Mary Busch EDUC 115

1
Mary J. Busch
4/22/2015
EDUC 115 - Early Field Experience
Observation Report

Describe the methods used by the teacher to meet the various learning
needs of the students in this class.
During my field experience I had the opportunity to observe a local middle
school and high school music teacher who taught the following classes: General
Music for 6th Grade, 7th and 8th Grade Choir, high school concert choir, advanced
high school chamber choir as well as assisted in teaching musical theatre. I was
fortunate to spend time in each of the different types of music classes that my
teacher was in charge of. I aim to address the various methods that my teacher
used to reach the different learning needs of the students in music class.
The teacher I observed did have students who had physical disabilities that
required assistive devices such as a motorized wheelchair and an adult aid. In the
various music groups, my teacher also had students who had Individualized
Education Plans (IEPs) for non-physical disabilities as well as the students with
visible physical disabilities. Regardless of ability, this teacher included all students
in the daily class activities as well as held each student to the highest standard of
learning possible; thus, disregarding outdated educational practices that limit
certain students from even getting a chance to try to perform above and beyond
their limitations. I observed a number of integrated teaching methods that
supported differentiated learning in the musical classroom and I will endeavor to
summarize them in the following paragraphs.
Meeting the needs of the tactile learner:

Mary Busch EDUC 115

A great music classroom teaching aid are plastic tubes called: boom
whackers. These are colorful, plastic tubes that are perfectly cut in lengths equal
to exact pitches on a C Major instruments, such as a piano. Students must strike
the boom whacker either against their palm, or the ground, etcin order to produce
the correct pitch.

Patterns were given for the students to practice for example:

rounds, rhythm patterns, songs, etcand the students demonstrated the proper use
of the boom whackers as well as enjoyed getting to use their hands to create music.
Another example used often in music is clapping and counting rhythm
patterns in music. This music teacher went a step farther and introduced macro
and micro counting techniques which involves lightly tapping out simple meters
(those that are evenly divided into two like 4/4 time) and compound meters (such
as those composed in 6/8 time), with ones finger tips against the knee area, fingertip to finger-tip, etc. Tactile learners benefit from being able to feel the sensation of
objects/textures against their own skin and it helps them to focus and process
information. Clapping, tapping, and using objects like boom whackers, was one way
the teacher adjusted the lesson plan to meet the needs of the tactile learner.
Meeting the needs of the auditory learners:
Music in and of itself is auditory in nature.

The teacher demonstrated

multiple types of teaching methods to reach those students who learn best through
auditory, or listening/hearing, tactics. Through the following exercises, this teacher
demonstrated various ways to build listening skills as well as keep the attention
going for those students who learn best through hearing and then emulating: sight
singing exercises with solfeggio, various warm up exercises using lip trills, lip
buzzing, sirens/vocal sighs, using a pitch pipe to reinforce singing to sound the voice
and not to a piano sound, hand held listening tubes that allowed students to hear

Mary Busch EDUC 115

themselves sing as well as having the teacher vocally demonstrate proper singing
techniques.
Outside of warm ups and vocally demonstrated proper vocal technique to the
students; this teacher also incorporated various choral works that are in foreign
languages. This teacher stretched and pushed the choirs to perform to a higher
standard of middle school and high school choral repertoire as well as introduce the
students to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) through such languages as
Latin, German, African, Welsh, Spanish, etc.; which not only reinforces an
understanding of the English language, but helps keep auditory learners interested
in expanding their musical knowledge.
Meeting the needs of the visual learners:
Daily objectives were always on the board at the beginning of each class.
Musical exercises in rhythm, meter, solfeggio, as well as exercises the class
composed, were visible for all students. Students had their own music folders and
everyone had their own copy of music; which is important for each student to be
able to analyze, read and understand the visual/spatial relationships between
musical symbols and the pitches and rhythms that a composers wants to be sung or
played.
Use of Kodaly hands signs was another great teaching method taught in each
musical class this teacher taught. Kodaly hand signs are used to reinforce pitch
accuracy, sight reading, and aural skills within musicians.

It could be said that

Kodaly is like sign language for learning how to match pitches, audiate pitches in
ones head and being able to sing a note without having to hear it and teach

Mary Busch EDUC 115

students how to listen for musical patterns such as steps, skips, and leaps; while
maintaining the correct pitch sound.
Micro/macro hand gestures for counting rhythm is also a great visual tool for
teaching music, as well as for tactile learners, because students get to see the
meter that they are singing in.

Students also get to observe their peers hand

gestures; which in the case of reinforcing rhythm patterns and rhythmic accuracy in
musical performances, students can watch and see whether or not everyone is
working as an ensemble or not.
Meeting the needs of the kinesthetic learners:
The music teacher I observed incorporated eurhythmic exercises in the
classroom.

Eurhythmics often introduces a musical concept through movement

before the students learn about the note, terminology, or musical expression that a
composer wishes to have performed.

Eurhythmics can create a better sense of

body awareness for musicians and help students to feel steady beats, rhythm
patterns, ebb and flow of musical phrasing, changes in rhythm meters, etc., all while
using movement to do so. With this approach in mind, I observed the teacher using
toe tapping/stepping, hand movements, arm movements, dancing out the rhythm
patterns as it pertained to a particular section of music as well as having different
sections of a choir move to the beat of each respective section; thus creating a
sense of how each musical part fit together as a whole. Students were able to get
up and move around, use their own creativity to demonstrate his or her idea of
musical expression through movements as well as gave the teacher the ability to
assess if the students understood various musical concepts.

Mary Busch EDUC 115

Overall, the teacher I observed demonstrated a sound understanding of how

to incorporate various music teaching methods in the classroom; which, was
tailored to meet the needs of each classs demographics respectively. The teacher
was not limited to only using one style of teaching to capture the students
attention; which, enabled the teacher to really teach a great deal of Virginia Music
Standards of Learning.

By using various methods, this teacher was also able to

daily assess and evaluate the students as well as focus on fine tuning which
teaching methods will work best for which type of learner.