Week 11

This week we looked at different things a teacher can do when reading stories to his/her students. One of these was using recycling products to make music to accompany the story which is being read. The teacher could also have the students play instruments which are in the classroom. The students can also be asked to dramatize the stories with the playing of the musical instruments and vocalizing parts of the story.
This week we started by playing music to a story we read that day. We used different instruments to dramatize the sounds made by the various characters throughout the story. This story was good for using the different percussion instruments to imitate the sounds each person perceived as the way that each character would act. I was not in class on Wednesday so I am unsure what was done on that day. On Friday we read a story entitled Thunder Cake and used the recyclable material that we were supposed to bring in to make the different sounds for the thunder during the story. This week we also learned the term binary in reference to songs and music in general. This term is used to describe the difference between the chorus and the verse. Some pop music, like Hit The Road Jack by Ray Charles, is written in binary form. Another kind of music written in binary form is classical piano music this depends on the piece.


Emilie

Week 10 All Over A Again

This week we worked on reading books while also incorporating sounds into the story. Through using music while telling the story it keeps the children engaged in the flow of the story as it is read. This is important not only for teh management of a classroom but also to enhance the learning of the children over time. Giving each child a noise or instrument to play for part of the story will keep him/her "tuned in" to the story and the sounds that others in the room make.
It is important for us, as students, to learn this information to improve the learning ability of every student in the classroom. It is important for us, as future teachers, to learn that to keep a child engaged in a story, we must use means that we never thought good ideas before. In learning how to animate a story with sounds made not only by instruments but also by the students body parts we have learned that there are many ways to tell any story.
It is important for children, especially young children, to learn how to animate a story with sounds to foster their creativity with music and other art forms. It is also important for children to understand the relationship between the words and sounds those words represent that they hear each day. Centering the learning of the story and the sound making around the student will aid in the student retaining the meaning behind the story and keep them engaged in the story itself.

Emilie

Week 8

This week we learned why it is important to use musical instruments in education. We learned the different ways in which the instruments help the student's learning and development. We also learned a new note on the recorder, which is the F#. We also talked about the benefits of creativity to children, especially when incorporating music into the classroom.

The benefits of creativity can range across many different spectrums. For some it can help them learn better than just listening to the facts spoken and for others it can create a sense of self that they may not have had before. In music students can express their emotions without retribution from others. Music can help children use their imaginations more over time as well as learn a new and exciting release for their feelings and thoughts. Music can help children understand the use of composition in everyday life and encourage them to write songs and pieces of their own to show their family.
For my multicultural project I will be doing a unit on Ireland.


Emilie

Week 7

This week in class we went over the study guide for the test we had on Friday. We focused on the use of music settings other than a music classroom. We also focused on the education philosophy and style of Kolday. i found the easiest part of study was looking over the C Major and G Major scales as well as looking at the different music notations. Since I already knew how to read music, understand basic Music Theory , and play recorder coming into this class I did not need to look at these parts as much. I found it difficult to remember the different parts of the lesson plan and the vocal characteristics of children's voices for different ages. I looked over problem material the night before the test and a few last minute preparation things before the test.
So far in this class I have learned the differences in a child's voice throughout the elementary and middle school years. I have also learned how to write a lesson plan which incorporates both musical and non-musical skills and concepts. Since I already knew how to read music when I entered the class, I did not need to learn this skill. I also knew the basics of reading the recorder from years of playing the saxophone and learning to play the Irish Penny Whistle. I learned the basic formula for writing a major scale which is something I have been trying to learn for a while now. We have learned the need for music in a General Education classroom for things such as teaching ABC's and social studies. We learned the differences between appropriate songs and activities for an age group and those which are not appropriate for older or younger groups. We learned the appropriate ways to teach songs to younger students as well as appropriate ways to teach recorder fingerings to students. So far this semester I have learned about what I expected to learn from the class.

