Week 4

PART I: Clements & Klinger 1.7 and 1.8

1. How does the teacher establish behavior expectations at the beginning of the class period?

At this point in the semester, the kids have an established routine where they come in and pick up their chorus journals and a pencil and sit down in their seats to watch an opening video and take notes on it. In this particular class (6th grade chorus), there was a new student and so the teacher gave verbal instructions to the new student after introducing herself, explaining the questions that students should answer in their journals. The other kids needed a reminder at the beginning of class that we are quiet while we watch the video and sharing our observations only in our journals first, before we share out.

2. How does the teacher establish a positive instructional learning environment?

While trickling in, the students often informally share details of their day as they’re coming in. In this particular class, one of the students had just turned 12 over the weekend so the class sang to her together, which set up the class in a positive mood. In general, the teacher also welcomes the students’ input and opinions in many ways throughout by asking students to give verbal input, or to suggest repertoire, or to decide which parts they want to sing (high/low), or even to direct and conduct the ensemble. This helps establish a positive instructional learning environment because the students are made aware that their contributions are seen and valued, so they are more willing to contribute.

3. What details does the teacher manage at the beginning of a class period or when implementing class transitions?

In general, the teacher gives gentle verbal reminders about established routines if necessary (i.e. we are quiet when we watch the video). They are all getting used to the general flow of the class, which is usually a video, followed by short discussion, followed by sight-reading, followed by warm up, followed by repertoire. In this class, she said, “6th grade, are we ready? Show me you’re ready by facing forward and getting your pencils ready to write in your journal, and by closing your mouths.”

4. What positive/negative reinforcements are used during class?

A few examples include: when a student volunteers to sight-read alone instead of with the group, the students are verbally commended for their bravery. When the student successfully (or almost successfully) sight reads, the students are verbally commended for their success and are given any other feedback if there are parts they messed up. When a student speaks over someone else, the student is verbally reminded to raise their hand if they would like to speak and redirected to that behavior before they can speak to the class. The teacher provides positive verbal feedback to individuals or the group especially when they perform at a high level (i.e. “I love the way you are matching your voices in the group” or “Emily, you have a really great ear for those harmony parts”). So, reinforcements are mostly verbal.

5. Do students appear to understand the consequences for inappropriate behavior?

The students do appear to understand the consequences, which for most classes are not grave because the students are generally well-behaved.

6. What verbal classroom control techniques does the teacher use?

The teacher uses a lot of reminders when students are distracted, like “Remember, we are quiet while the video is playing” or “Please remember to raise your hand when you want to share something.”

7. What non-verbal classroom control techniques does the teacher use?

The teacher uses proximity to help redirect students who are distracted, like walking over to or sitting next to a student who might need a reminder to be singing instead of whispering to a friend.

8. How are the classroom rules defined and adhered to during large and small group activities?

The classroom rules are generally defined by the teacher and are centered around being respectful and listening to everyone, and participating in the singing. As the class is a small class (9 kids), they work together in one group for the whole class time. Sometimes certain students in the 6th grade class need a break because of certain attention or social difficulties, so the teacher bends the rules for those students when necessary by allowing them to sit away from the group or to take a break from singing.

9. How does the teacher bring closure to the class period?

Near the end of class, she lets the students when there is one minute left, and after they sing the last section, she says, “And it’s time for you to go to lunch! Thank you for your contributions today.”

 

1. How do students enter the room?
   1. Are they energetic, enthusiastic, lethargic?
   2. How do you think they feel about coming to this class?

The students come in with a lot of energy and chatter, and it seems like they are very excited to be in chorus class. They come in sharing about their days (i.e. it was Brooke’s birthday, or talking about their other classes) and they also often come in asking “Are we going to sing Dancing Queen today??”

2. Do they know the routine for entering the classroom, such as finding their seats, getting out instruments or music/texts?

Most students remember to pick up their journals, but usually the same one or two students in 6th grade need a reminder to do so. They can choose their own seats, but they tend to stick to the same routine of who they like to sit next to.

3. What kinds of attitudes do you observe? Are they respectful of one another and the teacher?

This class in particular is very respectful of each other and do their best to help each other out if they sense that a classmate is off pitch or off task. They are respectful of the teacher and follow directions without needing much redirection.

4. Do students appear to feel comfortable asking questions during class time? Explain your answer.

In general, the students do feel comfortable asking questions during class time, especially if they forget how a certain part goes. They have no qualms about asking me to re-sing or re-play a part for them if they forgot their notes. They also are always curious about what we will perform and when, and like to recommend songs, so the teacher has them save some of those questions for the end of class so she can keep them focused on their learning.

