Laura Veselovsky

Ed. Psych
Dr. Wenzel
May 15, 2014
Vygotsky Scaffolding Assignment
Grade level: 5th grade
Task: To sight-read and perform a 4-bar rhythm pattern
Elements: quarter- and eighth-notes and a 4/4 time signature.
What students would need to know to do this assignment:
Quarter note
Eighth note
Time signature
Tempo
How to establish a pulse or beat
Measure
Bar line
Double bar line
Be familiar with rhythmic notation
Know how to count using 1-2-3-4 (prior instruction was using tas and ti-tis)
Procedure:
Using scaffolding, I would begin by presenting the students with a 4-bar example
and demonstrate by performing the task, clapping and counting aloud. I would

then ask the students to imitate what I just did. While I observe the class, I would
take notice of anyone who is not doing the task or is apparently having difficulty
with it. There are a handful of students who are not doing the task or are having
difficulty. I assess prior knowledge by asking students, by name, to identify
elements in the example. Some students do not know what a measure is and what
a time signature is. They are also confused about rhythmic notation.
Strategy 1:
I clap a rhythmic pattern of quarters and eighth notes in 4/4 time. I have the class
repeat it back.

They do so with little difficulty. I then count 1-2-3-4 and

repeat the pattern counting aloud. I ask the class to repeat, with the counts. Some
have difficulty, so we do it one more time.
On the blackboard, I write the rhythmic pattern, counting aloud, to connect what
they heard and clapped with what is written. I label the time signature, the
measures, the bar lines and the double bar line. I ask the students to copy this on
their paper for future reference.
Procedure continued:
I then write the counts over the notes to show the counts in each measure (1,2,3,4).
I ask the class to identify the quarter notes and the eighth notes on their paper.
Once that is completed, I point to each note and ask students, by name, to tell me
what kind of note it is. I ask them which note gets the beat. There is confusion.
Strategy 2:

I ask them to stand. I begin to march a slow pulse and tell them to march with me.
I count: one, one, one, one. I tell them to count with me. I signal for them to stop.
I tell them that they are marching the beat at a slow tempo. I march again, faster,
and have them march and count along. I signal for them to stop. I tell them that
they are marching the beat at a fast tempo. Each time your foot hit the floor, was
a single beat. In 4/4 time, the beat is a quarter note. You were marching quarter
notes.
I then have them march again, counting quarter, quarter, quarter, quarter. I signal
them to stop. Then I march and count: two-eighths, two-eighths, two-eighths,
two-eights. I tell them to repeat it. I ask them are eighth notes faster or slower
than quarter notes? I acknowledge the correct answer and draw a quarter note on
the board with two eighth notes underneath. I explain that two eighth notes equal
one quarter note. I have them copy that on their paper.
Procedure continued:
I write another rhythm pattern on the board with quarter notes and eighth notes. I
signal students to stand and instruct them to march and clap and count the rhythm
aloud. Hopefully, they do it correctly in one try. To build success, I give two
more rhythm patterns for them to clap and count aloud.

The follow-up lesson will have them dictate a rhythm I clap for them to re-inforce their
learning of the material. Lastly, I will ask them to write their own 4-bar rhythm pattern
using quarter and eighth notes.

Reflection:
In elementary methods class, we learned about including cognitive, affective and
psychomotor domains in a lesson. The procedures in this lesson include the cognitive
and psychomotor domains. I wrote this lesson having worked with 7th grade students as a
volunteer and finding that the students couldnt count. Also, in the middle school grades,
students progress from using tas and ti-tis, to count rhythms, to using numbers 1-2-3-4.
When writing this lesson I was trying to incorporate Piagets theory of learning that
includes constructing meaning using prior knowledge, and Vygotskys theory of zone of
proximal development and using scaffolding to help students learn a new task. I did not
fully understand what was developmentally appropriate at the time of writing this lesson,
because I had not yet taken elementary methods. I simply knew that 7 th grade students I
had worked with in the fall were having difficulty counting basic rhythms in choir.
Now that I have taught 3rd-5th grade students and have completed elementary music
methods, I now know that quarter and eighth note rhythm patterns are mastered by 2nd
graders. But, elementary students are taught to count and identify notes using Kodalys
rhythm syllables, ta and ti-ti. So, it is developmentally appropriate to teach 5th grade
students to count using numbers and to be clear on dividing beats into smaller units. I
would also include half notes and whole notes.
What I would do differently is that I would list the vocab listed at the beginning of this
lesson and have the student write them in their interactive notebooks and define them in
their own words as a pre-test to assess prior knowledge. Then we would talk about those
terms and be sure that they all have a working definition of those terms. Then I would

have them clap back a rhythm pattern and have them repeat it. Then I would write that
pattern on the board and have them clap it back to me. I would then give them a
worksheet with two rhythm patterns with instructions to label them with the vocab we
had discussed in class.
The next day I would have them sit at the tables and look at their work to note who was
having trouble and who understood it. I would then re-arrange them, if needed, so that
there was a mix of those who mastered the material with those who hadnt and have them
work together to discuss and correct any mistakes. Then we would discuss as a class.
The next thing I would do is have all of us count and clap the rhythms using tas and titis. Then I would teach them to count with numbers and learn to subdivide the counts.
We would then learn to write those counts. The final lesson would have them dictate a
rhythm pattern and create their own rhythm pattern for a classmate to perform. It would
take about three class periods to complete this.