*Week 13*

This week seemed to pass by very quickly, but we did some really fun activity. Before we had worked in binary form, and we did something similar this week, except rather than having only an A and B, there was A, B, and C. The song was split off into 3 parts rather than the two that we had learned about before. To understand the concept of this a piece of classical music was played and we started off by just listening to it. After we had heard it we learned a clapping pattern that we would do during the A part and than listened to the music and clapped through with it. Next we counted out the other parts of the song, and divided it into the B section and C section. We then got divided into two different groups and we had to come up with different movement to do with the counts. This was a really great fun activity because we were able to be creative with out moves and work together as a team to come up with something that matched the music. It helps with themes we had before such as teamwork and creativity. This is really important for children because those are some of the key concepts they need to know. We also did an activity where we followed a sheet of music through different patterns. The song had something to do with a cucko bird and it made it easier to read, and is a great idea for music. We didn't do as much this week for actual in class activities, but it was because we had Friday to work on our lesson plans. Overall it was a very good week in Music 373.

**Week 11**

This week we spent a great deal of the time working on our group project for children’s literature. Although we have no gotten a chance to present out lesson yet, so far it has been a really great experience. Finding the actual book was not difficult because a few people in our group had picked out some extra books when they were looking for their individual book. One person in our group had a very good book about the social skill of friendship, so we decided to go with that book. Deciding the book and coming up with the lesson was actually fairly easy because we had so many people collaborate and work together to get everything we needed accomplished. The biggest challenge that we found did not actually have that much to do with the lesson part of it, but simply finding time for the group to get together because it was such a large group and everyone’s schedules were so different. Putting all of our ideas together and coming up with something great was the most exciting part. We all had very different ideas, but they came together great and I feel we really did a good job because of it.
This is a really great experience and children in the classroom can benefit from something like this for many reasons. Although students may not be getting in groups to do lesson plans, working in a group overall can have a great deal of benefits. It really helps a lot with their social skills, and it helps with creativity because they can hear ideas that they hadn’t really thought of which will help them expand their ideas. They would really benefit from a similar experience.

*Week 10*

This week one of the first concepts we worked on was Binary. We actually began working on this concept last week when we did a dancing activity with the song Hit the Road Jack, but we expanded on it much more this week. The concept of Binary is that a song can be broken into two distinct sections, A. which is the chorus or refain, of B. which is the verse. The chorus is what gets repeated over and over again, and can be seen quite often in pop music. On Monday we did an activity to go over Binary form with a song about a butterfly. We made two circles that moved in opposite directions and when it was the verse we just skipped around the circle, but once it got to the actual chorus we did a butterfly motion. It was a good way to help us remember Binary form.
Also, this week we did several other activities focused towards the children's literature project. Last week we focused on how music enhances creativity in literature, but this week we focused on how music and literature can be used to teach other subjects as well, such as social skills, social studies, science, and math. The first activity we did was with the chicken little story. This was really great because it encorporated a ton of the classroom instruments. Usually we will use some of the basic instruments, but for this song we used just about everything. It was awesome to hear everything come together. Our class actually sounded like an musicians, so it shows that you can teach children who do not usually play instruments a few simple things to do, but when you combine it all together it makes something really great. Not only does this help the literature lesson, but it also enhances teamwork.
On Wednesday we also read a book called Thunder cake. We were asked to all bring some sort of recycable trash with us back to class on Friday. Most people brought back things like waterbottles, pop cans, cerial boxes, or things of that nature. We were divided into groups based on numbers and given sounds that we had to come up with using our recycled garbage as our instruments. This is a great idea because in our classrooms chances our we will not have fancy instruments like we had used on Wednesday, so this is a much more realistic lesson plan for us. It also gave us an opportunity to be creative, which we said was important. This book was excellent to use though because it taught several others concepts, such as science, home economics, social skills, social studies, importance of recycling, math, and a few other things. It was great how many different concepts it taught, so it showed us that using one book we can teach a multitude of different things.

