StudentTeacherBlog

challenge met!

2005-12-17T14:09:00.000-05:00

Fun:

Thursday night was our middle school concert. It was good; I conducted two pieces: one with the boys' chorus and one with the girls'. The remaining 7 pieces were conducted by my co-op. We have an accompanist that plays for the concerts.

Friday morning was our matinee performance of the same program (for the nearby elementary schools.) Fifteen minutes prior to the concert, my co-op informed me that the pianist wouldn't be there and that I'll have to conduct the whole concert. Whew.

So I did. Those remaining 7 pieces were pieces I'd never conducted before. It was a "fantastic job." Hooray for challenges.

:)

2005-12-17T13:57:00.000-05:00

I'll try to make an incredibly long story short.

I've been working with a girl for a while; she's "the best actress in the building" but has been denied lead roles because she has "pitch problems." We've been working together, I've used some listening and vocal techniques that have worked well for her, and she had an excellent audition for the musical, all the notes were perfect. Not to mention, she has a beautiful voice. After this audition my co-op was amazed. "How did you do it?" she asked. What am I supposed to say to that? "Well, actually, I gave her a chance instead of labelling her as having pitch problems, and helped her improve." Can't say that.

My co-op insisted that this was probably an accident. That this girl often sings the right notes, but then she'll slip back into pitch problems again. Apparently. I was a little hurt that she disregarded my work with the student, but I let it go.

Anyway. I haven't worked with her since. Last night were callback auditions. Again, she had a flawless performance, every note right, incredible acting, the works. "Well, sometimes, miraculously, she's on pitch," nodded my co-op towards the rest of the audition panel. I was already angry at that point. I suppose it's difficult for someone who's been teaching for 30 years to agree that a student teacher did something out of the ordinary for a student that's been dubbed something, has been given an "assignment" of "pitch problem girl" in the music program. But as a co-op, wouldn't she be better off letting me know that I did well? That I actually made something happen for this girl, changed the way she hears music and her own voice? Because that's the feedback I've gotten from the girl. Why should it be an accident that she's doing so well?

When the panel was discussing the performances and beginning to cast the musical, my co-op immediately crossed the girl's name out for a singing role: "She'll go out of tune," she said repeatedly. What kind of behavior is this? I was appalled. Who ever heard of just letting natural talent shine and leaving those who are struggling with something behind? Especially if it's your area of expertise, or should be! Agggh!

The girl really took ownership; she really understood what I was trying to say, and now she can practice in the way we practiced together, on her own. There was real transformation, and it's not being acknowledged, in fact, it's being shunned by my co-op. Why won't she give her a chance? Moreover, why won't she give me a chance?

No Voice

2005-12-07T16:11:00.000-05:00

Today was fairly interesting I went to school and taught an entire day without speaking. I lost my voice yesterday and its to the point now where you really can't hear me unless you are standing directly in front of me, so my co-op suggested teaching with gestures and mouthing words. I thought this could only end in disaster with the students not listening and running over me completely. However, it was one of the most productive days I've had! Because I didn't have a voice and had to use other ways to communicate my students were forced to really tune in and try to understand what I wanted them to do, it almost became a game - "who can guess what Ms. Comstock is saying first"! Obviously this is not an ideal situation and one that I absolutely hate (I HATE not having my voice) but it was defiantly an interesting exercise in classroom management and the students self discipline.

Conferences

2005-12-06T09:13:00.000-05:00

Tonight we have Parent-Teacher Conferences from 7-9. I'm a little nervous about it. I had a dream that parents came in to yell at me for failing their kid. Last marking period the lowest grade we had was a "B" I believe, so I doubt that dream was an accurate premonition, but still it made me wonder. There are so many parents out there who honestly believe their child can do no wrong. How do you go about talking to these parents?
I don't know why I'm nervous. I think that because I'm so young, I feel that the parents will question my ability. Granted, I am a student myself, but I still feel like I'm going to have to put on a song and dance to prove my worth. I'm probably overreacting, but that's how I feel. Has anyone else had to endure conferences yet?

Individual disruptions

2005-12-03T12:19:00.000-05:00

This week I was working with a part of the chorus ensemble. One student was being very disruptive and disrespectful to me and the other students by singing in a silly voice. I tried to move him closer to the front so that he would not be tempted to talk to others and disrupt; however, he just put his head down on his knees and refused to participate. I chose not to make a scene of him since I had seen him withdraw and become completely unresponsive to any person during general music class. After class I explained the situation to Mrs. Schmidt and she decided to pull the child in to talk to the two of us. After we discussed with him about his behaviors being inappropriate during class, he began to cry and inflict pain upon himself by banging his head. We explained that he was breaking the rules of his contract in chorus (Each student must sign a contract to be in chorus, since it is before school and not mandatory). He ran out of the room in hysterics. I just wonder how else we should handle students like him, who deliberately disrupt the class, but are not willing to take responsibility for their actions in a healthy way. It is just very frustrating to see students like him, who could contribute wonderfully to a class, but refuse to listen and follow directions. I want to allow the entire class to be successful in their music making, but I cannot allow some students to disrupt and become a distraction. Any ideas?

Doing different activities

2005-12-02T16:00:00.000-05:00

So this week I decided to do some new things that I have not yet tried with my students. As of last week I was doing some critical pedagogy lessons with my students but not anything that different from what my co-op was doing. This week I decided to try new things because they were getting more comfortable with me. I tried cooperative group work with 2 grades and full general music lessons with 4th and 5th grade. I have to say that they turned out alot better than I thought they would. I wrote a really challenging lesson for the 2nd graders. My co-op did not think that it would totally work out, but I really wanted to try it, and I had a "plan B" in case it wasn’t working out. It turns out that it went really well and the kids loved it!! It was really challenging but most of them got the hang of it. Of course there were still a few children that did not understand and one child that cried, but all in all I think it was a great lesson! Sometimes it pays to really challenge the students!!

Re: Days Off

2005-12-02T01:44:00.000-05:00

In response to Katie's post, to perhaps offer some hope, I think long weekends are much worse to deal with as far as people not wanting to be there than winter break. I'm not sure about spring break, it's fairly short, comparatively, but winter break is so long that students, I think, usually want to get back to school. So I don't think the sluggishness escalates with break length, at least not as much as we may think it would. Spring break would probably be the worst; it's not short enough to avoid straying from the school-going routine, but not long enough to start wanting to go back again. Then again, maybe people would be in better spirits in the springtime. I'm not sure. In any case, I think winter break wouldn't be that bad.

My students were a little weird the Monday back from Thanksgiving, too, but it was mostly in the beginning of the day. They got back into the swing of things by the afternoon, I think.

:)

Today's lesson

2005-12-01T11:23:00.000-05:00

This week we are working on rhythm in the general music classes. My co-op has some rhythm activities that she does with them, so I wrote a lesson including them that I was going to present today. Unfortunately, while preparing the materials this morning before the first class came in, my co-op and I realized that the activities involve dotted rhythms, which we haven't gotten into yet. Because we obviously couldn't do these activities, I had to teach them a lesson on dotted rhythms that I had not written out or even planned. It was a little scary to have to make it up as I went along, but I found a pizza cut-out to use as a prop to show different note values. We figured out what kind of notes we'd need to add for different measures to equal four beats. Then, we played them together with rhythm instruments. This was in no way my best lesson, but it actually went as well as (if not better than) some of my planned lessons that turned out to be not exactly perfect! This was a valuable experience because I know that as teachers we will be forced to think on our toes and work our way through less-than-ideal scenarios. Has anyone else been stuck in such a situation?

Re: Amy's post

2005-11-29T18:07:00.000-05:00

YESSSSSS I am feeling extremely overwhelmed with all of the work. I wish that it wasn't all due this week!!!!

Lazy Students + Bad attitudes= good concert???

2005-11-29T17:59:00.000-05:00

Let's all cry the Monday blues because that is definitely what happened yesterday, just as Katie and Amy both said. Ironically, my women's choir had to be kicked in the butt too because of their moods and unwillingness to sing. Only, my biggest concern is that if they do not get rid of the distain and work harder, their concert won't be as great as it possibly can. Now, don't get me wrong, the girls are making some wonderful sounds and are doing some nice things musically, however we only have 1 hour left of practice time within the classroom. Please everyone do not think that I am so mean to my students, because I love to have fun just as much as the next one, however there is a time and a place for everything.

So... has anyone figured out a way to jump start the students in the morning, especially when they have to sing and not just be in class? I know that I was thinking about doing some of those funky games that Gilberto used to do with Schola and Symphonic before a performance just to wake our bodies up and relax. Does anyone remember those?

Lazy Students

2005-11-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

As Katie said, today wasn't a great day for teaching. Students were lazy and didn't want to be in classes. It was a very long day for the students and all they wanted to be back on Thanksgiving Break! Well hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

On another note: Is everyone else overwhelmed with the amount of work we have? I know I am!

Days off

2005-11-28T18:48:00.000-05:00

This morning my women's choir (which is normally my favorite class) all woke up on the wrong side of the bed; everyone was in a bad mood. I formed the conclusion that this is a bad attitude compounded by the fact that the students really don't want to be back at school. If so how does one combat the 'Monday after a holiday blues' and how does an educator deal with this on an even longer holiday like the Winter or Spring breaks?

concert

2005-11-27T14:13:00.000-05:00

By the way, just an invitation for everyone: my parents are playing a concert on the 14th of December, at Northeast High School in Philadelphia. It's a Beethoven, Rossini, Brahms, and Strauss program, among others. (If someone doesn't know, my parents are pianists.) This is a link to the flyer:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/espressobean/1214.jpg

Let me know if you can come. I'm sure some people have concerts or rehearsals during the evening, but maybe someone can come.

:)

awareness

2005-11-27T13:57:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving break is usually a time of reflection for me in general, and in the midst of student teaching that tradition was indeed pronounced. I was thinking extensively about the process, my competence as a teacher, things like that. I think it's a good idea to reflect on the big picture during this hectic time. This few days was really interesting; I realized that teaching is something I'm always going to be doing, because learning is always something I'm going to be doing.

The lessons I've been teaching lately have really shown me what I need to improve, and what my strengths are, and how I can maximize those strengths in the context of my philosophy. The critical state of higher-level thinking has been happening in my classes; it's like a buzz, or something. A mood. Whatever I end up teaching and in whatever capacity, the Gateway kids have shown me, most importantly, how crucial it is to be aware of things at all times. (I arrived at this conclusion based on their behavior and my own.)

Anyway, as teaching and lesson planning, believe it or not, is becoming easier and more effective, I can be more aware of what's happening, critically speaking. I'm not uncomfortable and nervous anymore, and now I can really assess myself and my students during our interaction instead of solely after the fact. I wonder if anyone else is experiencing this. How does it differ? I know that for me, the feeling of being this level of aware is incredibly enlightening.

Cooperative Groups

2005-11-22T14:54:00.000-05:00

In continuing my Crit. Ped. lesson with the 2nd grade classes, we have come to the point of cooperative learning in the lesson. Some classes are able to handle the group work extremely well, and other classes cannot handle the cooperative learning. For example, my class today has several students (by several, I mean 5 out of the 20) with attention difficulties and several that display defiant behavior. Group work is extremely difficult because these students need a great deal of individual attention, and with only one teacher in the classroom, each group might not receive as much attention as they would hope. I know how important cooperative learning is to incorporate in the classroom; however, the group work today seemed to do more harm than good for the students. The strangest part of the lesson occurred later during the performance. Although the process of creating an ostinato did not go very smoothly, the end result for the 3 performing groups today was very polished and clean. I don't understand how the result could change so drastically from the messy process I encountered during the group work. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm utterly puzzled by this...

praxis stuff

2005-11-21T16:46:00.000-05:00

I agree with what Julie and Katie mentioned. I feel that there was so much information on that test, that I really cannot judge how I did. There was alot of material that I did not know and some people that I have never heard of! I agree with the previous posts that we have no had enough experience with instrumental education and unfortunately there was quite a big part on the test. I just hope that we all passed and I am glad the test is over with!

