Elements of a Successful Program

Elements that I think are essential to a successful program 1. School Community Desire for the Program - With out the support from the school and community your program would not exist. Support from with in the school shows that teachers or other subjects (math, history, etc) allow their students to miss additional class time for festivals and emergency rehearsals. Support from the community can come with many benefits, varying from financial and physical support. These can be parents who are coming to help out with concerts, in to class to manage uniforms, part of a booster organization for your program. Another large feature of community support is venue availability. Perhaps a pleased parent of one of your students is the pastor at a church or owner of a nice hotel where you can perform your concerts in for free. 2. Qualified and knowledgeable director. -Without a a good teacher students wont learn, no if's, and's, or but's. Teachers give students the materials and tools they need to be successful. When it comes down to education It is ALWAYS more important that the teacher teaches students how to critically think and research for facts, instead of telling facts to students. 3. Instruments and Equipment (and uniforms). -This is also pretty straight forward, if you don't have instruments an instrumental program can be incredibly difficult to cultivate. You can teach notation and basic theory still, but instrumental performance and maintenance will be exceedingly difficult. 4. Music (Quality Repertoire). -Having good music for your students to perform and work off of. Music that is too easy can make students take practicing for granted and associate music as a joke. Music that is too difficult can make students turn off and push away from music feeling like a failure. 5. Advanced Planning and Organization. -Teachers who can plan ahead and have all paperwork and music issues sorted out gain a lot of respect from students. This makes the students less anxious in music as well. When teachers are hosting music festivals a well organized and prepared festival reflects greatly on the school and even your own students will notice if its good or not. 6. Policies and procedures supported by parents, teachers, and administrators. -Having policies that are supported and respected by parents they will have your back for discipline issues that may arise with students. This also ensures "smooth sailing" and being fearless that parents will contact you to complain about your methods. 7. Effort and desire for excellence (Instilled by director). -Manifesting this passion in music to students is key for getting them to practice and think ahead about the reward of playing amazingly. With students having this passion as a driving force in their knowledge is a huge benefit in your program because of the face that the quality will go up. 8. Parent Booster Organization -I think this is a very important thing as well. These will rais money for your ensemble to buy new instruments, music, repairs, festivals fees, tours, and so much more. If you can bring in additional finances your already expensive programe take take some weight off its shoulders. 9. Time With Students -This is also very important for obvious reasons. You need time with students and especially with music time after and before school may be necessary for some students who aren't understanding music. 10. A Clear Path for the Program (I.e. Mission Statement). -Having a focus and direction with a goal that not only you will relate to but your students as well make it more effective and easier for students to want to strive for this.

TE Reflection

Austin Berscheid Instrumental Methods/Field Experience Spring 2012 Prompt for Blog Week of 2/13/12 (also counts for CJ TE Day 2 blog) The intent of this entry is to serve as a formal reflection of your teaching experiences at Chief Joseph Middle School. Use this document as a template, but delete any text that is not your own. This will also be included as an artifact in your resource notebook, so spelling and grammar count. The reflection is worth 3 points (the same as an assignment) and will be assessed on clarity, depth of thought, and your response to the provided prompts below. In the final version, be sure to include your name and the date. The blog is due approximately one week after your day 2 of your teaching episode at CJ. Details The first day we had practicum at Chief Joseph Middle School, the class we observed and worked with was 8th grade. First teaching episode was with cellos and basses, while the second day of teaching was with Violas. Our final day at CJMS was spent observing the band. The focus on the teaching episodes was on podium etiquette, name memorization, sectional leading, and teaching a rhythm. Learning Goals What I had hoped to accomplish for my own personal gain is more experience in the thought process of middle school student. Understanding how they think and how to keep their attention, in my opinion it is a major factor in how you design your lessons plans. As for the students I had hoped that they could reproduce my rhythms within 80% accuracy. With the student’s orchestra music, I had hoped to accomplish two things. First I had hoped that with a basic fingering for small sections of their music, they then could use what I gave them and create a fingering (modified if needed) on their own. This I found was successful to the 8th grade level. The second was for them to listen and feel confident with each other, so that everyone had each other’s back when it came to the music. Process On my day of leading sectional (the first day of teaching), we had removed the cello/bass from the orchestra room to out in the hallway. This, fortunately, did not take much time out of lesson plan. Then Adam, me, and the students introduced our selves and our favorite color. After introducing I let Adam take over to teach his rhythm while I stood to the side. At the end of Adam’s lesson on rhythm one girl (whom I don’t remember her name because several weeks have passed since this event) joined on the cello. After Adam’s lesson I took over for the string section. First I asked what parts they feel uncomfortable with; they mentioned three areas (two of which were the same Idea). The first area was difficult due to rhythm/speed. So I had them slow it down to a manageable level. Periodically I would ask if any of them would be willing to demonstrate the rhythm for the rest of the group, and each time a couple were more then willing to demonstrate. Gradually I would speed the tempo back up, and then even a little (around 5-10 BPM). Once we got up around a tempo we would repeat it three times. Then, I worked on their second concern in the music, which dealt with fingering. At first I just gave them the first couple measures of a basic fingering, the following measures were a sequential pattern. After they figured out it was a repetitive pattern I had them look out the small amount, around 3 notes) that didn’t fit within the fingering sequence, I had them tell me what fingers they should use, and they were correct. After the sectional, it was about time for them to go, so we went over their name, and I had missed a few. Then we brought all of out supplies back to the class. On the second day of teaching I only taught my rhythm and helped Adam with some string sectionals. We had the Viola’s in our group and there were five of them. When I was teaching my rhythm I broke it into four cells, then had individual students clap the rhythm back to the rest of the group. Then I had them do two-bar portions secondly. Finally we did all four measures at once. When Adam lead the sectional he had the same concept as me with breaking it apart and going from slow to fast. I tried to not involve myself too much because when we teach we wont have a second teacher to help us. But when Adam needed assistance I did provide suggestions such as fingerings and bow placements. Assessment I wont disclose all students’ grades, because that would take up a lot of space. But my grading would put it each score within the 82%-95% range. I had two main things I was grading on. Participation was one. Where as long as they tried and had the motivation to try their hardest they go 3’s. My other criterion that my rubric looked at was accuracy. No one scored a 1 in accuracy, which was “Student could not accurately clap and sing rhythm, was correct less than 50% of the time, more than 8 mistakes.” My students for rhythm were 2 students scored “2-Average” and 3 scored “3-Excellent”. I designed my rhythm to be a little tricky because it alternated between duple and triple rhythms, which didn’t trick the students as much as I though it would have. Thoughts and Feelings I think teaching students to sight-read rhythms daily is a key element in their musical development. I didn’t really feel much of a feeling other than what I normally fell. Yes, I guess I could say I was a little excited. It’s convenient to be able to test your lesson plans on students. And for our colleagues that don’t play stringed/wind instruments this may be frightening to them because of their lack of experience in instrumental music. So, overall this lesson does help with reinforcing what I already know, and getting more “podium time”.