5. How do the answers to questions 1–4 influence the climate of the room?

The climate of the room is generally positive and allows for the students to be curious and to work well as a team. They seem to feel comfortable bringing their whole selves into the chorus room.

6. Are teacher expectations for student behavior, participation, and progress obvious to all? If so, how are they communicated?

Teacher expectations seem clear to the students, as the students generally can follow directions with some modifications if necessary. The expectations are usually communicated verbally, such as, “Now let’s just have the low part sing your part together,” or, “Hopefully soon we will have a few songs learned that we can pick from and perform at a town meeting.”

7. Are students accountable for their own behavior and learning? If so, how is this demonstrated?

I don’t know exactly what this question is asking, but the students know that they are working toward a better understanding of their singing voices and are working on singing in harmony. They also know that they are working toward performances, which is something that keeps them accountable to learning their parts.

8. Is assessment teacher or student driven, or is it a combination of both?

As far as I can tell, it is both. Students decide when they are ready for informal assessments of their sight-reading skills by choosing to try it alone. The teacher does a lot of informal assessment of whether students have learned their parts by having them try it without the piano accompaniment or by having students sing in smaller groups or even pairs.

9. Does the teacher “praise” the students and their work? If so, how?

Yes, the teacher gives some broad feedback to the group about the excellence of their sound, and gives some specific feedback to individuals when a particular student does something really well.

10. Describe the pace of the lesson. Fast, moderate, or slow?

Moderate.

11. How do the answers to questions 6–10 influence the climate of the room? 

As the school is not focused on assessment or product, it makes for a very relaxed climate of learning in the room; it feels like there is time to work on everything at a pace that matches the students’ abilities.

PART II: Reflection

This week I found myself thinking a lot about the culture of my school, as it presented itself in different ways in my classroom, and this has less to do with my actual teaching but is important for how I know and understand my students. Many of the students at this school come from highly privileged backgrounds and families, and that in itself is interesting as it interacts with a progressive ed environment. When a child is used to getting what they want at home, and then at school they are told over and over how much their voices matter – which they do! – I feel like sometimes they can miss other crucial parts of learning, like how to listen deeply to their peers or how to care about OTHER voices and not just their own. I see a lot of entitlement in my vocal workshops class in high school, in the ways they speak to me about how I should run the class, or in the ways they choose not to take certain things seriously. So, I’m thinking a lot about what my response to that is, or should be. (I am working closely with Collin at an after school program at a charter school, where the kids have NO singing classes at all in their school and so they stay after school so they can sing from 5:15-6:15 two nights a week in a crowded room with no air conditioning…and going from that back to school is sometimes disorienting.) I feel like this entitlement and privilege definitely affects the learning process, because the students are deciding what they think is important to learn and aren’t necessarily interested in anything beyond that. I’d like to work on motivating those students in particular to stretch themselves and challenge themselves, and I wonder if that might require having a candid conversation about privilege with that particular group.

I’m also seeing the effects of privilege in the middle school. A small population of students at the school are on financial aid, and I am noticing how difficult it is for those students to cope with those huge gaps in wealth. In 8th grade chorus yesterday, we were doing our opening activities (video, discussion, and sight-reading), and I could tell the 5 of them were all totally off and were having extra trouble focusing. One student asked, “Wait, can we just talk for a little bit?” so I said sure, and we sat together in a little circle on the floor and most of the students shared some of the events of the past few days that had been affecting them. There was some of the usual boy drama that comes in middle school, but then one student, Theo, shared about the student government elections, for which they had just received the results the class before. She was explaining that she lost to another student, and she wasn’t necessarily angry with that other student, but she knew that the other student’s family had so much more money than hers, and that it just seems like she always gets everything even when Theo works just as hard and puts so much effort in. It was an important moment to establish a “safe space” (the students’ words!) to share in our small class, even though we didn’t end up doing much singing that day. And now I am thinking about how we can tie that conversation into our musical and creative practices – like, could we compose some lyrics about those feelings, or could we write about what it feels like to have a safe space to share? That could easily tie into musical elements like major/minor, melody, phrases, etc. Anyway – I would just like them to know that really, that’s why these creative spaces are important; they are places to (hopefully safely) process the things of the world that feel wrong, and to find solidarity with other people through the music you share.

In general, this week was a good reminder that teaching really is all about relationships, and I hope to hold onto that in other classes like 7th grade that currently feel more anonymous or detached just because they are so much bigger.