Nick Adams

Elementary Observation Reflection Essay

The future career I have imagined for myself has changed greatly over the past

couple of years. I knew that I wanted to do something in music since I became a

drummer in 6th grade, but the specifics of how I wanted to support myself using music

always changed. First, I wanted to be a drummer, then a studio engineer, then an

electronic music producer, my interests always being changed by both my interests at

the time and those who surrounded me. Growing up in an upper-middle class town,

along with its many benefits, brought its share of challenges too, as teachers, advisors,

peers, and parents alike persuaded me to give up on music and pursue something

more “stable” or “realistic”. My inability to choose a career path, and my fear of ending

up broke, were both reconciled when Berklee TA’s and my high school teachers

encouraged me to become a music teacher. From senior year till now, I have always

imagined myself as a high school teacher, as I grew the most as a musician in that

period of my life, and one of my goals as an educator is to replicate the community and

educational inspirations I encountered at that time. However, my future career path is

again beginning to shift. I had always had a hard stance that I wanted to be a high

school teacher, and that younger students were too hard to work with, unable to create

meaningful music, or not worth putting time and effort into teach. This stance

continued throughout the first half of my time in elementary methods, but changed ever

since I began observing actual elementary school students. Through both my

observation hours and the time I spent outside of classes with the teachers I observed,

I began to see how elementary school music is an imperative part of any young
persons’ life, and that one can impart important lessons about not just music, but life,

on students when they need it the most. Discussed in this essay are both the highs

and lows of my observing, skills the teachers used to manage the classroom, themes I

observed that successful teachers share, and things I found particularly inspiring.

As a whole, I enjoyed observing a lot. Some high points came when I actually

got to participate in the class. For example, during my first observing period I had with

Dr. Meredith Huntley’s class, she had me participate in what she called the “Brahms

thing”. This was a silly dance routine set to a Johnanes Brahms piece that she led and

the class copied. The students, who were introduced to me as an observer and had

not seen me do anything up to this point, were very entertained to see me come up

and dance with everyone else. This was when I first encountered the pure joy that little

kids exude when something makes them happy. I feel like this state of pure joy is

impossible to find in older students, as they become more reserved and learn of social

norms as they grow, but is still present in younger students, as they have little reason

to suppress their feelings. I suspect this feeling is what drives many elementary

teachers desire to teach. It rubbed off on me and I felt great for the rest of the day; it

was nice to know that something so simple made someone else happy. I saw this

unadulterated joy many times, such as when a usually shy student brought in his guitar

and played for the class, or when Anthony Spano of Lowell school in Watertown told

the students that I played a “mystery instrument” and that if they were good, I would

play for the class. I ended up playing drums and the reaction I got was amazing. The

last class I observed, a student came up to me and said, “I want to be like you one

day!” And that made me realize the joy of teaching elementary schools. Many older
students already have an idea of what they want to do with their life and their opinion

towards music (e.g. I like music, I am a bad singer, etc). Younger students are are far

more open to receiving information unbiasedly, and as a teacher, one can inspire joy

and happiness in them easier.

My observing experience, however, was not all great. One particular school was

especially problematic, and I felt that the teacher was not in control of the students at

all. For example, the class was held on a rug in a corner of a large auditorium, and

students throughout the day would crawl under the seats, roll around on the floor, or

literally leave the classroom without warning. Neither the teacher nor the teacher’s

assistant did anything to stop the kids from disengaging from the lesson. This created

many problems: the students who were disengaged were not learning, they were

distracting and hindering other students from learning, and by being allowed to

disengage by the authority figures were showing other students that doing so was

completely acceptable. This created a feedback loop of distraction that started at the

beginning of every 45-min period and ended with the whole class being completely

disengaged from the lesson at the end of the period. This school was the second one I

had observed, and I became concerned; was Dr. Huntley’s program a stand-out? Were

most elementary schools like this and did I just get lucky with the first one I had found?

This was eventually disproven to me as I did more observing, but this particular

observing session had shown me the importance of setting boundaries and

expectations in class. On top of this, before beginning her lessons, the teacher had

told me she was having a bad day, and I could tell that the students knew something

was off, and thus knew they could get away with more. This confirmed that even
elementary students are extremely aware of minute changes in their teacher’s

behaviors, and are willing to exploit those changes.