Praxis

2005-11-20T13:25:00.000-05:00

I'm very glad that the Praxis is now over but I agree with Julie's posting. I feel that it is ridiculous that we are certified in instrumental music when we essentially know nothing. We had one instrumental class where we went through the instruments so fast I can barely remember the fingerings of even one note on each of them. I felt the test was extremely biased in favor of instrumentalists. I'm sure that if we brought up the question to ETS they would show us that there were an equal distribution of choral and instrumental questions but it certaintly didn't seem that way. I also felt that there was an unequal distribution of questions on historical subject matter. There were so many questions about jazz, if they really want to have a comprehensive test shouldn't they include a wider expanse of subject material?

2005-11-19T17:18:00.000-05:00

By the way, thanks Kim for your post. I get worried about those things sometimes. Your words are really encouraging.

:)

PRAXIS

2005-11-19T16:53:00.000-05:00

SO.

I really wish we'd had maybe a few classes to prepare for this. It was and is a much bigger issue for me than hearing about different methods of classroom discipline. That's something that's situational, and solutions are better learned from experience, not from a book, I think. I haven't said anything about it, but now I think it's justified. We should have spent more time on the Praxis.

About the test itself: what did you all think? I thought the listening part was pretty reasonable. I didn't have a hard time. However, I was quite pissed off about that question in the beginning concerning the "strings' technique" used at the end of an excerpt, during which I asked the proctor guy to turn the volume up. I was way in the back and could barely hear the recording because of the sound of the heater. If I can't hear, shouldn't that be an indication of an unfair advantage for people in front of the classroom, who are able to hear the recording better and the heater less? I thought I heard harmonics and that's what I chose for my answer, but it was mostly a guess. And the fact that basically a boombox was used for the PRAXIS exam was really discouraging. What do you mean that's as high as the volume goes? Couldn't they have thought about these factors? It seemed unprofessional, and I was disappointed.

Of course, as I'm sure many of you were, I was nervous about the massive array of band questions. Who the heck is Richard Sparke? Why didn't we go over this? Moreover, why didn't we get the study guides sooner? I understand that we're somehow supposed to have "a leg up" on the instrumental people in terms of choral music, but I felt so unfairly lost in some parts. Of course, some things were common-sense and extensive research was not necessary, such as questions about standard procedures for a wind section. That's something we should probably know. However, that question about beginning methods books for French horn or whatever it was, and what may be taught in the first few pages (there were 2 technical concepts and 2 rhythms as choices) was just completely ridiculous. We should have had more training, if we're getting certified in this. I would NEVER apply for a position that required me to teach band, because I would never teach something I don't know. I think it's ridiculous that we're being certified in it.

I thought most of the other stuff was pretty reasonable. Besides some things being hard to hear, I thought it was challenging but good. What did you guys think?

Re: Praxis Posts also

2005-11-17T23:27:00.000-05:00

AS a few people have mentioned already, I am concerned also about the information that will be on the test and the quantity of information in relation to instrumental information. (I think I said information too many times) I spoke to the band director at my placement and he gave me a list to study for transposition if anyone would like, just to use as a reference or to have in the back of your head for Saturday.

Slowly, but surely, I am becoming more and more nervous about this test. I am going to put in my two cents here and this will be the end of my contribution to the subject. As far as Westminster is concerned, I am extremely grateful for the education that I have received. I believe that I have learned a myriad of subject matter in relation to choirs, vocal performance and education within the general music arena. However, I do not feel that this particular institution as prepared us adequately to be the best all around teachers. The reason being, that we haven't studied a little more in depth the different methodologies within education; we barely learn any information about all of the different instruments, let alone play them. However, I can say this one thing, Westminster has prepared us as students and as teachers to be able to search and find answers and resources to accomplish what we need to do and convey to our audience. This idea is one of great merit which is why I believe many Westminster graduates are successful, because we have been trained (or forced) to think outside of the box and search for ourselves, for personal fulfillment and knowledge as a musician and educator.

So, I said all of this to say, everyone...Keep your spirits high. Do not feel that just because we have not had all of the information presented to us, as we may have wanted and/or preferred, that we are not going to be good teachers or musicians. We have made it this far...we CAN make it even further!

I need help...

2005-11-17T18:32:00.000-05:00

I need some help. I am trying to find a method that works for classroom management. I am having trouble sometimes with students being chatty and calling out when I’m talking. Although most students seem to be engaged in the lesson, they also get antsy because they come from gym. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to help me with classroom management? I don’t want to have to raise my voice, but sometimes I feel that I must resort to a louder voice to get the attention of the students. What does one do with the child that just can’t control his/her talking? I try to let some of the talking just roll off, since some students need to discuss to learn. I just wonder if the only way we know when the students are talking to learn versus talking for the sake of talking is after we know more about the students.

Re: Praxis posts

2005-11-17T09:17:00.000-05:00

I bought the Praxis study guide from ETS (yes, I'm a nerd, I know) and there is quite a bit that I am worried about. Obviously being students of Westminster Choir College, our studies are a bit limited in terms of instrumental music. Because we are being certified for choral AND instrumental K-12, we need to know both choral and instrumental. Considering the material on the study guide, it seems about half and half. The majority of the knowledge I have of instrumental music comes from playing different instruments throughout grade school. I agree with Amy that the instrumental instruction that we have had at Westminster is insufficient.
Another section of the exam that concerns me is anything pertaining to jazz. The study guide lists about ten or fifteen "suggestions" of jazz composers/performers to study, and to be quite honest, there were a couple of names I had not even heard of before.

My advice to those of you who don't have much experience with instrumental or jazz music, study instrumental and jazz music!

If anyone is really concerned about the exam, you are more than welcome to come to my house for a bit after seminar tomorrow to go over some stuff on the study guide. If I get a chance tomorrow, I will try to make some copies of the pages that give suggestions on what to study so we all have an idea of what to expect.

Good luck everyone! See you tomorrow.

Praxis Thoughts

2005-11-16T18:57:00.000-05:00

Well as Julie said the questions on the practice test were pretty easy and stuff that we should know. Is anyone studying? I too am going over some music history things, but I am worried about a few parts.
I am worried about anything that we need to know about band or orchestra. I was looking through an Arco book that had a few practice questions and one of the questions was "What is the first note that a beginning violinist should play." Well I knew that it was A, but I am worried about questions like that. From our one semester of learning band and orchestra instruments, I personally did not much out of it, and since I took it freshman year, I really don't remember much. Anyone have any thoughts?
Also I am worried about one of the questions on the practice test was an excerpt that they play for you and it was a March. Sousa was one of the answers and since I couldnt listen to the excerpt, I figure Sousa was the most famous for march songs out of the composers listed. Well it turned out not to be Sousa. I am so worried about them playing pieces and for us giving the composer, becuase I have no idea what kind of music they are going to pick.

This is getting me frustrated, and I think that I am over reacting. I think that we all should be prepared just from our courses at westminster. Anyone have anyother ideas about what to look over before the test?

praxis

2005-11-16T18:16:00.000-05:00

Just wondering: did everyone take that short little practice test for the PRAXIS II in the PDF file on the website? It was something like 10 questions, and some of them were CD questions. What did you think? I thought it was incredibly reasonable and well-balanced.

How does everyone feel about the PRAXIS in general? I'm not sure if everybody is taking it this Saturday, but I think most of us are. Is anyone actually studying? I'm reading some music history to catch up, but I had no trouble with the practice questions; they seemed to be things I should already have ingrained in my head. Anyway, how do you guys feel about it?

eine kleine folklied?!

2005-11-16T17:51:00.000-05:00

My mother teaches piano privately. The other day, one of her 7-year-old students, upon hearing Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (we're geeks and our wall clock plays actual recordings of excerpts of orchestral music, and 4:00 is Mozart,) said, "I know this song! It's a folk song!" My mother asked, of course, how this little girl came to make the conclusion that this piece was a folk song, and she replied, "My music teacher at school told me."

Thoughts?

Song repertoire...

2005-11-15T18:53:00.000-05:00

I was reading an article today that I wanted to share with everyone. The song in question is “Pick a Bale of Cotton,” which is a song I sang as a child because it’s a folk song from my part of the country. I never saw the relation to slavery because I am a firm believer that any type of slavery is completely wrong. Since there is no direct reference to slavery, I would never have seen the connection. I would just like to hear everyone’s opinions on this article. Although I can see why the parent was offended by the reference to picking cotton, I also wonder if pulling songs from concerts is becoming a “knee-jerk” reaction to prevent law-suits. Please let me know your thoughts on this issue.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10044207/

Critical Ped.

2005-11-15T18:18:00.000-05:00

I began a critical pedagogy lesson this week that uses nursery rhymes as a medium for students to create and compose ostinati. A class that I had today has several students that exhibit impulsive behaviors. One of these students, a boy, has a very bad homelife and many times will withdraw from the lessons and retreat to a corner. Another girl is neglected at home, and she has several learning disabilities. Today, the boy started out by retreating to his seat and not participating in the lesson; however, once he realized we were talking about nursery rhymes, he moved to the front of the classroom, immediately in front of me. He began participating in the lesson, and he was very excited to be a part of class. The girl seemed to zone out for a little while during class; however, during an integral part of the lesson, she made a very important observation about the ostinato I was performing while the students were singing. It was extremely exciting that these two students were able to engage in ways that they might not otherwise engage in the lesson. There were also several students who had nursery rhymes from their own culture that they were willing to bring in to class. I am looking forward to learning from the students’ input into the lesson!

Reaching your students

2005-11-13T11:33:00.000-05:00

My co-op generally stands outside the door and greets the students as they enter the classroom, it is a very nice way to see how each student is doing as well as setting up a positive rehearsal atmosphere. This is a habit I've picked up from watching her and on Wednesday I greeting my 3rd period class when one student came up to me and started a very pleasant conversation. This student always sits in the back and it is difficult to get her to participate or even smile. But I greeted her very enthusiastically and she then began talking and in the course of the conversation said that she didn't want me to leave in December - I was shocked by this because in classes I wasn't sure I was ever reaching her.
In the next period we started the class with a discussion about a new piece I'm introducing to the class and another girl who never participates raised her and an contributed some very pertinent information - again I was completely shocked! In this situation the student in question barely sings and sits through class with a scowl on her face.
Then finally in 7th period there are two girls who love to sit in the back of class and talk. My co-op has moved them down to the front but the are still very hard to engage. I had put a 6/8 rhythm on the board and one of the pair kept saying that she didn't understand, then the other one started explaining the principles of 6/8 to her -I stopped her and asked how she knew all of this, she told me that she had taken piano for 7 years and that she loves music. She and I began discussing some of the things she likes and all of a sudden completely participation. It is so encouraging to see those non participatory students actually engaged and participating.

Nine Events of Instruction

2005-11-12T09:34:00.000-05:00

I found something interesting while surfing the web: Robert Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction. It's a basic order of what should take place during the learning process. I had never heard of it before but I was interested by the results of my comparison between Gagne's theory and Critical Pedagogy. Here is the process, with the CPME steps that I thought corresponded to each:

Nine Events of Instruction
1. Gain AttentionPique the learners' interest in the subject. Honor their World.
Example: Show a s'more. Talk about how delicious it is.

2. Inform Learner of Objective: Let the learners know what they will be learning.
Example: Today, we will learn how to make a s'more.

3. Recall Prior Knowledge: Get the learners to think about what they already know. Connecting Their World to the Classroom.
Example: Has anyone ever had a s'more? Where? When? What is it made of?

4. Present Material: Teach the topic. Dialoguing Together.
Example: Show learners how to make a s'more.

5. Provide Guided Learning: Help the learners follow along as the topic is presented.
Example: Provide picture posters of steps involved in making a s'more.

6. Elicit Performance: Ask learners to do what they have been taught.
Practicing the Content.
Example: Give learners ingredients to make their own s'more.

7. Provide Feedback: Inform learners of their performance.
Example: Circulate around the classroom to observe and help learners.

