1. »  Colleges enthused as iTunes classes go live

    world-shaker:

    Worth highlighting:

    Anyone with an iPad or iPhone can use the app and access the free classes on iTunes U. Having this new standalone app should be a boon to users and educators. The Inside Higher Ed website is highlighting material from Harrisburg Community College, where there are free courses in differential equations and astronomy. It’s the first iTunes U offering from a community college.

  2. Log 12 - 12/1/11

    Summary:

    I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone by. We began our lesson with a body mapping exercise of Silent Night, since the children are required to sing it at church around Christmas time. After this, we broke down Funga Alafia into three sections to facilitate body mapping. We had students get into pairs, and instructed them on the correct body mapping for Funga. After this, we allowed them to practice it for about a minute. Brianne and I took two students aside after this activity to instruct them on the drumming pattern we wanted the students to perform at our informance next week. I worked with Grace, and she had a really easy time recalling the rhythmic pattern “i like to eat cake,” which is basically 3-2 clave. She stated, “it’s easier to play when I say it out loud,” so we’re performing while saying the speech pattern. 

    What went well:

    • Students working in pairs was productive
    • Direct instruction was effective, but I’m not sure it was valuable.

    What needs work:

    • Management was very strange today. We had a hard time retaining student focus.
    • We need to come up with a singular and consistent method of counting in a song. We all do it differently!

    Generativity:

    • This lesson was generative because it allowed for students to explore some of their knowledge from earlier this semester. I think that fostered a sense of pride in the students in that it showed them how much they accomplished.

    Vibrancy:

    • The students love Funga Alafia, and I think they enjoyed mapping it kinesthetically. It forced them to think of Funga musically instead of as something for fun.

    Residue:

    • The work with the two students on percussion left residue because they became aware of the responsibility they had in that they were leading the class in percussion.

  3. »  4 things running has taught me about teaching.

    If you do not fail at some point in teaching, it becomes questionable whether you are actually teaching at all. Sometimes that failure will be the result of something you do, sometimes it’s something somebody else does, and many times it’s nobody’s fault. But it happens. What’s your response when it does? Do you simply retreat into safety and not try anything? Or do you use failure as an opportunity to strengthen your resolve, to get back out there and do what you can for the best reasons?

  4. »  Empowering Self-Directed Learners

  5. Log 11 - 11/17/11

    Summary:
    First of all, I was very surprised when Ms. Borden and Mr. Wurtzel had the 3rd graders sing Happy Birthday to me! It was by far the best birthday present I was given all day :)

    Anyways, this week we had students focus more on body mapping of pitch contour in Hawaiian Rainbows. We split students into four groups, and had one teacher with each group. We had students map one of four sections, and rotate through each teacher. At the end of one or two minutes, we had the whole class perform the song in its entirety, performing only the section they were responsible for and watching their peers. After this, we had students play sections on the tone bars in the same fashion that they were body mapping. We had anticipated having students make it through all four teachers, but we ran out of time. We also had to introduce the Christmas song the students will be performing at church, and they chose Silent Night.

    What Went Well:

    • Management was a breeze today. Because students were moving and focused, there was not any time for misbehaving!
    • They seemed to enjoy body mapping, and were quite good at it. They related it back to the rainbow paper that we worked with earlier in this phase.

    What Needs Work:

    • Our transitions were better this week, but can still use work.
    • There was a bit of down time today in between activities for students. I didn’t really like this.

    Generativity:

    • Because students are kinesthetically experiencing music as structure, they are made to think about it in a different way. While performing something is an okay method of assessment (it’s not my favorite and should not be the only way students demonstrate understanding), they were still showing us whether or not they could do something we presented. 
    • I’d hoping this generates a deeper understanding of music as structure. Sadly, I have a small way of knowing today what impact our lesson had. However, perhaps in the future, they will understanding something more deeply from our teaching.

    Vibrancy:

    • What kid doesn’t love playing the tone bars?
    • Hawaiian Rainbows is my favorite classroom song, and I think the kids like it, too.

    Residue:

    • Students are experience different instructional experiences on music as structure. I’m hoping this leaves something with them, and that when we teach the next song to the students, they will have a better grasp on pitch contour (visually, aurally, and kinesthetically).

  6. »  5 strategies to ensure student learning

    i love what this article presents, but i’m not crazy about the title. we can’t really ensure anything because as teachers, we can’t make students learn. we can, however, present a creative, innovative, and engaging curriculum. we can base our curriculum on ideas and pedagogy that is relevant to the students. 

    that being said, i love edutopia. it’s probably one of my favorite websites (besides tumblr, of course).

  7. "It’s unsettling, isn’t it? When you realize there are only so many things you can teach a child. And finally… they are who they are."

