Response to Observations: I think it was really amazing to watch all of these other music ed.

Students teach the group classes at Fairview. Watching the teacher of most these classes I found that what made it a good class or a bad one was often about the pacing, and organization of the teacher. Often the classes that had the most kids not paying attention were often the ones where there were lots of down time between activities. Or if the teacher wasnt sure what was next on the lesson plan, which also caused down time for the kids. The kids needed to have the classroom to be really fast paced, but repetitive. So that the kids were doing the same thing again and again, but within a very short amount of classroom time. Classroom management is defiantly something that I learned from this experience, I have never worked with a whole class of 1st and 2nd graders. I think towards the end of the semester the teachers started using an advanced organizer for the classroom, by putting the schedule for the class on a dry erase board that listed warm-ups, songs, bow exercises and other things, in the order that they would come in. The teacher would put Free-time at the end, as a positive reinforcement to getting through the entire lesson, though often the free time was about 30 seconds or so. I think this helped the students a lot though. The pacing of many of the teachers was really good. I think my last teaching experience at Fairview was a bit closer to that, but I am generally kind of a slow paced person. So this was very good for me to see and aspire to. The teacher there that was really good was constantly having the students play or sing, or mimic, and he would switch very quickly. He did very minimal talking but exceptional modeling and very good observation and hearing skills. They would also play games, This time lets see if we can have less than seven popcorns and then repeat and count the popcorn for the students.

Observations: Thursday 30, September, 1st grade class, violin group class, 35 minute class, participated as a helper Teacher: As the students walked in the teacher was playing twinkle on the violin along with the pianist, and one of the helpers was at the front on the room singing along with solfege and the appropriate body signs used from the sunflower dance. They didnt teach the students this but modeled it and asked for the students to follow along as they entered. After twinkle the leader put his violin down and started singing the sunflower song with the students. The teacher walked around a lot and tried to engage individual students as much as possible. Asking a lot of questions and correcting individuals posture as much as he could. A few times he would highlight one particular student who was doing something very well. Student: The students, most of which were holding the violin for the first time were so nervous about the new teacher and the violin that they were hyper focused. Also with the helpers constantly moving around working with the students as well as the leader looking to individuals to showcase particularly well achieved behavior of the student they were pretty focused. The students were really quick to follow the leader, and always tried to model as well as the teacher. Subject: Singing and intervals was the first thing that was done; it seemed to be the warm-up for the violin work to come. Interval ear training was already introduces but only minor2 and octave. The pianist would play a pair, and the students would raise their hands to guess the correct interval. This was the first day of the program for the year, so the focus of the class was not to play the violin but to pick-up, and set up the violin properly. Lots of repetition was used, but no

games. There was constant movement for the students bending down to touch the button, and standing back up. Environment: The room is very large and open. There are no desks in the room just one table for the violins. A single piano and a dry erase board are the only other major objects in the room. The students are placed in rows in front of the teacher. Each student stands on their own square of carpet. There is also a foam 1x1 sheet that has the students name and violin size they use. These foam pads seemed helpful for the teacher and the student, although mostly for the teacher to remember names as there were a lot of students. Thursday 30, September, 1st grade class, violin group class, 35 minute class, participated as a helper Teacher: Similar to class before, but even between the two he reacted to some of the things that didnt go as well. Did more singing at the begging and focused a lot on the do-to-sol solfege. With working more on solfege, they were more warmed up and they sang ant song right away. When we began violins we started with the parts asking individual students to answer and asking others to help. The helpers become a really important part of this classroom management. Several times a student would misbehave but the helpers were so near that teacher didnt have to react, but issue was dealt with between the student and the helper instead of stopping the whole class. Several times the helpers had to take the violin away from a student because of misuse, and if the teacher had to walk around taking violins away the class would have been spent taking away violins then learning how to play them. Student: This class was a slightly larger and I think there were just a little less focused then the first class. They were also trying to model as the teacher did, but they were just a little less successful. Subject: The material was much the same. More time was spent on singing and intervals then in the first class. The ant song and G-D-G were more prominent as well singing both of them with and without the violin. There were also more students solos in this one, the teacher would go to all the students and they would pluck the g string while he helped and the other students listened and practiced patients. Environment: The environment was exactly the same, and was exactly proceeding, the first class I observed. Thursday 30, September, 2st grade class, violin group class, 35 minute class, participated as a helper Teacher: Same teacher still. Moved quickly through material because he wanted to review everything they had done in 1st grade. Because this class was larger and a little harder control the teacher really tried to keep the pace rather fast. He had a kind of routine when we moved to a new subject, he would have them echo, then he would play it with them, then he would have groups play together while most of class would listen. The routine allowed for quickly moving while adequately reviewing the material. Student: Students even though they were a little bit more used to the class and a bit more fidgety they were still able to keep up with the fast pace. And with most of them being in the 1st grade class the previous year they were more used to the procedures in the classroom which made them more restless. In general they followed instruction well, and they really enjoyed the solos or any chance that they got to lead the class. Subject: Was review of what they had done in 1st grade

