Over the course of the semester, I observed at three off campus locations and experienced general music in grades K-5. In addition to my off campus experiences, I also observed Dr. Whitcomb’s in-class preschool demonstration. My final observation at the daycare on campus will not be included in this paper, as I will only be completing my field experience there a few hours before the submission of this journal.
The first field placement my group and I were sent to was at West Jefferson Elementary School with Mrs. Amy Davidson. Mrs. Davidson received her master’s degree from Duquesne and is also certified in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Upon further conversation, we also found out that her main instrument is the oboe. When I asked her about her experience
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with piano, she explained that since she had not started piano lessons until she got to college, she relies mostly on fundamental piano techniques and does not actually use the piano every day in her general music classes. During our time at West Jefferson, we observed her same third and fifth grade classes on two separate occasions. The most interesting lesson I recorded in my notes for third grade was her introduction of the syllable “re;” in fifth grade, there was recorder testing going on both days, so we observed several classroom centers. We were able to do warm-ups with the third graders and I chose to present a balloon breathing exercise with Anastasia while Amber directed a solfege warmup. Though the children seemed to enjoy blowing up and popping their balloons, Amber’s activity was confusing for them at first and they quickly became bored before she had a chance to correct herself. Our second field placement was at Hartwood Elementary with Mrs.
Pollard. This was definitely my favorite placement; not only did I enjoy the open-space design of the school and the amazing amount of resources she has at her disposal (especially her Orffestra), I also love the fact that she gets to see her students for forty minutes twice a week and that she has a wonderful teaching persona along with the control necessary to “run a tight ship,” as she puts it. In her kindergarten class, her lesson focused on the difference between steady beat and rhythm; within this lesson, she also incorporated solo singing, improvisation, and a lot of movement. In her third grade class, she reinforced rhythm skills (focusing on sixteenth notes) and taught a new song on recorder, also incorporating a lot of solo singing and peer review. Finally, she ended the day by teaching her fifth graders a composition lesson during which she provided several measure examples and her student had to decide which ones they wanted to use to make their own eight measure song. The second time we observed at Hartwood, I led a third grade activity that focused on instrument identification, both by sight and by sound. The students loved the song and game, especially when they were the ones who got to hide and play the instrument for their friends to
recognize. Our final observation was with Mrs. Kraus at McAnnulty and Whitehall Elementary Schools. Mrs. Kraus travels between these buildings on a daily basis, teaching her kindergarten and first graders in the mornings at McAnnulty and her second through fifth graders at Whitehall in the afternoon. Over the course of the day, we observed a class in every grade level from K to 5; we also got a first-hand look at how students with physical, mental, and auditory disorders adjust to the music classroom and have just as much fun as their peers. Mrs. Kraus achieved her Kodály certification at the Kodály Institute in Hungary and many of her lessons reflected that. To give a brief summary of her day, Mrs. Kraus taught improvisation and music reading, prepped la, reinforced sol mi, set up centers while she tested recorder, taught a lesson on the acoustics of sound, reinforced rhythm reading, and introduced a new recorder karate packet. Needless to say, it was a pretty busy day for all ages. Our group assisted with centers during the second grade class and Anastasia and I ran the rhythm practice on the snare drum center. The students enjoyed playing the drum immensely, but when it was not their turn, they would become bored and want to play the drums off to the side of the line while they waited for their next turn.
We are all familiar with the way children interact and play together. Through these interactions, it is clear to see their curiosity, energetic attitude, and friendliness. However there is one important part of their interactions that is overlooked. We often do not think much of kids humming a tune or combining small syllables into a little song, but if we paid close attention, we could see how music is so thoroughly integrated into a child’s life. After reading “Songs in Their Heads: Music and its Meaning in Children’s Lives” by Patricia Shehan Campbell, it became clear to me how children have a concept of music from such a young age, and in a lot of cases, their knowledge of music is not taught to them through school.
