There were 2 quotes from Chapter 12 that I really liked that I felt went really well in defining what music is.
"Music elements are so embedded in language that it would be hard t even talk" (pg 306).
"Music is used to grapple with powerful feelings and attempts to understand relationships with thers. A vast range of music pieces and songs are available to reflect our deepest emotions from love to despair" (pg 307).
Music is a big element that is all around us. And it is important to have it in elementary schools because it can be used as a great teaching tool. As a teacher we can use music to integrate curriculum and as the children sing the song it tends to stick with them more. Like in the text is states, "...using music as a teaching tool can cause students to get deep into difficult subject matter" (pg 303).
My goal as a teacher to help children appreciate music and have them realize the importance it can play in their lives. I know that I liked music in elementary school, but I didn't appreciate it to the fullest. I just viewed it as a way to get out of the teacher lecturing and more of a fun activity. But if I can have my students realize what a role it can play in future learning then the better off they could be in remembering the information. I know that I don't want to force it on them and say they have to do it, because from experience, no child likes to be forced into things. For example, I played the piano for 8 years, but didn't really enjoy it because I was forced to practice and started to rebel a bit....but now I enjoy playing and can sit down and just play for fun. So I want to be able to make music fun for students.
To help integrate it I hope to collect songs that kids will find fun to learn. I know there are several books out there that are written for these types of projects. I can increase my knowledge about music and ways to teach it effectively (i.e. teaching students things like the different types of notes; whole, quarter, half, eighths).
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Reflection # 7 -- Dance and Movement Seed Strategies
A lot of people when they think of dance as movement like Jazz, Ballet, Tap etc. But with creative movement/dance the children don't really have to worry about set choreography and just be themselves while representing a movement. It is really fun to watch kids express themselves and how they move and retain the info about what they are learning through movement.
In my childhood I took several years of dance and I loved it, and I always wanted to choreograph my own music, so I would go home and just make up my own dance with different steps each time. So now as I look back at it I would be moving creatively and didn't even realize it. Then in my freshman year at UVU I took a creative movement class from Becky Ellis and loved it. So it is definitely something I want to integrate into my classroom because it is important for kids to be able to move....and the fact that as a teacher, we can turn it into a lesson is even better.
In class it was fun to do the presentation and watch other groups. All the books were so different and unique, and it was really fun (except for the fact that we had to keep getting up and down, up and down so often). I hope to show the importance of movement to my students and get them excited for lessons like that.
I will prepare by looking over lesson plans that have been made for movement and look at books that have potential for movement and make up plans that I can use.
In my childhood I took several years of dance and I loved it, and I always wanted to choreograph my own music, so I would go home and just make up my own dance with different steps each time. So now as I look back at it I would be moving creatively and didn't even realize it. Then in my freshman year at UVU I took a creative movement class from Becky Ellis and loved it. So it is definitely something I want to integrate into my classroom because it is important for kids to be able to move....and the fact that as a teacher, we can turn it into a lesson is even better.
In class it was fun to do the presentation and watch other groups. All the books were so different and unique, and it was really fun (except for the fact that we had to keep getting up and down, up and down so often). I hope to show the importance of movement to my students and get them excited for lessons like that.
I will prepare by looking over lesson plans that have been made for movement and look at books that have potential for movement and make up plans that I can use.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Reflection #6 -- Integrating Dance in the Curriculum
I took a creative movement class for elementary students my first semester in college and absolutely loved it. I had taken dance classes before, but being able to see a different side of things and seeing that children can learn and retain the information by moving about was incredible. It is definitely something that I want to try and integrate into my classroom.
In the reading, I liked reading all the different types of activities that were suggested for all types of curriculum and to help children feel more comfortable.
It is important to have children's dance/creative movement because it allows the children to experess themselves through movement without having any set choreography. It allows them to excercise and have fun without perhaps realizing that they are doing more things at once (dancing, excercising and learning).
