Journals Combined

Ashley Weesies

Journal Week 2
My aiding opportunity is at Breton Downs Elementary and Wealthy Elementary schools. These are part of the East Grand Rapids school district. I will be working with Mrs. Kathy Larson. She is an elementary music teacher in both schools. Today, February 25, 2014, I went to Breton Downs Elementary and observed three 5th grade classes. At 8:30 AM, Mrs. Larson and I went to the first 5th grade classroom to lead the students to the music room. There were 24 students in this class, 10 of which were boys, and 14 of which were girls. 19 of the students were Caucasian by appearance, and 5 were non-white students. These demographics were approximately the same in the next two classes. The first class included one student with social challenges, the second included Ella, who has downs syndrome, and the third class included Gracie, who also has downs. These 3 students are able to participate in most activities and are rarely a class distraction. The other students are very helpful and encouraging to these 3. Each class began with physical warm-ups and then moved to a physical warm-up with vocal and rhythmic elements in the form of a game. Mrs. Larson asked for ideas from the students before each repeat of the song. Each repeat was sung with a different accent or in a different musical genre. With the first class, she was able to get their attention by saying excuse me, if they were chatting at the inappropriate time. Mrs. Larson believes in allowing students to talk for small sections of the class so they learn when the appropriate times to speak are and when they are to stay quiet and listen or sing along. The second and third classes needed to be quieted down during this activity and told that they must stay silent when someone has been called on to present their idea. Mrs. Larson consistently uses the word success when she is explaining to the students why they line up quietly or sit by someone who they are able to best focus near and such. Each month, the students receive a new seating

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arrangement to further this success. This reminds me of Woolfolk Chapter 11 that discusses motivation. Mrs. Larson uses intrinsic motivation to encourage the students to see success as its own reward. Mrs. Larson introduced the game by talking about octagons and how many sides they have. This connects to the leap of an 8th which is called an octave. She included class participation here and allowed the students to share the things they are learning in their other classes. They also talked about the history of Australia after they did the Australian accent. Many students had knowledgeable input to share. When I think back to chapter 5 of Oakes and Lipton, the knowledge in each subject is not simply facts about the subjects. The music classroom provides an excellent environment for discussing facts and information that the students have learned in other classes. Also, I know that when students talk about what they have learned, they learn it on a deeper level. Next, vocal warm-ups took place. Each class had a different level of vocal ability, pitch-matching skills, and head-voice training. Some of the students are involved in the choir, and others are not. This has an effect on the different ability levels. Mrs. Larson uses many visual and kinesthetic elements when teaching vocal technique. She demonstrates with her own mouth and her hands, and asks the students to make the motion as well so they may feel it as well. She gives an example of improper shape and space, and then shows the difference when it is done correctly. Mrs. Larson also uses aural teaching to help the students hear how the vocalises should sound. In this way, the students are receiving all forms of instruction, which assists each type of learner. This takes me back to the excerpt from the Tomlinson book that I read for class. Every student learns differently, and teachers need to teach to each type of learner so that all have equal access to the education in that specific classroom. Due to all the snow days for this school recently, the choir is behind on learning their pieces for the concert in two weeks. The choir meets before school, so not all students make it each day. Mrs. Larson has offered to teach these pieces in class each day to the older grades so that the choir students can learn the songs more quickly. For this reason, todays class was unusual, and Mrs. Larson spent

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about 20 minutes going over the choir music in each class. She sat behind the keyboard and projected the music on the screen. She played the intro and then plunked the melody line and sang along with the singers. Many students were not singing because those who are not in choir have not been introduced to the song. This is not the most efficient or effective way of teaching a song, but it may have been necessary to accomplish more familiarity with the song for the choir students. Also, due to the lastminute change of Mrs. Larsons lesson plan, the other teacher had accidentally taken the lyrics with her, so the 2 students running the projector in the first class had to move quickly and had a lot of trouble with it. I volunteered and did this job for the next two classes, and it was challenging for me as well. This was unfortunate for the learning of the song. A lot of time passed in the first class as Mrs. Larson looked for the lyrics. This was a tough situation for both parties. Still, it was probably beneficial to have the younger students following the notes on the screen, because in 6th grade if they join choir or band, they will have to learn to read music. The song choice was jazzy and the students from choir really seemed to enjoy it. This encourages participation and excitement in choir, which is essential if the goal is to help students identify with and enjoy music, and to further their musical skills and participation in the future for a more fulfilling life. This is what Mrs. Larsons music philosophy is, including the building of a firm musical foundation, and it is possible that this is what the choir teacher has in mind as well. Mrs. Larson has a microphone that hangs around her neck to amplify her voice so that she does not have to raise it to quiet down a class that has been working on an activity together. This is very helpful for saving the teachers voice. Almost every classroom in the school has this system installed. With about 15-20 minutes left in each class, Mrs. Larson asked me to come up and teach part of a song that I had prepared. This was different for every class that I taught, because each class is comprised of different students with different skills, interests, and energy levels. It was very beneficial to teach these different groups to get an idea of how to mold each lesson for different groups of learners,

