are my thoughts on teaching Beethoven via the two methods described in the text:

Behaviorist Approach:

I would begin by playing a recording of the piece for my student. I wouldn't give them the piano score, I would ask the student to just listen. Next I would discuss with my student the emotion in the piece. I would then give them the score back and have them follow along and ask them to mark any place where a certain emotion seems to strike them. Obviously the end goal is to be able to play this piece with the emotion that Beethoven intended. We would work together slowly. Each week/lesson I would hope that the student would begin to use more emotion. To encourage this, I would give the student a compliment any time they played expressively. Hopefully, the student would associate emotive playing with praise and compliments. 

Cognitivist Approach:

Many times when learning a new piece it would seem easier to break it apart by playing each hand separately. Unfortunately I don't think that would work in this piece. Instead, I would break the song apart phrase by phrase. I would work with my student to play phrase one with both hands SLOWLY. Then to go back and do it again. I would ask the student to look through the score and see if there are any other times where that phrase repeats. Throughout each lesson I would ask the student to focus on one phrase at a time. It would be up to the student to work at home and work on discovering similarities and differences between the phrases - then bring that knowledge back to the lesson. 

Module 7 Reflection Post: Developing Musical Concepts

1. Second Grade. Musical Concept: AB form
In second grade I use the song "Shoo Fly" to teach AB form. Prior to this, we've discussed form in terms of "same and different." So now we are beginning to label the concept. I would begin the lesson by just playing the song and allowing the student to follow along in their music. I would then ask the students to listen again, but to raise their hand when they hear the music changes. I would then talk about how instead of saying same and different we are now going to label these sections as either A or B. To further the reinforcement of this concept I would ask students to do one movement for the A section and something different for the B section.

2. Third Grade. Musical Concept: Harmony (rounds)
While we may have discussed the concept of harmony prior to 3rd grade, I don't actually begin to teach them ways to create harmony until 3rd grade. To help students understand what rounds are I show them this video:

I tell them to "ignore" the two women at the bottom of the screen because that isn't something we are working on. After watching the video I ask students what they noticed and probe them into discussing how everyone was singing the same song, only starting at different times. I then use "Make New Friends" to teach rounds because I believe it is easy enough to understand. Once the students have mastered the song, I begin by being the "part 2" and echoing the students. Then I divide the class in half and have them try to create a round. If they're feeling confident enough I'll record them and show them their performance at the end of class.

3. Fourth grade. Line and Space Notes (on Treble Clef)

I struggle greatly with getting my students to apply the concept of musical notation with their recorder. We start the school year by learning and practicing the line and space notes on the treble clef. However, once we start recorders it seems that the students have forgotten everything. Here is a list of things that I do to foster their knowledge of line and space notes:

• Ticket "In" the door - before entering each student is shown a line or space note on a flashcard that they must name
• When learning a new song the first thing I ask students to do is say the letters of the notes
• Making the connection of note reading and playing by having students sing the letters in a song or exercise while simultaneously using the correct fingering pattern
• Play games at the end of class that reinforce note reading (ex. relay games, team games, iPad games)
• Compose a song for recorder using notes that they have learned to play and to write it on manuscript paper

4. Fifth grade. Singing with appropriate tone

Usually by 5th grade, students stop singing in their head voice. My personal guess is because the music that they are listening to and imitating is not in their vocal range, but in an adult's range. To help with this, I look for arrangements of popular songs either from movies or on the radio and use those to encourage proper singing. Furthermore,  I show videos of various performances (I especially like PS22 choir because they do popular songs, but some of their performances have the students singing in a low range too so I have to be careful). Here's one of the PS22 chorus with special guest Christina Perri - I point out to students that the students are singing a higher harmony during the chorus:

Module 7 Reflection Post: Behavioral Objectives and Assessments

1. Kindergarten, general music. Behavioral objective: pitch matching (sol-mi) in a game setting
Students will be taught a song that uses sol-mi by rote. The teacher will give the directions of the game - one student will be "Curly Joe" with their eyes closed in the middle of a circle. Another student will be the solo singer. They will sing "Hel-lo, who am I?" On sol-mi-sol-sol-mi. The object of the game is for the "Curly Joe" to guess who the solo singer is just by listening.
The assessment (for the solo singer) will be as follows:
4 - sings pitches correctly
3 - Uses a singing voice, but may be slightly sharp or flat
2 - Uses as singing voice, but is not close to matching pitch
1 - Does not use a singing voice OR does not participate

2. Second Grade, general music. Behavioral objective: Rhythm reading
Students will be given a random 4-beat rhythmic pattern made up of quarter notes and barred eighth notes. The student will clap their rhythm and say the rhythmic solfedge (ta's and ti-tis)when it is their turn. The assessment will be as follows:
4 - Claps rhythm perfectly and uses the correct solfedge
3 - Is able to say the rhythm correctly with solfedge, but struggles with clapping
2 - Is able to say the correct rhythmic solfedge, but is inconsistent with tempo
1 - Cannot say the correct rhythmic solfedge and is inconsistent with tempo

3. Third Grade, general music. Behavioral objective: Instrument identification
Students will be given a worksheet, labeled 1 - 10. Each number will have 3 different instrument options. The instructor will play a video clip of someone playing an instrument. The student will use their knowledge of instruments to circle the correct instrument being played for each number. The assessment will be as follows:
4 - Student answered all 10 correctly
3 - Student answered 8 - 9 correctly
2 - Student answered  4 - 7
1 - Student answered less than 3 correctly

4. Fourth Grade, general music. Behavioral objective: Recorder fingering
Students will be given a sheet with several blank recorder fingering charts. Next to each chart will be a note on the treble clef that students have learned to play on their recorder. The student will color the holes that are to be covered for each note. Example - for "B" the student should color in the thumb hole and the first hole. The assessment is determined on how many notes the students have learned on the recorder.

