The candidate understands how to engage learners through interdisciplinary lessons that utilize concept based teaching and authentic learning experiences to engage students in effective communication, collaboration, outside resources, reading, technology, and in critical and creative thinking.
Music is such a broad topic the spills over into every aspect of our culture. Music influences so much of life and cannot be simply contained to the music classroom. As music teachers, it is our job to teach students the skills of effective communication, collaboration, using outside resources, proper reading skills, proper technology skills, and the ability to critically think about creative products.
I have always strived to be a well rounded individual. I think that is crucial for all people as world members. As music teachers, we are called to be ambassadors of music and how it impacts the world and other cultures. I am fascinated by how music can help with so many other subjects. Music can help students remember facts in history, it can be used to create rhymes for poetry in english, and even to promote ways of learning in math. School becomes much more fascinating when students begin to realize how everything relates.
With second grade students, I was able to tie in the interdisciplinary lesson of using history to explain music about the Berimbau of Brazil that we were learning about. We discussed its Angolan roots and how it came to the Americas through the slave trade along side with using technology (YouTube) to discover how the instrument sounds (Reference artifact #1, 2nd Grade Berimbau Lesson). I was further able to tie history and technology use to promote learning in a lesson over the American folk tune "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" to 7th grade students (Reference artifact #3, 7th Grade Poor Wayfaring Stranger Lesson).
One of my favorite activities in the music classroom is using technology and collaboration to create new music. Unfortunately, in my student teaching, I was never with a class where I got to exercise the particular lesson I have in my artifact, but this is one that I know how to do in order to tie these concepts of collaboration and technology together in a way to enhance effective communication, using resources, and utilizing problem solving skills (Reference artifact #2, Christmas Cover Band Project).
Learning about music is much more significant when we can relate it to other subjects and aspects of life that our students engage with. The significance is furthermore enhanced when we make it personal for our students and give them a chance to create their own material using the concepts they have learned and mastered. In my classes currently and in the future, I will always strive to bring interdisciplinary and authentic learning experiences that not only enhance my students musical understanding, but their global and broader knowledge.
I have always strived to be a well rounded individual. I think that is crucial for all people as world members. As music teachers, we are called to be ambassadors of music and how it impacts the world and other cultures. I am fascinated by how music can help with so many other subjects. Music can help students remember facts in history, it can be used to create rhymes for poetry in english, and even to promote ways of learning in math. School becomes much more fascinating when students begin to realize how everything relates.
With second grade students, I was able to tie in the interdisciplinary lesson of using history to explain music about the Berimbau of Brazil that we were learning about. We discussed its Angolan roots and how it came to the Americas through the slave trade along side with using technology (YouTube) to discover how the instrument sounds (Reference artifact #1, 2nd Grade Berimbau Lesson). I was further able to tie history and technology use to promote learning in a lesson over the American folk tune "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" to 7th grade students (Reference artifact #3, 7th Grade Poor Wayfaring Stranger Lesson).
One of my favorite activities in the music classroom is using technology and collaboration to create new music. Unfortunately, in my student teaching, I was never with a class where I got to exercise the particular lesson I have in my artifact, but this is one that I know how to do in order to tie these concepts of collaboration and technology together in a way to enhance effective communication, using resources, and utilizing problem solving skills (Reference artifact #2, Christmas Cover Band Project).
Learning about music is much more significant when we can relate it to other subjects and aspects of life that our students engage with. The significance is furthermore enhanced when we make it personal for our students and give them a chance to create their own material using the concepts they have learned and mastered. In my classes currently and in the future, I will always strive to bring interdisciplinary and authentic learning experiences that not only enhance my students musical understanding, but their global and broader knowledge.