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and for each individual student as well. With the first class, I had a little more trouble with getting the students to stand without talking. After this, Mrs. Larson suggested that I preface my stand up instruction with something to remind them to stay quiet. For the next two classes, I had them put their fingers to their lips by saying, put your finger here, and demonstrating. This helped them to look at me to see what I was doing, and they stood without talking. This was a moment that most likely will only happen in a class where the teacher has expected cooperation from the students from the very first day. I know that it would not work nearly as well with students that do not have the same kind of respect that these students do. This depends on parents and families, teachers and school administrators, and the varied natural focusing ability of each student. I know from reading chapter 11 of Oakes and Lipton that students that have parents who are engaged and supportive of the learning of their child have a huge advantage over those students that dont. Every student is given a different level of help, support, and encouragement, and this must be considered in the classroom when it comes to dealing with behavior. After my 10 minute lesson, Mrs. Larson concluded each class with a video. The first class watched a movie trailer parody that was made by two of the students that had not been able to show theirs last week. The second two classes watched a video by the Pentatonix. Mrs. Larson again talked briefly about geometric shapes and asked how many sides a pentagon has. The students answered correctly, and Mrs. Larson then introduced this group of 5 and how they represented their name. She also mentioned a vocal jazz group, The Real Group, who were recently in Grand Rapids. This gave the students some information about what musical elements in the songs they will be and are learning connect to what is going on around us musically. Todays class was successful and beneficial, and I anticipate that many of my days at the school will increase these things for me as a growing teacher.

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On Wednesday, February 26, I again visited Breton Downs Elementary, but we had the 2nd graders today, and there are only two 2nd grade classes. Instead of introducing the body warm-up song with questions about octaves, Mrs. Larson demonstrates the octaves and calls it low to high and claps lower and then above her head. She then has the students join in. They are connecting physical movement to the movement of the pitch, later to turn into do and do, which are one octave apart. This again incorporates the different ways of learning, Visual, Aural, and Kinesthetic, that I have leaned about in almost every education class Ive taken at Calvin. This shows that it is very important to incorporate these and incorporate different types of learners. When one student misbehaves, Mrs. Larson says, do you think thats ok? The student shook his head and went back to his spot. When the students proved they could not respect the person giving their idea, Mrs. Larson asks them all to sit and explains why she had to stop the game, after asking the students questions about why they thought they were asked to stop. Self-control and impoliteness are discussed briefly, and Mrs. Larson moves onto the next activity. This is an example of a group consequence, described in Woolfolk chapter 6. These consequences are recommended when students care about the approval of their peers. Mrs. Larson asks the students running the projector to put the rhythm sheet up. The students are asked what each note is. There are working on quarter notes, eighth notes, and whole notes. These are very simple, but when the students go through the sheet the first time, changing patterns throw them off at first. Mrs. Larson lets them get all the way through once, and then asks if anyone knows where the first mistake happened. The students knew and could say why they got confused. This student led problem solving helped them to show more interest in fixing it and they got through the rhythms very well the final time. There are a few children that didnt seem to be getting any of it or were acting very uninterested. I wonder if there is something that could be done in class to help these specific children gain interest. Mrs. Larson also helps the students internalize whole notes by having

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them hold the pitch while accentuating each beat. The motions for each different note length seem to help them get the idea of each note as well. Mrs. Larson took that information that the students had learned previously, practiced it, and then added new information. The students learned about accents and what happens when one is applied to a note. This is also given a physical indicator in which the motion for the note is lifted in the way that the dynamic is lifted. This class has 23 students. There are 9 girls and 14 boys. 21 are white and 2 are non-white students. The other class was very similar in demographic makeup. Mrs. Larson puts the music for Step In Time up on the screen from a music curriculum book that she uses. She asked the students to find the accents and show which line did not have an accent. She taught a different movement for the action verbs that began each verse and asked the students to sing along with her. They slowly started picking up the melody of the song, because Mrs. Larson had sung it so many times to teach each movement. Still, the repetition did not become boring and tedious to learn, because there was something new and fun to try for each repetition. After this introduction, Mrs. Larson played a recording of the song and the students tried to do the movements along with the song, with Mrs. Larson leading. Some of the students were just doing the same motion over and over and moving around the room, later realizing the rest of the class had switched to the next movement. The movement for each was only supposed to happen at the beginning of lines 1, 2, and 4, but some students were not following this pattern. They were having fun but did not seem to want to join the other students. It seemed as though they were hoping others were watching them. They seemed to want to stand out. On page 217 of Woolfolk, this is listed as one of the main reasons that students act out in the classroom. Mrs. Larson began the next section with, Does anyone know what a chimney sweep is? She asked more questions as well and then says she will be showing the original version of the song they just learned from the Mary Poppins movie. Mrs. Larson is again fostering their higher-order thinking and connecting things they already know to new information. In education, we call this a transfer of

