STANDARD 8: Instructional Strategies
The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
Not all students learn the same way; therefore, educators must have a variety of ways to explain one concept. Many of the concepts in music are hard to comprehend at first; thus, it requires extra effort from the educator to properly explain the terms to the students. However, if an educator only explains the same concept using one method, not all of the students will understand the term/concept. This gap in understanding will lead to frustration from the students as well as the teacher. The responsibility of teaching the subject effectively falls onto the teacher. The teacher must utilize a myriad of ways to explain the same subject. This ability increases the odds that more of the students will understand and comprehend what the teacher is asking of them.
During my flute lessons here at Ball State, my flute professor often challenges to explain to her what different musical terms mean. After I finally create an answer, she challenges me again to create other ways to explain my definition. I soon realized that this is quite a challenge for me currently. It is difficult for me to explain a concept that I have taken for granted as common knowledge; thus, I struggled with crafting my own definition of various terms. Now, my ability to define and explain the terms has improved exponentially. The issue I now have is with UDL and how to explain the same topic in many different forms in order to reach the greatest quantity of students.
​However, as I continue my education at Ball State, I will not only expand my knowledge, but also my skill set of expressing the same knowledge in a variety of forms. Each of my professors has a unique way of expelling the same concepts. By paying close attention in class I can comprehend their way of explaining a subject and at it to my list. I will expand my skill set by observing and noting how other educators explain various musical terms. By noting how each professor explains the same knowledge uniquely, I better equipped to educate a variety of student learners.
MUSE 375: Band Methods
Every student is unique and has a unique style of learning, that means that as an educator, I must tailor the lesson to their needs through utilizing a variety of instructional styles. As a band director I can vary my instructional styles by modeling on my instrument, singing, writing concepts/definitions on the whiteboard, describing the concepts through speaking, asking questions, and using figurative language to explain complicated concepts in an easy to understand analogy. Another form of instruction is having a comprehensive musicianship approach.
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Comprehensive Musicianship Lesson Plan
MUSE 353: Secondary Methods
Adolescents require teaching methods that keep them engaged and ready to learn. A great method for a teacher to get their adolescents engaged is the artistic processes. There are five artistic processes: create, perform, listen/respond, and connect. However, adolescents’ brains do not connect like that. When teaching adolescents, the teacher must connect that material with the students, the students will then listen/respond to the material, perform the music, and then create music. Performance helps the students to gain experience and more understanding so that creating the music can come easily to them. Connecting the music with the adolescents first is crucial. If adolescents cannot connect with something, they will not care. A teacher of adolescents should adopt a comprehensive musicianship model that will help them to teach concepts through active learning. Repetition is key for adolescents. If the teacher does not continue to pose new problems or highlight knowledge or skills, then the concept will not stick with the adolescent. Another key strategy to teaching adolescents is to activate student learning. This requires the students to engage in all of the artistic processes with active music making experiences. Utilizing perception charts when doing listening activities will help students to focus their attention to specific musical content through problem-based learning.
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MUSE 355: String Methods
Every student is unique and has a unique style of learning, that means that as an educator, I must tailor the lesson to their needs through utilizing a variety of instructional styles. As an string orchestra director I can vary my instructional styles by modeling on my instrument, singing, writing concepts/definitions on the whiteboard, describing the concepts through speaking, asking questions, and using figurative language to explain complicated concepts in an easy to understand analogy.
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HAT Journal #3: Hamann & Gillespie Chapter 2
MUSE 470: Student Teaching
edTPA Lesson Plan
Every student learns in a slightly different manner; therefore, as educators, it is our job to provide multiple means of instruction in order to teach the concepts to the students. In this particular lesson plan, I incorporate students questions/responses, peer evaluations, creating their own rhythms, counting, and playing rhythms.