Went through sunflower dance, solfege with differing dynamics and articulation Set up song while making connection between singing warm-up and violin use Plucked individual strings and rhythms before moving to the songs they know Moved quickly to playing Ant song and GDG Environment: relatively the same, this class had like twice as many students, so the room felt fuller and less personal, and the music teacher joined in for most the class as well as the specialist teacher that has been teaching the violin group classes. Thursday 30, September, 2st grade class, violin group class, 35 minute class, participated as a helper Teacher: There were two classes so the intro was awkwardly done twice as one class showed up 5 minutes late. The teacher tried to still make it interesting the second time by playing twinkle a differently the second time, changing dynamics. The teachers goals were very similar to the class prior but it went far less successfully then in the first class. Although there were a lot of hiccups within the classroom the teacher tried to keep it moving forward, but did have to stop more for disciplinary reasons then in the previous classes. The first time that there were not enough helpers to work with all the individuals that were struggling or causing distractions. Student: This was the hardest class because it was two classes together which was really distracting to all students. The kids were organized by class but several kids seemed to be more interested in the kids from other the other class then the instruction, this lasted till we started using the violin. Once we began using the violin most the students began to concentrate. Then students started having to go to the bathroom, one after the other, again distracting a lot of the students. Subject: For this class we didnt get through as much material as the instructor clearly planned for. We spent about the first 20 minutes on singing warm-ups and solfege whereas in other classes we spent about 10 minutes on the same material. With the violin we got through most the materials, setup songs, ant song, gdg, and rhythms, but we didnt repeat them as much and we didnt do as many solos. Environment: Because of the number of students the teacher was less mobile, and stayed in the front center for pretty much the whole time, though there was some individual instruction not nearly as much as before. Monday 1, October, 1st grade class, violin group class, 35 minute class, participated as a helper Teacher: Fast but relaxed pacing through out Always modeled before asking the student to participate Asked students questions about what he was doing, making them analyze what he was doing wrong and how to fix it Every activity leads into the next they were not separated and distinct from each other, creating a nice flow for the students to follow along easily Used short exclamations to bring students attention to something that was wrong Often asked helpers to help students make sure they are doing it correct Very few long explanations, only short, and often physical Student: When we first arrived to the class we were about a minute late, and some kids had gotten in trouble. One boy was doing the L sign to a girl, and another boy was trying to stop him. This caused a very big disturbance in the class, and the two boys were pulled out into the

hallway by the music teacher. While this was happening the violin instructor tried to continue focus on work with the students not involved in the incident. Subject: Material on Monday is mostly a review of their smaller classes and Thursdays, it seemed Followed same routines used on Thursdays but with a little more repetition More solos used during music playing, and a lot more time spent on playing the songs they know Environment: Same room used as on Thursday. Different helpers then on Thursday but again there were two total. (Not including me and Carina). We also faced the opposite direction as the classes on Thursdays, I am not sure what the point of doing this was but it faced the kids away from the pianist, and towards the door they entered in. Monday 1, October, 2nd grade class, violin group class, 35 minute class, participated as a helper Teacher: First observation of a different teacher. I felt really bad for her because she had no helpers (expect me and Carina) and she was Chinese so she was a little uncomfortable talking. She also had a very hard class to deal with. They were not paying as much attention to her as they should have been, and it was hard for her to keep them focused. Without us observing, and really helping out I am not sure if they would have gotten anything done. Student: There were about six really good students who were trying to focus no matter what the other students were doing but the rest of the class was very difficult. One student refused to play until she had the green violin, of course the green violin was too big for her, but she refused to play so we gave her one but then the other students around her also wanted one. One of the students also required one of the helpers to stand next to him because he would swing the violin and talk loudly if we werent there to guide him. Subject: The subject was the same but we really only got through the parts of the violin and plucking strings even though they were in 2nd grade and they should have been using the bow for part of the lesson. We spent most of the time on plucking strings and singing the ant song and gdg. Environment: Along with the new teacher we were in the other music room. This music room is also a pretty open space, with a piano, and a desk. The walls have posters covering most of the room. Most of the posters are instrument pictures, or music inspiration posters. There were also musical instruments in different parts of the room, as well as keyboards along the wall across the whole room. Generally tucked away so not distracting but a lot more stuff than in the other room. Monday 8th, October, 2nd grade class, violin group class, 35 minute class, participated as a helper Teacher: Another new teacher, instructing kids from the second grade class that have not had violin before (did not attend Fairview for first grade). This class was small, but two different homerooms put together, about five students from each. The teacher has a really strong class presence though. She is very attentive to all the students, and even if a helper is working with a student who is not with the group she address it quickly so that the students know she is watching all of them. But, the kids dont fear her; she is also very complementary to students who are working really hard. She made use of short games and imagery a lot more than the previous classes I had seen. Student: The students were often very vocal, but because there were only about ten students they were fairly controlled. They respected the teacher and were very focused on her as long as