8. Assess Performance Evaluate learners on their knowledge of the topic.
Assessing Transformation.
Example: Examine learners' s'mores. If correctly made, they get to eat them.

9. Enhance Retention and Transfer: Aid learners in remembering and applying the new skill. Example: Have learners make s'mores for a snack during the week or a class field trip.

While I did not find steps in this process that corresponded exactly to Steps 2, 6, and 8, it was interesting to see the similarity in the chronology of the steps that did correspond. (Although, now that I think about it, I'm not sure one would find a process where students practice the content before learning it. Perhaps the chronology is not something to marvel after all.) Perhaps the chronology is Like CPME, this instructional process also addresses the many levels of student learning. If you're interested to learn more about this guy, here is the web address where I found this information (Encyclopedia of Educational Technology): http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/gagnesevents/index.htm

It's great what you can stumble upon while Googling.

GarageBand: Staff Development

2005-11-10T15:45:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was a staff development day for the music department in East Brunswick. The seminar was based on Garage Band (the application that can be found on all Apple computers) which allows you to mix different loops of data and sounds. East Brunswick High School has a wonderful lab, very similar to our MCC lab at Westminster. The unique part of the seminar was that the high school music theory teacher had placed numerous children’s books on the back table. She uses these books as ideas for composition projects. The students must use Garage Band to create accompaniments and themes for each character in the book. I began thinking about the implications of technology in the music classroom. Students not only have the ability to compose and arrange music using this program, but they can incorporate their arrangements and compositions into mediums outside the arts. The students at the high school spend countless hours composing using Garage Band. What a great way to incorporate music technology into the world of a teenager!

Staff Development Day

2005-11-10T12:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Staff Development Day for our school district. The students did not have school, but all the teachers in the district met up at the high school for the day to get some new ideas and techniques specific to the department to which they belong. The first hour and a half was allotted to the keynote speaker, who spoke to the entirety of the district about teamwork and attitude and how the two determine whether or not a teaching experience will be enjoyable. We watched a video called FISH! (the one we watched in SGA), about men who work in a fish market but make the most of the far from ideal environment. The four tenets of the "FISH! Philosophy" are Play, Be There, Make Their Day, and Choose Your Attitude. It more or less encouraged educators to have fun with the kids in the classroom and to take control of how they feel and act. These principles help educators create a more comfortable learning environment for their students so that children look forward to coming to school.
After the speaker finished, each department went off on its own. The music department spent the two 90 minute sessions in a seminar about technology in the classroom, specifically Finale and SmartMusic. Finale is a computer program that facilitates music composition and it is partnered with a program called SmartMusic. These two programs take computer-generated music to a whole new level. The formerly unnatural sounds of midi instruments have been replaced by Garritan Personal Orchestra, which replicates the sounds of the instruments far more accurately than its predecessor. SmartMusic also comes with a lot of repertoire for both voices and instruments. The music can be isolated so that each part has its own music separate from the whole score, and CDs can be made of the parts to facilitate independent practice. Students can now sing or play into the mic on their computer with the rest of the ensemble playing through the speakers. The program records the student and then juxtaposes the notation of what the student played with the actual music so that the player may identify the errors made. It's amazing what we are capable of these days in terms of musical technology.
All in all, it was a pretty nice day. Not only did I learn a lot about the new programs, but being there also gave me a chance to get to know the eleven other music teachers in the district. It was a great experience.

The flip side of the coin

2005-11-09T11:51:00.000-05:00

Although I understand and agree that rewards should not be used for every circumstance, there are some children that cannot be reached any other way. Although we would like to believe that we will always be able to make learning intrinsically valuable, this notion will not always be the case. We are interacting with students from many different backgrounds, socio-economic classes etc… which means that we must constantly assess our teaching methods to reach every student. While I understand that we must not constantly rely on rewards and punishments to “get our point across,” I also know that some students will need some sort of behavior modification so that they will be able to act responsibly. Kohn says that we must “examine our own motivation” for using rewards, and I agree with that statement (31). Using rewards for the sake of using rewards does not teach our students to become responsible and is a means for control. I don’t think we should completely discount rewards as being effective for certain students to learn appropriate behavior. Just my thoughts…

Behaviorism

2005-11-08T17:38:00.000-05:00

While reading the first two chapters of The Case Against Rewards, I became increasingly aware of how integral rewards have been in our school system. I feel that I am a product of that system too. We place so much emphasis on achieving a grade, that many times we forget that learning and engaging in the knowledge is the most important part of school. What do we teach children by allowing them to believe that there will always be a reward for any accomplishment? Children are conditioned to expect rewards. So many times, the reward becomes the primary focus of the behavior. My co-op shared a story with me recently about a teacher that would hand out stickers each time a child would answer a question correctly. A girl in the teacher’s class answered a question correctly one day and before the teacher could comment on the girl’s answer, the girl raised her hand and yelled “Sticker Please!” Should we really be bribing our kids to learn? I think if the teacher engages the child in meaningful learning, the child will find the intrinsic value of learning.

SWBAT

2005-11-08T11:26:00.000-05:00

My cooperating teacher has to submit her lesson plans monthly, so she turned mine in for last month. The vice principal goes over the plans and writes some comments when you've done something well or if there is an area that may need improvement. The comment she wrote on mine read, "Great, in-depth lesson plan, but missing a concept!". This was funny to me because although I had a concept that outlined my goals for the lesson (I use the CPME format), it was insufficient because I did not have a statement beginning with "Students will...". I know we're striving to avoid writing lessons that consist of objectives followed by a to-do list, but it seems like that might be what a lot of schools are looking for. My co-op's lessons all begin with SWBAT (students will be able to...). No thanks. Maybe this is why we were encouraged to "tweak" our lesson plans before submitting them to our higher-ups...

RE: Classroom Management (again)

2005-11-07T16:21:00.000-05:00

Kate,
Your issue with with student reminds of a few issues I've had with some of my students at Peshine. I think what you do with a student like the one you mentioned varies from student to student. For instance, my one lovely who told me she was going to "rip my head off" was dealt with by allowing her to not participate in the class at all. She was very close to being tested and placed in an LRLE and looking and listening to her you could see that one wrong word could result in a physical attack (and I knew I did not need to go to jail!). For some students its purely a religious thing where the boys/men in these religions just don't respect women and that's an issue where you need to talk to Mom and Dad or whoever.Some students just do not do well with change and will not warm-up to you for a long time.
Is he like this in his classroom? What's his home situation like? What has your co-op's experience with him been? Sometimes to figure something out you have do some serious research and detective work.

Daily versus weekly meetings

2005-11-07T14:36:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the last day of the first marking period. In this district the students take music every day for a marking period. Since I started here, I have been deliberating over which schedule the students would most benefit from: daily lessons for a marking period or one lesson a week for the whole year. So far, I have really enjoyed seeing the same kids every day. I have gotten to know each of them very and we were able to establish a great rapport with each other from the very beginning. The lessons I have written in CPME format were easily completed over two or three lessons without the students forgetting the material. All of this seems ideal until I realize that tomorrow is our last day together and think that they might not have any opportunity for musical experience for the other three quarters of the year. Worse yet, they may even have music fourth marking period next year! I know that weekly meetings are far from desirable, but I'm not sure that the alternative scheduling employed in Sayreville is any better.
I still haven't determined the lesser of two evils...

Classroom Management (again)

2005-11-05T09:37:00.000-05:00

Since we are nearing the end of the first marking period (our last day is Tuesday the 8th), I needed to give them a grade for an activity we were working on. On Thursday we learned a partner song, swing version of Old MacDonald and The Farmer in the Dell to go along with our jazz unit. I told the class I would be grading their performance the next day based on participation, but that I had also made up a written test for those who were incapable of following directions. I would not have done this, but if I had not planned to remove the disruptive student(s) from the class we would not have even gotten through the whole song.
There was only one student who was being disruptive enough that I gave him a test. I don't know what to do with this boy. I knew he would be the only one who would not be able to handle this activity, as he is frequently interrupting me in other lessons and always disturbing the students around him. The problem I have with this particular student is that he seems to not care about anything. If I used positive reinforcement and rewarded every single student around him, he would not care. If I had him take a written test as a consequence for his actions, he would not (and did not) care. I am baffled by his behavior, as it seems unnatural for someone not to strive toward a goal when given an incentive or to avoid some negative consequence.
As I said before, we only have two days left in the marking period, so I will not have to deal with this issue much longer, but I would be very interested to know what I have been doing wrong or what I could have done better. Has anyone had to work with a student like this who was so apathetic that no disciplinary action seemed to work? If so, I'd like to know. I'm interested to see how someone else might have dealt with a similar problem.

Putting the Hurt On

2005-11-04T16:12:00.000-05:00

This week was an interesting week with my co-op gone and just me and Mr. Bell (the sub). I learned a lot about my issues with classroom management (mostly how ineffective I am) and have spent a lot of time thinking about how I can improve upon my skills. I have had a very hard time with 2 classes these past few weeks and set out to set things straight. My 3rd grade class (Mr. Bey) who is forever off the hook got a taste of what music class will be like if their poor behavior continues. I decided that in order to show the students that they really do have it pretty good, with games and movement and singing I would take all of that away and make music as unfun as it can be. I broke out the textbooks and started quizzing! What fun! The class was totally different and I think I made my point. I still had some behavior issues but there are so many kids in that class that rub each other the wrong way and feed off their bad energy its unbelievable.

My ever challenging 1st graders were next on my list. They have so much energy and are so talkative I decided to give them extra physical exertion this week, all under the umbrella of loud and soft. I had those kids moving so much that when they finally stopped moving they laid on the floor panting and complaining about how tired they were. Not only were they listening to the music as they showed me loud and soft, they also practiced some locomotor movements. Bonus! I'm sure I'll sleep tonight with a smile on my face and hear "I'm tired Miss Burton" echoing in the back of my mind.

Music Programs on A $10 Budget

2005-11-04T16:04:00.000-05:00

One thing I have noticed that is very prominent in my district is a complete unbalance in the schools music programs. Teaching on a cart is one thing, but not having anything to teach your students with is another. My school is one of the fortunate schools that has rhythm sticks, a piano, a few glocks, cymbals, and castanets (a few instruments short of what I would have in an ideal classroom, but I digress). Other schools however, have absolutely for their students to use. I talked to a girlfriend of mine and she has nothing for her classroom but ceramic bells. Bells that are not even supposed to be used by the students. Yes folks all has is a boom box, tennis balls (which are hers), and construction paper. How you expect to create a flourishing music program containing musicians that can compose, create, play instruments, and more with nothing for them to use. The disparity between schools is disturbing and frustrating. Hmmm... I wonder why you can't keep good music teachers in the inner city?

Standardized Testing and Bye-Bye Music/Art

2005-11-04T15:55:00.000-05:00

Last week as Mr. Schmidt spoke about standardized testing and how effective or ineffective it is, my mind wandered the situation in Newarks school district. At Peshine (my school) I hadn't heard too much about standardized testing until I went to a faculty meeting about a month ago. In this meeting the teachers cheered and applauded money that was awarded to the school due to great test scores. GEPA and NJASK do not seem to dictate how the students spend their activity time. At other schools in the district however, the same cannot be said. In schools with excellent scores like Lafayette and Wilson Ave. students are simply not permitted to leave class for music and art. Their whole and 4th and 8th grade year is spent preparing for this test- no "activities" as music and art are called. These schools are insistent on holding onto their 1st place status for these tests. Soooo... What do the music and art teacher do when they are not seeing their students as they should or at all? Especially when the admistration is backing the teachers up in their stance (as these schools do). Do you leave? Go to the board?

