Journal Week # 12

I think my group and I worked very well together. It was hard at first to find a meeting time where we could meet outside of class to wok on the project together, and unfortunately we had to decide on a meeting time where the most people could go and not everybody in the group because that seemed impossible. So I was not able to attend my groups meeting due to work, but I did contribute ideas as well as the book we worked with. Overall I think my group got along very well and came up with a good solid plan in teaching this book. We accomplished working together to come up with a lesson plan that integrated a story book, music, and a lesson about science. I think the goal of this activity was to work together to show that it is possible to come up with a lesson relating to music and a school subject, and that by doing this it makes learning a lot more fun and interesting for the students. The most exciting part of the process I think was teaching the lesson itself because we all worked together and for the most part it went pretty smoothly despite the large amount of group members that had to teach this lesson. Overall i think many children will benefit from this sort of lesson, because they have fun in learning and this way will be more likely to remember the lesson if they enjoyed it.

Week #11 Journal

This week we mostly learned more about integrating musical activities into children's literature and the many different and creative ways it can be done. We learned how you can integrate different subject areas as well as music and non-music concepts into a children's book so you can teach the children something while they are having fun with the story. A teacher has to think of creative ways that music can be integrated into a children's story. For instance, on Wednesday we each played a different instrument together during the Chicken Little story, and each instrument represented a character in the story. Then on Friday we brought recyclable items to class and used them to create sounds of rain and thunder during the story Thunder Cake. It also allowed us, the students, to be creative in coming up with our own sounds that represented thunder. Creativity is important to young children, and teachers must do all they can do to enhance the creativity in children and not stifle it. ALso, by doing these fun things while telling a story, the children are more likely to pay attention to the story and learn something from it rather than let their minds drift off.
On Friday this week we also learned two new notes on the recorder, E and F. I thought these new notes were harder than ones we learned before because we had to use almost all of our fingers and my fingers got tired quickly.
This week we also learned what binary form is. Binary form is when a song is broken up into two different parts. One part, the A part, is the chorus of the song and the other part, the B part, is the bridge of the song. For example, when we did the hand jive in class to the Ray Charles song Hit the Road Jack, the song had a binary form. During part A, we did the hand jive and during part B we danced around with our partner.

Journal Week 10

This week in class, we learned how to tell a story to children through music and sounds. By doing this, it can get the children engaged in listening to a story by taking part in its telling rather than just sitting there listening to it. This also ensures that the students are paying attention because they have a role to play in the storytelling. This also allows them to have fun through music and storytelling. By using student-centered learning, it allows them to be creative while still sticking to learning and having fun. It lets the children become active in the learning. In reading the sounds story and everyone participating in making different sounds that go along in the story, each student was actively engaged in the story and it allows the students to think creatively to come up with their own sound. It also teaches the students more aware of the sounds around them in their everyday lives. Also with the Boo Hoo baby story and song it also allowed the students to become involved and learn a variety of animal sounds with their peers.
On Friday this week we learned how to play a new note, the E on the recorder. This note was fun but more challenging than it has been to remember all the subsequent notes we learned. But its still fun to be able to play more recognizable songs on the recorder as the weeks progress.

Journal Week 8

I believe that creativity is one of the most important things for children to have. One reason is because it allows them to use their mind, think for themselves and to come up with their own ways to solve problems. Creativity shows individuality in a person, and it is important to teach this to children at a young age so we can encourage them to be creative and use their own creativity in everything that they do. Creativity encourages children to think out of the box and come up with their own individual ideas on a topic.
Music is an area that helps children use their creativity. By teaching children at an early age about all the different instruments and notes and sounds that is involved in music allows them to be skilled in the area and when they get older, experiment with the notes and music to come up with something that is their own. Also, by listening to a song, a child can be creative in coming up with a story that goes along with the song or by feeling the different individual emotions that music brings.
For my multicultural project I am choosing Ireland as my country. I am over half Irish on both sides of my family so I think this culture represents me the best and it is something I will be interested to learn more about.

