Weekly Blog #3

 During one of the Jazz band rehearsals I heard my cooperating teacher say, “I want to know what you guys want to do for the gig.” This is an interesting idea. I am a fan of this kind of thinking in the music classroom. By giving students a say in what they will be performing makes them feel like they are more a part of the group. Not only that, but students will usually pick the pieces they feel they are best at. So asking them what they want to play is a good way to gauge what they think they are playing well and what they have fun playing.

I have learned that when planning anything that involves your students, such as an off-campus concert, you need to over-plan, have more than one backup plan, and anticipate any issues that may come up. One of the groups at the middle school I am observing just recently had a performance. Seeing how my cooperating teacher led the students up to that performance and all of the day-of logistics was very useful. On the day of the gig, my cooperating teacher went over where they should be and by when, MANY times. She even had them recite the information to her so she knew they knew.
She also had to bring all of the accessories: music stands, extra patch cords, amps, drum set, extension cords, surge protectors, and even button-covers for their tuxedo shirts. You literally have to think of and anticipate everything.

Students and parents need to be informed of every little detail. It is best to give students an itinerary of the upcoming performance early enough in advance so parents will be prepared. However, the problem with giving a letter to the student instead of directly to the parent is, sometimes the letter doesn’t reach the parent and ends up crumpled up in the bottom of a backpack. Maybe there can be a more efficient/direct way to contact parents, such as email lists.

Always keep cool-headed. Like we have discussed in many of our ED classes, you shouldn’t make it into a power struggle. It’s not worth it to let a student get your goat. I have yet to see my teacher loose her cool with the students, even in difficult situations. I am always slightly surprised by her reactions when something happens and she just responds like any other day, very politely and understanding.

I did recently experience one situation that could have been handled differently. I’m not sure, but I believe my cooperating teacher wasn’t in as good a mood as she usually is. One of the 7^th grade students forgot a pencil again; he has a reputation for coming to school without supplies. My co-op teacher has lent him pencils several times in the past and he always loses them. On this day she scolded him in front of the entire class, saying it was pathetic to borrow a pencil as a seventh grader.
Here is how I would have dealt with the situation:

Just by looking at this student, you can tell that he is probably on the lower end of the financial spectrum and what I have learned from my cooperating teacher is that his mother never shows up to any conferences and such. I conclude that his mother isn’t very supportive of his education or is unable to support it because she is working trying to make ends meet. Because of this conclusion, I would ask to talk with the student privately. I would lend him another pencil, but also talk with him and tell him that I will lend him this pencil, but it is a really good pencil, and I will need it back again tomorrow. I won’t actually take it back from him; I just want him to bring a pencil to school. I will also mention how important it is to come to school with supplies. Since he has trouble keeping track of his supplies, maybe he should just leave his pencil in his locker everyday after school.

Assessment Article Response

The article I found on assessment is titled “Music Education for Life: Music Assessment, Part 1: What and Why” by, Scott C. Schuler. I chose this article because it is directly applicable to my content area and offers a multitude of useful information on the topic, including the role of assessment in the music classroom.

The article begins with a section called “Roots of Assessment Phobia.” Schuler states that many of us have had some sort of bad experience with testing. Throughout my secondary years all of my grades were based on a test score. Most often these test were multiple-choice exams. To my knowledge I haven’t retained much from those types of assessments.

Even in college most of my general education classes were lecture-style and had two assessments that determined the final grade, a midterm and final. It wasn’t until I got further into my major that I began to see first hand that there are more ways of assessment other than test. I cannot remember the last time I have taken a multiple-choice exam. Most of my assessments are now dominated by projects that require research and creating and reflecting on my own original thoughts. Assignments like these require more thought as opposed to memorization of one “correct” answer. In my opinion you learn more by answering questions that don’t have one simple answer but a variety of all equally valid options. As a result of this active thinking and learning, I have retained and learned so much more.

As a teacher we can take away testing but there must be some other kind of assessment to take its place. I remember my first experience with a professor who said he didn’t believe in testing, so we never had any. We also didn’t have any other type of assessment that effected out grades. I’m not saying we didn’t have any assessments; we have plenty of assessments, just none that affected our grades. At the end of the quarter the professor asked each of us individually what we thought our grade should be and that was the grade he gave us. Even students who did terribly in the class and never did any work were passed. There might be some good ideas behind this type of class but it wasn’t effectively put into practice.