I am not sure if I have really gained any philosophical knowledge about this week so far, but as for pratical knowledge there were a few points; like I mentioned above about expressing themselves and excercising. Children love to move and we should encourage it, not inhibit it.
Next week in class we are to present our own creative movement lesson for the upper grades. And the suggested topic is to try and find a social studies book to create our lesson. By doing this we can see what it takes to come up with a lesson to have children learn about history etc. As for field, if we get lucky and pick a topic that the field classroom is learning at that particular time then we are set and can try it, but if not, at least we will have some ideas and could shape another lesson around the topic they are currently learning.
I would need to be able to understand the importance of movement (which I believe I have already) in order to bring movement like this into the classroom. The movement and how in depth the teacher goes is based on the class and what the teacher feels they are prepared for. So I will need to work on how to be able to judge that.
In the reading, I liked reading all the different types of activities that were suggested for all types of curriculum and to help children feel more comfortable.
It is important to have children's dance/creative movement because it allows the children to experess themselves through movement without having any set choreography. It allows them to excercise and have fun without perhaps realizing that they are doing more things at once (dancing, excercising and learning).
I am not sure if I have really gained any philosophical knowledge about this week so far, but as for pratical knowledge there were a few points; like I mentioned above about expressing themselves and excercising. Children love to move and we should encourage it, not inhibit it.
Next week in class we are to present our own creative movement lesson for the upper grades. And the suggested topic is to try and find a social studies book to create our lesson. By doing this we can see what it takes to come up with a lesson to have children learn about history etc. As for field, if we get lucky and pick a topic that the field classroom is learning at that particular time then we are set and can try it, but if not, at least we will have some ideas and could shape another lesson around the topic they are currently learning.
I would need to be able to understand the importance of movement (which I believe I have already) in order to bring movement like this into the classroom. The movement and how in depth the teacher goes is based on the class and what the teacher feels they are prepared for. So I will need to work on how to be able to judge that.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Reflection # 5 -- Drama & Storytelling Seeds
There are so many ways out there that children/students can express themselves and enjoy the art of drama and storytelling. I was amazed as I was reading at the ideas that it gave and made me think that if I (a person who never felt comfortable acting and such could do it) then I would want to try to implement that in my future classroom.
The presentations were really fun to listen to and participate in. I really liked the books that were chosen. But as I looked over the EDEL 4540 site and read over other sections ideas, that it was interesting that so much could be done with books. I had heard of some of these books before but never imagined putting these kinds of activities to them.
When I do begin to implement things in my classroom I would want to start out slow and get the children used to doing things like this. I would start up with a warm-up or two and gradually move onto more active activities and ones that make them thing on a deeper level and help them to understand what points the author was trying to convey. I really liked how our textbook had a section about "Connecting Drama to Curricular Activities" and had ideas for core focuses like social studies, literacy, math and science.
This is definitely a topic that makes me re-think my feelings about drama and the importance it plays in the classroom. I will definitely study some more about it and read up on different activities that I would want to use in my classroom. I believe that as I read children's books that I will get ideas in my head that would make me think, "I could do such and such an activity for this book." The future holds many possibilities.
The presentations were really fun to listen to and participate in. I really liked the books that were chosen. But as I looked over the EDEL 4540 site and read over other sections ideas, that it was interesting that so much could be done with books. I had heard of some of these books before but never imagined putting these kinds of activities to them.
When I do begin to implement things in my classroom I would want to start out slow and get the children used to doing things like this. I would start up with a warm-up or two and gradually move onto more active activities and ones that make them thing on a deeper level and help them to understand what points the author was trying to convey. I really liked how our textbook had a section about "Connecting Drama to Curricular Activities" and had ideas for core focuses like social studies, literacy, math and science.
This is definitely a topic that makes me re-think my feelings about drama and the importance it plays in the classroom. I will definitely study some more about it and read up on different activities that I would want to use in my classroom. I believe that as I read children's books that I will get ideas in my head that would make me think, "I could do such and such an activity for this book." The future holds many possibilities.
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