*Week 9*

The main focus this week has been on how music can be incorporated into children's literature. We were assigned a children's literature project which we will be working on in the next few week. It is very important to mix music with literature because not only does it help enhance the creativity of children, it also helps them stay interested in the story and the concepts that are being taught. As an example we were read two different books that incorporated music in different ways.
In the first, The Listening Walk, everyone was assigned a certain thing and we were supposed to come up with out own interpretation of how we believe that thing should sound. For example, some people had different types of cars or different animals. What is interesting about this is although many of us thought of similar sounds, there were many sounds that people made for their particular object that I honestly would have never thought of. This just shows another way to enhance the creativity of a child. By having them come up with a musical sound they have freedom because there is no right or wrong answer, so they can try to think of things they have heard before and express it however they want. Hearing what other children chose would also help them because it gives them more ideas and enhances their creativity that much more. What is great about this project though is that it also works on some of the actual music concepts that we have been focusing on, such as dynamics. Again, the listening walk is a great example of this. The children have to decide whether their sound is loud or soft, forte or piano, so they're using that whether they realize it or not. These concepts can also be incorporated directly into the lesson somehow, like we had explained with having the children place pictures of their object in paper bags labeled piano or forte.
The next book that we were read was Boo Hoo baby. Rather than everyone coming up with their own sound, we were given the tune of "what do you do with a drunken sailor," and came up with the new words, What do you do with a boo hoo baby, for it instead. When a particular part came up we were given a cue and knew to sing it. This can help children with melody as well because they will try to keep a particular tune and pitch. By children realizing that there can be a musical connection with the stories they are hearing, it makes it much more interesting for them and helps their creativity that much more.
Student centered learning is enhanced in an activity such as this because you are giving the children the freedom to come up with different sounds, pitches, and dynamics the story. The entire idea of the activity is focused around their ideas and allowing them to come up with different things, be creative, and play around with the ideas, rather than having a teacher at the front of the room lecturing about music or reading. It is an interactive activity that gets everyone in the class involved and active, and helps to sustain the attention of the children.
This week we also worked on the recorder a little bit more. I feel like we haven't been spending that much time on it so I haven't been doing as well on it as I had in the beginning of the year, but we D and E, and are now able to play quite a few more notes. I am really enjoying playing the recorder and feel like if it is something that I become good enough at I will definitally encorporate into my classroom, I just need a bit more work on it as of right now. I also think instrument such as the recorder or handdrum can be used in the childrens literature project as another way to get the students to have fun while singing a melody or coming up with a sound.

**Week 7**

This week we concentrated on our test more than anything. After taking the test I can say there were parts that I knew quite easily and very well, and other parts that I struggled with a bit. My biggest problem with the test was that I was unable to make it to class on Wednesday and there were things that were on the test that had been presented to the class that day, so I was definitally at a large disadvantage on a few questions because of that. However, because we were given the extra credit I'm confident that it will help make up for the points. Part of the way I study is by going to class and taking lots of notes. I'm an auditory learning, so I can read something out of a book and get next to nothing from it, but if I hear what is being said than it's a totally different story. I will remember everything quite easily, and writing down what I hear just helps me reinforce that. I really believe that writing is a great reinforcer for learning, so another thing I did to study was write out every answer to each question on the study guide. It helped me remember a lot of things. However, some of the questions asked very specific things, such as vocal characteristics and ability, and I just think that it is so easy to get those things confused, no matter how many times you go over them, so I'm unsure about how I did on that part. Also, a few things on the study guide, like parts of the lesson plan, I thought was supposed to be taken from the W.S. we did in class with the 8 steps, not what was written out. That was another thing I unfortunately missed in class on Wednesday. I feel that I was prepared for it as I could have been. I read the book, attended most classes, took notes, and did the study guide. For me these are the best strategies.
Mid-Semester Review- So far I have learned much more than I had anticipated. Although I knew what music was and some of the specifics about it such as the notes, I did not know the proper definition of rhythm, steady beat, melody, or any of those things we had gone over. Also, the Kodlay was all new information to me as well. I really like the overall structure in class, I think that it is very inviting and friendly. I am also enjoying learning to play the recorder. I think I may be one of the only people in the class that have never had any experience with it at all. It is a very fun instrument and now that I know how much music can impact other parts of the curriculum I would like to use it in a future classroom. My only complaint or thing I would want to change would probablly be the structure of the test. While I do think that most things on the test were fair, I just felt extremely pressed for time on it. Because it was short answer it took more time than I think many of us expected, so if it is possible, for the next test I think it would be better to either have a few less questions of tell everyone ahead of time it is okay to stay a little bit later. Especially because we had so many interruptions during it, I am easily distracted and whenever anyone is talking I can't really focus. This isn't a huge complaint or anything, I just think the test would be a better representative of what we are learning if we are just given a little more time. I really like the class this far, especially learning the recorder, and hope we continue on at the same pace!