Emilie

Self Evaluation: Week 6

This week we taught our lessons to half of the class so that we could get them all done in the three hours. I think my presentation went pretty well despite a few mental blocks from cutting a different things from the lesson. I sang in tune and in my head voice very well. I also kept the tempo of the song well; the phrasing of the song was more difficult than some but was no problem for me to figure out. I was prepared for teaching the lesson and did not use any extra materials or instruments in the lesson. I captured the classes attention and worked on sequencing the steps of my lesson according to the time allotted to me. Toward to end of the lesson, the flow got a little off due to the cuts that I made to the lesson to meet the time constraint. I should have gone over the French words of the song a few more times to ensure that the students were pronouncing them correctly.
What I found most difficult about presenting my lesson was getting over the nerves of teaching for the first time in a school setting in front of a group of my peers. Though I asked them to, the "students" did not sing after me when I introduced the English words to the song. I also could have had the dance the students performed involve t circles which moved opposite each other on the repeated phrases of the song. This is one of the things that I did not do well during the lesson. The "students" did very well at learning the dances and words of the song. I believe I did well at keeping the attention of the students and motivating them to perform the song many times.If I could do this lesson again I would change the way the dance is performed. I would also work more on the French words with the "students" to improve their pronunciation of the words.

Emilie

Week 5 Flew By

This week in class we worked on our lesson plans for our first teaching presentation of the semester. We worked on the lesson plan in groups of three with each of the groups having a leader who helped the other two with any problems with their lessons. We looked at the criteria of the lesson presentation and were told the consequences of missing a day of the lesson presentations. We also worked on the recorder more on Friday. We learned the note "D" on Friday as well as the formula for the major scale.
We learned the way of writing a lesson plan last week but this week we were taught by each other as well as our professor. We worked together to perfect our lesson plans while we also thought of different dances which would work well with our song. We also looked at the criteria of the lesson plan presentation which included many things from the flow of the lesson to the musicality of us as teachers. The musicality refers to our voices and the pitch with which we are singing. On Friday we worked with the recorder again, learning a new note "D". After learning the new note we looked at the formula for writing a major scale which is that the 3rd and 4th notes as well as the 7th and 8tyh notes must be a half step apart.
It is important for us, a students, to learn the fundamentals of music so that we can understand the difference between the music which is appropriate for young students and that which is not.. It is important for us, a future educators, to learn the fundamentals of music so that we can use this information to teach our respective subjects with an intonation of music which can help students who learn differently. The use of the recorder will remind us, as students, that not everything is easy for others. This puts the abilities of others into perspective for those of us who do not struggle with musical concepts and skills.
It is important for children to learn the concepts and skills which are written into our lesson plans so that they understand the different ways in which music can touch the lives of students like them. The use of recorders in classrooms will help with the psychomotor skills of young students as well as those of older students, especially those in high school. It can be important for older students to learn the way a lesson plan is written so that they are able to understand why the music classroom is structured the way that it is.


Emilie

Week Four On the Floor

This week in MUSC 373 we learned how to write a lesson plan for a unit on singing. This was taught to us through a demonstration and a written guide on how to write the lesson. We learned how to teach a song to young students while keeping their limited vocal ranges in mind. We also read through the first pages of the recorder book on Friday. We worked through many songs with students telling us the names of the different notes. We also learned that the use of a strongly planned lesson could help with younger students and classroom management while teaching.
The way in which we learned how to write a lesson plan was through observing a lesson being taught. We then analyzed the different sections of the lesson while looking at an outline for lesson plans. We also learned how to teach younger students the correct tone for their developing voices. During the class on Friday, we learned the different names of the notes and the fingerings for those notes on the recorder. We learned this through others in the class telling us the notes and we were expected to know the fingerings since we had learned them the previous week.
It was important for us, as students, to learn these things so we can teach them to our students if there is a need for that in our classes. It was also important so that we, as future educators, can use music n the classroom to facilitate the different learning styles of the children in our care. It was important for us to learn how to write lesson plans so that when we are planning to incorporate music into our lessons we will be able to make correct decisions about the level of music to choose for the grade.
The use of recorders in the general education classroom would be difficult to incorporate into the curriculum. In younger classrooms, the use of the recorder could be used to learn hand-eye coordination. It could also be used to help younger students The use of singing in a class of younger students would also help students to understand difficult material like the names of the states and their capitals. It is also important for students to learn the recorder because it is good for the students to be exposed to music at a young age to help the areas of the brain which control arts and creativity continue to grow throughout their childhood and life.

