Week 4 Student teaching

This week I pretty much took over the entire class. There are some sections that my cooperating teacher co-teaches. On Monday I got to experience what a district music meeting was like. We met up with my cooperating teachers boss and the other music teachers in the district. It was really interesting to see the work that goes into creating a cohesive plan for the semester. I found many technological resources for music education. It was also interesting to see how teachers acted as a team. They all brought unique ideas to the table and advice for each other. They went on to make this slide full of resources for teachers to use so it was all in one place if they ever needed anything. I thought this was a really smart idea and would be extremely helpful to use. We started on pianos and split all students into "A" and "B" groups because there are not enough keyboards for the entire class. When the kids entered the class and seen the keyboards their faces lit up. They were so excited to get on an actual instrument and perform. The absolute biggest thing I picked up this week was time management. My cooperating informed me that I tend to either run short or long on lessons and that affects other sections of the class. So what he informed me was to set a timer. Now I literally set up a timer for every single activity or lesson. It is night and day. I also realized that having a big timer on the screen the students know how much time they have and are more productive in class. My college supervisor came in this week as well. She was very helpful and gave some excellent advice. One thing she told me was when I teach rhythm with drums to use a louder drum. This will help with call and response and attention grabbers. Also when I have students individually perform in front of the class the will have more incentive to play on the louder drum. Overall a very successful week and looking forward to better my methods next week.

Classroom Confidential Chapter 4
After reading Schmidt's chapter four on culture in the classroom I have enhanced my ability to consider how culture can affect pedagogy and ways to better incorporate cultural awareness in the classroom to make for a more successful learning environment. Schmidt says "Kids may be judged and labeled as a certain type of not-so-good student, simply because they fail to leave their cultural practices at the door and adopt yours." Culture is the norms of what people are used to and can affect a students behavior and learning. Schmidt also talks about culturally responsive teaching strategies and how cultural awareness is the key to a teachers success. Getting to know students, their background, their family and heritage, their beliefs and values are monumental in successfully incorporating culture into your class. Schmidt mentions that music is the easiest way to incorporate culture in the classroom because there are no language barriers. When students do their daily listening (listening to a piece of music and describing characteristics such as genre, texture, melody etc.) playing music that is specific to students background can better engage students. Another strategy that I thought was important was incorporating your subject into your daily life.  Music can be a powerful thing in a young persons life and talking about concerts, how you listen to music, current events in music, and why a student likes what they like can give a better understanding to the teacher about what kind of audience you are teaching to and engage students to think about music in their daily life.