the person standing next to them wasnt currently being raucous, but with the number of students it wasnt hard to get them back focused on the teacher for at least a few minutes. One of the students complained of having a sensitive ear so we had to move her to the side, which was good for her, but it distracted the second class when they came in and had to stand on their squares and not where ever they wanted. Subject: There were several things I had not heard before that the teacher used in this class. Chicken wings, and a little song, that made the ball joint violin levels (for bow arm) begin to be developed before the bow was introduced. She had the students flap their right arm to the beat and sing, and then the helpers could go around and make sure the motion they were using was the same motion they would use when the bow was introduced. Environment: This was in the room that has stuff on the walls which in a class that was easily distracted wasnt the best, continually tried to make them look forward and focus on teacher. They still had the carpet squares with the 1x1 pads that had their names on them, and they stood in two rows one class of five, and then the second class. Thursday 11th, October beginner 2nd grade class, Violin group class, 35 minute class, participated as a helper Teacher: New teacher, working with these students for the first time. There was a clear lesson plan she was following, but kept getting disrupted by the students. She was almost at the mercy of the students for much of the lesson. She started with her name and where she was, from which was fun, but made the students excited about everything but playing the violin. It also disrupted them from singing warm-ups and intervals which at this point is their routine so it threw them off what they expected. Student: This class was really hard to deal with. Many of the students were disruptive and not paying attention, particularly three of the students. The teacher was not the one they were used to, and they could not get used to the new teacher, nor could the new teacher tame their outbursts. One student was not given the correct violin, so she would not play until she got the correct size (even though the one she had would have been fine), then when she got the correct violin she would not play till we had the matching bow size, though we were not going to use the bow at all, and again the bow was of a fine size. Subject: this class is a beginning second grade class that missed the first year so the material is similar to that of the first grade. They worked on the set-up song as well as GDG DAD and AEA; at this point it was just plucking and singing. They also did the Ant song plucking and singing. Environment: The environment was relatively sparse; the only questionable thing is that we did not ever use the bows but we set them out for all the students. So it provided some distraction and confusion on the part of the students and for the one student she made us change her bow before she would participate and stop distracting other students. Thursday the 18th, October, 1st grade class, violin group class, 35 minute class, participated as a helper Teacher: Wanted to just talk about one particular teacher student interaction. The violin class was happening as normal, with the violin instructor, but the teacher I want to talk about is the general music teacher. One particular student was not only misbehaving but acting inappropriate. Swinging the violin around, or playing when the teacher is trying to talk. So each individual helper had taken the violin away from his at different points in the class but this did not help.

When his violin was taking away he would just swing his arms around, or pull his shit up around his head, or talk really loud to his neighbors trying to distract them. None of the helpers not the violin teacher really knew what to do. This student clearly just wanted attention from the adults in the room, but at the same time we could not focus on him because we were there to teach violin and help students perform well, and he played very little violin. Once the general teacher saw what was happening in the class she immediately removed him from the classroom. She pulled him right outside but instead of giving him a lot of attention she just told him to sit and be quite in the hall until she came and got him. I thought this was in some ways a good tactic that I would not have thought of. By removing him he could no longer disturb the class but he was also still not receiving any extra attention. Of course the student was not completely obedient of this either and he would open the door and call across the room to the general teacher Can I come back in yet? I was just really interested in this because, I think classroom management is really hard, and often when we are practicing, or teaching small lessons we dont usually get in a situation that is as extreme as this one was. Thursday the 8th, November, 1st grade class, violin group class, 35 minute class, participated as a helper Teacher: First time that the main teacher appeared to be semi unprepared. The violin part was clearly prepared to the new song, but needed the general music teacher to sing along with the words and main melody. Thus, the model was somewhat shifted from the violin teacher to the general teacher, but it was clear that the violin teacher would have not been able to sing with the children. Student: Surprisingly the children knew this song exceptionally well. The students were mostly well behaved prior to the lazy river. But, they werent paying as much attention as they should have been when we were playing DGD with the bow. I think the teacher had planned to spend about 15 minutes on lazy river, but because of having to repeat dgd with the bow several times, to make sure the students were singing along, and playing without popcorn he probably spend 5-10 more minutes on that then he wanted to. Subject: Learning new song, Lazy River, Appears as if they have had once or twice practiced the singing portion of the song. Seems as if they plan on splitting the group so that half sings while the other half plays the violin, and then they switch rolls. Hoagy Carmichael piece, very jazzy, rather difficult singing part, simplified violin part, open strings open G-D-A, no E. Environment: One of the main differences that I thought was very smart was that the moveable board at the front of the classroom was now in use. On the dry erase part the teacher had put the schedule for the class ending with free time. They had also written on a giant piece of paper the note pattern for Lazy River. They used this to teach the kids the violin part, and also to help them memorize sections of it. I think that this also helped them learn the strings a little bit better because unlike DGD, that only uses two strings at a time, this time they used three and the pattern of which ones to use was not always the same.