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knowledge. When I taught this grade, I simplified my lesson and taught the students how to say the words in rhythm, and then I read a book about the song and asked students questions about what they saw and where this might come from. I guided them to the facts and allowed comments about how this song and the story resonated with specific students. Mrs. Larson told me to try to create an ending to my lesson that is not abrupt. This helps the students relax into transition time. Mrs. Larson allows talking during transition time so that the students learn when talking is appropriate and when it is not. The second class for Wednesday was done in the same format. One student in this class has downs. She does not participate in the second activity and says, Im tired. A girl near her says, Im hungry. The students are beginning to pay attention to distractions. This may be a sign of boredom. In the first game, Mrs. Larson chose the voices each time instead of asking the students for their ideas to avoid the loss of control from the last class. When a boy named Aidan makes a mistake on the rhythm section, he stops and drops his head and does not continue until Mrs. Larson gets his attention again. After the rhythm has been run through, Mrs. Larson asks for someone to show her where the tricky spot was and explain why they think it was difficult. She then asks different students that say they are able to do it to show the class individually as she points to the notes on the screen. This allowed many students to have attention on them and boost their confidence. The students that try and do not get it are encouraged by Mrs. Larson to try again with someone, and then try it again alone. During this time, all students are watching the students doing the rhythm and hearing in repetition the rhythm in connection to its notation. This encourages the students that are getting it, and give repetition to those who arent. On Thursday, February 27, I again visited Breton Downs Elementary, and worked with 3rd grade classes. With this age, Mrs. Larson played the tune of the opening song and asked if any students recognized it. When they started singing, she allowed it to continue and asked the others to join in. A girl in this class, named Amelia, has downs. Two students appear to be accustomed to working with her. One is male and the other is female. The boy held Amelias hand from the time they left the other

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classroom until they were situated in the music room. The girl often stood behind Amelia and guided her body to do the motions along with the class. This girl seemed more concerned with helping Amelia do the activities than doing them for herself. Mrs. Larson purposely had these students placed on either side of Amelia. This, as I have learned in my education classes, is a great way of helping both parties. The third graders have a wider variety of ideas for the opening activity than the 5th and 2nd graders. Instead of having this class clap and do motions for the rhythms, Mrs. Larson allows the 3rd graders to use rhythm sticks. She prefaces this by asking, If you are one of those people who has a hard time keeping yourself from clicking your sticks when it is not time to, what should you do when you get yours? Many students answer by saying, put them down! The students know what the expectation is, and often in behavioral situations, this helps prevent bad behavior. This is from chapter 6 of Woolfolk. Mrs. Larson has large flash cards with different types of notes drawn on one side, and their title written on the back. She asked for raise hands to name the notes. The third graders have a few more things than the 2nd graders. These are a half note and a quarter rest. When they move to the screen to read the rhythm sheet, Mrs. Larson asks which of the things they just talked about are not on that sheet. The students in 3rd grade play the rhythms significantly better than the second graders did, but they still had a few problems. She then had them sing the rhythm on one note, because eventually they will have to sight read the tune in addition to the rhythms, and they need to begin realizing the difference between their speaking voice and their singing voice. Next, Mrs. Larson teaches choreography for each type of note and lines of each note. Each rhythm represents a different section of a song. This introduces the students to song form and feeling the most fitting beat lengths for each section, depending on the style. Mrs. Larson then plays the song and the students put the motions together, following Mrs. Larson. Mrs. Larson has the students sit down and they have a discussion about someone that came to visit earlier in the school year. This woman was deaf. Mrs. Larson allows students to make personal

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connections. She then teaches them the choreography to a song, but has them guess what it means before she plays the song. They then sing along with the real song and do the sign language on the chorus. At the end of the lesson, Mrs. Larson asks the students if they can remember all the languages they had used during that class. This gave a nice conclusion to the class. Still, it was difficult to get the students to quietly line up on the way to the door before heading to their next class. In the second class for Thursday, I noticed that Mrs. Larson has taught the students about two formations. One is called lines and the other, zig-zags. This is so simple, but a very effective way of having the students set up to best complete each different activity. The lines prevent too much goofing off, and the zig-zag gives the students space when they need to do more physically demanding activities. This class has 22 students total. There are 12 boys and 10 girls. 19 of the students are white, and 3 are non-white. The third graders are learning fractions in their math classes right now, so Mrs. Larson asks them to take their rhythm sticks and put them together. They are to pretend that that is one whole cheese stick. If they want to share it with two people, they split it in half. In this same way, whole notes split into half notes, halves into quarters, and quarters into eights. This visual representation and connection to the students math class kept the class interested in the lesson throughout. When this class goes through the rhythm patterns, Mrs. Larson guides them by pointing at the notes as they are played. When Mrs. Larson talks about the deaf drummer with this class, a girl raises her hand and says, I have a connection! It appears that these students are taught that connections are welcome and appreciated. So often, teachers shut down these comments from students in order to save time, but really the students are getting a fuller education when they are connection prior knowledge to new knowledge. Mrs. Larson asks the students what instruments make a better whole note than claps. When one student suggests the gone, Mrs. Larson does allow the student to play it, even though this student is a very energetic and attention-getting boy. Because she allowed the boy to try under certain conditions, he was thrilled and did it softly. This student was encouraged to behave well because