My Fair Lady

2005-11-04T11:26:00.000-05:00

I am currently in the middle of a lesson using My Fair Lady for 6th grade general music. As I watched it and thought more about it, I realized more and more its value as critical pedagogy teaching tool. The story involves Eliza Doolittle who is obviously not content in her current reality so she seeks out transformative help. She finds that help (or does she?) in Professor Higgins. The language Eliza's teacher (Higgins) uses towards her objectifies her. At one point he describes her as "deliciously low". The contradictory phrase sums up the way Higgins views her student. He views her as this raw, subhuman pet project to be molded into what he wants her to be. The destructive power we as teachers can potentially wield is brought to light in the movie as you start to think Eliza is transforming as she begins to stand up to Higgins and eventually she realizes that she doesn't need him and he is not good for her. However, at the end, she ends up returning to him and becomes mindlessly content to fulfill the role Higgins had layed out for her. Thus she never really transformed her reality into something that was better for her. She merely made adjustments to her place in reality to fit the needs of Mr. Higgins, her teacher.

Choral preparation in general music

2005-11-03T15:37:00.000-05:00

I was thinking today about the task of reading music in elementary chorus. In the a cappella chorus at my new school, the students had a great deal of difficulty reading a three part piece today. I began to think about my previous school and the incorporation of a “choral prep” lesson into the general music class. My previous co-op was having difficulty with students using choir time to try to figure out the score rather than in the music making. The choral rehearsal in my previous school went much more smoothly with the inclusion of this preparation in the general music class. The preparation did not take a great deal of time out of the class, and it saved a tremendous amount of time in the rehearsal. I would not have given much thought to the inclusion of a choral preparation/score reading segment in music class; however, today’s choral rehearsal made me realize that the music reading issues are better resolved in the general music classroom rather than during a short choral rehearsal. The juxtaposition of the two school’s choirs and the non-prep versus the prep is very interesting. I don't know that a preparation lesson would be the miraculous cure-all for music reading issues, but it seemed to help in my previous school. Does anyone have any ideas on choral preparation in the general music classroom?

Report Cards

2005-11-03T15:23:00.000-05:00

Among the music teachers in the district I am teaching in, there are so many differences in what they want to have on the report cards. They are trying to revise one report card for all the elementary music teachers, but it is impossible. My teacher wants music to be considered accountable and put the national standards on the report card and show the parents exactly how their children are doing in the different aspects of music education. The Band and orchestra teachers just want to leave comments, because "they do not use the national standards," as they say. They just "teach the kids to play instruments." So there is a big dilemma I think they are just going to have to have 2 different report cards, but the things that the teachers were saying totally shocked me.

First of all, it is a ridiculous task to ask someone who works with 500 children in general music to write just comments for each child, that would take forever. The second is, apparently these band and orchestra teachers of the district do not use the national standards. Based on what these teachers were saying and arguing about, I was thinking to myself "No wonder school districts in this area are taking music out of elementary schools!" Some of these teachers are not making their jobs important at all. They are not even saying how important music is for children. If they feel that all they are teaching children to do is play an instrument, then I don't know why they are music teachers. I was so confused when I left the room, because I couldn't believe the things that these music teachers were saying! I am just wondering if anyone else has any thoughts on this matter.

Feedback

2005-11-02T21:52:00.000-05:00

As I said, today was the first day that I taught all of the classes for the whole period. I left 5-8 minutes at the end of each class to ask the students for their feedback. I just opened a forum and said, "Although I'm your teacher I'm also a student just like you. I want you to help me to learn to be a better teacher. What were some things that you thought I did well today, and what are some things that you think I could do better for next time."

The students were amazing. They were so honest and just told me how it was. I did get a lot of positive feedback, and the corrective criticism they gave me was very poignant. Their ability to articulate what they thought could do better was surprising. I'm so glad that I asked for their feedback, because I learned so much from them. One comment that I received really struck me. A girl said, "Thank you so much for even asking us for our opinion. Most of my teachers don't care enough to ask us." That really made me sad, because if teachers aren't allowing themselves to learn from their students then they aren't doing their jobs as teachers. The other comment that really touched me was one boy said, "I think you're really brave, because you got up in front of us and ran class how you wanted instead of just carbon copying Mrs. Reid. If I were a student teacher I don't think I would have the courage to try things my way." I felt really good about that. I have definitly taken things from Mrs. Reid (and my old coop) that have made me a better teacher, but then I still think about who I am and try to make it my own. The fact that the students felt that they got a glimpse of me as a person not just as random student teacher made me so proud that I was able to put myself up there, make myself vulnerable to my students (sorry for the Jordan quote), and through my teaching give them a glimpse of who I am. That was really cool!

New Placement

2005-11-02T21:45:00.000-05:00

So switching from K-5 general music to 8-9 choir was a huge adjustment. Today was the first day that I taught all of the classes, and I think the biggest thing that I can glean is that teaching choral music forces you to think on your feet and trust your gut instinct much more than teaching general music. When I wrote general music lesson plans, they were extremely methodical. Each step of the lesson plan had to occur in sequence for the concept to be taught. Choral music is very different, because although I still have a concept of what I want to accomplish in that class period, the sequencing of the lesson plan seems to be much more dependent on how the students react. One can never know how the students will learn the music, or where problem spots occur (although I'm sure with experience I will get better at predicting these places) but I found that I had to be much more flexible, and if students had questions about certain aspects of the piece as long as it was relatively pertinent I ran with it. This not only validated the student's concern, but it helped the other students learn from their peers. My coop co mplimented me about how much better I'm getting at going with my instinct. It's definitly different from general music, but it also is more fun and leaves more elements of surprise. I'm having a lot of fun with this new experience.

Standardized testing

2005-11-02T16:45:00.000-05:00

In furthering the issues that Afton’s blog discussed about standardized testing… I recently read a chapter in a book called Redesigning Education by Kenneth G. Wilson and Bennett Daviss, that suits the topic you presented. This chapter points out that the average child in the US takes 2-3 standardized tests per year (140). The author’s go on to point out the obvious fact that standardized tests generally measure the memorization and rote-learning abilities of the students, and not the synthesis of the information and its relevance to students. The scary part of all of this standardization is that the tests “emphasize and mutually reinforce low-level thinking and knowledge, and were found to have an extensive and pervasive influence on… instruction nationwide” (140). Another sad notion is that schools are being rewarded monetarily for “teaching to the test” so that students are able to pass these exams. In a school in Virginia, where the Standards of Learning tests must be passed to graduate high school, I have been informed that teachers are “suggesting” that certain students be absent on “certain” days. It is appalling to me to think that teachers have become conditioned to think in such a way; however, since this school only conditionally passed the exams the previous year, the teachers have become hard-pressed for performance, performance, performance. Since the Arts are now considered core subjects for students, will the same mentality of teaching for a test occur in these programs? While I think the inclusion of music and the other Arts as core to the curriculum is fantastic, I also worry that for many teachers, music will become just another test for which to prepare the students.

Reference:Wilson, Kenneth G., and Bennett Daviss. (1994). Redesigning Education. New York: Teachers College Press.

Pre-concert...

2005-11-01T22:33:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow East will be presenting its Fall Preview Concert. This is an evening where all of the performing groups in the school will present one piece, to try and entice the community to come see their full program at the winter concert. The concert consists of about 16 performing ensembles and a lot of logistics! My co-op, her partner and I have all been struggling over the past few weeks trying to get these kids ready for a concert, honestly there were some groups I thought would not be ready at all. But for some reason (and I do not even begin to understand or explain this phenomena...) everything pulled together. Every part fell into place, every logistical move went smoothly and everyone seemed to finally understand the concert ettiqute we've been drilling into them! What is it about the day before a concert that makes everything in the program fall into place?! We've even experienced this at Westminster, but for as many performances I have been a part of in some capacity I will never understand it!

Environments

2005-11-01T17:11:00.000-05:00

Since being at Irwin Elementary, I have noticed that the music room is used for almost everything imaginable. For example, this week is the book fair and the music room has been turned into a bookstore. Since this situation has occurred, we have been traveling to the classes to have music. I have observed a huge difference in the behavior of the students when they are in their classroom, as opposed to the music classroom. It seems to be difficult for the students to adjust to having music in the classroom where they operate everyday. They are not as participatory in the music activities and they are very talkative. The students also seemed to demonstrate more disruptive behaviors in their regular classroom as opposed to demonstrating more respect in the music classroom. In reflection after the day, Mrs. Schmidt and I discussed the fact that elementary students have a tendency to freak out when their normal schedule is disrupted. This notion was made very clear in today’s classes because they were shortened due to half-day schedule, and we were in each homeroom classroom. The students had trouble functioning since their environment was different. I have gained a great deal of respect for those music teachers who must teach on a cart.

Choir

2005-11-01T12:22:00.000-05:00

So I have been trying to create lesson plans for the choirs, and have come up with some obstacles. Whenever I plan to do a particular thing with them, I usually accomplish what I went into the lesson planning, but so much more can come out of the lesson. My choir rehearsals seem to evolve by what students say and how they are singing that day. So I sometimes feel that my plan for choir is really useless, and that I do not always use what I am writing down.
This morning, I went into a choir rehearsal planning on working for about 10 mins, on learning the diction for the rest of the song we had started previously. But we ended up working alot longer on the piece. My co-op plays the choirs parts on the piano with the accompaniment, which I am not to thrilled with. So I asked her to just play the accompaniment and not their parts, and boy, they had so much trouble. They didn't know their parts!!! So I basically was reteaching them alot of the music and teaching them to be independant of the accompaniment. Sometimes they would just sing the accompaniment, because that is what they are used it. Now I know when I teach them new songs, to start off a different way, because this doesn't work and they really do not know their parts, they are just following along with the accompaniment. This is going to be tough to break, they just dont want to sing it on their own. But after working with them for about 30 mins on this song, they were way tired of it. Even though we progressed so much, they were getting frustrated. Contrary to what some of the CPME, honoring thier world in choir, some of these kids DO NOT want to be in choir. They are forced to be in choir, they do not have a choice, so just singing is not honoring thier world. So I am in the process of trying to figure out how to honor the world of these students that really don't want to be there. Does anyone have an suggestions for making students engaged that do not want to be in choir? I think that if I found something to draw them into choir music, that they would actually want to sing and be in choir, I am just still trying to figure that out. And still trying to figure out how to keep the students engaged in choir.

Testing

2005-10-31T21:37:00.000-05:00

Mr. Schmidt spoke about testing in the public school system and the effectiveness or lack thereof on Friday. As many of you know, I am teaching in Newark but you may not know that I have already ahd several occasions to experience the effects of these tests. I went to a faculty meeting maybe 3 weeks ago (boy was that fun!) and was surprised to hear discussion about testing that is to occur in the spring already. Anyway, the school improved their test scores this year so they were awarded money and what excitement that caused in the room! The checks are now proudly on display in the office. What is really gained here? In schools in the district that are testing well the atmosphere is very focused. The children are not allowed "activities" as they are affectionately called, like art and music, and instead are in the classroom all day preparing for GEPA and NJASK. The schools work their students hard in order to maintain their high scores. What does one do here? The principal is not supporting you, the classroom teachers are not... what do the music and art teacher do?

Monday's choir...again!

2005-10-31T21:04:00.000-05:00

Today was one of the most successful rehearsals I have had since I have been here. The women's choir finally came alive when going through some of their songs. I think that I may have figured it out... if I have fun, my students will have fun and thus be more engaged. Yes, I know that you are probably thinking, well yeah, I knew that already.... however, it was a new experience. I tried an activity that Heather Buchanan used when I was in Schola, in that as a choir we had to "sing/show" the emotion that she would hold up on a card, during the warm-ups. I did that, and at first the students looked at me like I had three heads, however, when I revisited that activity during one of their songs that they pretty much knew, they completely came alive! Now of course it could have been the fact that I was jumping around and being overly animated, however it worked, so if that is what it is going to take then... I am going to get a lot of exercise these next few weeks. The girls have expressed to me that these are some of the best times they have been having all year and that really gladden my heart.

Oh, by the way, I tried Mr. McBride and Mr. Schmidt's suggestion of giving the students the power and encouraging them to take control and responsibilty. So, at the end of choir, I left a few moments for "dicussions and/or suggestions." I asked the students how I should conduct the song Sleigh Ride. What could I do differently to convey the points that I had mentioned earlier in class? Although we only had a few moments, they girls responded very well and we are headed in the right direction towards the concert.