Teaching Assignment #1/ Journal #6

This week everyone in the class had an opportunity to present a lesson. Although I have given lessons before, this was my first experience doing a music lesson. As you can tell from the video posted above, there were many things that I struggled with and definitely need to improve, but also some things that I feel went very well. I don't think I would be able to pinpoint one thing that I found "most difficult," because there were several areas I was extremely nervous about. For starters, in case you haven't already noticed, I do not have much of a singing voice. I had trouble getting my voice in tune and trying to use my head voice. It was a little bit easier for me because I eventually ended up picking a song that had only 2 different notes, but I still had a difficult time figuring out how to hit those notes. Another big issue for me was the nerves and being scared to present. Although I know we are all going to be teachers and should be used to standing in front of everyone and putting ourselves out there, I know I do not stand along when I say the difference between doing this for our peers and friends as oppose to young children is huge! It amazed me how much more nervous I was to get up in front of everyone and present than I am when I go in and work with first and second graders. Although I am nervous in both situations, when you present in front of older people you feel like you are being judged much more harshly and it makes it uncomfortable. Yet another thing I struggled with was creativity in the lesson. I wanted to do something unique that I though everyone would enjoy, so coming up with original ideas proved to be a bit more challenging than I had anticipated.
While watching my lesson it is clear to me the things that I did not do well, and would definitely want to improve on for the future. First of all, I asked way to many rhetorical questions. Some times after I would ask them I would realize what I was doing but there are times in the presentation that I asked rhetorical questions and did not even realize. I was very fortunate that no one in the class acted as a disruptive child and responded no when I asked them if they wanted to sing again or sit in a circle, but this is something I need to make myself more aware of because in the future it could definitely happen. Another thing I do not think I did very well was make myself clear and certain points. I found myself stumbling over sentence and words, and while every teacher gets mixed up in what they are saying sometimes, I noticed I would start to mumble when I did this which is never a good thing. For the group that I had I may have been going a little too fast also, but because the lesson was prepared for K-1st grade I was acting as if everyone was that age, which explains the reasoning for that. I also mixed up a little minor things, like I forgot Whitley needed a partner and went back to the piano which was obviously a mistake, but I think little things like that are easier to correct, I need to focus more on things like asking rhetorical questions and speaking more clearly.
Although I made my fair share of mistakes there were some strong points in my lesson. To begin with, I think I really had good enthusiasm and overall leadership. Watching the video it did make me cringe quite a bit because it looked so cheesy seeing as though my audience was a group of college students, but when working with younger children the tone , facial expression, and overall enthusiasm is extremely important. I seemed really excited about the lesson and hopefully they would to as a result. I was also able to incorporate some dancing and moving around, as well as allowing the students to come up with their own ideas, so I feel that was a strong point. I was able to improvise because there weren’t enough partners which I wasn’t planning to do so that showed flexibility. The plan was well prepared, so that was a positive. There were several things that I was proud of while I watched the lesson, so I do think it went really well.
There are quite a few things I would improve if I had the opportunity to do the lesson again. I would slow things down a bit more and make sure I was more confident in what I was doing, which would help me be more clear and make fewer mistakes. Practice makes perfect, but I know that no matter how many times I rehearse something there are always going to be errors, it is just important to work with them at that point and improve as a result of them. One thing I did that drove me nuts later on was say funner something like that, which was just a total incorrect use of the English language. It is little mistakes like that I really have to watch out for because it makes me look really bad as a teacher, it was as if it took away some of my credibility or something. I’d also have a bit more dancing and movement and just try to be more confident!
If I were to have to grade myself it would be something like this…
Musicianship… 5 points
I may not have had the very best voice, but it was generally in key and used in the head voice, and that is what is important for this class. I sang with them as well as played the piano at parts so they got a better understanding of the melody, and everything was done with appropriate tempo and rhythm.
Leadership… 9 points
Out of all the different categories I would say this is the one I excelled in, however, I showed my nerves a bit too much which shouldn’t have been done. There are still certain things I need to improve on to gain confidence, but intensity, eye contact, voice tone and volume all seemed to be there.
Preparation… 14
The written plan and knowledge of music and plan were also things I was very prepared in. However, I could have used more instruments like the hand drums or rhythmic sticks which would have been more fun and just planned things out a bit better to make things go more smoothly.
Delivery of Instruction… 18
This would be an 18 because of all the reasons I had talked about before. I asked far too many rhetorical questions and was not clear enough about what I wanted at several different times. The transitions could have gone better as well. I do think that flexibility went well, as well as the pace, so those are some of the things I should continue to do.