One of the more important ideas I pulled from this article is that “the best and, ultimately, most important measurement in any classroom is self-assessment” (Schuler par. 16). According to Schuler, we, as music teachers, must set the standards for the development of self-assessment by providing students with examples of quality playing and musicianship coupled with providing accurate feedback.

Schuler goes on a rant in his article about how kids these days receive too much praise. This has been a popular issue for some time and many people feel the same way Schuler does.

Being too nice or over-complimentary in a performing art could kill all drive/motivation for improvement; what’s the point of getting better if you’re already being told you’re good? Imagine Picasso was a child taking an art class, painting what is supposed to be a friend’s face. The teacher comes by and praises him, “OH! How darling, very well done.” This painting does not look like his friend at all – it’s a bunch of shapes oddly placed. Picasso is pleased with the praise and moves on from painting. But… He never becomes the widely known artist because no one was there to tell him that his painting was shit and he should never pick up a brush again! He never built up resentment and vowed to become a great painter (obviously success blossoms from pent up emotions…).

Obviously this whole story is totally false, but the point is that if there is no one to hold students to a
higher standard then the world will be full of happily mediocre humans who don't thrive for anything because they are never pushed.

Weekly Blog #2

One practice that I will be adopting in my classroom is the use of recording devices. This is also a great use of technology enhancing education. My cooperating teacher records the different classes doing run-throughs. Usually a couple of days later the recording is played back to the students so they can hear the entire group and provide feedback of their listening. Doing these kinds of activities will enlighten them to the fact that listening is a very important part of music.

Another activity that my cooperating teacher uses to develop listening skills is during warm-up. The 7th grade band has a "5 note warm-up." The warm-ups begins going up the first 5 notes in the chosen scale, then coming back down. Most of the time the young students just go through the motions but today the teacher gave them a task to focus on while doing the warm-up. My cooperating teacher would choose a section of the band, have them play the 5 note warm-up, then direct the entire band to "fit into that section's sound." It went something like this: everyone played the warm-up, the clarinet section would play alone, and then everyone came in but this time trying to blend and balance with the clarinet section. This pattern repeated for each section (flute, bassoon, saxophone, trumpet, and trombone.) Each time the band blended with a different section the whole sound of the group would change. Most importantly, they got quieter in their playing volume so they could actually hear, listen, and adjust.

The highlight of my week was percussion class. My cooperating teacher is not a percussionist and neither am I. But, during this specific class a local drum shop owner and teacher came to offer his wisdom. I learn so much about percussion, and music in general, from him.

On a side-note, I would just like to say that the atmosphere of the class changed a lot when he was up in front of them. The guest took charge, and was confident and knowledgeable.

The most inspirational part of the day was when I saw him walk back to two boys at the back of the class. These two students were plopped in percussion class by the office; they didn't choose to be there. They rarely participate, show up late, and have bad attitudes and sour faces. At the end of the class when all of the students were packing up, the guest percussionist went up to the two boys and began talking with them. I couldn't hear anything that was being said, but could tell that the students were interested and amused by what was being said. This was obvious by the change is facial expression; previously angry and cold, they were now bright and innocent. After class the guest told me and my cooperating teacher what he was saying to the boys. He said he outright asked them, "Why are you here?" They told him it was because they had to be. The guest replied that there was nothing wrong with that, then proceeded to tell them that the best drummers are usually the ones at the back of the class. This simple conversation with those two kids, getting to know them, and providing a little bit of hope for success, changed their attitude of the class.

Weekly Blog #1

It was interesting to observe the differences between elementary behavior and middle school behavior. Last quarter I was placed in an elementary classroom. In this earlier grades the boys and girls haven't begun to be self-conscious, and think nothing of sitting next to the opposite gender.

The first class that I observed in my middle school this quarter was a connections class. This group of students is a random one; there are music kids as will as non-music students. The first thing you notice as you walk into the room is that they have segregated themselves; all of the boys sit together in the back and the girls sit in the front. Keep in mind that there are no assigned seats in this class.

Another contrast is the self-management. During this first day of observation the students were playing a game and when they began to get too rowdy they would quiet their peers down. This might just be a rare class that is decent at managing themselves but, in an elementary classroom the students would have kept at the rowdy level unless there was teacher intervention.

I have observed many techniques from my cooperating teacher and received much inspiration for things to incorporate in my future classroom.  One thing that I really like about her teaching is how she uses creative ways to get an idea across. To relay just one example out of many, during Jazz band there have been some students not showing up. The teacher wanted to get across to them that coming to rehearsal is important, even if you, as an individual, have your part down and are good. After stating in plain terms this importance, she then used this analogy:

"I see Jazz band as a sport. You think you don't have to come to jazz band because you can already play well. Do you think that would be cool on a basketball team? If you didn't show up because you can make your own baskets."