Emilie

Week 2 What Did We Do?

This week in Music 373, we learned two very important musical concepts steady beat and rhythm, we also began to learn how to play the recorder. The different concepts were easy enough for me to understand because of my extensive musical background. In the recorder lesson, we learned how to play the first three upper register notes B, A, and G. The two musical concepts were taught to us by having each student write a rhyme and say their rhyme to a steady beat and a rhythmic beat. This way of teaching the two concepts was perfect for students to grasp the meaning of the two different musical concepts. The way we learned how to play the three notes on the recorder felt like we were in a Suzuki style class since we were not able to see the music written out.
In the class we had this week about rhythm and steady beat this was shown to us by having us experiment and find the best way to strike the hand drum or hit the rhythm sticks together. For the recorder lesson, Dr. Wang showed us the note that we were supposed to play. Then she let us hear how the note was supposed to sound and finally we were allowed to play the note in four short notes. This type of teaching would be ideal for younger students who are interested in playing music before they are able to grasp the concept of reading the notes on the page.
It is important for us as future educator to learn these concepts so that when we are teachers we will be able to teach to children who learn in all different ways. For children who learn best through seeing the information they have the written aspect of subjects like math and social studies. For children who learn best through hearing the information they can learn through the use of music in the subjects that they may find the most boring. These concepts also can help us as teachers understand the different reasons for the learning style differentiations. After we learn the different musical concepts, we will be able to use them throughout our teaching careers in many of our subjects.
It is important for younger students to begin to learn musical concepts at an early age so that the creative portions of their brains will continue to grow and create new synapses. Another reason for the beginning of music education at an early age is to aid in the learning of other subjects. The use of music in the general education classroom could liven up the boring subjects for students who cannot read very well or have problems with reading comprehension. The use of music with older students could be to emphasis different periods in history. Music can also be used to create prime conditions for learning and understanding in the students.

Children's songs I know:
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Row Row Row Your Boat
Do Your Ears Hang Low
Mulberry Bush
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
The Bear Went Over the Mountain
Are You sleeping Brother John
I'm A Little Tea Pot
Take Me Out to The Ball Game
London Bridges
Tomorrow (Annie)

Emilie

My Name Rhyme

My name is Emilie
I have a large family
When they come to see me
We'll have a little party
I wrote this name rhyme in response to an assignment for my Music 373 class.
Emilie

My Music History

My name is Emilie Mann and I am a Junior at Northern Illinois University. My musical background goes back to riding to visit my grandmother in Indiana and listening to the radio when I was younger. When I was in fourth and fifth grade I was taught how to play the recorder and I was in choir with the other kids who decided to give up recess to learn how to sing. at the end of fifth grade we were allowed to try instruments both for the band and for the orchestra. By the end of that day I had decided that I wanted to play either the flute or the alto saxophone. In sixth grade I started in the band with the clarinet just until my saxophone was ready. I have been playing the saxophone now for almost ten years. In middle school I also sang in the choir and by the end of my eighth grade year I was singing solos with some of my best friends. In high school I sang in the middle choir for two years before auditioning into the Chamber Choir, the highest choir besides the Show Choir. During that time I was also playing in the Symphonic Band and often spliting my time between the Chamber Choir and the band. I was also spending most of my time in the after school bands like the Marching Band, the Pep Band, and the Jazz Band. While I was in Choir and Band, we went to contests and often were scored highly receiving either a I or a II in all of the contests but a few. For the choir we sang a wide range of songs in many different languages. Among the languages we sang in Hebrew, Swahili, Latin, German, and Spanish.
In the first two days of classes, I found the activities refreshing since most my classes are serious and would not allow us to act like children. I thought the name learning game was a great idea especially when working with younger children, as I plan to do. I also found the activity we played on the first day a good way to make younger children comfortable when they are first starting school. The way we learned the activities was also well thought out and made the memorization of the songs easy. The use of movement in the song also would help focus the children and release their excess energy. These activities could help to keep the children from fidgeting during the regular class sessions while also helping them focus on the tasks at hand.
Emilie