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someone put their trust in him. This gives him the chance to not be seen as naughty anymore. The more he is labeled as naughty, it is likely that he will behave that way. Mrs. Larson then asked the class to count in their head how many beats the gong rang out for. This showed that a note does not have to be one of the kinds they had learned about, but notes could be held for much longer. When Mrs. Larson tells students to stop talking, she often first thanks the students that are paying attention, and then asks the others to quiet down. This usually results in the louder students taking the instruction a bit more seriously. On Friday, February 28, I went to Wealthy Elementary and observed three 5th grade music classes. These classes begin with a warm-up choreography game. The choreography begins at a sitting position. This helps the students to zone in and calm down. The song also ends with sitting and it is calm at the end. The middle is energetic, though, which gets the students hearts pumping. It is the song Dont Stop Me Now by Queen. After this, Mrs. Larson plays other songs by Queen that they might recognize. Many students get very excited about this music from a different generation that was so good it continues to be well-known. Mrs. Larson then explains to the class why they cross their bodies, after asking what the students know about the brain hemispheres and what parts of the body each controls. She explains that she wants them to be prepared to learn, so they are doing movements in which the body crosses itself in the opening choreography. Mrs. Larson does not just do things and move on. She explains to all students why she does things, and makes it understandable for each grade level. The students at this school have more developed singing voices and better pitch matching ability. Mrs. Larson asks for students to give ideas about what percussion instruments do, and then go over and find an instrument that does the thing they described. They talk about how there are a limited number of string instruments in the orchestra, but there are a huge number of things that can be percussion instruments. Mrs. Larson then played a 20 minute video of STOMP using unconventional

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percussion instruments. Mrs. Larson told me privately that she needed time to prepare things for the middle school choral festival, so that is why she showed a longer video for that day.

Journal Week 3
On Tuesday, March 4, 2014 I worked with three 5th grade classes. Today I built off last weeks lesson and added the melody section of the song and allowed the students to learn a drum beat and rhythm with me. I had small groups from each class come up and play on actual drums. This was really great and a lot of learning took place. By the third time I taught the lesson, it was much clearer and successful. It was so easy to just use the drums in the room and line them up in front. It makes me think about the many schools that do not have this luxury. In many more low income schools, the teacher would have to come up with creative ways to teach the students these concepts without real drums. This could be a great opportunity for a lesson in teaching that many things can be percussion instruments. I could have students use things from a collection of household items that I bring in and let them find a way to make it into a percussion instrument. I could show pictures of what the African people use for percussion, and then allow students to invent their own percussion instruments, just like the people in African must have done long ago, and then they developed them from there. I could find information about that and incorporate the musical history of other countries and continents into the lesson. I like to always try to think about what I would do if I didnt have the things that my school has so that I dont take these for granted or hinder my ability to teach in a low-income school. After I taught my lesson the first time, Mrs. Larson asked me to work on good singing habits before teaching the song. This went very well by the third class, and after I did it, the student sang much more clearly and on the correct pitches. It is tough when you have a class of 5th graders and only about 6 out of the 24 of them can sing on pitch. For the second class next week, I will extend the pitch-matching section, because they need a bit more help than the other two. This is something else that I have been

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learning about music teaching. Each class has different abilities, and I cant just teach the same lesson three times. It must be changed depending on the students or I am doing them a disservice. This goes back to the differentiation discussions we have had in class at Calvin. Just as each student is different, each class is different too, and they need to be treated as such. Being at two different schools has helped me realize this as well, because the students at Wealthy respond to instruction differently than those at Breton Downs. These realizations are simple but essential for effective instruction. On Tuesday, the 5th of March, I had two second grade classes at Breton Downs Elementary. There was a substitute teacher in the classes, because Mrs. Larson was at festival with her middle school choirs. I taught the same lesson as I did on Monday, but simplified it. These students had learned less of the song last week than the 5th graders. To my surprise, these students learned what the 5th graders had last week, and they learned what the 5th graders did this Monday! It was incredible. This goes to show that one cannot assume all students cant grasp something just because they are younger. I have learned not to underestimate any student because of age. I am also learning how to find a good balance between minimal explanation and no explanation. On Tuesday, the first 5th grade class did not go as well as I had hoped. I realized that it is okay to explain; otherwise, the students will not be clear on what they are supposed to be doing! The substitute on Wednesday, on the other hand, was explaining a lot, and this got confusing for the students as well. They became restless quickly, and cooperation was hard to regain from them. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I tried doing some mild explaining, and the students were very successful! The substitute teacher asked me if I would teach a longer lesson for the second class because he felt that it was more beneficial to the students! I have had many humbling experiences in my teaching up to this point, so it was nice to have that little confidence booster. I feel very blessed to have these experiences. I was also able to end both Wednesday classes, and I did so by playing a recording of Funga Alafia, which is the song that I have been teaching the students. Prior to playing the track, I asked the