After drawing this direct relationship between band and basketball, the kids seemed to have a deeper understanding of the importance of actually attending rehearsals.

As stated in a previous post, my cooperating teacher has what she calls a "word wall." When the students come across a word in their music that is unfamiliar to them it goes up on the wall. The teacher obviously tells them the meaning of the word. At the end of some classes the teacher will choose a word or two from the wall and ask the students what it's meaning is. This is a great idea for getting students to learn new terms.

The highlight of my week was at the end of the 7th grade band class One of the boys with special needs plays trombone. He did not know how to play an instrument before the year started. Just watching him from the front of the room, you can tell his technique could use some refining.

It was the band's third time reading "Smoke on the Water," a pretty famous rock tune. The beginning starts with solo bari sax and trombone. The young trombonist played very well and hit all of the right notes and rhythms.

At the end of class the struggling young man came up to the teacher and exclaimed, "I DID IT! *fist pump*" Just seeing his enthusiasm and how proud of he was of himself made me so happy for him.

Classroom Management Article Response

The article I chose to respond to is titled “Cell Phones: Rule-Setting, Rule-Breaking, and Relationships in Classrooms” by Anita S. Charles, Director of Teacher Education at Bates College, Lewiston, Maine.

As the title suggests, this article’s main focus is on the use of cell phones on school campuses and in classrooms. A lot of schools are unsure of how to win student attention when battling with smart phones. One teacher had what I believed to be a brilliant resolution to the issue. He had all of the students place their phones on their desks. This puts the phone in eyesight of the teacher so students can’t hide it and text beneath their desks. However, the administration made the teacher stop doing this because it “violated the school policy” (Charles 7).

Another solution that one teacher utilized was to have the consequence of a cell phone in the classroom apply to the entire class. If a phone was spotted, the class had to write a paper on texting, not just the student (Maria 8-9). I believe this tactic to be mostly sound, as long as the students have empathy and don’t want the whole class to suffer for something they did. Of course, there are students who don’t care about that, though.

One issue that Charles brings up is enforcement, especially with regards to school-wide rules. In one of the observed schools, it is required that if a teacher sees a student on their phone, the phone must be brought to the office. Some of the teachers in this school comply with this 100% and send all phones within eyesight to the office. However, there are some teachers who are more compassionate and rather than sending it to the office they have their own ways of dealing with it. For instance, one teacher just tells them to put it away. Others are merely ignorant of the phones or pretend not to see. The issue here is consistency in enforcement. Each class is different based on the teacher’s personality and viewpoint on the issue. A short and sweet quote from Charles sums this up nicely: “Rules are only as good as their enforcement, but the enforcement hinges primarily on relational trust.” This brings us to the next topic: relationships.

Charles’ article brings up an interesting stance on classroom management; one that I haven’t specifically spent time thinking about in regards to management. All of us teacher candidates aspire to create positive and supportive relationships with all of our students. This article points out that those teacher-student relationships can either benefit the management in our classrooms or not. The relationship of the student to teacher should be one of respect, according to Mr. Scott who is one of the teachers Charles interviewed during her observations and research gathering. There is one quote in this article that I believe is truly brilliant and it should be shared with all of my fellow teacher candidates. This quote is from one of Charles’ interviewees, Mrs. Andrews:

“There cannot be hard and fast rules. There’s no formula that says if you do this, that it’s going to work. I think each teacher needs to be open to the possibilities, creative enough to see the implications, and a sergeant in the sense of maintaining control in the classroom. You give your kids parameters, but then you expect them to make decisions within that.”

After seeing this viewpoint, there is something to think about… what is the purpose of classroom management? Obviously, to keep a safe and orderly classroom that is beneficial to learning. But what if management was also part of what students are learning at school; how to self manage. Giving students more opportunities to be responsible for their own actions could be a good learning tactic.

Other than respect, another important relationship aspect in classroom management is trust. Many interviewed teachers in Charles’ article use this word to describe their management.

Context for Learning

For my observations this quarter I am placed at a middle school in the suburbs.

 For three days a week I will be traveling out to the school and get to work with the Jazz band and 7^th grade band each of those days. Only on Fridays will I have the opportunity to work with the percussion class and 8^th grade band.