Balance

2005-10-28T16:22:00.000-04:00

After my last observation, Mr. McBride shared with me his perception of balance of teaching styles in the classroom. He reminded me that in this student teaching situation, I am basically team teaching with my co-op (that is, I never rehearse a class for an entire period, and nor does he). Realizing that, it is very important to examine teaching styles of myself and my co-op.

My co-op and I have very high energy, animated teaching styles; in retrospect, I realized sometimes students seemed parlayed by the overabundance of the 'in your face' teaching style.
He suggested that in this upcoming week, I focus on bringing a sense of structure to the classroom-I can accomplish this any number of ways and without compromising my personality (as it influences my teaching style). He recommended that I physically represent structure by conducting from one spot (from a stool, or just standing still); I may also create a class period schedule for students to follow, write generative questions on the board, or do any number of things that really appeal to type 2 and 3 learners. I can also channel my energy into focusing the choir on pertinent issues.

re: Julie's Post

2005-10-28T11:25:00.000-04:00

In reply to Julie’s entry about discussing religion in schools… Part of the difficulty that discussing religion in a public school poses is that because we are teachers, and thus, figures of authority, many times what we say may influence the way a child thinks. Even though you stated that you were not trying to pull him to your side, he probably wants to please you or find a way to relate to you that does not have to do with music. The problem though is that according to the Constitution of the United States, teachers and other faculty and staff members must remain religiously neutral. Although I have a strong religious foundation, I believe that, in most cases, it is not appropriate to discuss my personal beliefs with students. Teaching about religion and religious tolerance, however, is appropriate, but choosing one single set of beliefs to talk about is not. No matter what the teacher’s intentions are in discussing personal religious beliefs with students, (s)he must remain cognizant of the fact that it may seem to others (particularly parents) that (s)he is trying to be persuasive on purpose. Religion is a touchy issue that is better left alone within the teacher-student relationship because it could potentially escalate into a lawsuit. I understand what you mean about personal integrity of beliefs; however, once you take on the responsibility of being a teacher, you accept the responsibility of keeping your beliefs separate from school.

If I were confronted with a religious question, I would simply state that I cannot discuss my personal beliefs with him/her. Maybe the person could talk to a counselor or someone other professional outside the school environment.

The best laid plans...

2005-10-27T23:31:00.000-04:00

When you are writing a lesson plan, do you write it with a specific class in mind thinking "they are going to love this"! Recently I prepared a lesson on body mapping and I was very excited to present it to my women's choir. They are the subjects of my research project, and so far they have been the class I have bonded the most with, they have always been so responsive to everything I have done with them. So naturally I thought they would be responsive to this as well; from the minute they figured out that this was going to be more of an educational lesson than a singing lesson their attitude completely changed.

I had gotten a skeleton from the anatomy teacher, I thought it would be an excellent visual aid for the students but they didn't seem to take to it. They accepted the information willingly enough but I kept getting stares of "why are we doing this"? However, in the next class (the entry level choir) I did the same lesson and they completely loved it! They were so into how the body works and how every muscle group and bones interact. I was completely amazed by the difference between the two classes - the one class you expect a lot from doesn't deliver, and the class you think won't - does!

remembering students' names

2005-10-27T17:39:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to share a strategy for remembering students' names that seems to be working well for me. I know some people mentioned it, and Amy said that there's no time to ask everybody's name during class. That sure is true, and I can imagine that at the elementary level it would be much more difficult.

What I try to do is remember people's faces, and what they contribute to the class; questions they ask, questions they answer. A few people a day. Then during breaks I describe them to my co-op and ask their names; the fact that I remember their faces and something they contributed makes it more likely that I will remember them the next time I see them, and/or the next time they speak.

Choir also makes it easier because people usually sit in the same place, and I can say something like, "Alto, first row, long hair, always slouches during pieces in a different language." Or something like that. Anyway, that works. Taking attendance also helps.

I hope these are useful to someone.

- Julie

crash and burn lesson...

2005-10-27T17:08:00.000-04:00

Well it was more of a crash and burn activity. I was doing an activity with a passing game with 3rd graders my co-op had asked me to do. Well so cut the story short, sometimes things do not always work out right, even though it seemed perfect in my head. The students did a pretty good job following me, but I had to keep changing everything around. I thought that since they are passing on every other beat that it would be fun for the last 3 beats to end up pasing it the other way. Eventually I will figure out how it will work out, but it was a disaster in the classroom. It was mistake after mistake! At least I wasnt teaching an entire lesson! The kids still enjoyed it, even though I had no idea what I was doing, because everything that I worked out in my head fell apart and I was just trying to make something work.

Life Lessons in Music Class

2005-10-27T16:08:00.000-04:00

Today was my second day at my temporary placement during the infamous pennsbury strike...I'm not at a junior high school (8th-9th graders) in East Brunswick. Today no music making occured. My c oop took the opportunity to allow a forum to occur in her classroom. Here is the situation...student council elections are swiftly approaching. Students have written speaches, created campaign slogans, and hung posters all around the school. One girl (who is not in the popular crowd) hung up posters that included a picture of her. All of her posters yesterday were defaced/vandalized. Students drew nasty things on her picture, wrote curse words on her posters, slashed them, etc. She came into our classroom yesterday after school crying. My coop managed to comfort her and calm her down. Today, she went to the vice-principal to discuss the matter. His response was, "Well, she should have known better than to put her picture on a poster, what else would you expect kids this age to do?" My coop angrily responded, "It is my hope that we can hold our students to higher standards than that."

In class she explained the situation to her students, and without naming who it was told them what a certain "grow-up" had said regarding the situation. She then opened her classroom as a forum for her students to discuss their feelings: how do they think the girl who's posters got destroyed felt? how do they feel after knowing what the "grown-up" expected of them? what actions could they do to improve the situation?

After talking about it together, the students decided to write a letter explaining their displeasure at how the administration was handling the situation, and to help the victim make more posters and hang them around the school. They realized (through the help of the coop) that a small group of students can infact make more of a positive influence on the student body than an adminstrator in power because they will have more influence over their peers. Together, they hope to change the administration's opinion of them, so that they will no longer be seen as stereotypical teenagers, but as intelligent young adults who care deeply about the wellbeing of their peers.

Although no music making occured in music class today, I know that the life lesson that my coop taught them will affect their lives in the long run in a very positive way. Children that age need so much support and positive emotional encouragement, and today they received that in spades!

Ownership

2005-10-26T22:34:00.000-04:00

I have one section of concert choir that has been particularly willing to engage in musical actions that are critical in nature and have made significant musical strides as a result. The class is composed of, oddly enough, 16 girls and one guy. My coop and I decided that choir should do their own piece. We chose "Chapel of Love". In this class and through this piece, I have been able to test some of the things we have been learning about and finding that they can be largely successful. I have made a concerted effort to facilitate the choir making musical decisions and evaluating what they have accomplished. The results have been quite outstanding. This is something that tends to be a little harder in some of the other classes as I have tried and not been quite as successful. My point is that it is very interesting to look at the way the different dynamics in different classes allow or inhibit critical thoughts and actions. The major challenge is that we have to know our students well enough to know what's going to work for them in different situations rather than giving in to the easy way out of neglecting the need for critical action and thought in the classes where it may not come as easily.

Fun?

2005-10-26T21:05:00.000-04:00

Although this subject may be taboo to discuss in our philosophical world, I am wondering how so many times we can forget that children are “players” by nature. Musical play is so often forgotten because we must tie every single part of our lesson to a concept. So what happened to music in childhood, for music’s sake? The fact that I teach a game to elementary students that does not connect to the concept I am teaching does not make it an inappropriate choice to include in a lesson. There are just some times when the children need to get up and move around. I understand the purpose of a concept and over-arching goals; however, I also think that students need to experience the fun of music without the teacher constantly seeking to sneak a lofty concept into the process. For example, Kindergarteners need to play and experience music. Their world consists of play and experience; thus, we have a responsibility to honor their world through exploration and musical experiences. Am I wrong to want a lesson to be fun for the students, even if every single activity does not connect perfectly to the concept? Young children need a change of pace to refresh their minds between activities requiring concentration. And if we do not offer breaks in concentration for children to allow for regrouping, are we actually connecting and engaging our students to their fullest potential?

Re: Kindergarten Class (Amy's post on 10/17)

2005-10-26T16:55:00.000-04:00

Amy wrote about her kindergarten class not being able to "figure out" that Flight of the Bumblebee sounded like a bumblebee. She asked whether she expected too much of her kindergarteners to figure this out, and she also said she thought it was "pretty obvious."

I learned that piece when I was young, and the title attributed to it was not Flight of the Bumblebee. I never associated it with a bumblebee because I was never introduced to it as such, so for me, it would have been just as difficult to "figure out."

Perhaps when most of us hear it, we think of a bumblebee because that was the aspect, when we were presented this piece, that we remember visually. I'm concerned whether we unknowingly attribute "obviousness" to things we know, and perhaps blame our teaching strategy or the kids' failure to "come up with the answer," instead of realizing that program music is, after all, only a specific interpretation.

If I were using this piece for a lesson, I would most probably ask kids to attribute their own interpretations to it, and play other examples of animal or action-associated program music, and ask them to do the same, comparing their results with those of the composer. I'd also ask them, right from the start, if they were writing the Flight of the Bumblebee, what it would sound like.

By the way, I think that's a great piece to use for kindergarten.

discussing controversial issues in public school

2005-10-26T16:16:00.000-04:00

S. P., a junior at Gateway, is probably the most advanced music student in my choir. His sightreading is better than most Westminster under-classmen's, he went through VI, sang with Dr. Jordan, and studies with Chick Walker. As is often the case with off-the-charts high school music people, he is usually around the choir room when there isn't a class, during his study halls, hanging out with Mrs. Stanley and I. When I'm not typing lesson plans on my laptop or practicing our repertoire on the piano, we have time to talk, especially during lunch. Sometimes we have strikingly interesting conversations.

The other day we were having such a conversation, and it happened to be concerning religious beliefs, the Catholic church, the history of the Bible, the current controversy over Intelligent Design, evolution, etc.; another words, the most controversial topics possible. (Naturally, to me, those topics revolve around conspiracy theory, church propaganda, Darwinism, and the use of God as a systematic means of control over the populace; in public school, I keep my mouth shut about it.) However, when S. P., who recently began to "believe in God more because of things that have happened in his life lately" asks me my opinions about any of these issues, I will neither sugar-coat them, mask them, nor lie about them. I also don't want to push my beliefs on anyone or confuse people, especially not a 16/17-year-old who's trying to figure things out. However, he seemed increasingly interested in what I had to say (which is unusual for him because he's one of those disgruntled, too-smart, I-know-the-system kids. Kind of like me in high school.) I'm reluctant to voice my opinions to him, because apparently my manner of speaking makes a lot of sense; I'm not trying to recruit him for "my side," just because he's young and impressionable. I hate that it seems that way.

What makes keeping my mouth shut difficult is that Mrs. Stanley is open about these things; she'll voice her opinion freely, about her Catholic upbringing, about rejecting the church, realizing corruption and coming to believe in evolution through enlightenment and intelligent reasoning, etc. Of course, before she voices these things (not just to me, but to S. P.), she promptly says, "I won't talk about these things in a public school, but... etc. etc. etc." I understand that she's been at the school for 30 years and with the amount of success her music program's had, nobody's trying to fire her. However, is she setting a sort-of bad example for me? Am I going to get in trouble if I voice my opinions that way when I start teaching? Probably.

Here's the issue: what about my personal integrity? What about the standards I set for myself as a human being, standards of truth at all costs, honesty and freedom of speech at all costs? What happens to that when it intersects with the politics of a public school? Ostensibly I could agree to sabotage my standard of conduct with others, because I want to keep my job. But at what cost? Do I want to live with a mask on, and not expose my students to who I really am? Of course, Mrs. Stanley doesn't talk about her beliefs in a classroom, but "It's just S. P., so it's okay" doesn't really seem right to me either.

