The final time I observed Katie McIntosh I got to see her 4th and 5th grade choruses as well as her 3rd grade general music class. During this visit I got to do quite a bit of teaching. The 5th graders are singing a piece called "Jasmine Flower" that has a section that is in Mandarin. There are quite a few students who speak Mandarin, and so Katie is having those students teach the students who also want to sing that verse as a feature teach them the song before school and in a few minutes during chorus. I was tasked with supervising and playing piano for those students while they taught the words.
At first it seemed as though I would only need to play the notes for them when they sang, but I quickly realized that there was no plan or sense of urgency to teach the words by the students, so I took charge. I had the students who didn't know the words go on one half of the room and the students who did know the word stand at the other half. I asked the students who do know the words to speak it for them, but this seemed to make them nervous since there was a little too ambiguous for them. So instead I played the piano so they could sing the words for the rest of the students. This worked well and we finally got into a groove of going phrase by phrase with me giving directions to enunciate and repeat certain sections along the way. While we didn't get through the entire verse due to time, what we did go over the students sang very well in front of the whole rest of the choir. While I admit that I didn't have full control of the classroom (some students were off task or moving around the chairs in the room) I decided that it was most productive to continue to work with the students who were focused and eventually most of the other students started paying attention. Ideally I wouldn't let that kind of behavior go unaddressed, but given ten minutes to teach a verse of music I thought that continuing on was the most appropriate thing to do.
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At this observation with Katie I got to see the two choruses once again as well as her 3rd grade and 2nd grade general music classes. I was amazed by her dedication to each and every student. In the general music classes they played a game where each student would copy the sound of slide whistle using their head voices. Most were able to do this, or at least demonstrate that they were really trying to use their head voice, but a few would only use their speaking voices. While students were onto the next activity, Katie took the time to meet with those students individually to help them reach their head voices. This really showed the value of finding one-on-one time, as it made a huge difference.
In terms of classroom management, there were a couple incidents which were resolved by simply reminding students of the music room expectations. For example, when teaching the game for Snail, Snail (which I was able to help demonstrate and participate in) the students got a little too excited and rough with each other. At this point Katie simply asked the class if we were being safe. Once they were reminded of what safe looks like, things calmed down and we were able to play the game again. At this session at Oak Hill I got to observe the 8th grade string orchestra, 6th grade guitar, and 6th grade chorus. The routines in these classes are less strict but still succeed at getting students ready to learn. Two assigned students help pass out guitars for the guitar class and in the choir they always start with the same warm-ups. During this observation I mainly got to participate by correcting students fingerings and leading warm-ups as well as helping the altos during the 6th grade choir.
When correcting students fingerings on guitar, I checked in with every student to simply make sure they had their index finger on the first fret of the first string. While most got this immediately, some did need my help to physically move their finger so they understood. This was valuable to experience because it made me realize how even the simplest concepts can get lost and be confusing for a student, so it is important to have a checking system. When leading the warm-ups for the boys choir sectional, Caleb had to leave the room for a few minutes so I was alone with them and the accompanist. This was definitely daunting, but I knew the warm-ups he normally does so I lead with those and things went fairly smoothly until Caleb returned. When helping the altos, who are lacking in confidence, I sat with them and sang their part. When sitting in their section I was able to hear that most were either not singing or singing very quietly, so I am excited to work with them in the spring to build their confidence. |
AuthorReese Massey recounts her observations of elementary and secondary music teachers during her time in pre-practicum. Archives
November 2019
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