Elementary Music Methods 3160 Music Observations

Name: Rebecca McBee Date of Observation: 10-10-13 Grade level observed: 2nd Grade (9:00- 9:45) and 1st Grade (10:00-10:45) Teacher: Mrs. Schewe School name: Fennimore Elementary School City: Fennimore, WI The two classes I observed were at the elementary school where I grew up. The music environment at the school is really great, especially first impression. One thing I noticed right when I got to the room was how I could tell it was the music room. Outside the classroom there are pictures of instruments and music, as well as music of the week. The music of the week is where the teacher puts up part of the song with only the notes and all of the students in the school get the opportunity to guess what it is. To help the students she has a small xylophone sitting by the door so the students can play the notes to figure out the song. I thought this was really neat because it gave the students an opportunity to engage in music independently. As I moved inside the classroom I found the environment to be very music oriented, which is obviously important. The students sat in rows of four separated into two columns in front of a smart board, rug, and chalkboard. I found this worked well because all the students could see and it helped the teacher when creating two large groups for activities. In the main part of the room where the children sit there are lots of pictures of instruments separated into categories like brass, woodwind, and percussion. I felt this gave the students an understanding on how instruments are classified. The classroom was also full of a variety of instruments that were placed in the back of the room on shelves. Many of the instruments they had we have used in class and the teacher told me the students really enjoy them. There also is a little spot where she has keyboards set up and an area with computers. She lets the children explore on the computers and play with the keyboards. Overall the environment was something that said music was being learned.

For my observation, I chose to observe a second grade class and a first grade class. Both classes gave me a lot of good ideas and teaching tips that I can use when I get into my own classroom. The first class I observed was the second grade class. The goal for the lesson when I observed was learning rhythm and beats. To start the lesson the students were asked to look at four lines of notes and silently figure out their rhythm in their heads. Then they came together as a group and she had one student come up to the front of the class and play one of the lines on the drum. It was the other students job to guess which line the person was playing. One teaching tip I learned from this was that sometimes if a student is struggling that it is fine to play it with them, which is exactly what the teacher did. The rest of the class period the students were engaged with songs by singing and moving. The songs all had to do with rhythms. For one of the songs, the teacher had the students sing the song in groups. The first group sang the solo part and the other sang the chorus part. I learned a teaching tip from this activity and it is that make sure both groups get the opportunity to do both parts it is only fair. As the class continued, the only other thing I saw the students do was work with the song Silver Moon Boat, which is a song that is sung in Chinese. For the song, the teacher had the students just listen to it and get a feel for its beat and to do this she had they pretend they were on a boat and rock back and forth. She also had them follow along with the song the best they could, which is important since students should be exposed to other languages and cultures. As they followed along one teaching tip I learned was that it is important when you have students follow along to tell them what line the song is on to help them if they get lost. The final thing I observed the class do with this song was play finger cymbals on the beat. She had two groups of two stand it the front of the class and hit the cymbals together to help them see how to keep the beat. I found this to be found for the students because all of them were able to get involved in the song. Once they all had a turn up front using the cymbals it was time for the students to clean up and line- up. Even though I didnt get to see much in my observation I still came away with a good

experience. The other class that I observed was a first grade class. The focus of the lesson for the day was on beats that are high and low along with tempo. Unlike the second graders, the first grade students lesson started off with them doing a test. Right away I learned a teaching tip from observing the students. I learned that it is important when you have the students hand out pencils. It is best to show the students how to get a group of pencils out and pass them down rather than individually having the other students pick a pencil out. After the pencils were handed out the students began their tests. The test they did was a review on high and low beats. The test was a listening test so the students listened to about eight different songs and had to choose the right answer. I thought this was a good test for students because it promotes their listening skills with music. After the test, the students were engaged in multiple songs. They sang and moved throughout the lesson. One song they sang was called Freight Train and with this song the teacher asked them. The last song they sang was Four Little Pumpkins, which is a fun song that can be done in confined spaces. The students used their arms as they sang to illustrate the actions in the song. They sang the song a few times through using the actions. After they were done the teacher told the students they would be adding instruments to the song sometime next week, which I thought was neat because not only is she incorporating movement with the song, but instruments as well. I didnt see much more after the Pumpkin song because it was time to go, but I found I could take a lot away from watching this class and use it in my own classroom. As I observed both classes I found the students had many reactions. They seemed to really enjoy the activities that the teacher did and had a lot of fun. You could tell they really liked music class and I think it is because the teacher got the students involved and didnt just talk to them about music. While I observed I had many reactions of my own. I just was surprised at how well the students understood music terms. I know I really had to think about what the teacher was saying, but they got it right away. I

really liked visiting the classroom, it was a great experience being able to visit the music class I was a part of when I was little and see how much it has changed since I was there. I really liked being able to see music activities done with the children because it sometimes is hard to see what their reactions will when we do them just with adults. Overall, this was a great experience and it really helped me see how I could incorporate some aspects of a music class in my own regular classroom.