Abby Mason

MUED 310
Journal Entry #1
I went into my practicum for the first time last week and I think my overall feeling was

one of confusion and also of understanding. I forget that in elementary music, the teacher

doesn’t specialize in just instrumental, vocal, or general music, the teacher is doing all of it. In

some ways that’s cool, and in others it’s probably a burden. On the day that I went, neither of

the classes actually played or sang anything. The first class got a lecture on Duke Ellington and

then did a scavenger hunt based off the knowledge they had just gained. The second class each

did group research on a musical and then spent time sharing their findings with their

classmates. The second class did get to play games at the end that were all “teach a song”

games, but they already knew the songs. I would’ve thought the students would have sang

along better to the songs, but they seemed too interested in the games so it was primarily the

CT singing over the class. I feel like the idea that there was no discussion of theory or playing or

singing really to speak of really caught me off guard in my observation. I was driving back from

observation just thinking over everything I had just experienced. I feel like these ideas make me

a little more nervous to teach a lesson because I’m no longer limited. They say the more

freedom you’re given in a decision, the more limited you feel. That’s definitely how I feel

knowing that I’m not confined to just singing or playing. That being said though, I would like to

make sure the students are making music in my lesson in some way. On a brighter note, it’s

cool to see how elementary students really have no inhibitions. They will do pretty much

anything you ask of them. This is exciting because it won’t be like teaching high schoolers that

will give you a blank stare when you ask a question, they will actually want to respond.
Abby Mason
MUED 310
Journal Entry #2
The music classroom at Sherman Elementary has a very open plan. The middle of the

room is completely open with colored stars making a large rectangle on the floor. The students

sit on one of the stars when they come in and the different colors mean different things. For

example, the red stars are the teacher helpers. So every students has a different job. There are

various cabinets along the perimeter of the room. My CT is very Orff based so there are many

percussion instruments, xylophones, recorders, and a piano. There is a small area dedicated to

the class set of iPads. There is a white board, a projector, and computer. There is a pretty

advanced sound system that kind of caught me off guard because it’s so nice. There is a shelf

filled with games for when the students earn a game in class. I think the most interesting aspect

of the music room is My CT’s “quiet space.” This is where students are sent when they need a

break away from the class or away from the music. The area has a stool, many posters

explaining that it’s ok to need a break, and calming techniques.

I observed 5th and 4th grade when I went for my first observation. No one needed to be

sent to the quiet space. The computer and projector were used quite often for presentations in

these class periods. My CT also constantly has music playing over the sound system at a low

enough volume that the students can still hear directions. Although, I would say that this music

is sometimes a distraction and can make it difficult to hear other students presenting in soft

voices.
Abby Mason
Journal Entry #3
The fifth graders I observe first thing in the morning are a very divided class in general. I

see a different class almost every time I go, but I’ve noticed they all pretty much divide

themselves into girls and boys. All of the classes are basically equally split between girls and

boys and there are about twenty-five students in each. The fifth-grade class is much less

behaved than the fourth graders that I also observe. They tend to only want to make each other

laugh and they don’t respond to most classroom management strategies. The CT usually has to

go as far as to threaten taking away their recess before they pay attention. When the students

play games, they don’t usually sing along like they’re supposed to. There is one student who

always sings along with the CT and she is rewarded with a ticket. I’m not totally sure what the

tickets are for, but I’ve noticed the CT hands them out for good behavior. When the students

improvise on the Orff keyboards, they are actually quite talented and carefree. Some students

even end on do without knowing they are ending on do, but they know it sounds finished. Also

for the most part, the students like to solo their improvisations for the whole class to hear.

When it comes to recorder, some students are seriously lacking control of their air while others

understand the concept of overblowing and are working on their intonation. There is one

student in particular that is in the gifted and talented program so she tends to understand the

concepts a lot faster than the other students. This can sometimes be a problem because she

gets easily bored and then causes trouble. She can also tend to overstep and try to control

students around her that aren’t quite getting the concepts so she wants to help, but the other

students get frustrated with her because they don’t get to figure the concepts out on their own.
Abby Mason
Journal Entry #4
My CT always has her lessons completely planned out as there is no prep time between

classes. Sometimes, she has to put the schedule for the next class on the board while there is

still a class in the room because there isn’t going to be time between classes. Most lessons

somehow involve writing so she has her “teacher helpers” pass out pencils and boards to write

on. This helps get materials out quick while she gives instructions. The lessons usually start with

music playing in the background in the style of whatever the students are learning about. If

they’re doing their research paper, they sit and listen to the music while the research and type.

