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Courses
MUS 766 School Music Administration
Life of a Vocal Music Educator
School Music Administration provided me with many different tools that I find myself using regularly. I created a working budget that is submitted each year to our administrators for approval and the organization of the budget proposals has assisting me in receiving many things I am sure I otherwise would not have received.
I also created a document that organizes all of the choral music teacher duties and responsibilities at our school. This checklist is something that I use on a monthly basis as I plan and prepare my choral activities.
MUS 777 Curriculum Writing
Middle School Choir Curriculum
Curriculum Presentation Powerpoint
This music curriculum writing class taught me that there is much more to writing curriculum than I thought. The philosophy of music class and the curriculum writing class were closely related. There is reason and rhyme--and of course "philosophy" to the way one should write curriculum. Understanding the WHY of what we do is as important as what we do. This class helped me identify those reasons and my beliefs behind what I teach in my daily classes.
The project that I included here is one that I am very proud of. I researched and wrote a middle school music curriculum for my current school. This curriculum is one that spirals off of our Quaver Elementary Curriculum and bridges into our high school ensembles.
MUS 772 Research in Music Education
Research Paper: A Comparison of Global Self-Esteem in Sioux Valley High School Ensemble Participation Versus Non-Participants
Research Presentation Powerpoint
This research class was very intense and rigorous but I gained so much through it. I appreciated Dr. Van Gent's demand for "profession writing". We are professionals and our writing should reflect that.
I learned that as a music educator our research should never end. We should have those curious minds to do our own research by reading peer-reviewed articles and holding our own research strategies within our own power. We experiment daily in the classroom with what works or doesn't work with our students. This is just a taste of the kind of research and experimentation that we can continue doing.
My co-worker and I conducted research on Music Ensembles and Self-Esteem. Our findings found that those students in our music ensembles did indeed have higher self-esteem than those students that were not in a music ensemble class. Our full research results can be found in the attached documents.
MUS 735 American Music Survey
Final Paper
The American Music Survey class covered a variety of musical elements and influences that I didn't know even existed in the American music culture. It is important to know the musical influences of the American music history so that we have a clear understanding of how we have arrived at the music we have today. This course closely related to a music history class in that it took us through the composers of the decades and their influence on our music. My eyes were opened to various musical influences in our history that I was currently unaware of!
MUS 716 Technology for the Music Educator
Quaver's Creatives--Compositional Lesson PlansPowerpoint for the Creative's Project
This class was so beneficial due to the amount of technology that we learned and I am able to utilize them immediately in the classroom. The list of apps shared from the other students created a whole new area of exploration and opportunities for lesson planning as well. I had never used MuseScore before as I have Finale, but after exploring MuseScore I have found it to be more user friendly than Finale so I plan on using this much more in the future.
My technology project explored the many creative compositional apps that are available through Quaver's Marvelous World of Music Curriculum. I have had this elementary music curriculum for many years but have never had the time or opportunity to explore these apps, let alone use them in the classroom. My project includes 10 lesson plans and/or projects that use QGrooves, QComposer, QBackbeat, and student interactives. These ready-made lesson plans have already been added into my online lesson planbook. The project connect the standards and also includes "How to" steps in using these apps.
MUS 751 Advanced Conducting and Performance Practice
Teaching Music Through Performance Vol. 1 Outline
Chapter 3 Powerpoint Practical Performance Practice in the African American Slave Songs by Armstrong
This class allowed for face-to-face conducting feedback. The online conducting activities created situations where I had to watch my own conducting and evaluate it through new eyes. I received wonderful conducting feedback which allowed me to change a few things and make my conducting much more effective. I learned that I had a tendency to move my entire body when I conduct which can be distracting and can send the wrong message to my ensemble. I have found that less is truly more, thank you, Dr. Woods! I enjoyed the week long time on-campus and learned as much from my collegues as from my professor.