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students to listen for all the different instruments that they heard so that I could ask them next week what they heard. They lined up successfully and listened respectfully. Im not sure if it teaches them better life skills to use this trick to get them quietly lined up or to remind them not to talk so they can practice their self-control and patience like Mrs. Larson does. I looked this up in Woolfolk, and it seems that this is simply a preference thing. Also, I think it is definitely a combination of the two that are necessary. In chapter 6, there are a lot of great ways to encourage good behavior in students and I think a lot of them are important. On pages 418-420, pacing and planning are emphasized so that the students dont get bored or restless because of lulls or gaps in the lessons. I think this is also necessary, because at a certain point, especially with younger students, it becomes the teachers mistake when students are misbehaving. The teacher cant expect students not to be driven crazy by a lack of planning and activity in a classroom of young students who are expected to focus for long periods of time. On Thursday, I worked with the substitute teacher again. We had a lot of behavior issues in the second class that came in. All three classes were 3rd graders. The substitute had a really hard time gaining the respect of these classes, so each time I came in, it took me a bit to remind them that the class was not chat and giggle time. I didnt say those words, of course, but I found ways to refocus them and accomplish things. It was frustrating, though, because my lesson could have been much more productive if I would not have had to spend extra time preparing the children to learn again. This makes me think about how important it is to not just scoot the students out of the classroom after my class is over. I have to think of it as preparing the students for the lesson by the next teacher. This is especially applicable to being a teacher of a special such as music, art, or physical education. Students are escorted in and out of these classrooms, and the students that come from certain teachers classrooms might be more unfocused than students from other classrooms. It is really nice when an attentive bunch of students walk into a classroom, and I want to make sure that I send them off in a similar manner so that the next teacher can help the students learn more and learn well.

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Journal Week 4
On Tuesday the 5th graders began again with the dance to wake them up, get their blood flowing, and work on their coordination. They then listened to a percussion recording and followed along in their books with the variations to prepare for the guest next week. For my lesson, I explained Traditional music and what happens when we dont know who the composer is and the music is passed along by rote. I played an example of a different version of Funga Alafia, reminded them of the recording I played last week that was also different, and asked the students what differences they heard between the different versions. They heard more specific things when I told them what to listen for before I played the example. This engaged their listening and thinking. Each time I taught the lesson, I learned better ways to organize the lesson so that a small group could come up and do the beat with me. The second class was very difficult because very few of them have developed singing voices and ears. If I were the classroom teacher, I would work more on this. I am developing a unit on percussion, specifically in West African music. I am making my lessons fit this to get an idea of what will work for my Unit Plan for Education 303. It is nice to be able to teach most if not all of my lessons for this so that I can figure out what things need to change. After the week, I tweak my plans to fit what ended up going more smoothly. This will be so helpful if I decide to do this in my future. In this class, there is a girl with downs. Mrs. Larson allows her to sit in the back and play with slippers and the book. It is hard to use inclusion in the classroom and still work through all the things that need to be worked through for the other students. On Tuesday, the lesson was much trickier because there are many students in this class that often look for attention and like to be silly. I have been finding that when so many students are brought up to the front for the drums, I lose a lot of the melody and the chanting. Those students look really

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bored, and when I try to get them interested, I lose sight of the drummers that are beginning to lose the beat. I need to give every student a chance to play something up front though, so I thought it would be a good idea to do the next song with Orff instruments for next week. Then, those students will have a chance to come up front and play an instrument and I can still move on. Doing these activities can result in a lot of energy and busy students. I know that many teachers would avoid using drums to keep this from happening, but I think it is important that the students have this experience. The more teaching I do, the more things I hope to learn about how to set the class up in a way that allows these activities but does not take the classroom control away from me. The second 2nd grade class went SO much more smoothly. I explained things more clearly, I got better answers, and I did things in a bit more of an organized way. The students also did not act out as much. This could be because they were just in gym class, or just because of the students in this class. I tried to involve the students in the back more by asking them to get closer to each other. I prefaced the motions by showing and remembering, and then saying we would switch groups today, and then asking them to show me their motions. This worked much better. It is really helpful to be able to teach the same lesson a few times. On Thursday, I chaperoned for a joined schools practice for the Melodies in March concert. We had a 15 minute walk with about 100 middle school students and then a rehearsal all morning. Afterwards we had pizza over at the high school. When it was announced that the 7th grade girls rehearsal was finished and they would be able to join the others down the block for pizza, every one of them took off screaming and bolted out of the auditorium and through the halls of the elementary school and ran to the high school. As soon as they all screamed, there would have been no containing them. I would have established in the choir that this would not be acceptable beforehand, and then again reminded them how the school transfer was to take place before I allowed them to go. I felt like the elementary classrooms were disturbed, many things could have gone wrong on the way over with

