For one of our final presentations, we chose to use 4th grade curriculum and teach the students about the pioneers traveling west. The song we chose to incorporate was "The Farmer in the Dell". For the most part I felt that our presentation went smoothly. However, it being the week before field work I felt that it was quite obvious that all of our minds are a bit pre occupied.
That being said though I felt like the groups did a great job, especially the group that had their entire lesson plan re written for them while presenting I thought they handled the situation very well.
After seeing everybody's presentations it makes me excited to one day be able to incorporate music into my daily classroom, because I feel as though it can be extremely beneficial to students, and allows them to understand the information/curriculum in a fun and new way.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Teaching with Music
We have finally reached a unit that I would feel comfortable incorporating into my classroom. I think song is extremely beneficial to students and in some cases delivers the information and helps the students retain it better than if they had read it from a text book. I remember when I was in high school and I had to memorize the pre-amble to the Constitution for my U.S. Government class. Thank you to School House Rock I can still remember the pre-amble:).
Although I am not very creative at coming up with new words for songs, I am really excited for our presentation this week. In our classroom management class Anne Adamson suggests that one of the best ways to control the classroom is to teach the students new songs, that allow them to get up out of their seats and moving. She claims that this allows children to get a little break from their learning, and allows them to get some of their extra energy out.
Field starts in about a week, and hopefully I will get the opportunity to incorporate some of the units we had discussed this far in the semester especially song.
Although I am not very creative at coming up with new words for songs, I am really excited for our presentation this week. In our classroom management class Anne Adamson suggests that one of the best ways to control the classroom is to teach the students new songs, that allow them to get up out of their seats and moving. She claims that this allows children to get a little break from their learning, and allows them to get some of their extra energy out.
Field starts in about a week, and hopefully I will get the opportunity to incorporate some of the units we had discussed this far in the semester especially song.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Dance Presentations
As I mentioned in my previous post, dance is not something that I feel extremely comfortable with. However, after today's experience I have found a new love for dance that I never knew existed.
I really do feel that everybody did a great job with their presentations today, but the group that really caught my eye was the Tornado group. I loved the idea where they had us make a tornado it was original. For me as a visual learner, I know without a shadow of a doubt, this activity would have helped me to remember the three different parts of a tornado.
Something else that made me feel more confident in my dance is when at the end of class you told us about the male teacher who like myself did not feel comfortable in teaching his young students about dance. He began teaching his students dance by reading directly from a text book and telling rather than showing the students what they were supposed to be doing. Now after several years he is one of the main promoters for incorporating dance into the everyday curriculum. At this point in the lesson I had to smile and say to myself "There is hope for me."
I really do feel that everybody did a great job with their presentations today, but the group that really caught my eye was the Tornado group. I loved the idea where they had us make a tornado it was original. For me as a visual learner, I know without a shadow of a doubt, this activity would have helped me to remember the three different parts of a tornado.
Something else that made me feel more confident in my dance is when at the end of class you told us about the male teacher who like myself did not feel comfortable in teaching his young students about dance. He began teaching his students dance by reading directly from a text book and telling rather than showing the students what they were supposed to be doing. Now after several years he is one of the main promoters for incorporating dance into the everyday curriculum. At this point in the lesson I had to smile and say to myself "There is hope for me."
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Dancing
Growing up, my sisters and I would spend countless hours dancing around our house. This and my elementary school annual dance festival were the only forms of dance that I participated in growing up. Needless to say I am not very comfortable when I dance so this is one unit that I have been weary about.
However, in class on Thursday I thought that it was a fun idea to correlate the students emotions with the book "Where the Wild Things Are". I also liked the idea of reading students a book (in our case it was Water Dance by Thomas Locker) and allowing students to use props to imitate what was happening in the book. Although I did not feel entirely comfortable with this activity I know it is something that students would love to do. My favorite activity was the folk dance, and once we got the hang of it, it was fun to listen to the rhythm of the music so we could pick up on what was going to happen next.
Being able to correlate dance into the curriculum I can tell takes a very creative person. However, I think it would be well worth the effort and time because it is something that students would really enjoy.
However, in class on Thursday I thought that it was a fun idea to correlate the students emotions with the book "Where the Wild Things Are". I also liked the idea of reading students a book (in our case it was Water Dance by Thomas Locker) and allowing students to use props to imitate what was happening in the book. Although I did not feel entirely comfortable with this activity I know it is something that students would love to do. My favorite activity was the folk dance, and once we got the hang of it, it was fun to listen to the rhythm of the music so we could pick up on what was going to happen next.
Being able to correlate dance into the curriculum I can tell takes a very creative person. However, I think it would be well worth the effort and time because it is something that students would really enjoy.
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