*Please note: the 4 - 1 grading scale is in accordance with my district's grading scale. 4 - proficient or above, 3 - close to proficient, 2 - not close to proficient, but likely to become so without an intervention, 1 - not close to proficient and NOT likely to become so without an intervention.

Module 6 Reflection Post: Using Conformity

The best way that I can think of how I use conformity in my classroom is through listening. In chapter 6, it was discussed that the way we react to music is learned from others. As a music educator, it's important to discuss appropriate (and inappropriate) ways to react to music. Below is a picture of a chart hanging up in my classroom:

This is something I refer to at all grade levels whenever we are doing a listening activity. One of the biggest issues I've seen is that when a new style of music is played, students have a tendency to laugh because they don't know how to react. In class, we discuss why laughing in innapropriate.

When listening to more popular genres, like rock or pop, I like to discuss how listeners often sing or clap along with the music. I even poll my students to find out how many of them have been to a popular concert and then ask what they saw the audience doing. I think it's important for young students to understand that you would not behave the same way in a classical concert as you would in a rock concert.

At around 3rd grade I begin to notice a shift in conformity. Students, at this age, begin to mimic and conform to what their peers are doing and favoring. For that reason, I hand out SQUILT (Super Quiet UnInterrupted Listening Time) worksheets where students can express their attitudes toward a listening excerpt without feeling the pressure to answer the same as their peers. I collect the sheets and read over them. During the next class period, I might point out some interesting things I had read (while still leaving the students anonymous).

Module 6 Reflection Post: Creative Activities in Music

1. Setting: Elementary general music class, 2nd grade. Focus: improvisation
The activity begins with the teacher discussing what improvisation is. Most of the students are familiar with echoing, but may be confused with the improvisation activity. Explain to the students that the teacher will play an 8-beat pattern on a non-pitched percussion instrument and an individual student will improvise a different 8-beat rhythmic pattern in response to the teacher. Each student will have the opportunity to create their own rhythmic pattern. To avoid replications of previous students' responses, the teacher will vary the "call" pattern for each student.



2. Setting: Elementary general music class, 5th grade. Focus: Pentatonic Boomwhacker composition
Students will be divided into groups of 5 and each student will be assigned a boomwhacker within a pentatonic scale. The first step in this project is to create the rhythmic pattern for the composition. Students will be instructed to create a 16 bar rhythmic pattern in common time using quarter notes, barred eighth notes, sixteenth notes, and quarter rests. The second step of this project is to work together to assign different boomwhacker pitches to the composition. The composition must end on "do." Once all groups have completed their composition they will come up with a title and will perform for their peers.

3. Setting: High school: History of Rock/Pop Music elective course, 9th - 12th grade students. Focus: Jazz Presentation


During the jazz unit, students will have the opportunity to research and present information on a jazz musician of their choosing. Students will be given a list of information to research (including family and musical history) and are asked to include a musical excerpt for their presentation. Students may also choose how to present their findings - some suggestions: powerpoint presentation, mock-interview (where one student acts as the musician and another acts as an interviewer), posterboard, or anything else they can think of.



4. Setting: Elementary general music class, 4th and 5th grade. Focus: Concert Repertoire
Since my instruction is not performance based, I spend most of the year teaching songs that adhere to our curriculum standards. Our one performance comes at the end of the year. In order to keep students engaged and give them a voice I look through my repertoire and find 4-5 popular songs that the students might enjoy singing. We spend an entire class period listening to the different songs while following along in the music. Then, the students take a vote on their favorite. The song with the most votes gets performed at the end of the year concert and is also song where students have the most input. For example if a student suggests a certain movement and the other students like it, we incorporate it into our performance.


5. Elementary general music class, 4th grade. Focus: Recorder composition
Similar to the boomwhacker composition, I construct a composition that involves the recorder. However, this is an individual assignment. The composition will be 8 measures in common time. The first step is always to create a rhythm, however to keep kids from getting discouraged on what to write I give each student a dice and they roll their rhythm. Each number is associated with a rhythmic value; 1 = quarter note, 2 = half note, 3 = whole note, 4 = barred eighth notes, 5 = quarter rest, 6 = students choice! If a student rolls a 3 and they already have a half note in the current measure then they will roll again. After the rhythm has been composed, students will assign either B, A, or G to the notes. Some students may be shy about performing, so performances only occur if a student wants to perform.