Ayala 1 Yensi Ayala Ms.

Devaney Senior Capstone, Period 6 5 February 2013 Music Therapy for the Mind Proposal I. Introduction Ever since my freshman year I have always had a big interest in playing guitar. To me the sound of guitar is calming and very beautiful. I have always wanted to have a guitar class for me to learn how to play a guitar and maybe one day actually be in a band and make music since I have always loved music. Though I didnt get into the guitar class until my junior year, I learned the basics like the main notes and most chords that are known and played in the guitar. Once I learned to play some songs from my favorite bands or artists I started to get into singing a little. I have never gotten into singing that much, since I believe I dont have the right voice or the skill to do so. My initial argument is that kids involved in music has a positive effect on their academics. Since I am really interested in music as well as my partner we are going to create an event that will involve elementary kids playing instruments. We are going to make an experiment and see if kids that get involved with music will do better in school. According to kidshealth.org, kids that play music or sing regularly do better in math and science because music helps them build reasoning and cognitive which math and science uses both. The way that my partner and I will do the Capstone is first we will talk to the administrators in the office if they will allow us into doing our project. Second, we will talk to the principal of Neff Elementary School if he will allow us to teach kids of Neff Elementary an instrument. Third, we will gather high school students to participate in helping us teach elementary kids to play an instrument. Fourth we will gather information from the elementary kids from day 1 (report cards grades). Fifth we will do music lessons after school based in everyones schedules. 6th we will gather kids report cards during the month of March and gather the results on the end of March. What my partner and I will be concentrating is in the kids grades in math and science and see the results if music has a positive effect in kids academically in math and science. Our biggest challenge would probably be is getting the Principal at Neff Elementary approve of our Capstone project, if that is not done we will not be able to start on our capstone project at all. Our second challenge would be getting a group of elementary kids to stay after school, we will be sending permission slips to parents in allowing us into working with their child and letting them know about our project and what we will be

Ayala 2 doing. Time management would be another major challenge for my partner and I since my partner is currently attending Genisys Works (Paid internship). She leaves school every day at 12:30 and gets out at 5 or 6 PM depending if her bosses want her staying late. As for me I have started working at Wings and More but my schedule can be flexible except days when the restaurant gets busy like Tuesdays. We are still discussing about our schedule but for now we are mainly concentrating in getting the Capstone approved and also trying to work with the music teacher in Neff Elementary and from our school. In my capstone project I will develop responsibility with deadlines and being ready with everything that will be dealing with my capstone project. I will create my own deadlines to make sure everything is done in time and not have late work. I will learn in how to interact with younger students and to also communicate with other people professionally. These are the major skills that I will gain in my Capstone project in order for the project to succed.

II.

Learning Objectives
A. To learn more how kids can be affected academically when they are involved in

music.
B. To gather high school kids that know how to play any kind of instruments and help

us teach kids how to play the instrument. To gather elementary kids and their school grade in math and science. To give kids a quiz or test (math and science) To let the high school students teach kids how to play the instruments To give elementary kids another quiz during the month and see the progress of their math and science learning. G. To measure the results how music actually affects a kid academically.
C. D. E. F.

III.

Activities and Timeline Research and Writing Activity We will do research on how music affects kids academically We will write a proposal For Music Therapy for the mind Capstone We will have a sponsor meeting on We will turn in the proposal draft We will do corrections in proposal We will send the proposal to sponsor We will turn in the final proposal Research paper outline/ draft/ revise/ edit final Timeline January 10 February 4- 15 February 6 February 11 February 12 February 13 Before or at February 15 March 1st-

Ayala 3 Learning Experience Activity We will have the administrators and principle know what our capstone will be doing. We will talk to Principal from Neff elementary know what our capstone will be about and what will be our purpose. We will gather students that know how to play an instrument and talk more with the music teacher in Neff Elementary. We will make Schedules in what time and what days will be staying after school for the event. We will gather grades of math and science subject from the elementary students. We will make elementary kids do a math and science quizzes during the month of march to see their progress. Defensive learning presentation

Timeline February 18 February 20 February 22 February 23 February 27 March 1- March 31 Sometime in the month of May

IV.

Form My capstone will have 3 forms; my proposal will be having citations with cited work, the grades that show improvement in kids academics and Present my final presentation Defensive learning.

V.

Preparations A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. Capstone Binder Flash Drive Camera Instruments Math and science quizzes Have access to Microsoft Word Create a blog Keep track in the progress elementary kids are doing in math and science. I. Get Principal from Neff elementary approve of our capstone project J. Take videos and pictures during the month of March. My first step in launching my Capstone will be getting the Principal of Neff Elementary school to approve our capstone. From there we will start announcing about our Capstone through the announcements to gather high school students into participating in helping teaching elementary kids how to play an instrument. After that we will gather grades from the elementary kids participating in our capstone project. We will give a quiz to the elementary kids to see how far they are in math and science. Finally we will do the same thing during the month of march and see the progress kids make in their quizzes/ grades.

Ayala 4 Work Cited

"KidsHealth." Music and Your School-age Child. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. <http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/learning/schoolage_music.html>. Dewar, Gwen. "Music and Intelligence: A Guide for the Science-minded Parent." Music and Intelligence. N.p., 2008. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. <http://www.parentingscience.com/music-and-intelligence.html>. Peters, Zrinka. "How Music Can Help Your Child Learn." Education.com. N.p., 2006. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. <http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Can_Music_Help_Learn/>. "The Effects of Music On The Brain." Squidoo. N.p., 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. <http://www.squidoo.com/the-effects-of-music>. Smith, Ariana. "Can Playing Music Make Your Child Smarter?" Education.com. N.p., 2006. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http://www.education.com/magazine/article/playing-musicimprove-academics/>.