The teacher works with learners to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning, encouraging positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self motivation.
In music, a teacher needs to create an environment that makes the students comfortable. Without this, the students will not perform the way the teacher would like as well as the way they would like. The teachers should create the environment that allows for the best possible musical talents to be expressed. The teachers should understand many students’ ways of thinking and be able to work with students as individuals as well as ensembles and choirs. Smaller groups are effective in teaching when wanting to allow students to be familiar with their fellow students on a closer basis. With these smaller groups, it is also easier for students to interact in positive ways. The sections in a choir are primary examples of this. By making the students sing in their proper sections, they can work together to perform the music they are reading for the choir. By being involved in their sections, students will be able to be involved in their entire choir as a whole. Teachers should take an active approach to be engaged in learning. Asking questions and receiving answers are the ways for students to become involved in their learning of the lessons. With the proper environment, students will be self-motivated in the classroom to become better musicians. A teacher who has mastered this standard would be a one who has the proper learning environment that the students can be comfortable, self-motivate themselves, create positive social interaction, and active engagement in learning.
In my teaching experience, I feel I have started to execute this principle in the proper way. I have done peer teaching episodes, that I have been given great compliments on as well as great critique to make me better for the next teaching. I created a comfortable environment for my peers by being positive and making them feel welcomed during the song I was teaching them. I made the students get involved in the teachings by asking them questions and let them decide what type of clapping or beat to keep while they were singing the song. I divided my songs in the proper way to ensure proper learning of the songs. I also let the students work together to sing the song in the right way. In my private lesson teachings of clarinet, I had to create a learning environment that was proper for fifth and sixth grade students. This gave me the opportunity to practice working with younger students and help them to learn what their teacher wants them to improve on. These students were able to work together to figure out what they needed to accomplish. I also had to work with each of the students individually, because each of the students learned in different ways and at different speeds. This experience helped me to understand some of the best ways to work with some students and create the proper environment they need to grow.
The steps I am going to take to master this standard begins with the courses I will take at Ball State University. The music classes of Music Education and Choral Lab will help me to properly learn to teach in front of others, and give me the proper instruction on what to do in a classroom setting. In order to become a tremendous music teacher, I have to be completely fluent in the musical knowledge that I will be teaching to the students. I will take the classes of Music Education and Choral Lab to further my knowledge of education in music. These classes prepare me to be the proper teacher in a musical setting, and give my students the opportunity to advance in their musical ability. I hope to gain the highest level of education I desire, and with the help of these courses, I will be able to accomplish that. I am going to participate in choirs and ensembles outside of the original courses, and this will give me the chance to work with other groups of musicians and further my knowledge in the proper ways to teach students in bigger ensembles.
MUSE 356- Choral Methods 1 Artifact: Classroom Management Policy Rationale: This course has presented the opportunity to work with multiple groups of students including my peers and middle school students. With each of these groups, I have had to create learning environments that support their individual growth, and engagement in my lessons. Presenting correct teaching demeanor and classroom management to the students from the start will project the environment in which learning is successful. The artifact attached is a classroom management policy I created in this course to serve as a part of my choral handbook. This tool will be useful when I have my own classroom in the future to present to my students the expectations and consequences of the actions they may exhibit.
MUSE 376- Choral Methods 2 Rationale: Through teaching elementary, middle, and high school classrooms now through my years at Ball State, I have been put into many different environments in the classrooms. I observed many situations of learning environments in classrooms, and was able to see what was effective and what wasn't quite as effective. I have a better idea of how to create a learning environment that students will want to participate in and engage in through these experiences. I know that I will continue to observe classrooms and notice what sorts of environments are beneficial to the learning styles of students, and then will use their learning development and differences to create an effective learning environment.
MUSE 351- Elementary General Methods Artifact: Elementary Lesson Plan Rationale: This elementary general methods course presented so many opportunities for me to learn the differences in learning environments needed depending on the age of the students. When creating lesson plans, teachers have to take into consideration the ages and ability levels of their students and phrase questions correctly, teach concepts correctly, etc., so the students don't find themselves confused. I learned through teaching elementary students that I have to speak to them much differently than middle and high school students. This means simpler terms and concepts that I can drill into their minds and hopefully have the material be retained. This lesson plan as an artifact is an example that I would say represents how I would plan to create a learning environment in which the students best learn. I made sure to phrase my questions carefully and thought completely of how I would go about this lesson. I was able to create an environment where engagement was encouraged and all of the students felt they could answer questions, and they did. I received many wonderful answers and participation from the students throughout this lesson. I feel that through carrying out this lesson, I am more aware of what sorts of learning environments I can create with the help of my students. I know now that I can change a learning environment by changing ways I approach teaching and interact with the students. I know I will use this artifact in the future to help me plan lessons to better my students and engage them in learning about music.
Student Teaching Artifact: LAMP Project Reaction Rationale: Student teaching has brought forth the opportunity to create learning environments that students feel comfortable in and that they can engage and participate. Beginning the class with a song is one of the best ways I find to get the students engaged and ready to start the lesson. This song ranges from a "Hello Song" to the song that is to be learned that day. At the end of a lesson, a star student is chosen in the school where I student teach. The star student is someone who did well during the lesson and showed the teachers that they were engaged and understanding what they are learning. Each student has a chance of becoming the star student, and by knowing this, the students put forth effort to do their best. Along with star student, I try to engage the students in conversations about the music we are learning and how it makes them feel. After giving my LAMP project to my first grade students, I asked each of them what song they liked the best and why. This was an excellent way to make the students feel comfortable with talking about the music we were learning throughout the unit, and see what they thought about the unit as a whole. The students were all engaged in listening to each other speak and what everyone had to say. I will use this approach in the future to reach the affective domain of learning and have them think about how music makes them feel and to think deeper into the music we are learning.