MUS 715 Music Theory Analysis Educator
Musical Analysis of Carnival of the Animals
Lesson Plans for Carnival of the Animals
This music theory class was a fantastic review for me regarding theory. Many of the items covered in this class I have not touched since college so I was in need of a refresher course! There were also many new theory concepts that I was introduced to throughout this course. For example, I have never had to "realize a figured bass" line before. This was a totally new concept for me. The weekly theory exercises we did were challenging, yet I found that with each week that passed I was becoming quicker at it.
The analysis I found very challenging and enlightening. I love the idea of digging deep into music and trying to figure out what makes it tick so I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of our project. As part of the project I created a series of lesson plans that accompanied what I learned through my analysis. I choose my project analysis on Saint-Saens "Carnival of the Animals". I wrote detailed lesson plans for this project and cannot wait to use them with my students!
MUS 785 General Music Pedagogy
Elementary Methods Overview Paper
Kodaly Lesson Plans for Old Joe Clark
Kodaly/MLT Lesson Plan for A Dinosaur (Aelion Mode)
Constructivist Lesson Plan
This General Music Pedagogy course helped me to understand the difference between a music theory and a music method or approach. MLT is a music theory that helps us to understand how students learn what they learn and when they learn it. A method helps us determine what exactly we should teach and how it is best done. We touched on the methods of Orff, Kodaly, Dalcroze, and Teaching Music through Understanding. The more I learned about each method, the more I realized I didn’t know! I thought I knew a lot about Kodaly but I found that I only knew the very basics. I’d like to look for specific training in this area and in the Gordon Method in particular so that I can continue to grow and develop in these theories and practices. I also hope to have the opportunity to participate in GIML in the future.
MUS 752 Advanced Rehearsal Techniques and Pedagogy
Composer Paper: Jeffery L. Ames
Warm-up Presentation
Annotated Bibliography
Advanced Rehearsal Techniques and Pedagogy taught me the importance of score study and provided a great guideline in approaching score study with the Hillis model. We conducted through the movements of the Schubert Mass in G after hours of our own personal score study. We realized quickly how important score study and preparation became when it was time to conduct.
During this course we also studied the purpose and reasoning behind how we use warm-ups in our music classrooms. We shared our warm-up ideas and strategies with each other on campus and I was able to gain multiple new warm-up ideas from my colleagues.
I prepared a paper on composer and conductor, Dr. Jeffery L. Ames. I have had the privilege of watching Dr. Ames work with my students as a conductor, I have performed several of his compositions, and studied under him as a clinician so I was excited to write about him and do research on him. He was kind enough to answer my questions via an interview by email.
MUS 743 Jazz Pedagogy and Technique
Lesson Plan: Introduction to Singing Swing Jazz
Jazz Lesson Video Links: Sixth Grade Choir
The Jazz Pedagogy course stressed the importance that we have as educators to keep the style of jazz alive through our students. Our students should be exposed to a vast amount of jazz listening as jazz is learned best by listening and copying styles, nuances, and articulations. We should not fear the teaching of improvisation but should strive for an environment where students overcome the fear of improvisation and become free to express themselves with their own style through soloing.
MUS 775 Historical Foundations/Trends in Music
Examining Learning Theories in Music Education
Personal Reflection on Theoretical Approaches in My Music Classroom
This was my final course of the graduate program and it has helped me to solidify the concepts learned in my research course, my general music pedagogy course, and my curriculum writing course. Through each of these classes I was exposed to MLT but this final course allowed me to dig deeper into MLT and see the importance of it as an actual learning theory.
For the past semester I have been focusing on the different learning theories and experimenting with lesson plans based on those theories of learning. I have used my elementary students as my testing grounds and have been fascinated by their learning and growth when teaching with proper understanding of these learning theories! I found that the Constructivists Learning Theory has helped me build learning activities that allow for musical problem solving. Students learn through discovery and therefore gain a greater musical understanding of the concepts. I have discovered the the Behaviorist Learning Theory allows me to create classroom management plans to encourage wanted behavior and discourage unwanted behavior. And most importantly, I have found that MLT provides a strong foundation for all music learning within my classes. The whole-part-whole process of learning has created stronger and more accurate singers in even my most youngest of students.
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