    (via adventuresinlearning)

    this is interesting. i’ve been thinking a lot about what the role i have as a teacher is. by focusing my ideas and narrowing down what criteria i have for excellent teaching i’ve come up with a few thoughts:

    1. i’d like to walk into my classroom and see students creating, analyzing, talking and thinking about, synthesizing, and evaluating music.
    2. i’d like to have students become responsible for their own learning.
    3. i want for my students to become life long supporters, producers, and consumers of music.

    often, teachers assume students as deficient. this is SILLY. students come to our classroom with a lifetime of experiences and knowledge, and it’s our responsibility to do something with it. by scaffolding their learning from their prior knowledge, this allows for deeper understanding and a richer, more vibrant educational experience. 

    the four common places (thank you, Schwab), are seriously important to access, but I feel that the area of “learner” is one to keep at the forefront of the teacher’s mind. we have control over the material we present and the manner in which we present it. 

    i know this is kind of rambling, but it’s where my thoughts are now. it’s much more focused than this time last week!

    thanks for reading,

    Miss Hess

  8. THIS IS FOR EVERYONE IN MY PRACTICUM GROUP. remember that time googledocs saved our lives? mmmmm.

  9. Log 10 - 11/10/11

    Summary:

    First of all, it’s difficult to believe how quickly ten weeks has gone by. I think the students at St. Mary’s are teaching me more than I’m teaching them! We began our lesson by singing Hawaiian Rainbows again, but this time using a ukulele. The students were very curious about the instrument, and asked Mr. Wurtzel if he put his guitar in the dryer (LOL!). After singing the song a few times, Ms. Borden and I demonstrated how the song would look if we mapped the pitches on our bodies. We had the students stand up and perform this activity with us while they were singing. They seemed to enjoy this activity, and many students were recalling prior experiences in music class when they sang “head, shoulders, knees, and toes.” The purpose of this activity was to allow for another kinesthetic experience of showing music as structure. We then split students into groups of three and four, and gave them sheets of paper with the words to Hawaiian Rainbows on it. We then gave students four strips of paper that had the pitch contour on them. Students matched the appropriate strip of pitch contour to the words. Each group had one strip that was colored. The strip that was colored was the one they were responsible for learning on the tone bars! After a brief introduction to tone bars, students began work at figuring out how to play their melodic phrase. The bars were labeled with the color that corresponded to the colored sheet that we had been giving the students to represent how their voice moved when they sang. After allowing them a few minutes each to figure out how to play their phrase, we performed the whole piece four times, each with one student playing at a time.

    What went well:

    • Management within my group was a breeze. Students were engaged, supportive of each other, and excited to try new things.
    • Students did a great job of listening to each other when it came time to our large group performance. 
    • General dynamic in the classroom was very funky today. I’m not sure what was going on, but I think we did a good job keeping an eye on and observing the bizarre behaviors our students were exhibiting. 

    What needs work:

    • When we plan a lesson, I think we should really take time to think about not only who is going to be leading our transitions, but how we’re going to go about executing them.
    • After teaching the students body-mapping with the song, I realized a way that could allow for students to uncover knowledge better would be to have them figure it out themselves. If we gave the directions, “show me on your body how your voice moves when you sing Hawaiian Rainbows,” rather than utilizing direct instruction, it may have been a more generative experience.

    Generativity:

    • Students were making connections between this lesson, and knowledge from their past. I’m hoping that they will continue to make these connections with new knowledge inside and out of school.
    • Students are starting to exhibit a better understanding of pitch contour through their demonstrations. This is a concept that they will continue to develop as they deepen their musical knowledge. 

    Vibrancy:

    • Anytime students get to play with instruments, it’s pretty cool to see their response. I played the tone bar once to get their attention, and the classroom went immediately silent. They were that intrigued by the sound!
    • The students were very interested in watching each other play the tone bars. 

    Residue:

    • This is always a category I struggle with. It’s difficult for me to walk out of a lesson and know with certainty what students are going to take away from the experience we just shared. This week, however, I think students will remember body-mapping as another way to showcase the structure of music. 
    • I also believe that they will remember enjoying playing the tone bars. 

  10. Log 9 - 11/2/11

    Summary:
    Our lesson this week was very similar to last week’s lesson, but with a new song. This week, we focused on Hawaiian Rainbows. We started off by having the students listen to Mr. Wurtzel playing the song, and asked them to guess which song they thought it was from our original lesson on pitch. They knew right away which one it was, and had a very easy time remembering the words. We then gave them back their colored sheets, and had them move their fingers up and down in accordance with how their voice moved. This week, we had Ms. Borden calling out the colors as we sang, and I had a large poster board that was an exact replica of what the students had. I was pointing along with the colors, and the students were following along with me. After this, we sang the first two lines of Hawaiian Rainbows and diagrammed if it moved up or down and by how much on a poster board in the front of the classroom. Then, we gave students a worksheet with the first two lines completed and had them fill out the second two lines with how they thought their voices would move.

    What went well:

    • I felt like I was able to address individual student needs while allowing the class to move forward.

    What needs improvement:

    • There were some moments that I thought the class was completely static, and the students were in control, rather than us.
    • Our transitions were okay, but could use more organization. I think by deciding ahead of time who is going to exactly do what, this will not be a problem.
    • I had a terrible migraine and had a hard time even standing up, so that probably affected how I was feeling about the lesson.
    • I’d like to figure out a way for what we are teaching to become participatory instead of acquisition. 
    • The students as for group work, and I’d like to incorporate that into our next lesson.

    Generativity:

    • Students seem to like associating singing with moving their fingers and color.

    Vibrancy:

    • In having students complete the labeling of the second half of the song, they become responsible for their own demonstration of understanding. I think this is vibrant because it gives them something to take ownership of.

    Residue:

    • They’ll definitely remember the song, since we went very in depth with it. In fact, when we walked in, the students started singing the song we went over last week!

About me

This is a tumblog for the Crane School of Music's General Music Practicum. My name is Kathryn Hess, and I'm a junior music education major, concentrating in voice and viola. I hope you enjoy what you read! :)
HAPPY EDUCATING!

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