Paid on Student Performance

I don't believe that teachers salary should be based on student performance. Student levels change between classes and that should not be the sole evaluation process for the effectiveness of a teacher. I think that teachers could get a bonus for high student performance- if it's just the class then everyone will get a bonus at some point. But, if it is really that the teacher has gone above and beyond they should be rewarded.

An effective teacher changes their teaching strategies to benefit the need of their students. The teacher should also provided multiple ways to evaluate their students knowledge. They make their classroom as successful as possible. This includes having a fair, supportive environment that student feel comfortable in doing their best in. The teacher expects a lot from their students and give them high goals to achieve.

Teachers Unions and Tenure

There are good and bad sides of both teachers unions and tenure.
Teachers Unions help negotiate contracts, ensure that qualified teachers get hired, and protect teachers if they get sued. The negative side of the protection is that it will protect any teacher in the union no matter if they're good or not. This is hard to determine what we should do about that- is there an easy way to fix it? Teachers Union seem to have more positives then negatives.

Tenure on the other hand, I believe, she be harder or the process longer to get. I'm all for having job security but, there are too many bad teachers getting tenured and then being able to teach for many years as a bad teacher. If we would extend the time frame from 3 years to 5-10 it would help to make sure teachers are good at what they do.

Balancing Extra Curricular's with classroom expectations

Our society is very sport driven- do I agree, no. I think sports are great for kids and that you should try all types... but with such seriousness? What happened to children PLAYING. Our expectations should be the highest possible for our students. We need to engage them in the classroom and teach in ways that will do them the most good. Elementary classrooms shouldn't have much homework. When i was that age I didn't even think about it until 5th or 6th grade and then it was minimal. Give the students work time and its there choice whether to do it at the given time or having to do it at home. The only "homework" that I think should be assigned is reading for enjoyment at home. So, our expectations should be for the student to be engaged in the classroom and working hard. If they fail to do that, then they will have to do it on their own time, cutting into their extra curricular activities.

When to introduce instruments

When to introduce the recorder, rhythm sticks, finger cymbals, and the kazoo. 


Instrument introduction really depends on the class and making sure that your students are developmentally ready to play them. Some of these instruments are defiantly easier to play than others and can be introduced first and progress to other instruments that need more fine motor skills to be played. 
 I would introduce the gross motor skills instruments first like the kazoo and rhythm sticks; xylophone shortly after. I would then introduce the recorder and the finger cymbals later because require more fine motor skills.
The rhythm sticks are probably the easiest for the students to use. I believe that kindergarten or 1st grade would be appropriate depending on students and behaviors. The kazoo is a fairly simple instrument that I would introduce about the first grade.  The xylophone i would introduce about first or second grade because it does take the students listening skills to hear the different pitches among the different keys on the xylophone.  The finger cymbals can be introduced about second or third grade. These are pretty small and have to be played correctly so I think their motor skills need to improve before using those.  Recorders about fourth grade; takes a lot of motor skills to be able to read music while places fingers on the correct holes for the corresponding notes. 

Carl Orff for the 21st Century Child

Carl Orff's philosophies seem perfect for the 21st century child because it gets the students engaged in what they're doing. The child is either singing, dancing, playing creatively; the students are engaged and learning at the same time. The students get to be creative- making up there own rhythms or adding dance to music.  Kids love to explore and they get to when they are able to be creative with instruments. They are improvising and having fun doing it. Teachers are needing more to engage students these days and Orff's philosophies get the student active and enjoying- therefore learning.

Sequential Learning and rote

Sequential Learning is making sure that you're setting up your students for success. By taking them through piece by piece and having them practice each step they are getting multiple times to practice before they have to do it on their own.

Teaching a student by rote:
1. Modeling( set the student up for success). Provide Examples
2. Use nonverbal gestures (pointing)
3. chunk it (lump smaller sections into one)
4. Student will then perform entire thing

EDU Philosophy in alignment with expectations

Standards and Expectations are set up to ensure that students are being taught the best way possible. They are ensuring that students are learning to their full potential. My educational philosophy is there to do just that- give the students the very best opportunity to succeed.
I talk about that students are not all the same and that they will need varying opportunities of learning so everyone can get the chance to succeed.
I also talk about content being relevant to student lives. I feel strongly about this because this is something that greatly helps in my learning. The thought process of chunking (linking new information to something already learned) has been proven to increase the retention of the new information. That makes sense then to always relate the information back to some previous knowledge.
My last belief was that people learn better in a fun, safe environment. If the student feels accepted they will be more likely to participate and enjoy themselves. A happy classroom promotes the learning of students and their engagement.
I believe that I hit on some huge students needs. These will ensure a better learning environment for them.