Would some students feel uncomfortable with a teacher that is not religious, that does not believe in a deity or attend a religious institution? Of course, I'm not going to bring this up in a lesson, but what if someone asks? Even if I speak to that person privately, obviously it's going to get around to the other kids, right? Should I explain that it's inappropriate to discuss these matters in a public school (which I think is total bullshit)? I don't know.

What would you do?

Re: Kodaly

2005-10-26T10:52:00.000-04:00

To defend Mr. Schmidt's comment (and my similar point of view) I think "mindless" is an example of a Kodaly blunder (more acutely, a failure on the music educator's part to employ the methodology in the most effective manner possible), not a generalization about the methodology itself. While Kodaly is essentially rooted in child development, its farther-reaching resources can be limiting. Perhaps the over-structuring of some Kodaly environments makes it seem as though it is at risk of being applied mindlessly. While it's true that most Kodaly classrooms use the methodology well, and in connection with developmental patterns and experiences, the skills learned are difficult to connect with the students' worlds, if their worlds do not, in fact, revolve around folk songs and charts with animals on them. (Of course, I'm not suggesting that Kodaly is solely folk songs and animal charts; however, whatever complex philosophies we may possess about what's behind the methodology have no effect on the immediate experiences of our students, and if those things are all they remember, we have failed to utilize Kodaly progressively.)

In my observation and resulting opinion, Kodaly, taking the other methodologies into account, provides the most meager opportunity for connecting to other disciplines, to physical movement, to music-making as opposed to music learning. Another words, it is a methodology that needs to be constantly evaluated and reevaluated in the classroom in order to be effective in the realm of critical pedagogy. Moreover, doesn't every methodology need this to function? A methodology can't possibly be absolute; like our philosophies, it needs to bend and be augmented to be effective. If there were a Dalcroze classroom and all they did was dance around with scarves with no personal connection or understanding of the greater purpose of their experience, I would be equally concerned and call it just as "mindless."

Observation #2

2005-10-25T19:14:00.000-04:00

So this afternoon I was observed. I was teaching a 2nd grade class a Halloween lesson. My concept was: Exploring instrumental accompaniment while singing enhances students’ ability to form a community and make music with fellow classmates. I think that my lesson was challenging for the students and I wanted to make them think. I started with having students listen to a recording of "Monster Mash" and having them listen for the instruments in the song and instruments that they feel might liven up the song, or they feel is appropriate to add to the song. Then I continued to teach them a song called Halloween Night and added instruments. Then I had them critique the instruments and add in different ones that they thought might sound better. Then finally I taught them a song called "skin and bones” and had them add the instrumentation. (This is a critical ped lesson and is more involved in my lesson plan, just giving the basics). I did not think that I was going to complete the entire lesson, but I actually did, probably because last time I taught them the Halloween song and they just needed to review it and add instruments. They very much enjoyed the lesson and it challenged them to critically think. The only problem was that there were some classroom management issues. And I guess I am still learning and trying to figure out how to be more forceful when demanding attention. But they were engaged throughout the lesson, so I think that the talking and whispering were more of them thinking. Any ideas on this? Overall I thought the lesson went pretty well except for the chatting.

Being Thrown In...

2005-10-25T19:04:00.000-04:00

So this morning I went to school and upon my arrival my co-op asked if I knew any Hanukkah songs for the first grade choir. So we looked through a book and decided on a piece, the piece "Al Hanisim" is pretty difficult because it is extremely fast and the Hebrew is tough to say (for 4th graders). Well needless to say, we started the 4th grade class and said that I could teach the new piece. Well after warm-ups she announced "Miss Herman" will be teaching you a new song today. At that point I realized, what am I going to do? I knew the melody of the song, but I had no more than 5 mins to look it over. I am glad that I actually did the piece. I started with Just having the students learn the melody on La. Then after a few times, I started to teach them diction for the Hebrew and they ending up being able to sing the first part of the song, very slowly, but with the words. I am not too sure that they actually like the piece because they think that it is hard. I think they sometimes get turned off when they cant sing it through the first time. But overall it was a good experience and if I am every put on the spot, I think it will be a lot easier to handle. Then we had a 4th grade class right after wards so I was able to practice that again, and of course the second time went a lot better and way more smoothly.

Attention Getting Mechanisms

2005-10-25T17:31:00.000-04:00

Today I started at my temporary student teaching placement, until the strike in Pennsbury is over. My temporary placement is at the Irwin School in East Brunswick with Michele Schmidt. I found today that the student body is much more diverse than what I have experienced at Edgewood. I also noticed that several of the more active kids responded greatly to a display of disappointment by the teacher. While this child was disruptive several times, he got very upset when the teacher showed disappointment toward him. At the elementary age, I am becoming increasingly aware of students’ desires to please the teacher. Most students desire attention from teachers, especially if they have a difficult home life. I’ve noticed that some students will not stop until they get the attention from the teacher. I wonder how one should deal with a student exhibiting attention getting mechanisms that become extreme distractions. Anyone got any ideas?

Kodaly

2005-10-25T17:00:00.000-04:00

In reply to what Lindsay Jackson said, I also have seen what great preparation the Kodaly method gives for students. The kids are able to work on a developmentally appropriate level and progress through music learning in the same way their brains are developing. The Pennsbury school district has a Kodaly-based curriculum, and the high school music program is exceptional. My secondary practicum was at the Pennsbury high school, and I observed how well the students read and understand music. Their intonation was consistently above average, and they were performing music that would be difficult for some college choirs. The point I want to make, then, is that these students are not disadvantaged because they are taught in the Kodaly method. In fact, they are more advanced than most other students at the high school level. Elementary students are taught to sing with good intonation and aural skills. The students are not engaging in “mindless” application of this methodology. They are engaging in music-making and experiential learning that is structured in a way that they are able to grasp and that relates to their world as an inherently musical child.

Classroom Management....

2005-10-24T21:45:00.000-04:00

After reading what Kate is experiencing about classroom management, I had some sucess today in one of my eighth grade classes. My co-op asked me to develop a list of one or two word prompts to get their attention quick and with the least amount of talking. So, today, I tried the prompts he asked me to use, and to my surprise they worked very well. Having short phrases to listen for and remember caused the students to focus a lot quick and the class to move a long much faster.

Monday Morning Rehearsals

2005-10-24T21:35:00.000-04:00

I am having a bit of a hard time engaging my women's choir on Monday mornings. Here is the dilemna... I have a women's choir of 87 girls, which meets twice a week. However, I see half on Mondays and the other half on Thursdays, each for a half hour at a time. No, this is not the ideal situation, however you have to work with what you have. The problem I am facing is, on Mondays it is extremely hard to get through warm-ups at times, especially since it is 8:15 in the morning. Also, I am having a hard time getting progress made with my Monday group. Does anyone have ANY suggestions?

re: Certain Days

2005-10-24T20:21:00.000-04:00

Lindsay~
I have noticed a trend with the weather too. When the weather is raining and nasty outside, the kids tend to be lethargic in the morning but by the afternoon they have WAY too much energy. As we said in the car, this is probably because they didn't get to go outside for recess and were therefore unable to work out all of their excess energy. Similarly, my second grade class on Friday came in with TONS of energy and it was because they just finished watching a 2 hour long video in their social studies class. Asking kids to sit still during a boring video before music class does not make for productive behavior in music class. haha. I definitly had to improvise and modify my lesson plan to allow for them to be more active so that they didn't jump out of their skins.

Classroom Noise Level

2005-10-24T20:17:00.000-04:00

My coop mentioned to me Friday that I am able to "take more noise in the classroom" than her. I think that this may be partly due to the fact that she is ADD and has trouble focusing on the task at hand when kids are talking but the other thing is that I sometimes get so into a zone of teaching that I am not aware of ALL of the kids in the classroom. I've noticed that when I'm teaching I tend to notice the kids who sit right infront of me and the kids who raise their hands. The kids who sit in the back corner and aren't disruptive enough to bother me, but may be distruptive enough to bother their classmates tend to not be noticed by me. Is this me having a higher tolerance for noise? Or is this me being oblivious and unobservant? As I get more comfortable in the classroom and as I get more used to working with larger class sizes it has gotten better, and I have been more aware of what is going around. I think that when I get nervous it's easy for me to go into "deer in the headlights" mode and to sink into myself and not always be able to interact with those around me. I've felt a very positive change throughout the last 4 weeks. I'm interacting much more naturally with my students, and even having a bit of fun! who knew?!

Kodaly

2005-10-24T19:11:00.001-04:00

In seminar on Friday Mr. Schmidt mentioned that Kodaly is an excellent tool to be used in the classroom, but that it can be applied in a mindless way. Although I understand where he is coming from, this comment concerned me. Kodaly's methodology is very much based on the research of child developmental psychology. The way in which he structures the methodology is therefore child centered, because it takes into consideration how a child's mind is able to wrap around concepts. Secondly, the use of solfege and rhythm syllables gives children the tools that they need to experience music in an aural, oral, visual, and kinesthetic way. Yes, it's true that when the methodology is followed blindly and never questioned that it can be very limiting, but that is true of any metholody, critical ped included. If someone simply took the 8 step lesson plan and never thought about the purpose of each step the lesson plans would not have much meaning or depth. With Kodaly, one can simply sing songs and teach solfege, or they can look beyond the simple "prepare, present, practice" sequence and connect the concept of the lesson to activities that the children can internalize and begin to understand. To say that Pennsbury is limited because they only use Kodaly does not take into consideration that the elementary teachers care deeply about giving their students a well-rounded education. My coop (and others) use Kodaly as a basis by which to build musicianship skills in their students. In the future, we should not make generalizations about methodologies unless we examine how they are being used in every circumstance, since a classroom is such a personal thing and cannot be stereotyped across the board.

Teacher's College New Degree Program

2005-10-24T19:11:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,
Teachers College of Columbia University is considering a new degree program called "Gender and Cultural Studies in Education." Here is the info that I was sent:

The Proposed Program in Gender and Cultural Studies in Education (GCSE)

GCSE is a proposed program combining gender studies in education (e.g., gender identity, gender hierarchy, sex role development, heterosexism, girls and science, new masculinities, bullying and sexuality in schools) with cultural studies in education (e.g., media literacy, learning from popular culture, film in the classroom, modernism/ postmodernism, history of youth culture, class and ethnicity, students’ own production of culture in and out of school).

Courses would be offered in the following areas: Gender in Education; Gender and Violence; Social Crisis and Democratic Education; Media and Visual Culture; Popular Culture; Aesthetics of Technology; Youth Cultures; Postmodernism.

GCSE is an academic area of specialization designed to provide innovative approaches, oriented to a broad rethinking of personal and cultural agendas, GCSE would prepare students for a variety of professional careers, including the following:

Instructional or administrative positions in the arts and humanities in school systems and colleges
Teaching and research positions in colleges and universities
Research, consulting, and instructional roles in the new media and in cultural institutions such as art museums
Many of the courses would also be designed to help teachers who want to enhance their teaching in relation to gender and cultural issues that arise in the classroom (e.g., how to use popular culture and feminism in the preparation of topical curricula).

****************************************************
I think that this is an incredible program opportunity. Imagine doing all of your master's research on equality in the classroom and how our diversity affects education. I'm not sure if I would want to enroll solely in that program, but if I were to attend TC for music ed, these course offerings would add a wonderful dimension to the music ed program, and allow for interdisciplinary research to be done. Congrats Columbia for acknowleding the imporance of gender and cultural studies and their implications for education!

