Kasey Brylski

MUED 310
Journal Entry 1

One thing that surprised me was how quickly the students were able to comprehend the

material. Some of them were able to sing/repeat rhythms and melodies just by watching or

listening and without direct imitation like when she showed the hand signs for a melody and the

students were able to recognize and sing the solfege syllables. I thought her way of teaching was

impressive because she had them thinking and reading music right from the moment they walked

into the classroom and she had them reading and engaging with music in multiple ways

throughout the hour with listening, different notation, using movement, and reading notes with

their hands/fingers. Since my CT uses the Kodaly method to plan out all of her lessons, I feel

comfortable collaborating with her in planning and teaching because I have confidence that the

students will respond well to what I end up teaching. Most of the students loved being there, but

I could tell that some students did not enjoy music class that much because they were reluctant to

participate. Im not surprised by this, but it is something that I have concerns about because I

know it will be more difficult to keep those students engaged. Some of the students I observed

were also quick to lose their attention and were distracting to other students by being talkative. I

was also surprised when one the students got so embarrassed after making a mistake on the

xylophone that he hid underneath his sweatshirt and refused to say anything or play the

xylophone because I did not think eight-year-olds would take music so seriously. Overall I am

excited to teach the third and fourth graders because they are learning recorders and xylophones

and they have developed strong singing skills as well because they have had a few years of

previous knowledge. Most of the kids seems enthusiastic about learning music and get excited

when they accomplish small skills or tasks because they are proud when they do things well.
Kasey Brylski
MUED 310
Journal Entry 2

Every wednesday I observe Corrine Gransee-Parals third and fourth grade class at

Lakeshore Elementary. The room is very open with little furniture that is against the walls.

There is a circle on the carpet that is made of colored dots (blue, green, yellow, and orange) that

indicate where students sit in their assigned places. At the front of the room there is a Smart

board. In the back of the room there are large cabinets with extra instruments, drawers, and other

stuff in it. There are many instruments in the room including three different types of xylophones,

recorders, drums, a piano in the back corner of the room, and many instruments packed up nicely

for each class to take out when needed. The xylophones are on shelves to the left when you enter

the room. There are many signs up on the walls. One says mistakes are made here. She has

rhythms and solfege organized on a part of the wall corresponding to each grade level that it

learning/working on them. There is a counter on one side of the room where there are

miscellaneous instruments in containers. Behind the piano, there is the teachers desk and a shelf

with various childrens books.

Kasey Brylski
MUED 310
Journal Entry 3

In one of the classes I observed, there are 24 students, 11 of which were male and 13

were female (although I believe there was one absent student). The class overall is very energetic

and loud and there are some students that distract from the class. There are a couple boys who

are extremely talkative and there are many students, both male and female, who sit quietly.

When there was an activity where the students were asked to raise their hands and sit quietly

waiting to be called to come up to the board, some students were following and respecting that

rule while others were not able to stay still or keep quiet. There was one student that was

unwilling to participate in an activity where they were in groups/pairs and his partner had to do

the activity by herself. Everyone else in the class was willing to do the activity, but were eager to

finish so they move on to playing the game. Many of the students were very good at matching

the note name to where they fit on the staff during the matching activity, but some students either

did not follow the directions or they were wrong with a few cards. Some students are better at

singing while other students are better at playing the recorder in this class. There are many

students with strong voices and but many students who have trouble controlling their air through

the recorder. One boy that I heard has impressive sound quality and control. Some of the students

still use the wrong hand when playing the recorder, while one did not know which direction the

mouth piece was supposed to go. A believe there are two students with exceptionalities in the

class. On the first day I observed this class, one student hid in the corner of the room very upset

unwilling to talk to the teacher after she was trying to help him with something.
Kasey Brylski
MUED 310
Journal Entry 4

