The first time I got to observe Katie McIntosh, I saw her 5th grade chorus, 4th grade chorus, and 3rd grade general music. The two choruses include every single student from each of the grades. As such, there are over 60 kids in each chorus and classroom management is crucial. Katie does a fantastic job of looking ahead to prevent misbehavior and musical cues in order regain control without having to yell. The routines involve stretches, warm-up songs that they also do as rounds, and sight reading from folk song books. Once they go through these things, they start working on the repertoire, mostly by rote. The music is challenging but doable and includes many multicultural selections.
In the general music class they were focused on recorder. As students walked in, "In the Hall of the Mountain King" was playing and students were asked to think about the focus question as they get settled into their spots. The question was, "What is the tempo of this piece of music?" which they discussed as a class. The students brought many descriptive and insightful ways to look at the music. After this opening, Katie filled out on the board a worksheet that they would soon do in groups, which involved creating a recorder composition using the notes G, A, and B. After the class was in groups, I was able to go around the room and both help students with questions (such as correcting rhythmic values and notation) and playing their compositions for them on recorder so they could hear how they sound and make changes based on how the piece sounded. This was great because I was able to passively react with students while also getting to observe how they go about composing and correcting mistakes with their peers.
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On this day I got to see the 7th/8th grade string orchestra, 7th grade guitar, and 7th/8th grade choir along with the sectionals for the altos and tenors/baritones. The string orchestra had routines where the students would ready their instruments themselves and then do their scale warm-ups, of which they had one for each month. Once again Caleb used a lot of student modeling for both the violin and cello parts so that the more experienced players in the group could show other students good form. Additionally, whenever he worked with a specific section he had the other players air-bow so that he maintained focus. Finally, the group sounded pretty good in terms of tone. The main thing that they were working on was keeping a sense of pulse and playing in sync with each other.
The main way I got to participate this day was with the guitar classes. After a review explanation of how to read chord charts, they were given time to practice songs from their packets. They would be tested on playing "Ode to Joy" and then practice playing chords. I was tasked with listening and correcting fingering for students playing "Ode to Joy" as well as playing chords for students playing the melody and vice versa. This was great for getting to know students since I was learning guitar along side them. Sometimes there were questions that I didn't quite know how to answer, such as an easy way to remember which notes were which, but since we were figuring it out together we were able to learn a lot from each other. When I observed Kelly Graeber at the Morse School, I got to see and interact with her kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade general music classes. Overall, she used a combination of Kodaly, Feierabend, and Orff in her classroom to create a dynamic learning experience for her students. The activities consisted of rote songs, songtales, reading rhythms using "heart beat" images, chants, soundscapes, and rounds. Students were often called upon to name a song that had the same rhythm as the one they had just learned, or to draw the arc of the melody on the board. For older classes they would start with a welcome song and the song "Hey Charlie" where students get a chance to sing a solo if they are chosen. Kelly challenged them to keep the song moving even when a student had a solo so that they never paused or lost the pulse. Additionally, the class would often be split in half and given student leaders in order to help lead their students in the singing of a round.
In terms of classroom management, it was generally a calm learning environment, but some students in particular struggled quite a lot. There were some concerns on safety after a student found a rubber band and was flinging it at other classmates. This was a stressful moment and certainly rattled both the teacher and remaining students. This was valuable to see as I was able to experience needing to remain calm but also regain control. After the student was brought to the office, Kelly found it necessary to do a calming breathing activity with the class. This made a great impact on me because I could see the importance of taking time to check in without students before just continuing the planned lesson after something unexpected happens. |
AuthorReese Massey recounts her observations of elementary and secondary music teachers during her time in pre-practicum. Archives
November 2019
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