CJMS Teaching Day 1/2

We were to divide up and lead a sectional. First day we had cellos and basses, second day we had Violins and Violas.

"Name Game" I had each student introduce themselves and their favorite color, hard part was two of the 5 showed up late (in the middle of the sectional) so they quickly introduced themselves and continued. We used the same strategy for when adam did names on the second day.

"Teach a Rhythm" I aimed for my rhythm to be easy enough for them to learn quickly but still had a couple of tricks in it. The primary focus of my rhythm was the alteration between triplets and duplets. I also threw in one bar of syncopation. We broke it down and learned it by measure, and I used students who felt comfortable to clap the rhythm solo for others to hear. I avoided having them say (do, das, tri-pel-let, etc) because of the alteration between triplets and duplets this would trip students up more, and I wanted them to feel it more then just be able to say it.

"Sectional" We lead sectionals, but I felt that we should have had a quick meeting assigned to us where we can talk to the teacher on though spots and what exactly they want. In addition I was not a supporter of having a partner for this because they would interject (which what he said sometimes did not apply to the instrument). With that the ability to use each other yes was beneficial but when we are in the real world teaching we wont have that second person there. For me sting sectionals I wasn't too afraid of because I had learned violin, Viola, Cello, And Bass while in high school. But adam doesn't play those instruments, and me knowing fingering bowing and tips for switching between bowing and pizz. made it easy for me (which is one time that partners for sectionals are handy).

C.J. Primary Observation 2/2/2012

When we went to observe CJMS we also did our podium etiquette. I feel the podium etiquette should not have been included, I feel it was a waste of time for the school teacher, I feel when we broke into sectionals that would have been a good day to place it on, because we had to introduce our selves again anyways. From our observations her orchestra is very good! for the age group and the disproportional player ratio, they were good and I felt like they watched her, unlike most school orchestras. I still can not get over the principal cellist, he was into the music and very good! I also like the way she made the class do that opening rhythm excersise, im not sure if she does that everyday or not but I will defiantly be using that when I teach.

The Resource Notebook

To my future self,
What is the purpose of my resource notebook? There are three reasons:

-1) "Portfolio"
Just as the title states, this will be a collection of all of my materials. I have these to be able to look back on and modify for my lesson plans.

-2) "Summative Assessment"
As part of the portfolio this will show me where my areas of weakness and areas of strength are.

-3) "As a personal resource"
This gives me something to look at when I'm stuck in a rut, this will either give me a quick glimpse at the information that I need or will point me in the right direction to research the information that I want.


Summary:
Like stated above having a resource notebook gives me the "crutch" for the material I'm not so confident it. It will give me information or point me in the right direction. The resource notebook also gives me the template that I need to form my future lesson plans to, or I can modify and tweak.

