Note: School name has been changed to maintain confidentiality. Cayenne Music Night is an event created to expose the elementary school students of Cayenne ES to different kinds of music and allow them to play with it outside of their regular class. Students, along with their parents, can come to enjoy a fun night of music making with the help of activities designed by JMU Music Education Students. For Cayenne Music Night, my partner, Theresa Perez, and I designed and led a musical experience for Kindergarten students based on National Core Art Anchor Standard #8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. The first step of designing our experience for Cayenne Music Night was planning the activity we wanted to do that would help the students understand what it means to interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. After brainstorming and collaborating with Theresa, we developed a one paragraph description of what we wanted (see below). Of course, this description was rough around the edges and included more activities than we actually did that night. Dr. Stringham commented on description and had us choose more appropriate wording for the setting and the audience; some words that he pointed out were associating major with happy and sad with minor. His comments made me realize the importance of choosing my words wisely to accurately reflect what I am trying to accomplish. After the description, we made a rough draft of handout (see below) that we wanted to give the students and their parents so that they could remember what we did, understand the importance and reasoning behind the activity, and have activities to take home if they wanted to replicate it. Again, Dr. Stringham gave us comments and said that our paper was not that family friendly and easily accessible to read for parents and kids. It made sense once I looked at it again; our handout looked more like a college assignment than a fun worksheet with pictures that I would give a child. Then we turned in our final draft of the handout (see below) which included colorful pictures, fun fonts, and words that were not as dense and convoluted as before. We also created a video of how we thought the experience would go and what we expected the students to do. Here is a picture of our materials all set up that night! Our engagements were successful in that the kindergarten students were eager to play with our activity and see how pressing the buttons produced different loops of music. The kids were also willing to answer our questions about what they felt when they heard each song, how it related to the picture, and which loop they thought fit with the picture the best. Sometimes is would take more encouragement and persistence for them to answer, but for on other occasions the child would be ecstatic to talk about it. One thing I quickly realized when working with this age was I had to be more specific and guiding with the questions I asked to help the students reach the point where they understood emotions and could articulate it. It meant giving them options of “Did you feel happy or sad?” rather than “How did you feel?” (more open ended). It was cool that I knew some of the children’s names because I had been helping out in a kindergarten classroom in Keister this past semester. It gave me a connection to them and helped me start conversations more easily; it was also fun and interesting to meet their parents and get a glimpse into their background.
One challenge that was especially prominent when it came to meaningful engagement with students and their families was the language barrier. Cayenne Elementary School has such a diverse environment, so when I was giving handouts to parents and trying to explain, some of them would nod and say yes, but I did not know if they actually understood what I was explaining or were just saying yes because they did not have any other method to communicate with me. And if the case was that they did not understand me, the handout would probably not be important to them because they could not even read it! Another challenge was that the parents of the kindergarten students stood off to the sides of the room while the children played. I was wondering why no handouts were being taken initially, and then I realized I had to go initiate a conversation and give the handout to the parents because the kindergarten students were not going to take them. It made me sad that the parents were not playing with their children; maybe this was because they wanted the student to learn and enjoy without them or in a classroom setting they are used to the teacher teaching and themselves sitting on the sidelines. However, some parents were really engaged with the material and came and asked questions. If I had to revise my experience, I would use more laptops so that all the pictures could be more spread out, accessible, and available to more people at one time. I would also create a more complex program so that it would be possible to press one button and have a list of songs to switch through, rather than a separate button per song. Doing this would help eliminate the confusion of all the chords. I also would like to come prepared with better instruction and questions; for example, I would have the students just touch the metal of the alligator clip to the aluminum foil rather than having them hold it in one hand and touch it with the other because they did not seem to grasp the concept. Lastly, I would create an experience where the students and parents can interact together. I want the parents to be engaged with their students’ learning so that they can take it home and help foster growth because the home is extremely important in supporting a child’s learning. Note: The name of the teacher and school have been changed to maintain confidentiality. Below are my thoughts and reflections after observing a Piano I Class taught at Hawthorne High School by Kapil Luce: I was intrigued when I first came in to observe for practicum and was directed to a classroom upstairs that was not in the music hallway. When I walked into the room, I almost thought I was in the wrong place because it was completely silent; the only thing that helped me was the fact that the classroom was full of electronic keyboards. As Mr. Luce explained his teaching style of using a sound board and headphones and the reasoning behind it (giving private, individual feedback to all students), I could understand why he ran the piano class the way he did. I respect and am interested in having the ability for students to learn at their own pace and have simple checkpoints that allow them to learn the concepts necessary, but I do miss the face-to-face interaction that the technology was impacting. For a music classroom to be completely silent seems wrong to me—music should be heard and reverberate through a room. Music can be a fun group experience, and the headphones created an environment where these interactions were lessened. I did appreciate that he had a sticker chart and gave out candy and fruit snacks as little incentives for students when they reached a certain point. I also liked that he had times where the students could show off what they had been working on in recitals, both individually and as a group. The concept behind his group recital piece was rather cool because it allowed them to use a real piano, instead of a keyboard, and had them all play different parts of it (ex. Keys, plucking strings, tapping with different instruments on piano, etc.). The collaboration and interaction involved in that made me excited for all the possibilities music creates. The classroom itself in the high school was rather sad and seemed like being enclosed in an asylum, bad