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no adult present, and there may have been more disturbances at the high school once the group got over there. I didnt see this because I was not able to catch up once they were gone. I dont think this should have been seen as acceptable, and something should have at least been said after the fact to ensure that it didnt happen again. This is Kathy Larsons first year leading this group, so she may not have had time to establish these things yet, and my ideas are easier said than done. It is probably a lot more complicated than what I imagine but I still think this could have been handled better. I would be concerned that I would be trampled, figuratively and possibly literally. On Friday, the Wealthy Elementary 5th graders had a lot of energy. One thing I learned that helps is to have other sections sit while I help one section. Kathy and I were both struggling to keep the focus of the whole group. She encouraged me to start to develop a commanding stance and a face that I can give students to communicate that they are crossing the line. She said that I am gentle, which is a good teacher quality, but I also need to be taken seriously when scolding or punishment is necessary. I have done this before successfully, but only with children that I babysit or nanny, and sometimes in the Grand Rapids Prelude Chorus when a child is being disrespectful. I have not needed to do this in my EGR classes so far, because I have been able to handle most situations by quietly communicating to the student that his or her negative behavioral choices needed to be over and they should try to refocus themselves. Most of these students have caring parents at home that are a good example for their kids and support good behavior. This tactic would not work as well in schools where this is not always the case.

Journal Week 5
On Tuesday of this week, there was a substitute teacher. Her name was Mrs. HR and she is a teacher, but not really a music person. This worried me a bit but I asked if I could do the warm-ups and begin the class. This worked really well! She is African American and had interesting connections to the songs we were singing that she was able to share with the class. We sang a couple of songs that were

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Gospel songs, and most mentioned God using names like Lord and Savior. Even though this is a public school, there is a lot of music that children need to be exposed to and learn about that mentions God. This went really well. Mrs. HR told the class that when she was their age her mother took her and the whole family and all the cousins to church every Sunday morning, and the choir would sing songs like what we were singing. This was good information and important for understanding the way Gospel is used, and Mrs. HR presented it in a way that was personal and informative, but she was able to avoid saying anything that might be considered unacceptable for a teacher to say in the public schools. I thought it was nice that the students are learning about different types of people, cultures, and religions. This is better than hearing someone tell them that they live in America and they should help students from other cultures do things like we do them and everyone should believe what the school and teacher believes because that is the only way. Sometimes I feel like Christian elementary schools go about things in that way and end up taking the life and individuality out of children. Not every Christian school is like this, and I have been in public schools that seem to have developed their own religion and are guilty of this as well. I prefer the approach that allows students to take the information they are given and piece them together to form their own individual views that are respected, appreciated, and driven by the why and how and not the memory and spit-back. Teaching students to memorize and do what they are told just because teaches them that they should act and speak differently than how they feel just to get the grades and the approval and let their spark die. The other theme that keeps coming up in my school experiences is classroom management. So many people misunderstand the difference between classroom management and behavioral consequences. These may be a part of classroom management, but it is actually the atmosphere that the teacher creates in the classroom. Positive and negative behaviors often depend on what the atmosphere of the classroom is. When a teacher struggles with management of the class, it does not mean he or she is bad at punishing, but rather that the students come into his or her classroom and

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expect to be able to be disrespectful and careless. Students figure out pretty quickly what a teacher expects from a class. This is why it is so important that expectations are communicated on the very first day or even when they first meet. This does not have to be written or even verbalized. I have never had my own classroom, so I cannot say how simple or difficult this is apart from what I have seen as an observer. Using the information I have and the things I have been able to experience so far, my approach would be to immediately establish that if you respect me, I will respect you, and vice versa. The time it takes to get this across to students will definitely depend on the students and how much respect they receive or have learned to give thus far in life. Another concept that I want to communicate somehow early on is that every student means something to me, can contribute to the class, are capable of learning, and are significant as an individual. A good relationship between teacher and student is really important for me because showing your capability to someone you admire is much more desirable than showing someone you dont care for and does not seem to care for you. This brings other challenges because every student feels cared for in a different way. I plan on trying my best to figure out what makes each student desire to be successful and where their motivation lies. It depends on how they are treated at home, by other teachers and adults, and by their peers. There is a difference, though, in how one acts when trying to make a friend and what a healthy relationship looks like between a teacher and a student. I have made the mistake in the past of becoming buddies with a student in group that I was initially in a more camp counselor position and then had to teach them. This is really difficult to reverse. It is also hard in music when there are 25 students in each class and the teacher only sees them for an hour a week. Building relationships takes longer and individual attention is less common in music classrooms. There are fewer times when students are working on their own and the teacher can talk one-on-one with a student. I hope to learn how to best balance all these factors and many more with experience. I have had conversations with many students from the schools and groups I have worked

