The teacher understands how children learn and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences.
It is a necessity for music teachers to understand how students learn, and that no students learn the same way. If they can realize this, they can allow themselves to teach in the most efficient way possible for many students. Music teachers need to understand greatly how the way they teach impacts how well students learn, and how they will improve throughout the years. Teachers of music are also obligated to recognize the differences in children’s learning abilities within the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, but also singing, performing on instruments, performing in an ensemble as well as a small group, and the necessary material such as reading and notating music that goes with these things. When teachers cover this entire spectrum of how students learn, they will master the way to teach students and help the to the fullest of their capabilities. Teachers would implement the ways they see their students learn into their lessons and teaching in the proper way of challenging the students but at the same time make them appropriate in the classroom.
I feel that I have not had the experience in working with children yet, because I have not been placed into that environment yet. I have worked with children in very small groups, teaching after school lessons in high school to fifth and sixth grade clarinet players, but this was not a larger ensemble and needing to adapt to many students’ ways of learning and developing. I taught them how to play songs and what is the proper technique to get started playing, but it was not to the magnitude of seeing them everyday and learning and growing with them. This small amount of time with those few students I had was not an effective amount of time to fully understand the differences in how students learn. With this being said, I believe I need to be put into the setting of teaching music to children and allowing myself to see how each of them learn and then be able to teach in the way that is most effective for all the students I will teach.
As for the courses I will take to help me prepare to master this standard, I am taking Music Education classes, and will continue taking them to be instructed on how to teach according to how students’ learn. By doing peer-teaching episodes, I will get the chance to become comfortable in front of a group of students, and receive feedback on how to teach in better ways. This will also make it easier for me to look for how students learn and recognize what I can do as a teacher to make it easier for them to succeed in my class. I will also try to look for opportunities to teach music to children and obtain the experience of being in front of them and noticing how they learn.
MUSE 356- Choral Methods 1 Artifact: Assessment of Ensemble Rationale: Observing and teaching in middle and elementary school music classrooms have allowed me to be aware of learner development variances. Through this course and my elementary general music course, I have had to develop lesson plans for a first grade classroom, and then for a middle school choir comprised of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade girls. This has given me the opportunity to understand how different the development of these students is, and how to create lesson plans that fit them well. Within these classrooms, I have noticed those students who are more developed than others in singing, reading, etc., and this has allowed me to implement learning experiences that benefit all learners.
MUSE 376-Choral Methods 2 Artifact: Assessment of Ensemble Rationale: Since MUSE 356, I have now observed and taught high school music classrooms as well, and now understand how students develop at this level. Through this course, I have an understanding for how high school students develop differently and within themselves through the education they receive. The classroom I observed for high school students was very excelled in their musical abilities, and I created lesson plans that matched their ability levels and challenged them at times. I was able to see how different the development is from one student to the next and how to encourage the learning of all of the students so they all succeed. I feel that by teaching and observing in this classroom, I am more knowledgeable of how students develop and I now know how to create lessons and learning experiences that will benefit every student's development.
MUSE 350- Practicum Rationale: Within the classes MUSE 356 and MUSE 376, I have artifacts linked that describe my initial assessments of specific ensembles when field teaching. These two artifacts show the ability level and development of the ensembles from the perspective of an observer, myself, for the first time hearing them perform. The artifacts attached are assessments of the overall sound of the choir in terms of respiration, phonation, resonant tone production, diction, and expression. It also assessed their literature preparation, music literacy skills, and their overall motivation and management of time. The MUSE 356 assessment is from a middle school chorus, and the MUSE 376 assessment is from a high school chorus. This assessment tool used at the beginning of an observation helped me figure out the exact ability level and development level these students were at, and therefore how best to plan for my lessons in the future. Using this tool helped me be successful in my teachings and have the ability to teach at the students' level. I know that I will continue to use tools such as these to either assess individual students or ensembles in the future, in order to inform myself of what instructional strategies to take when teaching.
Student Teaching Artifact: Fifth Grade Lesson Kindergarten Lesson Rationale:While student teaching, I have worked with students of many ages. Having students in grades Kindergarten through fifth, I am experiencing and adapting to their developmental differences. Planning lessons for specific ages and teaching multiple lessons a day with different ages has helped me to realize the development of the students and how they are growing from year to year. When making my lesson plans, I think about the learners' ability levels and how they are developing, and therefore planning accordingly. The questions I ask and the activities I plan are appropriate for their ages and levels, and this can be seen when comparing the two lessons I have attached. These lessons show the developmental differences of the students and the concepts they are working on. I have also noticed that between my classes that are on a three-day rotation that the development is different among the students. When comparing the three classes of each grade I have, I notice which classes are more advanced than others, and I realize what sorts of changes I have to make to my lessons to help them understand completely. This is exercising my ability to adhere to the developmental differences of all of my students and recognize them on a daily basis. My scheduled day has fifth grade directly after Kindergarten. Having these classes one after another is difficult at times, especially to change the way you talk and present the material for the day. I have become good at changing my instructional strategies and approaches to teaching the concepts with time, and have found that at times teaching fifth grade after Kindergarten helps me to realize how young all of the students are. These artifacts compare the fifth grade and Kindergarten classes in concepts that were taught and instructional strategies that were used. Comparing how I teach these students helps me to teach both classes better, especially to realize the progress they have made and where they can be after going through the class. Using this approach of comparing the classes I teach helps me to realize how to change my teaching style to fit the different ages and what I can do better from day to day.