If they’re not doing their paper, the lesson plans are much more different and involved. My CT

will start a normal music day with a brief overview of what their day will consist of. They will

usually do a movement activity or at least start to learn the movement without the music. She

then will bring out either Orff keyboards, recorders, or both. They will spend time saying a

poem with rhythm and then adding their own pitches to it in pentatonic. Then they will get

some time to solo their melodic improvisation to a set rhythm. After doing that, she will put

away the keyboards and the students will get out recorders. They’ll usually play a game with

recorders or they will learn a song as a part of their recorder karate. To finish out the day, the

students usually play one or two musical games to close the day. This kind of lesson is only for

the upper level students as the activities are too close together for the younger students. The

fourth graders are also in the middle of their musical study, so they’ve only been watching a

video of “The Music Man” since I’ve been at placement.

Abby Mason
Journal Entry #5
Last week, my CT taught a lesson including Orff keyboards, recorders, movement, and a

game. They started by singing a chant called 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and clapping the rhythm that they

were saying. Then they played this rhythm while chanting it on GBDE (pentatonic no re). They

were allowed to play any notes and melody they wanted, the only restriction was the rhythm.

This was standard “Generate musical ideas (such as rhythms, melodies, and accompaniment

patterns) within specific related tonalities, meters, and simple chord changes. MU:Cr1.1.5b.”

Some students then demonstrated their improvisation as a solo. Next, the students got out

recorders and tried to learn to play one of their recorder karate songs. This was kind of

unsuccessful. I think this would be the part of the lesson I would change if I were to do this. The

CT labeled some of the notes and reviewed the fingerings, but the difficult part was that the

students didn’t understand dotted rhythms and ties yet and there were many in the song.

Instead of explaining the concept, she told the students what number to count to. This, in my

opinion, was too much new information to process and try to play in fifteen minutes. However,

this was standard, “Rehearse to refine technical accuracy and expressive qualities to address

challenges, and show improvement over time. MU:Pr5.1.5b.” Finally, the students learned the beginning

movement to O Fortuna without music. This was pretty successful because it was like a game so the

students enjoyed it. However, with the teacher participating instead of supervising, the students got a

little out of hand or some of them didn’t understand but the CT had her back to them and was unaware

of that. I think a lot of information was included in the lesson and most aspects were successful, but it

may have been a good idea to put the movement between the two focuses as a change of pace. I feel

like this change would’ve helped with attention.

Abby Mason
Journal Entry #6
In teaching my observed lesson, I will basically be co-teaching the same lesson that my

CT taught last week to a different class of fifth graders. We will start our opening by reviewing

and chanting the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 song. Then, we will get out Orff keyboards and practice

improvising on GBDE to the rhythm of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. This is standard, “Generate musical ideas

(such as rhythms, melodies, and accompaniment patterns) within specific related tonalities,

meters, and simple chord changes. MU:Cr1.1.5b.” The objective would be that students will

improvise a melody to a set rhythm. There won’t be any restrictions on their melodies except

the rhythm that it is supposed to be based around. As an added element, we will incorporate a

walking bass line under what they play so they have to play in tempo and over chord changes.

From here, we will move on to a change of pace and review the movement they learned to O

Fortuna last class period. We will then add on the rest of the movement and add in the music.