My CTs lesson plan is outlined starting with the warm-up and then moving on to the

different objectives that are: song (solo/harmony), rhythmic reading/writing, melodic

reading/writing, movement/game, instrumental work, and listening. Each one has an activity or

more that they do. The kids are always coming into the room mimicking rhythms that the teacher

demonstrates on the drum. Then the go to their seats where they warm-up their voices by reading

solfege hands or reading G do/F do. Then they sing a few songs sometimes adding a game

singing it in a round, which does not take too long. Then they either use the same or different

songs to work on rhythm and melodic reading, which is one of the activities that usually takes

the longest. They also usually work on reading the spaces and lines in the treble clef and use a

chant to help them remember. Then they go to playing a game while singing, which can

sometimes take awhile depending on how many times they repeat the song. The instrumental

work is always at the end of the lesson and is when the students work on either recorder,

xylophone, both, or percussion instruments. They learn how to read music and improvisation

while working on the instruments. Every day they are obtaining the objectives of being able to

sing, move, perform, play instruments, read, write, and improvise and are always reaching

towards the goal of being able to analyze and compose music.

Kasey Brylski
MUED 310
Journal Entry 5

One of the lessons my CT taught to her fourth grade class that I observed focused on

reading, writing, and playing. They entered the room as they always do walking the rhythm of

the drum and then warmed up their voices with ghost noises. They practiced singing in G do by

reading a song on the Smartboard. They they sang Ghost of John as a round where the students

were singing first and then the teacher came in after them. After that, they went on to an activity

where they were writing rhythms on the white boards. They were creating four beats of rhythmic

patterns with a partner. The CT went around to check on everyones rhythm to make sure that

they were all four beats. They all shared what they had written by playing their rhythms on

different instruments taking turns and then they all played their rhythms at the same time. The

next activity they did was introduced by my CT singing the EGBDF song and the students

following along and then having the students say the FACE chant. Then they got into groups and

worked on matching the note in the space or line to the letter that corresponded. My CT went

around and checked on everyones to make sure they were correct. The last activity the students

did was learning the ostinato for Ghost of John on the recorder. They echoed what the teacher

did first to warm up and then they read the notes on the lines to figure out what notes to play of

the recorder and they repeated the ostinato while my CT sang the song above them. The class

responded well to the overall lesson but there were a few students who refused to participate.

The students learned by associating the letter to where it is on the staff, they learned how to

transfer notes on to the recorder, and they learned how to create their own rhythms. The students

enjoyed writing their own rhythms and were eager to share what they had created with the rest of

the class. If I were the teacher, for the next lesson I would go farther in depth with the Ghost of
John ostinato and have the students take turns singing the song and playing it on the recorder.

Another thing I could incorporate into the following lesson would maybe to do something with

all of the instruments that they were using to showcase their rhythms, or play a game that

involves them. Another thing I could follow up the reading of the notes on the staff with is

having students come up individually to actually write in the notes on the staff on the

Smartboard. To continue with the ostinatos, I could introduce a new song with a different

ostinato.
Kasey Brylski
MUED 310
Journal Entry 6

As students enter the room, they will imitate the rhythms I demonstrate on the drum by

stepping them. Then they will sit down and then the students will warm up their voices by

repeating back to me the solfege I demonstrate and will use hand signs using do re mi sol and la.

Then we will move on to the rhythm activity and students will start by singing the song Dance

Josey and will tap the rhythm in their palms. Then they will discover how many claps are in

each beat. They will clap and sing it again while I point to the beats on the board. Then I will ask

them how many claps are on beat four. I will sing the first line of the song and then have them

repeat after me and continue to tap the rhythm in their hands as I point to the beats. I will ask the

students the number with their fingers how many claps they think is on beat four. If they are all

correct, we will check and I will sing it. If some people are incorrect, I will sing it incorrectly to

demonstrate it. I will then repeat the steps with the rest of the beats (on the first line). Next,

students will perform their patriotic pieces as practice while focusing on good performance

etiquette. I will ask them to tell me what they should be doing when singing (standing tall,

having their hands over their hearts). Next, students will play bump up Tomato (freeze game).