Music Therapy in Education

I think that we should try anything that will help our students. Music Therapy wouldn't be my first resource because you have to have someone trained and certified in that field to do it. But, the progress they made with M gives hope that it may be the key to helping other children too.
In the area of reading/literacy we read the book like a song. The students may be more engaged because they are participating and also continually needing to remember what they've read since we must repeat it in the song. You could sing books and create actions with words to get students to work on their reading and listening skills.
Music Therapy can be huge for social skills. The students can communicate through songs. Singing through puppets, creating a social signing game.
Teachers can sing to mark transitions or sing about the behavior students are to be doing. This cues the student to be doing the right thing.

Special Education and Differentiated Learners

I did some observation in a Special Education classroom. I saw some good things and also things that I would  definitaly change if it were my classroom. I like that the groups that came into Special Education rooms were smaller to provide more one on one help. Students were learning their concepts as their peers but at a much slower pace. I thought that these students were able to do more. The would spend three or more days on the same concept but may only have assessment over what they learned once. These students were capable of so much more, I felt that the teacher was "taking it easy." When it came to study hall thought the teacher pushed the students to get their work done and made sure they were on task, often helping to prevent discouragement.
I have not been able to see students with more severe disabilties in the classroom and that affects my perceptions.
I think that special education classrooms can be helpful but I think as homeroom teachers we need to try for inclusion in our own classroom as much as possible. They are benefits for the child to stay included in the homeroom as much as possible. Do not take sending the student as an easy way out, try first before referring that student.

Meeting the needs of differentiated learners has to start with the teachers observing her students and taking notes on how they best learn. You can implement different learning strategies and observe your students at work. Not all students learn the same and using different teaching strategies will help you meet their needs. Providing different instruction, different ways of assessment, and also providing students choices so they can make their decision.

Compare and Contrast

Compare and Contrast Bloom's Taxonomy with the Nine National Standards of Music Education.

Singing alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music- knowledge

Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied rep. of music-application

3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments- comprehension and application

4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines- application

5. Reading and notating music-comprehension

6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.-analysis

7. Evaluating music and musical performances-evaluation

9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture-synthesis

8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts- synthesis

National Standards of Music are specifically stated goals that they want each student to achieve. Blooms taxonomy is the different levels of thinking- knowledge through evaluation. Deeper thinking processes are often hard to achieve. 

Terms

Cognitive learning is about enabling people to learn by using their reason, intuition and perception.



Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject




Eurhythmics teaches concepts of rhythm, structure, and musical expression using movement




Multiple Intelligence Theory. According to Howard Gardner, human beings have nine different kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world.




Rote learning is a learning technique which avoids understanding the inner complexities and inferences of the subject that is being learned and instead focuses on memorizing the material so that it can be recalled by the learner exactly the way it was read or heard.




Think pair share is a strategy for teachers to use to get your students to answer the questions with more confidence. Teacher poses a question and the students think, then pair up and share their answer to help make sure the answer is right if the teacher calls upon your group.




Checking for students' understanding of important ideas and concepts helps instructors gauge what students are getting and what they need to work on more. It also provides useful feedback to help you plan ways to better meet your students' needs. This is usually done by students answering questions to give you feedback of their knowledge learned- not yes or no.

Professional Development for Teachers

The implementation and success of the National Standards for Arts Education will rest largely on the success of professional development for teachers seeking to implement them. 

I think that all teachers need to continue to improve themselves and stay up to date by taking part in workshops. Teachers can take classes to broaden their horizons to learn how to teach about art education and be success at it. This is a part of being a teacher, it is crucial that you keep learning. If teachers need to know how to teach the arts there will be a class or at the very least a good book out there that will help you accomplish the National Standards. Professional Development of a teacher is the line between being a great teacher and just being a teacher. 

Music Standards

National Standards in Music Education

1. Singing alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied rep. of music

3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments

4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines

5. Reading and notating music

6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

7. Evaluating music and musical performances

8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts

9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture

Thoughts about Music in My Life and in the Classroom

1.  How do you use music in YOUR life?

I listen to music frequently, I like to have it in the background when I’m doing most things.

What musical activities and interests did you have as a child?

I played to piano from 4th-7th grade. I played the drums 5th-8th grade. 

1. Have you observed children at musical play?

I have seen some children play the piano and in band. 

1. Are there some musical skills you are able to teach to children more easily than others?

I can teach notes. 

1. What do you think that all children should be able to do, musically, as a result of a MUSICAL education?

I think that children should know basic music knowledge like notes, time signatures, and be able to tap beats. 

1. Have you ever observed a teacher integrating music into the classroom?  Cite examples.

I have seen teachers use rhythm and sounds to get the students attention. Songs to remember states. 

1. How do you think music can be integrated into the elementary classroom?

I think songs are helpful for remembering some things and also to provide a break in lecture and assignments. Songs can be found that deal with different subject areas that we can incorporate into our units. 

1. How do you think music can be used as an interdisciplinary tool in the elementary classroom?

Music can help when needed to rotate to a different subject, cleaning up, and remembering how to do certain tasks properly. Music with movement can help the students with their gross motor skills. You could also do musical stories in your classroom.