March 16th:: Another Forgotten Post

Some of my buildings are really inhospitable to someone with a laptop and wireless connection. It is difficult at times to find a working computer with internet connection. So, sometimes I work on my post offline and I guess on these occasions forgot to go back and actually post them.

March 16th POST

I have been working on my action research project. I have gotten everything designed, printed, and ready to go. I have decided to work with my 3rd grade recorder class because that is the one class that never gets taken away from me. I have finally decided to concentrate on notes and rhythms. These are two fundamentals that the kids seem to have a hard time remembering from week to week. I can go over it a million times in class, and the kids will come back and will have forgotten everything from the previous week. I feel like I am trudging through water and mud. It gets really frustrating to keep re-teaching everything week after week. I do see progress, but the repetition just gets crazy sometimes. I am constantly plagued with the fact that the kids are forgetting their instruments a lot lately. I know that a lot of the kids keep their instruments in their teacher’s rooms so that they won’t forget them at home. However, the fact is that they are not practicing. This has a lot to do with the fact that they are having trouble retaining information as well. They are not putting into practice what I have taught them in class. This gets frustrating on so many levels. I lead a double edged sword. I teach elementary band, which means that the kids technically do not have to have my class in order to move on to middle school. Fine arts teachers know that technically and aesthetically speaking all kids are better off with participation in the arts. Fine arts teachers also know that participation in the arts teach kids about patterns, methods, kinesthetics, etc. and that to be a part of a musical group only enhances the child’s ability to learn. However, some schools are better with imparting the feeling that music is an important class and not just something that you take for fun. I have to be very careful with the way that I approach the kids so that they do have fun, but not at the expense of the knowledge and behavior that I expect in my class. In reading Pink, I am struck with how multi dimensional his six senses seem to be. I can see how the six senses can apply to my kids in the band classes, as well as professional musicians. In getting the kids in my class to understand why it is important for them to take their instruments home, it comes back to this feeling of intrinsic motivation that we try as teachers to instill in the kids of our class. Kids do need approval and help finding that intrinsic motivation, especially kids who stand to gain the most from it. I look forward to seeing if any of my techniques help the kids to retain more information of notes and rhythms. I am continuing to work on getting the kids to take their instruments back and forth from school. Although, with CRCT around the corner I stand little chance.