Student teaching week 13

This week I took over all of the fourth and fifth-grade classes. My goal was to come up with original lesson plans for each class. (I have been using a book called "Game Plan" that the teacher uses the week prior) It was a little tricky because I had to meet the music objectives for that month for her class so things like ostinato, Mixolydian mode, improvisation, etc. I wrote four lessons that I thought could go either way. They could either work really well or fail miserably. (Some of the lessons consisted of composition, which can be hit or miss with some students) These lessons I thought about and I really wanted to do them. The first one was a responding assignment. I had the students bring headphones to class, come in listen to a song (I used a Paul Simon called the Obvious Child which has tons of African percussion in it) and draw a picture of how the music made you feel, what type of instruments you heard, or maybe a time that it reminded you of. I feel like just listening and actively thinking about music is important because it is a music class and it should not be overlooked. I really wanted to avoid doing a worksheet or packet. The kids absolutely loved it, they were dancing and enjoying it immensely. The pictures they drew were very different than one another. The students got to make decisions on what they were drawing. They drew their picture on their Ipads, so they were very colorful and they got to post it on the student portal "seesaw" so their parents got to see what they drew and why they drew it. So, a very successful lesson. I am going to try this lesson again but with very different music and with more specific instructions. Maybe responding through writing. One other lesson that I did was a composition lesson. In this lesson, I paired students into a group of three and gave specific instructions on what each player was supposed to do on which instrument. I thought that this lesson might have ended in disaster because it gives the kids a lot of freedom to do whatever they wanted so I thought a lot of students would goof around. But this lesson was by far the best lesson I came up with in my short teaching career. It was great because each student embraced their role in the performance. Each group of students' composition was unique. At first, I wanted them to video record their performance but then I asked a group if they could perform and the rest of the class listen. Afterward, the class clapped and then all the other groups wanted to perform in front of the class. It was unbelievable. I then went around and taped each group's performance and posted it on seesaw. I was so excited about the classes this week. I am eager to come up with new lessons this week.