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

Learning to teach while planning a wedding

During the next two semesters I will not only be working toward getting into the Elementary Education program while also juggling the planning of my wedding across three states. Working to get into the Education Program will be no easy feat and I often find myself worrying about whether or not I will make it into the program for next fall. On top of all of the school stresses I also find myself attempting to contact my bridesmaids who go to school as far away as Pittsburgh. This makes the stress of school seem all the greater because of the time constraints on both the schoolwork and the wedding contracts. Learning to teach the next generation is not only about what to teach them out of a book but also what to teach the children from real life. What would be a good lesson for young students to learn that can not necessarily be learned from a textbook? I know that the standard answer for this question for those under the age for kindergarten would be learning to share, but for older students the lesson that teachers use often become redundant. Students can learn little nuances from the adults in their lives but would a teacher offer that much influence in the life of younger students? Or would the little nuances just become a part of the student's personality because of the repetition of the said nuances on a daily basis. What are the changes potential teachers can make to the nuances they possess to minimize their impact on their impressionable students?
-Emilie

Teaching without teaching

I have noticed that while I am home I end up inadvertently teaching my five-year-old nephew, Jonathon, something new. I have not attempted to teach him anything new for at least a year, since my family lives in Ohio and I only get to go home a few times a year. When he was younger I would teach him his colors and how to count in multiple languages and now that he is getting older he has a hunger for learning. When we ask him if he wants to go to school, he always answers that he wants to go "Right now." I have also started to teach my one- year-old nephew,Clayton, how to start talking since he is just learning. Both of my nephews are bright for their ages and we are optimistic that they will learn quickly when they start going to school. Jonathon will be starting next fall in Kindergarten and he should excel in his class once he learns to share, he's an only child. Clayton has a few years yet before he can go to school but he will excel once he starts school as well. Have you ever taught a child something without meaning to? What experience have you had with teaching children of a younger age? Do any children in your lives have a hunger for learning without having ever been to school?
-Emilie