YouTube video

My youtube video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZA3kYPQklE 

Enjoy!

Final presentation

I am planning on doing my final presentation video with a math lesson plan about telling time geared for first grade.

Should teachers be paid based on student performance?

I do think that teachers should be paid based on student performance, but the performance should not be based on test scores.  I think that a teachers job is to help students grow throughout the year, and the teacher should be able to show a students' progress through conference notes and assessments.  I do not like the idea of teachers getting raises because of high state test scores, because to me, that doesn't show much.  Every student tests differently, and you may have students in your class with learning disabilities that can bring your class average down so I don't think that is a fair judge of progress.

Teachers Unions and tenure

I think that teacher unions and tenure can be beneficial, but they seems to cause more problems then do good.  I feel like some older teachers take advantage of tenure and become lazy.  Some teachers refuse to change and adjust to the students, which hurts the school.  I love the security of tenure, but it's sad that it gets taken advantage of by some, which gives it a horrible reputation.

I am from a small area where a lot of schools are downsizing.  I would hate to be one of two second grade teachers, in a school that now only needs one teacher and my co-teacher has tenure, and I didn't so no matter how good of a teacher I was, I would ultimately lose my job.  I think this happens a lot, and it is sad.  Teachers should be kept because of their quality, not because of how long they have been at the good.  Teachers should constantly receive reviews, and be improving their teaching strategies.  The best teachers in the school should be the ones that have all the experience, not the ones straight out of college.  The new teachers should be able to come to a new school and look up to the older teachers.  If the old teachers don't keep up with the change, the new teachers have no one to learn from.

Balancing extra-curricular activities in a Sports-Driven society

Sometimes I feel like teachers forget how busy students really are, especially if they don't have children of their own.  Many students are up early in the morning to get on the bus, spend 8 hours at school, do homework, any extra-curricular activity, and then try to fit in time with their family.  Teachers can help students by assigning less homework, if any, to their students and by making the most of their school day.
School needs to be a priority over sports and other extra-curricular activities, but we need to give students the opportunity to participate in them. 

Carl Orff

Carl Orff taught students in nontraditional ways using music.  He believed that music was a natural behavior of children, and that children are naturally musical.  He liked to use chants, songs, and instrumental pieces.  Improvisation and creativity  is the key stage to the Orff process.

I think that the Orff approach is perfect for the 21st century because it is a way to reach all of the students.  It is something that all the students can be engaged in as a group to help them explore their creative natures, builds self-esteem, and helps provide positive music experiences.

Developmentally appropriate instruments

Recorder: Third-fifth grade. By this age, students should have developed eye-finger dexterity and coordination to cover all the fingerholes.
Xylophone: Third-Fifth grade. Requires enough hand-eye coordination to use mallets.
Rhythm sticks: pre-k-first grade.  Rhythm sticks can be used for lower grades because they use large muscle movements.
Finger cymbals: Pre-K-First grade.  These also are good for lower-grade levels because they don't require fine-motor skills.
Kazoo: Pre-K-First grade.  The kazoo is a simple wind instrument that is used to teach pitch.  The instrument is played by humming so the students do not need to have finger-eye coordination developed.

Importance of Sequential Learning

Sequential learning is important in a classroom because if builds a foundation of knowledge.  Sequential learning is like scaffolding, and helps the students learn things in order and reinforces past lessons.  

Teaching a student by "rote"
Teaching by rote is having the students repeat after the teacher.  For example, when a teacher wants to teach a class a song,k first she breaks the song up into different sections.  After she breaks up the sections, she sings the first section and then has the class repeat the section.  After the class repeats after the teacher, she adds a new section of the song.  This continues until the whole song is repeated.  Then the teacher sings the whole song, and the students repeat the whole song after her.  Once the song is memorized, actions can be added.

Essential Steps of a lesson plan:
The anticipatory set
State the objective
Introduce the concept
Teacher modeling
Check for understanding
Guided practice
Review
Independent practice
Assessment

Philosophies, lesson plans, and rubrics

I believe that my educational philosophy is in alignment with student needs and nation/state expectations.  Like the national/state expectations, I want my students to be successful and to grow immensely from the beginning of the year to the end.  I will not teach to the standards of tests, but I will use them as a guide for my lessons.  I will use a variety of teaching methods to teach students what they need to know, and use rubrics for students to look at as guides and goal-setters. I want my students to be challenged and engaged in new learnings. 

Music Therapy and Education

Honestly, I have never heard of music therapy before reading the articles about it, but it makes a lot of sense.  Music has the power to change your mood, keep you focused,k and help you to relax.  I think it is amazing that music can help individuals in so many different aspects of life such as cognitive, emotional, and physical abilities.
I believe that music therapy would benefit students in Reading/Literacy and social skills because it builds self-confidence,k increases motivation to participate, stimulates attention, and helps students develop problem-solving skills.