Journal Week 7

This week in class we spend reviewing or going over our lesson plans next week and studying for our test. I don't think that the test itself was that hard because I spent a lot of time studying. I made flash cards for all the topics discussed on the study guide and I reviewed them many times before the test. The most difficult thing I felt to remember was the solfege and remembering what sounds went with the different music notes. Another thing I thought was difficult was the different musical characteristics and abilities for children at different age and grade levels, because most of them were so similar between ages. The rest of the test I felt was pretty easy and I felt I did well. (I hope!)The easiest things I felt we learned this semester was what steady beat, rhythm, melody, articulation and dynamics were. I also enjoyed learning the different notes on the recorder, A, B, C, G, and D. Other things I felt were easy were the scales (C major and G major) and whole and half steps, and the notes and the according rest signs.

Peer Evaluations

http://www.youtube.com/swf/l
Nakia

Musicianship: 4 points- Nakia seemed to be well in tune with an accurate pitch. Her rhythm and tempo seemed pretty good too. Her phrasing was ok but maybe her expression could have been better because she couldve been a bit more excited.

Leadership: 9 points. Her leadership skills in presenting this lesson were very good. She seemed very confident about presenting this lesson to her class. I think that her body language, facial expression, voice tone and volume, and eye contact were all pretty good for getting the students excited about the song. Her intensity/energy was the only thing I noticed that could've been higher.

Preparation: 15 points. Her lesson seemed very well prepared. She knew exactly what she was going to teach at which moment and didnt seem to be nervous about it at all. She had all her equipment ready before the lesson and her knowledge of the music and her plan seemed to be perfect for this song.

Delivery of Instruction: 20 points. Nakia's delivery seemed excellent for this instuction. It's very difficult to do this assignment in front of your own classmates and not feel nervous but she pulled it off, she seemed very confident, which is a quality that teachers must have. She definately motivated and captured the attention of her students by the outside equipment she used as well as talking about Thanksgiving because she was relating the song to her students lives and getting them more personally involved. Her plan seemed well organized and carried out and her closure seemed appropriate for the lesson as well.

Total points: 48
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http://www.youtube.com/v/kWlriE9Yt7E&hl=en&fs=1

Whitley

Musicianship: 3 points. Her rhythm and tempo seemed quite accurate as well as her phrasing and expression, however I think her pitch in her voice was a little low and when she played the recorder she had some pitch and wind issues.

Leadership: 9 points. Her leadership in presenting this lesson was very good. She seemed confident in front of the class and her body language, eye contact and facial expressions were all good and appropriate for this song. She also had good intensity and energy in front of the students to get them excited from this song.

Preparation: 14 points. Her preparation was pretty good. She seemed like she practiced her lesson a few times. The only thing I thought she could have practiced more on was playing the song on the recorder because it was a bit shaky on it. But her knowledge of the music and her plan seemed pretty good and she had all equipment ready on hand.

Delivery of Instruction: 20 points.
She did well in relating the song to her students because she asked at the beginning if any of the students knew a Betty or a Martin. Her questioning was also very good because she asked questions to the students throughout the lesson to get them more active and involved. She also did well in motivating the students because she got excited with them in singing the song and did well in involving the students in the song too. Her lesson also flowed pretty well with good pace and feedback.

Total Points: 46

Self-evaluation:

Musicianship: 4 points, I think my pitch and rhythm of the song were pretty accurate, and I think I had an appropriate tempo, however, perhaps my phrasing and expression could have been better.

Leadership: 6 points. Leadership was perhaps my weakest point. Because I was nervous I feel that my body language, facial expression and intensity could have been much better. I think I did ok on eye contact and volume.

Preparation: 13 points. I feel I did alright in preparing my lesson plan. I had all my materials ready as well as a written plan in hand and I had practiced the music and plan. I do however feel I could have better explained things better during my lesson because I know a lot of people were confused.

Delivery of Instruction: 16 points. I think my most difficult part in carrying out the instruction was my verbal instructioning because I think my words confused a lot of people. I think I was able to motivate and capture the attention of my students because they seemed to think the song was fun once they got the hang of it. Also, I think my feedback, focus, and closure of the lesson were alright. However, after watching all my classmates carry out their lesson plans I now think I can improve in most of these areas still.

Total points: 39

I think I did alright overall for my first time carrying out a lesson plan in front of a class, but I know there are many areas I can improve in. The hardest part about carrying out a lesson plan is actually being in front of a bunch of people who are counting on you to teach them something fun, exciting and new. I was very nervous in front of the class and that made me botch up a lot of my words. However I think I picked a good song because the class seemed to have fun with it.