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).