Journal #5

When reviewing my semester in music 373 as a whole, there are a great deal of musical and non musical concepts that I have learned that will help me to become a better teacher overall in teh future. One of the first musical concept I learned, was how to teach a song. The way in which I learned how to teach is song is by first learning how to write a lesson. Dr. Wang first instructed us on how to set up our lessons and then encouraged us to be creative in doing so. After we learned how to write lessons, we designed our own lesson plan on how to teach a song to a class of ten students. We were then required to present this lesson to those ten students, and this proved to be a great learning experience. For the first time, we were exposed to what it would be like to teach a "music" lesson, and we also learned how to have good classroom management skills and how to keep children engaged through various activities and so forth.
Another main concept in which I learned in this class was how to incorporate music into the classroom, and into other non-musical subjects. As a class we learned that music can help develop the brains of children and keep them engaged, and therefore it was a good idea to make music a main tool within the classroom. There were various ways in which we learned how to incorporate music and one was incorporating the use of instruments into a children's story during a literature lesson. As a class we were told to bring in objects to use as instruments that would represent sounds within a childrens story we were reading. As a class, we learned to incorporate these instruments, and it proved to be a very engaging experience. Another way in which we incorporated music into the classroom was through our warm up activities. Basically, Dr. Wang wwould begin class with a warm up, and this warm up would include our class singing, dancing or even listening to music alone. The use of music as a warm up was crucial because it got out attention and our thoughts going. Therefore, there were many ways in which we learned how to incorporate music into other non-musical subjects as well as into the classroom.
I feel another crucial concept we learned in music 373 was how to play the recorder instrument. As a class, we learned how to read sheet music, and then how to incorporate that sheet music into playing it on the recorder. Dr. Wang even had us make up our own songs to play, and this was a good way for us students to get familiar with watching how to teach children how to use a recorder and how to actually use one ourselves. The way we went about learning the recorder was we would come in as a class and practice various notes, often times playing them for the teacher or in front of a group. We would also play songs as a class and add other instrument playing into our songs.
I feel that one last major concept that was learned in our music 373 class was how to listen and move to music. As a class we also discovered the importance of listening and of moving to music within the classroom. Our class went about learning these concepts by first participating in various activities that through listening to music we were able to learn the meaning of dynamics, tempo, rhythm and keeping a steady beat. Sometimes as a class we would learn these by passing around objects, playing rhythm sticks and other objects, and dancing and moving around a classroom.
In addition, I feel that it is important for students in music 373 to learn how to teach lessons and to write lessons because we will be using these lessons inour future careers as a teacher. Also, I feel that it is important for us students to learn classroom management skills along with activities on how to keep our students engaged because we too will one day use these techniques on a daily basis to ensure the best learning for our students.
I feel it is important to us students to learn how to incorporate music within our classrooms because music has been proven to be a learning tool within all subject areas and that it can enhance a child's learning greatly. Because music is such a powerful tool, it is important that as students we learn how to use it effectively in our future classrooms, to get the most from our students.
I feel it is important to learn how to play musical instruments and incorporate them into all subject areas within the classroom because the playing of musical instruments keeps the children's minds going and active, only enhancing their learning power in all subject areas. I feel it is important for us students to learn how to play these instruments as well because we will need to know this in order to help teach our own students one day.
Finally, I feel it is important for all students to learn how to incorporate listening and movement into our musical and other non musical lessons because these help to keep children engaged in their learning as well. These unconventional methods of learning prove to be very enjoyable for students and will provide them with more positivity surrounding school in general, making them much more eager to learn and therefore easier to teach to as teachers.
I feel that it is important for the students themselves to learn about teaching and singing songs because it can give them a creative and emotional outlet that other subjects might not be able to do within school.
I feel it is important for the students to have music incorporated into the classroom because it will keep their brains engaged and interested in the material they are trying to learn. I also feel it is important for children because it will be enjoyable for them and put a link between school and the good instead of the bad.
I feel it is important for students to be able to learn how to play the recorder because it helps them develop their fine motor skills in their hands. Playing the recorder can also help to challenge their brains and spark more activity. Finally, playing the recorder can help to bring out children's competitiveness and emotions in their attempts to strive for satisfaction for themselves and their teachers in their playings.
Lastly, I feel it is important for children to learn through listening and movement activities because not only is it challenging the students brains, but it is keeping them up and physical and engaged in learning. The more freedom children have to move around, the better and they will stay more alert and focused while in the classroom.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed this semester and am truely appreciative of all that I have learned from Dr. Wang. I am also more confident in my teaching and feel secure with the materials provided to us that will benefit us when we become actual teachers ourselves.
B.
1. One thing I like about it is that we do not have to go out of our way to print out or hand type our assignments. This is especially true because it can be difficult to have to go to the library to print something out, it is justmore convenient this way. The second thing I like is being able to look at other's opinions on our assignments and questions on the blog.The third thing is that we have more flexibility in when things are due. The fourth thing is that we can connect more of our classmates The fifth thing is that we were given comments by our instructors on each assignment.
2. One problem with posting assignments on our blog is that everyone can see them.The second problem would be that it is hard to download recorder clips, I usually have technical difficulty.
The third problem is that I do not always have access to the internet, therefore it is hard for me to do my assignments when I want to.
The fourth problem is that it was confusing at first to set up. I had a hard time following how to set up my account.
Finally, the fifth problem is that this way of using blog to give people feedback is a little too personal for my taste.
3. Overall, I believe that using the blog to post assignments is very efficient and I assume less time consuming. I also like that we have a classroom community through this blog and that is very nice. I also like that we have more freedom in when we complete our assignments, however the use of blogger is not always reliable. I feel computers in general are less reliable and it is very frustrating when something goes wrong. Finally, I feel that this method of keeping assignments and grades should be used in the future as a way of turning in assignments and efficiently.

Assignment # 10

1. According to the author, the possible cognitive benefits derived from music in early education are improving children's vocabulary, symbolic understanding, memory, sense of sequence, spatial temporal reasons, and auditory training.
2. Important classroom activities that teachers should consider when trying to enhance the self esteem of their students would include things such as having group discussions on appropriate social behaviors and positive guidance techiniques. Also teachers can emphasize what skills to use for problem solving and having self-management. Finally, teachers can encourage to pursue their own self-selected interests and do things that make them happy and satisfied.
3. The author also explains that the use of gross and fine motor movement within the classroom can help a child's self esteem improve because it provides another outlet for children to express themselves and feel good about themselves. Children are given the oppertunity to do express themselves fully through movement and music, especially if they have a hard time doing so otherwise.
4.The guidelines that teachers of early childhood education should follow when implementing a music program within their classroom include the following: Select music for preschoolers that will help them feel successful, include movement activities in the music program, use the children's names whenever possible, use musical terms to enhance concept development, incorporate a variety of music within the classroom.