September 27, 2020

Background Project Student A

Student A is a fourth-grade girl who excels within the music classroom. This student

comes from a household where her parents are still together. Student A is a younger sibling of a

student who previously attended this school and was also successful in music. Student A is a

part of the Japanese Immersion program where her parents are actively involved in the school

community.

In the classroom, Students A is an active participant. Within our virtual setting her

camera is always on and she is always engaged. She has volunteered to play the recorder as a

solo, participated in rhythm and solo singing games. For an excelling student like Student A, our

goal as educators is to keep her engaged and interested in music class. As an educator we want

to adapt the material to make it more challenging, without advancing her to far in the

curriculum. There are many ways we can do this. One way is to have her be a student leader.

Currently in fourth grade we are working on the recorder. If we were in the classroom, I would

pair Student A up with a student who is struggling and have her assist the student. If we were

to have a new student join, I would have Student A take the new student into the hallway or

back of the classroom and help that student catch up by having her teach the new student what

she has missed.

A great way to engage students who excel in the classroom is to have them participate

in learning stations. Dividing the students into groups be their levels of knowledge, students

would participate in different stations where one would be led by the teacher. At each station

there would be activities where the students could pick which level of difficulty that suited
them best. This way Student A could pick harder material and assignments for her to complete.

When Student A’s group is at the teacher’s station, the teacher can introduce a new song to

them that has trickier patterns. That way they aren’t advancing too far ahead of everyone else

but still challenging the student. By making these adaptations to lessons, Student A will

hopefully stay engaged within the music classroom.