Lastly, I will give a flute presentation/listening lesson. I will play a solo by Bach on the flute and

have students pat on their laps with the beat while I play. I will talk about the flute and answer

any questions the students have about the instrument. The objectives of this lesson include

rhythm, beat, solfege, pitch, performing, singing, and listening. I will assess the students

physically (if they can tap the rhythm of Dance Josey, if they can follow the beat of Sonata No.

2, if they can hand sign solfege), I will assess them by hearing if they can sing on pitch, and their

level of engagement (if they know the etiquette of performing the National Anthem, if they are
able to listen to the Bach piece, if they are able to engage in discussion about the flute and ask

questions). I think the students will respond well because they are used to beginning class the

same way every day and they have been doing similar activities to the ones I will be

teaching/leading. I feel nervous about whether or not I will be able to hold the attention and

interest of the students but I feel good about teaching because I have had practice in my CTs

classroom over the last four weeks from doing warm-ups and co-teaching lessons. The teaching

skills I want to focus on is having more of a teacher presence and speaking up to make sure

everyone can hear me. I want to make sure that I am not losing the students interest by speaking

too quietly or not assertive enough or not expressive enough in my presence.

Kasey Brylski
MUED 310
Journal Entry 7

Overall, I think that my lesson went really well because the students responded how I

expected them to. The beginning of the class went as planned and students were very engaged.

During the Dance Josey rhythm activity, something that was successful was how the students

were able to connect the rhythm to what they were tapping in their hands to thinking about how

it translates to writing the music. They enjoyed being able to write how many taps there were per

beat and it helped them visualize it well. The students were learning the content because they

were able to use what they learned and figured out how many taps there were on beat four to the

other beats and on beat two and three there were more students accurately showing me that there

were two taps. Something that was unsuccessful during my lesson was during the listening

activity. When I had the students patting the beat on their laps, they were not with me during the

piece and it distracted from listening. If I were to teach this lesson again, I would have had them

participating in a more musical way that would get them listening better, like something to do

with breath or dynamics. Something that I noticed was that it was difficult to get the students to

transition between activities because they were hyped up from the game or getting them to sit

back down. . I also did not how to transition sometimes between activities. The students were

also losing their focus towards the end of the class and I think I did a fair job at trying to get

them to be quiet and listen The pacing of the lesson went well, even though I did not really plan

out the timing, it went up right until the end of class and I do not think that any activity was too

long or too short for the students.

Kasey Brylski
MUED 310
Journal Entry 8

My overall practicum experience was similar to what I had predicted because most of the

students responded very well when I was up in front of the class. There were a few difficult

times in keeping their focus and making sure that I was presenting myself in a way that told the

students that I was in charge and I was the teacher. I really enjoyed getting the chance to see the

evolving of the lessons and how they fit in with each other every week, but what I did not like

what missing certain days/lessons because it felt like I was missing out on important parts of the

students learning processes. I was really nervous at first to get up there teaching because I felt

like I did not really know what my CT expected from me, but by the end of the five weeks I felt

more comfortable, especially when I had planned the lesson out with her help. From this

experience, I learned countless things about managing an elementary classroom, about different

activities I can use, different games that fit in with music, and how to incorporate a multitude of

learning objectives with each lesson. It was amazing to see the sequencing of my CTs lesson

plans and gave me an indicator of how I can plan lessons in the future if I teach elementary

music. Some goals I have for my own growth in the classroom is to keep practicing my teacher

voice/persona in order to keep students engaged. I also want to keep working on giving students

feedback in a meaningful way and connecting different aspects of lessons to a wide range of

objectives. From this experience, I have grown as a teacher because I have gotten more

comfortable in front of a class and I feel like I am less nervous about being in front of a class in

the future, especially elementary students.