Classroom Management

2005-10-24T18:33:00.000-04:00

My classes have been working on performing poems they have written with an ostinato played using rhythm instruments. The first day of working with the instruments, we spent the end of the class period preparing it and it was a disaster. There are twenty-five of them and they all had percussive instruments. It sounded more like fifty kids were in the room. I didn't know what I should do to get things under control, so I explained to them that they were playing forte... who can show me how to play piano? Most of them quickly quieted down, but there were still some kids being disruptive. I really don't like the idea of punishing the entire class because of the behavior of a handful of disruptive students, but I didn't know what to do besides say, "If you don't follow directions, you won't get a chance to work with the instruments tomorrow." I had never been so thankful to end the period.
The next day we were doing more of the same, so this time, I came prepared to face the same issue. I told the class that in order to work with the instruments, there are rules of playing: when I hold one finger in the air, it means they may continue playing but with all eyes on me; two fingers means stop playing; three fingers means instruments go in rest position and I should not hear any sounds coming from instruments or voices. This was amazingly effective. There were still the same few kids not following directions so I started taking instruments away from those students one at a time. Once I had taken a couple away, the other ones who were misbehaving shaped up because they wanted to keep playing! I eventually returned the instruments to the boys and explained that their behavior is not fair to me or their classmates. Their behavior improved drastically.
I know that several of us have had issues with classroom management and noisy classrooms. This technique seemed to work really well for me. The kids were seemingly in competition for who could follow directions first...bizarre! Most of them had their eyes on me before I had one finger in the air. I plan to use these "rules" whenever my lessons include group instrumental performances.

Borrowing ideas...

2005-10-24T18:23:00.000-04:00

Does anyone know the etiquette for borrowing other teachers' lesson activities? I'm doing jazz music this week and I remember a really fun activity from one of my observations that I think would work very well for a lesson on ragtime that I am preparing. I don't know if it's okay to just take this activity idea or if i need to contact that person or if I need to cite my source. Is there a right way to go about this?

Kate

Self-evaluation

2005-10-23T23:15:00.000-04:00

This week has been a big week of self-evaluations for me and my students. I started off this past week, absolutely wonderful I must say. I mean, I was really starting to connect with the students on multiple levels. Then it happened.... Wednesday I had an extremely full day and did not get home until 10 pm, which meant I wasn't going to get much sleep (which I didn't) due to all of the preparations that I had to do for Thursday. Thursday comes and I get all the way to school but without all of my materials that I had planned on using. At this point I begin to panic because I will have let the students down, just as things were progressing so much. Needless to say, by the end of that day I was in tears because I did a very poor job as a teacher on multiple levels, and my students and my co-op let me know it. Friday, however I cam back with a fresh start, and things rain exceptionally smooth!

I learned this week that there needs to be a plan A AND a plan B for each lesson that I prepare, so that there are no surprises. Also, if I am prepared, I won't have as many discipline problems to deal with. I noticed that the students could pick up on the fact that I was not as prepared as usual, thus they took the idea and ran with it. Lesson learned! Thanks Newtown Middle!

Certain Days

2005-10-21T16:27:00.000-04:00

I have found recently that the students act differently depending on the weather. As stupid as this may sound, the kids are exceedingly talkative when it is raining outside. Even the best classes are inattentive by the end of the day. It becomes frustrating to keep them focused, and no matter how much movement we do, they are still falling on the ground and talking to their neighbors. Any ideas on how to fix this?

The effect of multi-gendered classrooms

2005-10-21T16:22:00.000-04:00

The title probably makes this seem a lot more interesting than it really is, but I have noticed something interesting in the big concert choir at New Hope. The class has about 50 girls and 10 boys. In general, the boys have been much more engaged and willing to participate and take risks than the girls while having lower musical abilities than the girls. The only times the boys are disruptive is when they are encouraged to do so by the girls. There seems to be an image the boys try to maintain that the girls also expect and choir goes against this image. This poses some interesting problems for wich I am currently trying to come up with creative solutions.

A little advocacy talk

2005-10-21T16:18:00.000-04:00

Today I had lunch with all of the music teachers at the high, middle, and elementary schools. They were meeting with someone from administration about possible expansions for the music programs. What I heard was a little troubling. The person from administration kept asking them how this is going to enhance student achievement within their "core" subjects. Well I was confused because I thought music was a core subject. I get uncomfortable when I hear music discussed as a tool to enhance abilities in math and English.

Thanks John!

2005-10-21T16:10:00.000-04:00

I really liked John's idea for the worksheet he gave to the choirs at his placement so I decided I would steal the idea and try it for myself. I was most interested in reading the ones from the 8th grade choir as they have been the most challenging group to work with. I have tried engaging them in different ways and the best way to describe that class is perpetually chaotic. I don't believe it's a matter of them being "bad" really. The problem is they are energetic and social kids. The other problem is that there is half the eighth grade in a room that is entirely too small. So I decided I needed to get their perspective on things so Mr. Bateman, the students, and I could work together in a critical manner to come up with solutions to this problem. Well I saw almost immediate results. After class was over, three students came up to mr. Bateman and I and expressed their concern over what was happenning in the class. They said they are getting very frustrated with their classmates and really want to be able to sing without being in such a chaotic environment. I think that this could be the start of something significant as it is going to inspire critical reflection and hopefully action in the students and teachers.

Routine

2005-10-21T16:06:00.000-04:00

It seems IMPOSSIBLE to break negative routines!!!! I have found it exceedingly difficult to start or transition from one simple thing to the next...I am more than comfortable with a little conversation, but rehearsals can sometimes turn into extended conversations interrupted by music (not really that bad, but you get the idea). Are the pieces and methods used in the classroom not reaching the students or connecting to their world? Are they completely disinterested? Or are they (more plausibly) teenage boys and girls?
How can I channel their energy into more musical endeavors consistently? Is it possible to start a new routine and have different expectations at this time of year?

this week

2005-10-21T16:02:00.000-04:00

This week, I learned and re-learned a few things about myself and my teaching. For one, I need to be constantly aware of my pacing. Secondly, clarity (in concept delivery, explanations, everything...) should be one of my chief goals. I also know that I must take a few moments to gather my thoughts before each class. Third, I have discovered that it is difficult to operate on three hours of sleep.

Students getting excited

2005-10-21T09:51:00.000-04:00

I love the fact that my students get really excited when I teach them. But sometimes it is getting to the point where they get so excited they can't control themselves. It has gotten to the point that I will have to stop an activity because they just are becoming too much and I think they might hurt themselves.

Any suggestions: When I am doing an activity, for instance, with the 3rd graders I am doing this Native American Game and Song with them. It has a clapping partner game and students really seem to like it, but they cannot stop chatting with their partners during the activity and decide to talk and laugh instead of singing the song. I set parameters for the activity and I have even thought about changing the game so that they do not have to work with a partner. I was just wondering if anyone else has any suggestions for chatty and laughing students?

Otherwise, things are going great. I am enjoying the last day of teaching for the week and preparing for next week. See you all this afternoon.

Re: Kate

2005-10-21T09:44:00.000-04:00

I have to say that I feel the same way Kate does. I go to bed early every night because I am so exhuated I cannot keep my eyes open. I am definetely physically and mentally drained. I didn't realize how tiring being a teacher was. I was so used to seeing my mom coming home from work everyday, (she is a high school teacher) and she was so exhausted, sometimes she would just collapse on the couch and take a nap. Now I feel like that everyday, and I never realized how much energy it takes to be a teacher. So basically everyday I come home and are so exhausted, that I just have to sit and relax. Then getting to lesson plans and preparing things for teaching, I just have no time for anything else.

I have no life.

2005-10-20T20:18:00.000-04:00

I had a revelation this week. Throughout my thirteen years of education, I realize now that I never gave my teachers the credit they deserve. This is only our fourth week of teaching, and I don't know about the rest of you but I have no life, I'm exhausted, and I've been sick as a dog all week (guess I haven't built up an immunity to 5th grade cooties yet). Don't get me wrong: I'm loving every minute of this experience and am having the time of my life, but these are just some of the negative aspects of teaching I've encountered.

Being at an elementary school, we don't have many out of school obligations, which is nice. But even though I'm done at 3:30, I finally see how difficult is to give other priorities the attention they deserve. Student teaching is my first priority right now, but I find that I'm so busy it's hard to find time (or even remember) to eat.

Is it smooth sailing for everyone else or is this typical of a beginning teacher? I'd appreciate some tips on time management, staying healthy, etc. if anyone has any suggestions.

Thanks,
Kate

Manny

2005-10-20T19:49:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday of this week, we were called to an unscheduled assembly during first period. The principal informed us that a student, Manny Vargas, had been missing since the night before. Apparently Manny got into an argument with his mother Monday evening over a progress report he had received that day so he was sent to his room. An hour later, the mother went to check on her son to find that he had slipped out of the window. For two days, the school was panicked. Both teachers and students alike were scared and didn't know how to deal with it. The school had two faculty meetings after school Tuesday and Wednesday regarding how teachers should behave in the classroom given these unnerving circumstances. Teachers who had posted the flyers that were distributed regarding Manny's disappearance up in their rooms were to take them down. During the meeting, the principal told everyone to go about each school day as if nothing happened. They were treating it as if it were a hopeless situation to the point where I even thought that they knew he was already dead or gone forever. It was terrifying.

Manny was found yesterday afternoon. He was under someone's porch on a street a half mile or so away from his home. The boy was unconscious with a few cuts and bruises and was taken to the hospital because of shock and dehydration. Amazingly, he was otherwise unharmed.

My question is: As teachers of students who were so close with this boy, shouldn't we acknowledge what happened? Obviously if the school instructs us not to, we should comply, but if they don't, is it the right thing to do to neglect acknowledging the terribly circumstances? That seemed wrong to me. I can understand that it is not conducive to learning or even healthy to dwell on the fact, but I think that students would be more comfortable in the classroom if they are able to vent for at least a little while before the lesson begins. I agree with the teachers taking the signs down, and perhaps not even mentioning it if the students don't first or they are acting as they usually do. But what if a student asks? One boy in second period was talking about it. He said, "He ran away but that doesn't mean that he's safe. He could have been snatched up by a stranger while he was gone." I, along with many others I'm sure, had thought the same thing at the time. My cooperating teacher basically told him that we should all hope for the best and that he shouldn't talk like that. Other students were referring to Manny in the past tense. "Manny was my good friend."
I really wish we were able to discuss it. Perhaps if the students understand the incredible consequences and the potential dangers Manny could have faced, they might think twice about making a choice like that if they were ever in a situation like Manny's that seemed hopeless.

These are just my thoughts. If someone disagrees with me, I'd like to know. It would be help me a great deal to understand why we were instructed to turn our backs to this possible tragedy.

Kate

Lesson Planning

2005-10-20T18:40:00.000-04:00

At the elementary level I feel like I am constantly teaching the same lesson over and over again, not that that is a bad thing, but It also lets me experience working things out. Just as Lindsay said, that she was able to work out problems the second time, I too was able to change things. One of the songs I am working on, is with quite a few added instruments. The drum part that I gave them (on Tuesday) was a little too difficult, because students were having trouble playing it. So the next day I was able to modify it and the song came together much more smoothly. I am still having trouble knowing who is who in every class. It is so difficult to learn students names when we have the entire school. I am starting to learn a few of them, but I cannot waste time constantly asking students for thier names. Otherwise I am enjoying teaching and learning from my mistakes. I had the experience of watching myself on video tape. It was very helpful, but also frustrating at the same time.

Transitioning

2005-10-19T19:58:00.000-04:00

Today was the second day of the new lessons, which all went much better than yesterday. It is amazing how much better a lesson goes when you have a day to get the kinks out. Something I noticed today was that when transitioning from an activity of active listening to defining rhythms in a song, the students needed a more gradual way into the rhythm centered activity. On Tuesday, I jumped directly into having the students help me notate the song. I found that the students were less engaged because they did not have the time to transition properly. Today, I allowed some time for echoing rhythm patterns and clapping and singing the song before we started notating it. It was amazing to see the increase in attention. The students were more engaged in the process. It is definitely important to ease students into activities gradually. I have spent a great deal of time reflecting on how to make transitions smooth between activities, since the smallest bump in the lesson can highly disturb the focus of the students and sometimes the success of the lesson. It’s interesting how that works!

tuesday night stravinsky

2005-10-19T19:31:00.000-04:00

Last night I introduced the Stravinsky Ave Maria (Bogoroditse Devo) to my Madrigal Singers. It's a group of 33 kids (this year it's 33: some years it's smaller, other years larger, like a chamber choir); they do insane amounts of repertoire and sing at various engagements throughout the year. Our rehearsals are Tuesday nights from 6:30-9, and I worked with them from about 7:30-8:15, like a class period.