Music education has always been an underappreciated concept, but as a future teacher it terrifies me to know that there are children that be...
Many people do not realize the positive effect that popular music has on children. At a young age one of the breakthroughs for children is music’s benefit for language development. According to the Children’s Music Workshop, the effect of music education on language development can be seen in the brain. Studies have indicated that musical training develops the left side of the brain known to be involved in processing language and can actually wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways. The relation between both music and language development can also have advantages children. Listening to music can also improve children test scores and IQ levels. Dr. Schellenberg found that a small increase in the IQs of six year olds who were given weekly vocal and piano lessons. This leads to the fact that music is very helpful when it comes to education. Professor Christopher Johnson revealed that students in elementary schools with better music education programs sc...
In order to help spark that passion inside of others I must accomplish my first goal of obtaining my bachelor 's degree in music education and gaining my teaching endorsement for K-12. I intend on accomplishing this goal by attending the University of Nebraska at Omaha starting the fall semester of 2016. After attending UNO for 4 to 5 years I will begin my search for a high school instrumental music employment opportunity. Once I am employed I will be able to begin fueling the fire of passion in some students.
In the article “Developments in music therapy practice: case study perspectives”, Meadows talks about how music plays an influential role in a child’s development, such as moment, language, thoughts, feeling development, and connection to others. The first years of a child’s life are crucial since it’s when the most change is occurring. Music is naturally absorbed with children leading to immediate engagement, thus promoting and expanding development (Meadows,
Her childhood was one of family hikes and plum trees and dipping fish out of the Lewis River when the smelt run came through. It was filled with holiday candles on the Christmas tree, carved cribbage boards and two younger brothers. In high school she ran track and played clarinet in Mr. Griffith's band. She danced to We Three are All Alone and Carolina Moon on the gym floor of Woodland High School. Throughout it all she pursued her love of music: chorus, octet and solo performances, piano lessons and family singing around the piano.
Wharram, Barbara. Elementary Rudiments of Music. Ed. Kathleen Wood. 2nd ed. Mississauga, Ont.: Frederick Harris Music, 2010. Print.
In most recent years, schools have been fighting to keep music programs alive in school systems across the nation. Some schools believe that due to budget factors, music should be cut out of the academic program, to save some money. But what is widely unknown is that schools that have good music programs do better in areas of math and sometimes reading. A high tech music program called Kodaly, was instituted into the schools of Hungary. If a person were to look at the school today, there are “…no third graders who cannot sing on pitch and sing beautifully” (Dickinson, 1993, p.1). Also, the students of the Hungarian schools academic achievement in math and science “ continues to be outstanding” (Dickinson, 1993, p.1). Another report shows that schools that spend 20% to 30% of their day on music (or the arts), have the highest academic achievement (Dickinson, 1993). One study was conducted involving first and second graders at two Rhode Island public elementary schools to show the effects of musical training on academic achievement. In this study, 96 children were used between the ages of 5-7 in eight first grade classrooms. Four of the classrooms were used as control classrooms, which received the standard amount of musical training; forty-five minutes of music that alternates weeks. The other four classrooms were called “test arts“ classrooms. These classrooms received an hour of music per week. After seven months of this training, the students were all given a standardized test. It was then concluded from the tests, that 77% of the “test arts” classes “…were now at grade level or above in mathematics, as compared to 55% of those in the control groups” (MENC, #1). This clearly shows that if ...