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with and children that I nanny that blow me away. Finding out what is inside a student that appears naughty, shy, or totally uninterested can be pleasantly surprising and rewarding. I hope that I am not just a dreamer and that I can at least help my students discover the things that give life true joy and meaning. I will remember to pick my battles, avoid neglecting some students because others are getting all the attention, and not let disappointment weigh me down. I know that life is not all rainbows and butterflies and that I cant go around trying to fix students, but I am called to pass on the love and sometimes tough love that God has shown me. You cant always make big changes alone, but every little thing counts. On Wednesday, I taught my lesson to 2nd graders, which of course was different than teaching it to 5th graders. I decided that what I will do differently is create a visible notation that the students can read and clap the rhythms before I put students on the instruments. This will help when I try to pull everything together. I am also planning on setting up their instruments facing me and have the music on the document camera so everyone can see what is happening. Mrs. Larson said she will give me a bit more time on Thursday to be able to do this. I prefer the days when the lessons tie together, but today felt a bit random. We have been focusing on percussion. I do African percussion and Mrs. Larson does other percussive things usually. Celebrating St. Patricks Day threw off that flow a little, but Mrs. Larson connected them well in class by having the class try to imagine moving to a different part of the globe. Thursday was 3rd graders. The classes are generally attentive for their age, but the middle class that meets at 9:30 had a tough time staying focused. This class is usually this way, but they did better today than two weeks ago when I worked with the substitute teacher. I am trying to slowly help each class understand what I expect from them, but this is tricky when I do 20 minute lessons and only have each student once a week for that small time. It is wonderful to have that opportunity, but the classroom management does develop really slowly. I model much of it after Mrs. Larson, somewhat because the classes will have an easier time if my expectations are not totally different or

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communicated differently than Mrs. Larsons. I do use my own natural and learned methods for keeping children engaged and participating in the lesson and Mrs. Larson has given me compliments on my ability to show students that I am serious without mistreating them. This was good to hear because we talked about this at the end of last week and she encouraged me to prepare for it so that I didnt get stepped on. Today I did bring music but it might have been too busy on the page. I think each part might need to be on separate sheets so that they can follow better. Even though I highlighted the parts, most of these kids are not used to how notated music works. It was tricky again to keep everything together. I think I need another instrument doing all four beats instead of just the drum doing beats 1 and 3 so they are able to keep time more easily. On Friday, I made a ch noise on the off beats to help everyone stay together, and I had all who were not playing instruments get in two lines as if they were actually in the boat like the Nigerian men singing the song. They loved this and it gave a lot more depth to the lesson so that everyone was learning and familiarizing themselves better with their internal beat. I actually had them rowing to the beat. After the first and second classes, Mrs. Larson asked me to try speaking to the 5th graders in a more direct way that the 3rd graders. This was very helpful because she said it might make them feel like I am not confident if my voice is going up at the end of everything instead of staying grounded and secure. I tried this with the third class and it is tricky to get in the habit of, but they responded more respectfully when I spoke less like a kindergarten teacher. I had no idea I was making everything I said end with raised pitch. This week I learned how to have a better presence and create a learning aura.

Journal Week 6
I started this week with a more advanced lesson for the 5th graders for their second week of Beethoven. Last week, they learned about important facts about Beethoven as a composer, and sang a song that continues on the theme of traditional music with no composer. This week, we talked about

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Beethovens fugues specifically and how a fugue is developed. We then transcribed the music into a rhythmic pattern of a specific fugue by Beethoven and discussed the similarities between that and the concept of ostinato from our warm-up song and Beethovens motif from the previous weeks lesson. It was great to see the students making connections between the concepts, vocabulary, and people we had been talking about throughout my lessons. All the connections seem to help them understand and the reviewing helps them to remember. I also like that they seem to enjoy it so much. Im glad that almost every student is finding interest in the musical lessons Im teaching. This will not and cannot always be the case, but it is nice to be able to find enjoyment in as many areas of learning as possible. The 2nd and 3rd grade lessons were similar but I used a more basic rhythm for these grades. We played Monster Freeze, a game I found online. I put up rhythms for the kids and we practiced rhythms so they would be fresh in their minds. Then we listened to a different composition by Beethoven, another symphony like last week. This one had a very simple and repeated rhythm that we again transcribed and practiced clapping. We connected it to ostinato from the warm up game and motif from the previous week as well. It always impresses me, how smart these students are. I will get back to that topic in a moment, because it continues to come up in my discussions with my teacher and professors. Then, we played Monster Freeze in a circle by walking around the circle, stepping to the rhythm we had just learned in the music, and doing a monster freeze on the rest. This helps the students begin to understand 16 bar musical units. Actually moving to the 16 bar musical units helps the students internalize it, and many of them were picking it up naturally by the second time we did our circle. Classroom management was not as difficult to establish as one might think during this time, because most of the students desired to do their own monster pose at the right time so they felt accomplished. Kathy Larson and I have been talking about student teaching and how it would be beneficial for me to be placed in an urban school. I have heard that this is more difficult to get set up, but I would like to look into that a little bit. Kathy started her first job in an urban school and said she learned a lot that