Week 5

This week we learned many new and interesting things. Starting on Monday we began going over the teaching criteria for our lesson plans and what we needed to specifically do for them. Some of the things we learned that were important in teaching each lesson was Musicianship, which includes being in tune and having accurate rhythm, Leadership, which involves our body language, eye contact, and intensity, Preparation, which is basically having our lesson plans figured out and knowing exactly what we are going to do, which we worked on last week, and the Delivery of Instruction. We learned great deal of things under the delivery of instruction category, such as important aspects of closure, continuity, feedback, and verbal instructions. Going over each aspect was extremely helpful because it showed us how to get our ideas and lessons prepared and organized, because we now know exactly what is expected of us and how we should do it. On Wednesday we discussed Zoltan Kodaly, his importance, and many of the musical concepts he brought into play. We went over “do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do” and different hand motions and levels that you can use to show that note. It was interesting, but probably one of the harder things we have learned so far because everything to me was new.
We learned these concepts and skills several different ways. For lesson preparation, knowing what is expected of us, and getting things more organized and ready for this week’s lesson we were given a worksheet outlining these things and we went over them. As we did this if anyone had any questions about anything in specific or in general they were given an opportunity to ask about them. This was nice because a lot of questions other people asked I was wondering myself but was too embarrassed to ask. We all were able to help each other out and give one another tips. For the Kodlay martial we started off by listening to the Sound of Music so we could hear and know what he concentrated on. We were shown the different hand motions and repeated them. We also went through the packet, having the teaching read and point out the important parts of it and taking note on it.
Lesson planning is probably the most important thing for us to go over because the large majority of us are not going to be music teachers, but will use these same concepts. It is nice to know what we need to do and how to get organized for it. The Kodlay material was important because he had the philosophy that music should be the core of education for all children, so it puts the idea in our heads of incorporating more music into the general education setting. Ideas like hand signing and solfa can be very helpful to children and we should know them.
While children will not know the importance or difficulty that goes into lesson planning, the Kodlay material is very important for them to know. It will help them grasp a greater understanding of music, so the younger they begin to learn it at the better. The hand motions may be hard to pick up at first, but will be very beneficial.