The middle school uses a quarter system that divides the school year into four parts, not including summer with class periods lasting 50 minutes. Each day, except for Thursdays, begins with a twenty minute class called “Connections” or “Homebase.” This is a Advisory/Navigation-type class where the students prepare for their eighth grade presentations.

Thursdays are late starts days, which is why there is no Homebase on those days.

As one would expect, there is a lot of grouping in the music classroom, but mostly by instrument and grade level. There isn’t necessarily any ability grouping since the bands are divided by grade rather than ability. The bands are currently set up this way because this is the director's first year working with the music program. She used this year to get to know all of the students and how they play and will create bands based on ability level for the next school year.

In the 7^th grade class there are 34 students: 25 males, 9 females. To break it down even further the instrumentation is as follows:

Flute           8

Oboe
Clarinet      6

Bassoon      1

Alto Sax     2

Tenor Sax   1

Bari Sax      1

Trumpet     6

Trombone   1

Tuba

Percussion  6

This class is the first period of the day at 9:09am, right after Connections.

There is one student in the class who is an English Language Learner. This student knows very minimal enlgish. His family is from Russia, and the students in the class simply call him “Alex” because they can’t pronounce his Russian name.

There are approximately three students in the class who are underperforming and have gaps in their knowledge. These three boys are from “The Boys Ranch.” The Boys Ranch is a place for children who don’t have parents. One of these boys was raised in Tenneessee and recently moved to Spokane. His math level is that of a second grader and his reading/writing is around the same level.

In regards to students with special needs, there are four in the 7^th grade band: 3 boys and 1 girl. A couple of them are only mainstreamed into band during the day.

Instead of using one single methods book or textbook for warm-ups, etc. the teacher hands out warm-ups from various resources to the students.

The band room is a nice, large size with special instrument storage along the back wall for large items and a storage room with instrument lockers for the smaller instruments. All of the percussion instruments are stored neatly in the back of the room and properly covered. The chairs are set up in a typical concert band arc.  In general the room is very tidy and organized. All of the walls are colorful with posters and such. One of my favorite features is the “Word Wall.” When the students run across a word in their music that is new to them, the teacher puts it up on the wall. Every once in a while, at the end of class, she will ask the students what certain words on the wall mean, using it as an educational tool. This is an example of a great band room and one that I can use as an example for my future room.

TPA Lesson Plan Response

In regards to writing lesson plans with the Washington Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) format, I feel somewhat sufficient in the task. I have only made two TPA lesson plans so examples and guiding questions are helpful and needed to complete and be acceptable. After this course I am sure it will be ingrained in all of our minds.

A few quarters ago when we were all introduced to this new “TPA” lesson planning style, I believe it was somewhat overwhelming to most people. For myself, the TPA format is the first type of lesson planning I was exposed to. I remember thinking, how could a teacher make one of these lesson plans for each class everyday? After working closely with the TPA that seems much more achievable. For example, when planning a lesson within the same unit, a lot of areas remain the same; there is no need to begin anew or start from scratch with every lesson.

I do have some queries as to how applicable or helpful this type of planning is to a music classroom. In the music classroom we generally work on the same repertoire (or "unit") for the entire quarter/semester, just polishing and digging deeper into the score until the music begins to make sense and gain clarity. As a music teacher, I believe that there should definitely be a plan on what needs to be focused upon that day, but other situations may present themselves that require attention and departure from the lesson that was originally planned.

In some ways this very intricate lesson planning may be quite helpful, but as a teacher, you should also be open to straying from what was planned. For instance, students may not be grasping a topic as quickly as anticipated so a diversion from the lesson plan must occur to ensure student comprehension. The same can happen when students exceed your expectations and quickly grasp a concept. In this scenario you must have extra activities, etc. to occupy the rest of the class time so it is not wasted.

One issue I have with this lesson plan is that, while writing past TPA lesson plans I had difficulty deciphering the differences between the Content Objectives and Academic Language. When filling out these sections they tend to feel a bit redundant.

One of the valuable aspects of this lesson plan format is the “Lesson Rationale.” Asking yourself, “Why am I teaching this lesson?” is a good way to check your motives and to make sure you are doing something for a purpose. Are you teaching this lesson “because the curriculum says I need to?” or “because this is the next lesson in the book?” As a teacher, we need to be able to explain our reasoning and purpose behind every decision we make because there will always be someone, whether they are a parent, a principle, or a student, who will ask those questions.

Overall, the TPA lesson plan format is very valuable. It includes a list of topics that should be considered when planning a lesson. A few of these important topics are too often brushed aside when planning. Being exposed to this type of planning will lead to more thoughtful teachers.