fluorescent lighting included. I wish that schools were designed and decorated so that they can be creative and exciting hubs of learning, rather than solitary cells were words and ideas are dictated to students. It seemed like Mr. Luce used most of the class period doing his own separate planning for other classes, unless a student asked his to listen to them complete a checkpoint. I think it’s so sad that he’s missing out on an opportunity for them to learn music through personable interactions with him. He did allow the students a 10 minute break halfway through the class, but I think the only reason the students felt so comfortable to talk about life around him was because they had taken or were currently taking a different class with him. It makes me wonder if there is a way for him to outreach to students who are not already taking another music course already. Overall, I was extremely impressed with how smoothly the class was run and how independent the students were, but I was disheartened by the fact that the room was completely silent and how the joy that music brings seemed to be sucked out of that class. Note: The name of the school and teacher have been changed to maintain confidentiality. Below are my thoughts and reflections after observing a Music Tech Class for sixth graders taught at High Point Middle School by Elbert Conrad: I was extremely impressed by how smoothly Mr. Conrad ran his classroom—he related well to the students and was funny and engaging. This was my first time seeing a music technology course and I was glad it was this one. He synthesized everything they had learned in a way that was easily understood, built upon their knowledge through the online tutorial, and then had them begin reconstructing their knowledge by creating their own musical track using Auxy. He also excelled at basic classroom management skills; he had a signal for them to be quiet and was firm and reasonable when it came to the classroom noise level. Overall, it was a very pedagogically sound lesson. I was surprised that Mr. Conrad taught all the music classes (musical theatre, band, choir, orchestra, music technology) at High Point Middle School. That’s a lot of skills to know how to teach and I would not feel adequate teaching all those things! Since he did teach all the music courses, all the music materials were in one classroom. I am used to the choir and band/orchestra having two rooms, so it seemed to constrain the space having choir risers and music stands with chairs in the same room. I did appreciate how colorful and well decorated the classroom was—it gave the room a welcoming feeling and made it be a place the students would like coming back to. Mr. Conrad was creative in varying the activities he did in one lesson, which kept the students engaged. It also was a mixture of him talking, the students responding, and the students doing their own work silently, which ended up being a good balance. I had never seen a listening log done before, but I liked the idea that it was a simple activity that only took 10 minutes, but allowed the students to be exposed to different kinds of music and critically think and articulate their thoughts about the song. I also love playing Kahoot, and was glad to see it being used in a music classroom in an effective way. I think that depending on the questions asked, it can be difficult to have a productive Kahoot; however, he had questions that reinforced the material they had learned and it was a fun and effective Kahoot. Lastly, I was amazed by how he used technology to his advantage. A lot of times I think it can be a hindrance to learning, especially when there are glitches. However, it seemed like he always had a backup plan if the technology did not work, which happened, and smoothly continued with the lesson. He had the students independently worked, which helped them take charge of their own learning, and then he reviewed with them to ensure that the main topics he wanted them to understand were highlighted. I was also glad that he used project-based assessment so that the students felt free enough to make mistakes and create a product that they enjoyed, rather than just adhering to a rubric. I thoroughly enjoyed his lesson and would love to ask him more questions on how he built such a great curriculum! Note: The name of the school and teacher have been changed to maintain confidentiality. Below are my thoughts and reflections after observing a second grade general music class taught at Chuckatuck Elementary School by Mirka Kelly: This course that I observed, general music for second graders, was most similar to a music course that I had grown up taking out of the three practicum observations that we did. However, I do not remember most of what I did in second grade, so while it did seem similar, I’ll never actually remember if it actually was something we did when I was in elementary school. The first thing that I noticed when walking into the classroom was how colorful and friendly it was—this built a welcoming atmosphere and made the room seem happy and lively. I also loved how there were baby blue ukuleles all along the wall of the room! When the students walked in, they knew exactly what to do and where to sit. She had developed a system of assigning each student a letter on the circular mat and it worked so smoothly. They had a new student in the class and she quickly got him adjusted to what they did each class. When she taught, I was impressed by how she subtly incorporated assessment into the necessary activities they did, like taking attendance. She had her iPad out to take attendance, but also had them match pitch and sing that they were here when she sung their names. It was a simple way to assess if they could match pitch or not. She also had a good, balanced amount of group learning and assessment, as well as individual assessment. After taking attendance (individual assessment), she reinforced their knowledge of dynamics with a group story that included using egg shakers and a singing game (group learning), and then had then individually play dynamics on the djembe (individual assessment). All these activities provided a variety of ways for students to learn the same concept of dynamics. She also used popsicle sticks that had letters of the alphabet written on them to provide a fair way to call on all the students. Popsicle sticks can be a hassle for teachers because it takes time to write all the students’ names on them, but by using alphabet letters, she saved a lot of time and made the tool more of a help than a hindrance. She had a very kind, gentle, and mother-like personality, and it worked for the students. She got them excited about music even though she wasn’t high energy all the time. It made me wonder and appreciate how she was able to put her own personality into her teaching style. She was still herself and did not have to change her personality because of how she taught; rather, she incorporated it into her teaching and it gave her a style that was unique to her. I appreciated that because it makes me more confident that I can still be myself and teach like me, but also use the different ideas and techniques from my peers at JMU to become a better teacher. At the end of the lesson when we went up to talk to her, she said that she graduated as a performance major, but then decided to teach. This was comforting to hear that you can’t really make a “wrong” choice in life, you simply take a detour until you are on the path you need and want to be on. |
Davina MiawOn this page, I will present examples of my leadership through videos, lesson plans, and reflections. Archives
December 2019
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