Recruiting Beginners

"1) What things should children learn and experience during that first year (considering that one year of instrumental music may be the only opportunity that a Child has)?"
Within the first year students should develop the two main things in music education, basic technique and a passion for the art. One builds off the other, students wont have a respect or passion for the art if they cant play it, and if they don't have the passions to play in music, they wont learn.
Learning an instrument for the first time can be frustrating, As music educators we should prescribe music that is mostly easy for them to play, while having one more difficult piece to make progress. Students should learn how to assemble the instrument, have a concept of tuning, reading notation (simple melodies/rhythms), and basic fingerings. The goal is to not overwhelm them in their first year, or they will be shut down thinking they can not learn.
Students who have a respect and passion for this art they will continue to build on what they know and seek out new knowledge, whether it be returning to your class or looking for private lessons. While students are in your class, providing them performance opportunities, master classes, concert attendances, etc. Helping students understand the music and where it comes from can also build this passion. I think brief interesting history facts are one of the best tools to spark interest as well as help students interpret how to play the music.

"2) Briefly describe your approach for recruiting students into your program. What selling points would you use to encourage students (and parents) to join now while they have the chance?"
For parents I would show them the educational opportunity that my music program will provide their student. If the parent is engaged and know that it will help their student they will "bother" their student to be in the music program. With students I would show them the fun opportunities that being in a music program will provide them.
Parents want their students to learn as much as possible so that they will be successful in life. I don't think that telling parents the "music has been proven to improve students abilities in other subjects, allows them to think out side the box, etc" Is good enough to convince them. But saying that this will build on communication skills, Independence, as well as provide them amazing performance opportunities (such as state tours/festivals, and international tours)
For students advertising performance opportunities, and tours are impressive to students. Whitefish the band travels to music festivals in Seattle and Vancouver, Bozeman high school has tours to Germany. especially in small school states such as Montana opportunities that are in big city's and out of the country are very appealing to them because they haven't experienced much of the world.

"My Core Values"

As human beings we all have "core values", which are a set of internal protocols that direct our daily choices in life, both professional and personal.
Why as teachers will we have to be able to "clearly define" core values as a teacher? The main reason I think is because during the job interview you most likely be asked what are core values and what are you own core values. Core values are handy in assessing people for "the job", which is applicable to any job field, not just education. Being able to define core values and what yours are, shows you are prepared, and have though about this. The second reason why it is important to be able to define what a core value is, is for your on personal evaluation and decision making. For example, "All children have the capacity to learn", some teachers have the idea that silence is key, lecture based. Some other teachers have the Idea that discussion should lead the class room, recitation/lab based. Neither of the previous two ideas are incorrect, and the two thoughts can be broken down even more. For silence, does complete silence work? no one asks questions, no conversation, just 100% talking from the instructor? Mostly likely not. Same for the discussion Idea, does constant talking and interruption get what you want from the students to learn? Should students be able to create off topic tangents from the original subject matter? the answer is the same. Being able to describe specifically a core value and the tiers within help the teacher be able to describe their assessment process.

"The class room is a place of safety, freedom of expression, where a child can discover and learn without fear of ridicule." If a student is uncomfortable in any way this will will distract them from learning. As teachers we need to be constantly on our toes to observe the class room to make sure all students are behaving and not acting to make others uncomfortable. one element of that which I believe is overlooked a lot is instructors them selves need to be aware of what they say and their actions, they are the focus of attention small things the teacher may do can have a large impact on students.

"Every child has the right and capacity to learn." This core value is what prepares instructors to have modifications and alternate plans for students. Taking this core value in the literal term students with mental disability a lot of the time are set to the side while the other student learn, when all that one student needed was a slightly different way to learn that material (being audio, visual, sensory)that student would have been able to learn that material. In modern schools students with mental disability's are starting to do learning with in the class room which is great! When I lived in Spokane mentally disabled students were put in one class room with one teacher, and that was it.

"Integrity paired with consistancy, do whats right doesn't matter if someone is or is not watching." This core value is also a moral value to me, always do the right thing because it will never come back to bite you. Just because someone isn't watching doesn't mean you have can do the "wrong things". My logic is someone is always watching, whether it be administration or students, words and actions can spread to the administrative level. Consistency ties in with integrity, as an instructor you must be consistent. Because one student is the better performer doesn't mean they should be able to get away with something that your worst player doesn't get away with. In addition, if you are inconsistent this give students the ability to easily walk all over you.

"We are not out to train the next gereation of professionalism." Though I wish to not agree with this core value, I do believe it. Public schooling is general education, it gives them the basics of life skills to be successful. When I teach music in the public schools I want students to build communication skills, people skills, determination, self-evaluation, etc. Not be able to play the Haydn Cello concerto in D. We need to give them the basic skill to problem solve their future skills.

"Music teachers are teachers before they are musicians." This is an important value because some teachers and pre-service teacher I know have the approach to music education that being a virtuoso and showing students you are will teach them. I have had really smart instructors who are horrible teachers, and great instructors who don't know that much, but have the ability to find out. the latter of the two instructors I believe are the ones who are most effective in education because what they teach sticks in students heads as well as give students the skills to find answers on their own, but still with guidance from the instructor.

"Be proud to celebrate you accomplishments as a teacher and ensemble." This is one core value I actually hope to improve with my self. I am very self critical and a perfectionist. I do a lot better when it evaluation of other people, but I could do better still. Being able to celebrate achievements is what makes students feel successful and build that thirst for knowledge, if you don't celebrate often enough students shut down to that material and think they are incapable of learning that subject.