Week 4

Yet another week has come to a close, and we have continued to refresh the skills and concepts already taught to us, as well as adding in new information. One of the more exciting things we worked on this week was lesson planning and how to present and form our own lessons. Musicially we learned a few new skills, including rests and rhythmic pattern. Rhythmic pattern was also taught to us during the song "Ti De Oh", which was a fun way to learn because we got a chance to move around, learning not only through psychomotor funcations, but cognitive as well. On Friday we learned a new note, C, on the recorder. Although it was only one new note we were able to enhance our recorder skills greatly and play even more songs than we usually do.

Lesson planning was shown in a variety of ways. During class the instructor had a few lessons she presented to us as though we were younger children so we could pick up what she was doing. We discussed what we were doing, what concepts we were working on, and different ways to teach it during the presentation. We also looked on the written lesson plan format we had to fill in what was being done so we understood it more. To learn about rests we first did clapping and then a song for "Bow Wow Wow" and we made sure to incorporate a rest space into our dance and clapping. The rest signs were also given on the board so that we knew what they were supposed to look like and could identify them in our music. During the song Ti De Oh we moved around a lot and did a fun dance which most of us enjoyed to learn the rhythmic pattern. We played several new songs on Friday with our recorders. In almost everything we listened to the music first, repeated it, and added in new skills afterwards, such as the dancing or clapping. This week we were also able to have a great deal more discussion than usual, mostly concerning the lesson plans; however, it was nice to get a chance to ask questions and interact with the class.

While it is important to learn all of these concepts and skills for varoius reasons, I think one of the most useful thing that we did this week was to work on lesson plans. Although our official lesson plan isn't due until next week, working on it was a great opportunity. All of us are going to need to know how to make lesson plans, and in many of our classes we really haven't been given that chance yet, and even if we have it may not have been so specific or incorporated so many things, so it is great practice. This is one of the things we are going to need to know how to do no matter what, and even though we may not be making music lessons in the future they will be similar to what we are doing now. It is a great skill to pick up, so I'm very glad we are doing it. It is also important for us to learn about rests and silent beats because when talking about steady beat and rhythm we have realized that there were going to be rests, but haven't been showig them.

For children it is important to know about rests because without them they could get the entire rhythm and beat of a song incorrect. They need to know how to pause at certain parts and incorporate silence into their music, so it is a good skill and concept to know. Also, the different clapping and stomping is good for children because it will help them with their coordination, something that is very important for children to learn but often gets ignored. Like last week, the recorder is important to teach at a young age because they will just pick up on it so much better than many adults do, so the younger we start children in music the more they will comprehend.

Week 3

We have finished the third week, during which we not only reviewed the concepts, but also went over a few new things. The concepts that we reviewed was rhythm and steady beat, which we started to go over last week, but it was expanded on. We also discussed melody, which is a combination of various pitches, either high, low, or the same pitch. We learned the song Bee Bee Bumble Bee to work with melody and we walked on the steady beat, so it helped us understand both of these concepts. We also learned about musical notes, the treble clef which is also called G clef in western music, and that lined notes are EGBDF and spaces are FACE. Music on the recorder is in treble clef. Also, we went over note value
One of the ways that we were taught about these different concepts was listening to a song, double double ice cream, where we clapped hands with a partner to get a better grasp of steady beat, which had 4 beats per line, and rhythm. We wrote out x's, larger ones that had more value, to learn rhythm. We also did this with pictures for a song called rain and our name rhyme. To get kids to understand note length they can comprehend the rhythm more with X's and pictures, with larger pictures for longer notes, so we went over that. In the ice cream song we also went over the patterns found in music. Note value was explained to us by using the example of a loaf of bread, and breaking it up to understand how much each is worth. On Friday we worked on the GAB notes on our recorder and made up our own song to help us learn.
Melody was important for us to learn because it make up the basis of songs, so it is one of the basic concepts we really need to know. Also, kids tend to sing on a higher pitch depending on the age level, so melody comes into play with that. The treble clef and notes are important for us to know because in order to understand what pitch to hit and whether or not your voice is supposed to go higher or lower there has to be an understanding of the scale. Because children learn things so much better in songs, it is important that we continue to learn more of these and different ways to incorporate the methods in our classroom, which is what we did this week.
The reason why it's important for children to learn these things is because they have probablly been using different musical skills and concepts without realizing it, but it's important they actually know the definitions and how it came about. Also, if they learn notes and how to read music at a younger age it will be much easier for them in the future, and the will understand music much better.