Special Education today in America

I have little experience with special education.  When I worked in a childcare center in Lincoln, we worked with children with A.D.D. speech problems, behavioral problems, and with one child who was Autistic.  I like like educators can meet the needs of differential learners by really becoming knowledgable with the child's disability.  If an educator knows nothing, or very little about a child's disability,k they won't know how to handle that child.  I also think that regularly conferencing with the child's parents and the special education teacher is key.

Bloom's Taxonomy and the Nine National Standards for Music Education

Bloom's Taxonomy 

• Knowledge 
• Comprehension 
• Application 
• Analysis 
• Synthesis 
• Evaluation 

National Standards for Music Education

1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.

5. Reading and notating music.

6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

7. Evaluating music and music performances.

8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.

9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture. 

Bloom's Taxonomy can tie right in with the Nine National Standards.  The biggest difference between the two is that Bloom's Taxonomy can be used in all subject areas, while the Nine National Standards are strictly for music.  Bloom's Taxonomy has points similar to the standards.  For example: standard #4 connects strongly with "Synthesis", standard #6 connects with "Analysis", and standard #7 connects with "Evaluation".  A teacher would be able to use Bloom's Taxonomy to create objectives to meet the Nine National Standards.

Terms

Cognitive learning: the procedures we have for manipulating information 'in our heads'. 

Cooperative learning: The process of working with others to complete a task; learning as a community

Eurhythmics: the art of interpreting in bodily movements the rhythm of musical compositions

Multiple intelligence theory:  A theory that was developed by Howard Gardner.  Gardner determined eight different intelligences:  Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalistic.

Rote learning: a memorization technique based on repetition

Think-pair-share: A three-step process of first thinking to yourself, second, getting with a partner, and third, sharing your thoughts with a partner
Checking for understanding: Is how a teacher assesses students to know that they have understood the material

Assertion

"The art of teaching the arts means far more than getting students to see the arts as 'nice' or 'fun.' It means providing them with in-depth access to the content of the arts as academic
disciplines."  

This assertion stood out to me because it answers the question of why arts should be in the school-systems.  Many people look at the arts as just a "fun" or "goof-off" time because they might have been taught that way, but the teachers they had may have approached the subject wrong.  Music class is not just about singing songs, it is about learning the meanings behind the lyrics, knowing the history behind music, and knowing musical terms and how to apply them.

 

Music, Culture, and Early Childhood Development

The information in this video is relevant to an elementary education classroom because it is away we can teach our students about history.  Roger H. Brown discussed that much of what we know about our history and culture was through oral traditions, much of which being through song and poetry.  Brown also talked about the stimulation music can bring.  Very animated songs might make kids get up and dance and jump around, but other music may calm them down and help them focus.  I loved Brown's biting example and how he compared it to how we need music.  When we can't find the words, we can turn to music to help express ourselves. 

9 Music Standards for Music Education

National Standards for Music Education

1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.

5. Reading and notating music.

6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

7. Evaluating music and music performances.

8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.

9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.

Questions 1-8

1. How do you use music in YOUR life? 
     I use music in my everyday life.  I can't stand driving my car without the radio.  I also like to always have music as background noise in my house, whether it comes from my radio or from music videos playing on TV. 
2. What musical activities and interests did you have as a child? 
     When I was younger, I was very interested in instruments.  My mom encouraged music and band so I experimented with a few different instruments.  Growing up I have played the piano, trumpet, and french horn.  In my house, we also had a clarinet, guitar and drum-set that I liked to play around on.
3. Have you observed children at musical play? 
     When I worked in daycares, I loved observing children at musical play.  Everyday I would set aside time for music.  We had a big box of instruments that the children had fun playing with and sometimes we would also make our own instruments.
4. Are there some musical skills you are able to teach to children more easily than others? 
     I think that music basics such as note identification recognizing different instruments would be easier to teach students as opposed to teaching students pitch, tone, or how to play an instrument.
5. What do you think that all children should be able to do, musically, as a result of a MUSICAL
education? 
     I honestly don't know the answer to this question, but I hope to learn more.  In my music classes, we were given a book of songs and we sang the whole class period.  Music was more of a "fun" time that students didn't take overly serious.  In music classes that I have observed, students were clapping out rhythms,  playing different instruments, and learning about different composers. 
6. Have you ever observed a teacher integrating music into the classroom? Cite examples. 
    My third grade teacher would use music when learning multiplication.  She had songs about all the numbers and she would play the CD during free-time and art. 
7. How do you think music can be integrated into the elementary classroom? 
   I think music can be integrated in in the classroom in a variety of ways.  Music can be used to set the mood, help students memorize certain information, and students can write their own songs during writing workshop or for other subjects.
8. How do you think music can be used as an interdisciplinary tool in the elementary classroom? 
   From what I have learned in other classes, the knowledge of music is linked to success in math.