This is standard, “Exhibit music literacy by speaking and writing about music; interacting with

subject-specific words, symbols, and notation; and presenting musical concepts through

movement, gestures, or other non-verbal means. MU:Cn10.1.5a-WI.” The objective would be

students will express dynamic and texture changes through a choreographed movement to O

Fortuna. As the music builds, the movement builds too, so the students are able to express the

emotion and build of the song through the movement. Next we will move on to recorders. The

students will name a play absolute pitches BAGED on recorders. They will start the BOP game

by only saying absolute pitches, and then they will go to playing BOP and actually playing the

pitches on their recorders. This is standard, “When analyzing selected music, read and perform
using standard notation. MU:Pr4.2.5b,” and standard “Rehearse to refine technical accuracy

and expressive qualities to address challenges, and show improvement over time.

MU:Pr5.1.5b.” To close the lesson, we will listen to Edelweiss to prepare them for a lesson next

class period. This also relates to their English class as they are studying WWII, so therefore it

relates to standard, “Demonstrate understanding of the relationship between music and the

other arts or subject areas, including musical and extra-musical considerations. MU:Cn11.1.5b-

WI.”
Abby Mason
Journal Entry #7
To start the lesson, we reviewed the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 song. I feel like this was overall

successful because they were familiar with the song by this point in the year. If I were to redo

this part, I would count them in before we did the chant. I gave them a prep breath instead and

they mostly caught on, but I feel like success would’ve been higher to start if I had counted

them in. We then transitioned to getting the Orff keyboards out which was fine because they

are used to making this transition. We then started the improvisation to the rhythm of the 1, 2,

3, 4, 5 song which was fine because they are again used to this. The tricky element came in

when the CT played a walking bass line under their improvisations. The students were rushing

really bad and not keeping to the beat of the bass line, but at the same time, I feel this was due

to them not knowing the objective was to keep the beat. If I were to teach this aspect again, I

would have them clap the rhythm over the bass line while reinforcing the beat so they would

be more prepared to listen for the beat during their improvisations. We didn’t have time to do

the assessment for this portion of the lesson. If I were to do this lesson, I wouldn’t have done

keyboards and recorders on the same day. We would’ve all gone around and soloed over the

bass line to ensure the students are using a variety of notes and keeping the rhythm. Next we

moved to recorders which was probably the most successful part of the lesson. We started the

bop game just naming the absolute pitches and noticed the students were struggling with E and

D. Then we did the game again but only played a D or an E when they came up. This helped

them get these notes down more concrete so when we played the game with all the notes,

they were more confident. Finally we listened to Edelweiss and the students had to try and
figure out what an Edelweiss was from the lyrics. They were successful in this which shows they

were listening objectively. I overall wish we hadn’t tried to squeeze so much content into one

lesson because I think they would’ve been able to have a more concrete understanding of the

objectives if there were fewer of them.

Abby Mason
Journal Entry #8
Overall in my practicum, I still feel like I would struggle not to specialize in instrumental

verses choral verses analysis and history. The idea of general music is so overwhelming to think

about, I know it would be difficult to choose what is most important and what should not be

included. I like that students at this age are there to learn music because it is a part of their

curriculum. They don’t think twice about if they want to do music or not, they just know that

they’re there to learn music and that’s all there is to it, it’s just another subject. I don’t really

like how there is so much content to squeeze in in elementary music that I feel a lot of

educators don’t do a great job of prioritizing and diving into the right things. It kind of bothers

me that the students may spend 1-2 minutes learning a song with reinforcement of the beat

but they spend 4-5 class periods watching a musical. I think this practicum helped me grow as a

teacher because I was able to see more of what I may think is intuitive verses things that

actually aren’t easy to everyone. For example, I take matching pitch for granted because I was

always able to as a young student. But, listening to elementary students, it is obvious that many

of them cannot match pitch and have no idea that they aren’t or how to go about fixing that

problem. In my future, I would like to get better at my singing voice and projecting. I feel like if I

ever need to teach elementary, I’m going to have to sing on a more consistent basis and project

loud enough for the elementary schoolers to hear me over themselves. I also think I’ll need to

be very particular about how I teach songs. It will be important to tap the beat to every song I

teach so it becomes an inherent part of the music making process. I learned that elementary

music is a very involved process. I feel like lesson planning is way more critical in the younger
students than in older students. There isn’t an option to go into an elementary music classroom

and feel like you’re going to “wing it,” you have to be completely prepared every day or they

will be disengaged and run all over you.