By the way, if someone doesn't know the Ave Maria, I highly recommend it. My class did it with Dr. Jordan in Chapel Choir in 2001-2002.

Just to get an idea of what these kids had to deal with, some characteristics are tricky tonality, different meter in each measure, and difficult tuning, to name a few. You know, Stravinsky. Anyway, my lesson plan was extremely thorough and advanced, and they responded brilliantly. There was one point in the lesson where I was so taken aback, I had to stop and tell them to do what they did again.

This, my friends, was what they did: after a brief readthrough of soprano/alto and tenor/bass combinations, I gave them pitches and conducted them (just to see what would happen), and they read the entire piece (on a neutral syllable, of course), each on their own part, and, to my blissful horror, ended up in the same exact key in which they began. Had that ever happened when the Chapel Choir rehearsed or performed it? Answer: no.

There are only a few people with perfect pitch, and they aren't strong enough to lead the entire group, whether in a good or bad direction. These kids aren't diva-minded, that's all. They listen to each other, and don't over-sing. I was, again, thoroughly impressed when they did it a second time.

Rock on, Madrigal Singers.

Has anyone else in a high school situation had an experience with a familiar piece and thought, "man, I wish Westminster kids had this mindset?"

;)

observation

2005-10-19T19:23:00.000-04:00

Just a reflection from last week:

For my observation last Wednesday, Mr. McBride (P.S. I have such a hard time not calling him Nick, anyone else have that problem?) said I should "get out from behind the piano" and conduct. I told him believe me, that's what I'd rather be doing, but first of all, there's no accompanist and I have to play piano since I have piano skills and that's apparently unheard of for a student teacher; also, I feel like I have to be in the physical position that my co-op is in, in order for my students to feel like I can facilitate the lesson without her. Of course, little by little (I've already begun this starting this week, big time) I'll get out from behind the piano and conduct all the time. But for a new song, and because it was the first time I was in front of them for an entire class period, I thought I had to.

Does anyone else feel like they have to use similar language, mannerisms, or be in a similar stature or physical location as their co-op to avoid subconscious confusion? It's a very weird thing, and probably shouldn't be an issue. But I think it's interesting.

An Un-typical high school experience

2005-10-18T19:27:00.000-04:00

Cherry Hill HS East is a unique place, I get the feel that the school is more like a contained college campus, only with hall passes. The students are treated as if they are older and more often than no they are held to a very high standard. Students do have curriculum requirement to fulfill but they have a great deal of control over their high school experience. For instance, many of our students are so dedicated to choir that they have given up their lunch period to make sure they can be in a choir. There is a courtyard in the center of the school which adjoins the lunch room and many students eat lunch outside every day. Also, seniors have practically free reign, many of them can take 2 study halls, as well as being TA's and they can leave the campus in the middle of the day to do Starbucks runs! Did anyone else have an experience like this? My high school was a very controlled environment, we couldn't leave the campus during the school day unless we were part of a college program or a vocational studies program. We had a courtyard in the middle of the school but we weren't allowed to go out there and the doors were always locked. And the first time I actually had a say over what I took was in my senior year after I had already completed all of the credits I needed, even then my counselor pushed me into extraneous courses.

I guess the one thing that amazes me is the fact that there aren't a lot of discipline problems, you would think that with the amount of freedom the students have they would be taking advantage of it, but they aren't (at least as far as I can see). Is this possible option for all schools as a way of having the student's take responsibility for themselves, thus becoming more mature and better prepared for life after high school?

Structure

2005-10-18T17:11:00.000-04:00

Wow! Why is it that classroom management can sometimes be the hardest thing to comprehend? Today I taught the majority of each lesson, and I taught the entire 3rd grade lesson. During the third grade class, I was teaching a new song and game as a change of pace. I discovered very quickly that with some classes, the more structure presented, the better the results. The kids were a bit crazy, and after reflecting on the results of the activity, I discovered that my lack of structure produced the craziness. I have spent much time thinking about how young children need a balance of structure and freedom in their daily lives. And I saw firsthand today how important structure is to elementary music lessons.

Assessment

2005-10-17T23:25:00.000-04:00

Today my teacher showed me how their school handles interim grade reports, they are done electronically and the teachers are can put comment codes in for each student detailing how that student is doing in their class. I was shocked when I saw the list of comment codes, out of 38 possible comments only 6 of those were positive.

If one of the prominent trends in education is positive reinforcement and creating a meaningful experience for the students how can these negative comments possibly help. Of course some students need to be helped and some of these comments can be taken as suggestions; but to the struggling student I can't help but think that a teachers negative commentary could just turn a student away. There has to be a more effective way of assessment and grading.

Kindergarten Class

2005-10-17T18:47:00.000-04:00

Today I prepared about a half a period lesson for kindergarteners. I thought I would work on some things and teach them a new song. Well as it turned out, they already knew everything I was going to teach them. They new the song and nursery rhyme. I still worked on rhythm, steady beat etc. with them. But my lesson was cut significantly shorter. And it wasn't that they learned the songs in music, they learned it from outside of school. I also used "flight of the bumblebee" for movement with them, and was surprised that it took them quite a while to figure out that the song sounded like a bumblebee. Alot of them were quite off, even when I gave them clues. Finally after about a min, one kid was able to figure it out. Was I expecting too much for a kindergartener to figure out that the song sounded like a bumblebee?? I thought it was pretty obvious, but this was my first time working with the kindergarteners. Next time I'll know to plan a few extra songs, in case some of them know them already!

Transitions

2005-10-16T10:25:00.000-04:00

My first observation with Mr. McBride went really well. His main comment was that the main sections of the lesson were extrememly solid and that I kept the kids engaged, but that my transitions were extrememly unclear. I knew that I had some discipline/behavioral problems in my classes but I never realized that it was the unclear/vague transitions that were causing the problems. That night I re-thought out my lesson plans and changed how I transitioned between steps of my lesson. This made a huge difference, especially in the younger classes. It's easy to forget that second graders developmentally are in a different place than we are, or even 5th graders. If you tell second graders to "pick a stuffed animal out of the trunk" they do that...and then proceed to run around the room yelling at their friends that they want to trade or throwing their animals in a spontaneous game of baseball. By simply changing the directions to "I will hand you an animal. You are not allowed to trade your animals, but you must keep the one I gave you. Then I need you to sit quietly in a circle on the rug." Suddenly there were very few problems if any at all. I'm so worried about oppressing my students with strict instructions, but honestly little children need that much structure in order to understand what is going on. Especially since behavior problems disrupt learning and don't allow good learning to occur. By preventing these problems the lesson plan was much more efficient and I had more time for problem posing, etc. with the students. I'm looking forward to my next set of comments! Thanks Mr. McBride!

Re: My Little Pony

2005-10-16T10:21:00.000-04:00

I have had similar problems in teaching music to my 5th graders. We have a large dichotomy between the kids pick up music really quickly and the kids who need extra assistance. The first time I taught these kids I was so worried about the "smart" kids being bored that I tended to rush through the lessons...unintentionally leaving the "slower" kids utterly confused. I realized that this does not benefit anyone, because the next week I ended up having to go back and reteach the lesson for the kids who had no idea what just happened. By slowing my pacing a bit and being more clear with my instructions it helped the slower kids to understand and also allowed the faster kids to not get bored as easily. A win-win situation all around :)

A Lovely Outting to NJPAC

2005-10-15T12:12:00.000-04:00

We took the kids to NJPAC Wed. of this week. This was the first day of the nasty rain and cold and the kids were so excited to go. THe theme was "Music and Sports" and the hope was to connect the idea that sometimes the orchestra plays together like a team or against each other like opponents or something. Getting there was fine except for the band teacher. I mean honestly what an idiot. We had tickets to take 90 students so we (me and my co-op) took 2 4th grade classes equaling about 35 students (with the rain there were 10 absent, but thats another blog) and the band teacher had 45 tix to take whoever she wanted. Guess how many students she had? YOu'll never guess. 2. Two. There were 2 buses and one was filled while the other had 3 people on it. What a shame. The kids will beg you to go on these trips and she decides she's only taking 2 students? Talk about disappointment. Furious was not the word to descibe my co-op. The woman is obviously inadequate, the Visual and Performing ARts Director has been to observe her at least 5 times since the school year started. What role do you play when someone oon your "team" is not giving their all? Tattletale? Bitch of the year? or do you say nothing and hope someone else deals with it, like the principal or the district V&P Arts Director?

Another success story for an alternate route music educator.

The Bludgeoned Pony

2005-10-15T12:02:00.001-04:00

Well folks, I just witnessed my poor little pony get bludgeoned. My Little Pony the sequel was not all that it could be. This is another class that comes to me directly after lunch and recess. Behavior was poor last week but this week was awful. THey left the class and I had a headache that you would not believe. I attempted to extend the lesson and add a handgame with a partner. They liked that- but anytime I gave them directions they talked or played their own games. It took me 15 minutes to get them to sit quietly on the rug without anyone getting kicked or dragged across the carpet. I knew they processed and improved upon the skills used last week but going to the next level was impossible pretty much. Is it too much to expect quiet when I speak? The discipline plan that the school uses is only helpful to a point- what happens when that has reached its limit? I;m not trying to control the classroom (at least I don't feel like I am) but what do you do when your lesson is obviously not going to work? Do you scrap it and put on a movie so as to not deal with the fight? Do you have the students sit with their heads down even though not all of them are misbehaving? This little discipline is no help here. What do you think?

The Bludgeoned Pony

2005-10-15T12:02:00.000-04:00

The ESL Barrior

2005-10-15T11:54:00.000-04:00

This was a lesson I was soooo excited to teach. I knew the kids would love it and it gave them a chance to compose their own rhythms, alone and eventually with a neighbor. The first class zipped right through the lesson and even named the difficult rhythms. Students were able to help others that were struggling with performing the difficult rhythms and the moral of the group went up as a result. Students wanted to see what this group created- and wanted to help (though yelling at them was often the choice approach). Aside from that- I couldn't have really asked for a smoother more successful lesson- the class ended and I thought- they left doing something that they never did before.

Then the next class came in. Though they were interested in the lesson (not as much as the first class) it was hard to get them to move along. The pace was so much slower and took so much longer to name things. It was not as much fun, that's for sure. The make-up of that class is different too- there are ESL kids, and so many discipline problems they didn't come close to meeting the other class. How can music be good for ESL kids? THey come in, sit down, and cannot follow anything. I find myself wondering what I can do to make these kids feel validated in my class. Suggestions?

My Little Pony

2005-10-15T11:43:00.000-04:00

Fot the past 2 weeks I have been working on a lesson with the 1st grade students about ponies (this of course is the theme of the lesson, but the hope is to practice ta and ti-ti). The appraoch that I use in the classroom is completely different from that of my co-op. I like to focus on practicing more than she does and pose more questions to the students. The 1st time I taught the lesson to the students I lost half the kids and didn't even realize it. I just assumed that since I was repeating the chant several times they would catch on and need no real practice with saying the words (I guess I was thinking I was class at Westminster). I took time and realized that maybe 2 of the kids were able to perform the chant and the rhythmic accompaniment. I also realized that developmentally a lot of the kids were unable to patch and clap, some had it reversed or I could see the thought process running through their brains the whole time. I trudged along and made it through the lesson but made note of those who had problems and what I could do to fix it next week. Baby steps... baby steps.

The next class that I taught the same lessons to had similar problems with coordinating the patching and clapping but I worked harder to ensure they felt they had some success with at least knowing the chant well enough that they could work on it during the week. Yay! My co-op told me my pacing was better and students were with me most if not all, of the lesson. I'm not sure what will happen with that first class (I'll see them on Monday) I hope that they'll know it better since they had time to process everything but... remember sister, baby steps.