Motivation is one of the key elements in all teaching. To motivate is to provide the student with an incentive for learning the material being studied. In music teaching, this incentive for learning should be found in a joyful learning experience that can be achieved by using the appropriate teaching material combined with the proper teaching method. In Kodály's teaching method there is a balanced combination of these two elements that is applicable from the very beginning of music studies to the most advanced professional level. For example, for young children, the desire to learn to play on their instruments the authentic native folk songs they know, understand, and sing combined with the application of a child development approach is a powerful motivator; it is also one of the basic principle tenets of the Kodály Method. Listening or playing to complex music from early childhood may improve a child's ability to learn, memorize, think logically, and be more creative generally. Such is the belief engendered by the cutting edge of today's educational research. Much of today's published educational research centers around the development of a child's neurological capacity to learn. For example, in Owensboro, Kentucky, all children in Daviess County's elementary schools received piano lessons in the year 1997-98. The idea was to develop the mind, not strictly to make music. Everything in those schools - from learning to play chess, to being regularly exposed to the visual and performing arts, to learning the ABC's in Spanish as well as English - was calculated to increase neuron connections following the basic idea of the Graduation 2010 project. During the next 12 years, a research team at Western Kentucky University will follow up on this research in the hope that this project with a common sense approach will have a major impact on the students' achievement and capacity to learn. In Hungary, similar research was done between the years of 1969-1973 focusing on the effect of the Kodály Method in teaching elementary school children. Among the research findings, it was determined that additional music education resulted in a combination of high creativity with emotional sensitivity, greater thoroughness or exactness in the children's school work, and inner control in the children's personality. Furthermore, the research demonstrated that the Kodály musical training not only increased the students' level of creativity but increased it to the level where it surpassed the level predicted by measures intelligence.
Thought this school year, kids at Taylor Road Middle School are bullying.The majority of the 8th graders are physically and mentally bullying other kids.These kids,especially the 6th graders learn this behavior and they start to do it themselves. The 8th graders also use inappropriate language and curse words. The 6th graders have also started using these words. This has to stop for Taylor Road to be considered a safe
Children love music and recognize it very early in life. Mothers singing lullabies to her newborn baby, toddlers banging on a pot in the kitchen, preschoolers singing their favorite nursery rhyme, music is an important part of a child’s life. Music does many things, it can bring back a memory or a feeling, it can sooth and relax, and it teaches. Music also teaches children; Language, listening skills, and communication to name a few of the concepts children learn through music. "Scientists are confirming what teachers have long suspected: Music not only touches people's souls, it also shapes growing minds. When children sing or play music they become better readers, thinkers and learners. The more we discover about how the brain works, the more we recognize how crucial music is to children's learning." Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer, Ph.D., a psychoanalyst at the University of California, Berkeley.
My internship at San Gabriel has challenged me in ways I never knew were possible. My first experience directing a choir, as an independent ...
In high school, my favorite class to attend was outdoor leadership. I plan to continue to study the criteria of this class by pursuing a career in environmental studies and recreational management. My goal is to become a forest ranger for the state of Maine and travel to states that may need my assistance and help during bad times. I have always enjoyed the outdoors and wildlife and I was lucky enough to attend a school that offered an outdoor class.
When music education comes to one’s mind, one may think that it only applies when it comes to listening to diverse songs and beating two drum sticks together to the beat of songs. However, there is much more of a deeper meaning to it than that. According to the acclaimed author, J. Yudkin, “Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain (the development of skills), the cognitive domain (the acquisition of knowledge), and, in particular and significant ways, the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity. The incorporation of music training from preschool to postsecondary education is common in most nations because involvement in music is considered a fundamental component of human culture and behavior. Music, like language, is an accomplishment that distinguishes us as humans” (Yudkin 4). The subject of expurgating music education has been discussed for numerous decades. However, those discussing this fail to realize that music education not only has an imperative part in the students’ grades improving but also betters their behavior. Music education should remain in the curriculums of today’s students because it has a positive effect on their upbringing, in turn leading them to better, more fruitfulfutures.
This morning was sort of just a regular morning. I walked up the Acclivity to get to my bus stop. At my bus stop there are three of the smallest teens ever to be in high school. Their names are James, Kaleb, and Wesley. They literally follow me around school all day but the funny thing is they are all seniors and i'm a junior. I’m all three of them standing on each others shoulders in height. Weight it's probably the same circumstances to be completely honest.