This brings me to my next topic: what were ways that teachers managed their

classes? This is what I was most interested by when I went into elementary schools- I

remembered how unruly high school band could get at times, and also thought about

how messy my cousins’ kids can get, and wondered about how teachers managed to

get 20 students not to destroy a room full of instruments, much less learn things. I

found that there are many effective ways to get students to focus, pay attention, and

learn effectively. Along with the classic hand signs, raised hands, and claps or quiet

coyotes to get students’ attentions, there were many techniques I never would have

thought of. One thing I completely forgot about was line order. Every school I went to

had a line order, and each teacher I observed utilized this line order to manage their

students. They took attendance, had students get or put back instruments, or stand in

neat circles using this line order. As the order is common knowledge, the students can

easily complete tasks in an organized manner rather than random chaos. Another

unexpected challenge I never expected even needed a solution is just how specially

unaware small children are. I thought it was strange how often Dr. Huntley needed to

remind kids to “walk safely” or “don’t lean in your chairs” until I saw one trip or fall

backwards from a chair. Classroom management is something I had never considered

too much, as I was much more concerned with the content of the lessons or the music,

but turns out elementary school students need a little extra help sometimes.

Along with successfully being able to manage the class, I found many other

common techniques that the educators I observed used to effectively teach. One big
one was the space that they taught in. As I said before, the negative observing session

I had took place in a corner of an auditorium which was very clearly put there as an

afterthought. There was a small whiteboard, a couple of instruments, and some small

posters on the wall. The fact that there was a lot of space for students to potentially

wander off to was not conducive to learning. All the other teachers had spaces that

were far more conducive to learning. Dr. Huntley’s room had large, readable posters

everywhere, ranging from famous composers to different musical styles and their

defining characteristics. The room had a ring of chairs, a whiteboard, and many

instruments from marimba to djembes. Kelly Graeber’s room was set up in stations

that the students would rotate through, with each station having its own materials and

purpose. Anthony Spano’s room had many guitars, keyboards, a piano, and a drum

set, along with a smart board. Each of these rooms helped convey that the students

were there to participate in music and solely music. Another thing I saw that all the

teachers used was a way to electronically amplify their voice. This had two benefits: it

allowed the teacher to be heard better, and in some cases, reign in the class when they

were being too loud, and it also helped hearing-impaired students to hear better. All

teachers also used some form of interactive technology successfully in their learning.

Wether it be watching J-pop and dancing, having students tap along using rhythm

sticks to basic rhythms on youtube, or using a smart board to allow students to drag

and drop the names of guitar parts onto a diagram, each teacher used technology to

successfully impart information. Many times, it was used to engage the students more,

like playing popular songs or videos. Students today are growing up in a more and
more technologically literate and dependent world, and when they see at a young age

that technology can be used to create music, they become more interested.

Lastly, I’d like to discuss something that I observed that inspired me, not just as

an observer and potential elementary school teacher, but as a future educator and

musician in general. Dr. Huntley’s class, and our later discussion, showed me just how

much educators can inspire students. As I walked into her class for the first time, two

things stood out to me: there was a transgender pride flag flying next to the American

flag, and there was a poster highlighting queer pop artists. This caught me extremely

off guard, as I not only had only recently come to terms with my own gender identity

and sexuality, but was raised very Catholic, and despite rejecting my old beliefs,

thought that talking about this kind of stuff with little kids seemed a bit much. As Dr.

Huntley and I chatted between classes, I found out that the school’s principal was

transgender, and ever since, the school had seen an uptick in students coming out. I

found this extremely surprising, and at the same time, realized that there is absolutely

no reason that students should be barred from this information. I knew that I was not

male when I was in grade school, and had I grown up in an environment such as this, I

would have been much more confident and secure person. Dr. Huntley was also quick

to point out that if teachers do not just highlight queer identities and positivity in, say, a

social studies class, but in all aspects of young students’ learning, it will become more

normalized, there will be less apprehension, confusion, and bullying, and those

students who discover themselves to be queer will be far more comfortable being who

they are. As an educator, I have always been concerned with injecting my personal life
and identity into my education, but this showed me that to not show pride and be who

I truly am is a disservice to my students.