Najee Lee

September, 16, 2014

Intro to Music Ed.
Patrick Schmidt
Classroom Observation
The setting of the classroom had a very cozy teaching environment. There were lots of
decorations which was appropriate for the age group. The decorations consisted of many
instruments and names of musicians and composers. The teacher was very strong in his
conducting the classroom, and he was very instructive. He would perform the exercise before the
students would so the students had a strong idea of how to complete it. Communication was
conveyed a lot sometimes by using symbols and language. For example when he used the story
about the ray of light in the forest to get the students to have their hand a very specific way.
There is no lack of communication, even though half of the class speaks Spanish and the other
half speaks English, the actions and activities that take place in the classroom keeps them fully
engaged. There are normative behaviors because the children naturally follow the teacher. This
also included the way students would follow the example led by the instructor and practice
solfege which is ear training by singing the note played on the piano. After they would practice
this they would go on to sing the song in the book.
The goals for the class were to learn about a composer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was also
to learn about what symphonies are and there instrument of the week, the cymbals. The
curriculum is taught in the order of the composer, then the song, or symphony, then instrument.

Decisions are made by the teacher and they are communicated either verbally or physically or
both at the same time. He acts very professionally; he uses some Orff method, but also uses an
award system to get them to behave. Information is delivered usually verbally. There are
variations if it because sometimes instead of informing them class to be quiet he acknowledges
the ones that are quiet so the others will follow. For an elementary level class they behave very
well, although when they are given something such as rhythm sticks they get very excited. They
react very well and learn very quickly through acknowledgement because in this classroom
setting everything is sort of like a competition to see who will be the next student week. Also in
this setting there are actions conducted in the classroom that are connected with ethnicity. For
example about half of that class did not speak English but what he did was he had some of the
students translate what he was saying. In this action he gives the students a role which makes
them feel important, which also subliminally makes them behave better because they know they
have an important task to fulfill. There isnt much room for the students to express their
opinions. They would express themselves either by singing or playing their sticks. Also another
thing I noticed was that the students were not expecting the new rhythm sticks. I feel if Mr.
Scherker explained to the students what they were in store for that the students would have been
a little bit better behaved. The teacher was very receptive of the changes in the classroom by
never shouting at the students because this would bring a negative energy to the classroom.
Whenever he acknowledges someone who is quiet this is very useful because the award system
gives the children incentive to get the award. On the other hand though this is very dangerous,
because if there are students who are being good and never get awarded, they eventually will
generate a negative behavior.