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year and made a lot of mistakes that practice would have helped her avoid. Many of the activities and lesson plans I have made and taught would be done very differently with a group of students that are lacking the support they need from many different areas of life to be successful learners, so providing that support in the classroom must be considerably more challenging. It excites me and scares me at the same time, but I want all the experience and tools that I can get before I graduate and look for a job. I hate using the word chaos to describe a classroom, but I have seen classrooms before where that is what seems to be happening, and that was in my private high school! I cant imagine the difficulties teachers in urban schools must face, and the frustrations that must come with focusing so much on discipline that the concepts to be taught seem so much less. I am curious to see what struggles and joys would come from an experience in that area. Another theme that has been in my conversations and thoughts lately is what I would do if Kathy were not in the room while I teach. With the younger grades, once in a while, she needs to just relocate herself in the room so certain students quit goofing off. I address most things, but sometimes I either miss it or am not totally aware and keeping on the lookout for these things because I know she is in the room. When she leaves to go make copies or use the restroom during my lessons, I feel myself change in some way. I described it as feeling like I just stepped up one step higher on a riser. I take more control of the classroom upon myself, and the students also realize when Mrs. Larson has left the room. Even if I am the one instilling discipline during my lessons, the students know that Mrs. Larson may always be watching, and they subconsciously behave just a bit better. This is something that professor Walcott pointed out, and I had been noticing it lately as well. When I talked to Kathy about it after class, she proposed that we find a couple days where she leaves for the whole class, maybe the second one of the day, so that I can experience this. Being in the classroom with a sub four times and teaching part or most of the class, I know that I can do it. Still though, even though the subs were not getting near as much respect as Mrs. Larson receives from the students, there is still an older adult in the room when

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there is a sub, and Im sure it would still be different with no one else but the third graders and me. I am excited to see what will happen and what might go wrong that I can learn from for later.

Journal: Observation Week

On Thursday, February 20th, I had the opportunity to visit The Potters House High School. I observed 2 morning classes. The first was a freshman course called English Skills. This was a class of 10 students: 6 female and 4 male. 7 were either African or African American, 2 were Caucasian, and one female student of mixed race. The room is set up in tables facing the front of the room. The tables fit 2 students each, but some tables have just one. Some chairs are upright and plastic, and others are cushioned with rolling feet. The teacher has two desks. One is at the front of the room off to the side, and the other is at the back of the room off to the same side. The teacher has a podium at the front of the room and a whiteboard behind it. When I joined this classroom, there was a student at the front of the room creating a poem and writing it on the board. The teacher helped her if she needed guidance, but gave her the freedom to write whatever she wanted, avoiding vulgarities, as long as it had four lines. Once she had created the poem, she went back to her seat and the teacher returned to the board. He explained the general concepts of rhyme scheme and how to label each line with the correct letter. He then has them read a poem in their textbook and try to label the lines on their own. He gave about 5 minutes for them to read the poem and figure out the rhyme scheme. He played soft classical music during this time. The teacher asked if all students were finished. Most nodded, but one student just stared at the teacher. He looked at her and asked her by name if she got it and she shrugged and looked at her book. The teacher continued with the class and asked students what they came up with. He then explained the correct answers. In the classroom, I noticed diversity posters and one quote that read, The potential for greatness lives within us. The reason these are posted might be to encourage the representation of

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different cultures in the classroom and emphasize that the potential for greatness does not depend on ethnicity. There was also a laminated list of classroom procedures, one of which said, Raise your hand to be recognized. This might encourage the students to strive for positive attention fairly rather than negative attention. The music played while the students read might be helpful for some students, but others may find it distracting. One student pointed out that his assignment sheet was incorrect. He said he didnt do something but he was still given points for it. The teacher said he appreciated his honesty, so he could get a signature on the assignment and still receive full credit. During the practice quiz, the students were all quiet and working. The teacher does not use correct grammar while teaching or require the students to for poetry or conversation. In this way, he is communicating to the students that the way they casually converse is not bad. I assume that in formal writing, however, the students are expected to use proper grammar. I did not see very much individual attention in this class, but it seemed like a few of the students needed it, and the class was small enough that it seems like there would have been plenty of time for it. A few of these students are really excited about English, and this is a class for students that are struggling. It is nice to see these students understanding these concepts and enjoying expressing themselves through English. The second class I observed was choir. The teacher of this class said they focus on theory enough to give two quizzes per quarter. She said they sing praise and worship music and some pop. At the end of each semester, the students are to write a song and perform it. The melody line must be notated on staff paper. Each day, different students are assigned to play a recording of a song they like and give a short speech about it. They have to give details about its meaning and connect it to scripture. The last song presented is one that the teacher asks the students to continue to sing as they move up to the front. They stand in the front of the room in a group that began in rows and slowly became a clump. The students sing the song a capella, and the teacher plunks the notes. When the students sang the wrong pitches on an entrance the teacher said, Ah! Stop! and demonstrated the correct pitches with

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her voice. She used an unhealthy form of vocal production to demonstrate these pitches. The classroom management seemed to be lacking from this classroom. After class, the teacher told me that her degree is not in music teaching, but she was a music minor in college. It is hard for this school to hire a music educator with that specific degree because they can only offer an hour a week, and the students can be really hard on new teachers. This teacher was already working in the school and volunteered to take over the class 5 years ago to keep the music program alive. She seems to connect well with the students, and I respect her desire to prevent choir from being cut, but I wonder if the students are truly better off by having music class when the class is not as high quality as is necessary for students to truly engage in the music classroom. There are some really wonderful things happening in this school. I hope that the more they grow, the more they will be able to do for their students. The music classroom I observed really encouraged me to look into schools like this that need more teachers educated specifically for the music classroom. The voices in the choir have a lot of potential that someone who has been taught how to best work with those voices to give them a fully beneficial musical education.