Week 2

During the second week there were several new things that I learned. We went over steady beat, which is the constant repetition of one sound, and rhythm, which is the combination of short, long, and silent sounds. These two things are concepts that are extremely important in music. One of the skills that we worked on was playing the recorder. We learned three different notes, A, G, and B, and learned how to play our first song, hot cross buns. Although I think I'm just about the only one, I'd never learned how to play the recorder in elementary school so it's was new to me, but fun. We also learned a few new songs that we could use in our future classrooms.

Steady beat and rhythm were imparted to us through an activity we did with making up a rhyme. Everyone in the class made up a rhyme that had four beats and was four lines and then using a hand drum or rhythmic sticks we had a partner keep the beat as we recited our poem. After everyone understood the concept of steady beat we worked on rhythm using the same some and the hand drum again. It helped us understand and hear the difference between the two. To understand how to play the recorder the teacher demonstrated a note for us, showed us the proper way to hold the instrument, and then followed and tried to play ourselves.

I think it is important that we learned these things because steady beat and rhythm are such important concepts in music that in order to really understand music we first have to learn the basics. To really progress and move onto things like the recorder or singing it helps to know the different concepts. The recorder seems to be a good way to introduce children to music and instruments, so in order to teach the children in our class these skills we must know them first. I also believe it's important because it is another way to make sure we enrich our class with subject matter outside of the norm and really get children interested. It gives them the opportunity to expand their creativity as well.

The younger that children begin to learn music the better it is. I have found that children often understand things better when it is presented to them through music. For example, the reason why many of knew our alphabet at such a young age was because of the catchy song that came along with it. I'm not sure how true it is, but I've also heard that things like learning instruments or new languages are easiest when people are young because they're still picking up on so many things, and as we get older it becomes harder. Because of this I think that introducing students to the recorder or other instruments gives them a head start and is a very good idea. 10 songs that I am familiar with would be...
1.) twinkle twinkle little star
2.) Mary had a little lamb
3.) ABC song
4.) Happy Birthday
4.) Jingle Bells
5.)Three Blind Mice
6.)Itsy Bitsy Spider
7.)Baa Baa Black Sheep
8.)Old Mac Donald
9.)Bingo
10.)If you're happy and you know it

Rhyme About Me!

Hello my name is Kate
I think music is great...
I hate to be late
Florida is my favorite state!

Music History

I like basically all types of music, but I really enjoy listening to country. My favorite singer is Taylor Swift. I listen to music every day when I get ready or do homework. I wouldn't be able to pick a favorite song because there are to many to decide between. I do have an ipod, and it has 1667 songs. When I listen to music it's almost always from my Ipod, so I listen to it all of the time. The experience I have with music is mostly playing instruments. I took piano lessons from 3rd grade until 7th grade and although I do not take lessons any more I still play every once and a while. I also played the flute when I was in middle school for two years in the school band but dropped out. I was also in a school choir for a year, but generally do not like public singing to much.
I believe that what we did the past two days was significant for several reasons, but todays activity especially . First of all, it gave me a good idea for the first day of school when I have my own classroom. I think the music and monkey would make the children feel more comfortable, so it was a really good idea. I also thought it was significant because it gave everyone a chance to get to know each other and have fun. Even for our class it gave us an opportunity to let lose and have fun, and it is important for our students to know that school is about having fun to, so they can get to know each other while having fun. I really liked the activity. We were able to learn them because we kept repeating the activity and I think the repetition and consistency of the activity makes it easier to pick up on and learn.