Case Study
During my elementary general music placement I was able to monitor the musical and non-musical achievements of one of my students. The student I chose is Christopher+ a second grade student at one of my elementary schools. Below are my observations and reflections on his achievement during my two-month stay.
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My second grade students in general were very excited and enthusiastic about music class, and most days completely overwhelming. However, I absolutely loved the time I spent teaching them and within the first few days of my placement I knew that I wanted to monitor a second grade student for my case study. Christopher was a very unique student in my eyes. I would see him mischievously walk around the halls of the elementary school, occasionally entering music class with those same walk, sometimes I could hear Christopher before I saw him. Then there were days where I did not know that Christopher was even in the room. He had a very overwhelming energy about him and would sometimes almost loose control of himself. His excitement and energy towards music was evident within my first few activities that I chose for this particular grade.
Christopher’s musical achievement and success during music class are directly tied to his behavior within the classroom. It was evident to me that Christopher was within singing range and would sing songs not only in tune, but with full energy as well. The only days where I noticed lack of energy or when there were range/intonation issues were days when it appeared that his behavior (consisting of talking to those around him, not staying in his seat, etc) would cause him to lose focus and ultimately leave him unsuccessful in the musical tasks at that given time.
Christopher and his classmates spent a majority of their time working on a Peter and the Wolf unit. During this unit they had to be able to recognize and identify instruments as well as characters from the story Peter and the Wolf. Christopher was able to successfully identify instruments and characters ninety percent of the time I taught the lessons. The moments when he was not successful were the times he was unfocused in class or distracted by his own behavior. Christopher would come in to class very excited to learn about each character from Peter and the Wolf because he had a movie version at home. His energy about this activity helped to relax his sometimes-inappropriate behavior. His musical achievement increased throughout my time with him and I found him to be one of the most exciting children to observe. I was so pleased with his musical growth and as exhausting as he and his class sometimes made me feel, I also felt just as rewarded by their musical knowledge and growth!
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+Name changed to protect student’s identity.
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My second grade students in general were very excited and enthusiastic about music class, and most days completely overwhelming. However, I absolutely loved the time I spent teaching them and within the first few days of my placement I knew that I wanted to monitor a second grade student for my case study. Christopher was a very unique student in my eyes. I would see him mischievously walk around the halls of the elementary school, occasionally entering music class with those same walk, sometimes I could hear Christopher before I saw him. Then there were days where I did not know that Christopher was even in the room. He had a very overwhelming energy about him and would sometimes almost loose control of himself. His excitement and energy towards music was evident within my first few activities that I chose for this particular grade.
Christopher’s musical achievement and success during music class are directly tied to his behavior within the classroom. It was evident to me that Christopher was within singing range and would sing songs not only in tune, but with full energy as well. The only days where I noticed lack of energy or when there were range/intonation issues were days when it appeared that his behavior (consisting of talking to those around him, not staying in his seat, etc) would cause him to lose focus and ultimately leave him unsuccessful in the musical tasks at that given time.
Christopher and his classmates spent a majority of their time working on a Peter and the Wolf unit. During this unit they had to be able to recognize and identify instruments as well as characters from the story Peter and the Wolf. Christopher was able to successfully identify instruments and characters ninety percent of the time I taught the lessons. The moments when he was not successful were the times he was unfocused in class or distracted by his own behavior. Christopher would come in to class very excited to learn about each character from Peter and the Wolf because he had a movie version at home. His energy about this activity helped to relax his sometimes-inappropriate behavior. His musical achievement increased throughout my time with him and I found him to be one of the most exciting children to observe. I was so pleased with his musical growth and as exhausting as he and his class sometimes made me feel, I also felt just as rewarded by their musical knowledge and growth!
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+Name changed to protect student’s identity.