This Spring I spent time in three subject areas of music education not related to my emphasis: Elementary Band, High School Band, and Middle School General Music. Within these three areas I was able to gain the necessary skills in Planning, Teaching, and Assessment. Below are teaching videos, lesson plans, assessment of musical achievement and other materials that I have worked on for each unit!
Elementary Band
The above teaching was an example of a creative assignment for an elementary band to be used in sectionals, group lessons, or to the entire ensemble. This particular teaching was given to my peers on their secondary instruments. I decided to have the students explore their instruments in regards to sound and how they can manipulate sound to tell a "story". In this case I chose scenes from the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I first had the students just create any type of sound effect, then I had the students sing and play the first 5 notes of a F Major Scale. They were assigned in groups of two and were given a storyboard and were assigned to use the first five notes of the F Major scale and had to manipulate the scale in a way that projected the scene from the storyboard.
High School Band
Middle School General
Lesson Plan for World Drumming Lesson
Assessment of Musical Achievement during World Drumming Lesson
Assessment of Musical Achievement during World Drumming Lesson
The above teaching was a section of a World Drumming lesson that I taught, along side 3 other members of my music education class, to a 7th grade general music class at Mount Nittany Middle School. In this video segment students designed their own arrangement of a world drumming ensemble and I am leading the entrances and exits. Within this lesson we discussed how some cultures, especially in Africa and Asian countries, people use drums as a means of communication. By using this principle we were able to create a drum circle that could eventually be student led.
I chose the two videos above not only because I thought they were some of my best teaching and diversity in the field of music education, but also I feel they showed my growth throughout this semester. Even though I have my emphasis in elementary general music, I still love my instrumental experiences and really enjoyed my time spent learning how to teach beginning instruments. This teaching was especially exciting because I got to use a lot of my skill in the general music area while adding instruments. It was the first time I had taught a lesson where I was not really nervous because I had no idea what the students were going to produce for me to evaluate and it was almost exciting and felt very natural, just like teaching should feel. The second teaching was a general setting, but with middle school students. I never thought I would fall in love with teaching Middle School General like I did in this unit. Each lesson was so exciting and the students were always so engaged in each lesson. This was a great teaching experience for me because at this point I felt very comfortable with addressing the students and getting my lesson across, but it was in this unit I truly learned how to manage a classroom. The students were excited to play the drums and wanted to play them all the time so to make sure I was commanding but not harsh I used simple phrases such as "Start from silence" and "it's fun to play the drums, but when were all hacking away it loses it's fun..." These videos showed growth in teaching, musicianship and my ability to be personable while maintaining classroom management.
Bennett Center
This semester I was able to continue my expereinces at the Bennett Center by working with the same class! My fellow colleague and I were able to spend time diving into key questions this semester as we observed their music making. These questions were: What are the
non-musical activities and responses that affect the students? How can we musically keep the students engaged due to the non-musical responses? Below you will find links detailing our findings as well as a repertoire sheet from this semester. Also check out the video of us leading the two parts of our lesson plan: Scarves and Shake!
Bennett Center Essential Questions Journal/Reflections
Bennett Center Repertoire Sheet
Bennett Center Essential Questions Journal/Reflections
Bennett Center Repertoire Sheet