Journal 11

This week we talked about creativity in storytelling. We learned different ways to incorporate music into story telling. We did sound effects to a story,Played instruments, sang songs, and created instruments for a story. We learned that through story-telling we can learn other educational things like science, math, social skills, etc. This can help student develop good counting skills and many other learning experiences through story-telling. We also had students learn new instruments and play instruments to stories. This help students learn musical skills along with each story. We learned that even our trash can be used as instruments for a story. These different experiences helped us to extend our minds and be creative with what we had to work with. While doing these activities students can benefit from musical skills and concepts in addition to other school subjects. Students can also learn that you can do multiple things and learn multiple thing with each story. Binary is a musical concept that is two sections A and B. The sections can be Chorus and the other can be verse. We learned this concept through story telling and incorporating a song in the story. We listened to this old man and that is an example of binary. We have also listened to another song this week that would be an example of binary. This week we also learned the last note of the recorder. We practiced that and also played songs with that note. I wish we would have had more time to work on our group project as it is very difficult for students to get together outside of class due to different daily schedules. Creativity has helped us to develop a better idea of how to incorporate music in any subject. We learn there is multiple things that can be learned through story-telling and music.

Journal 10

This week we continued discussing the topic of creativity in the classroom. We reviewed some of the activities we did in the past and also learned new activities that we could incorporate into our classrooms. We did a new activity this week that showed us how students can use their creativity. We read the book The Listening Walk by Paul Showers. Each student was giving an object and they had to come up with a sound that represents that object. A student was assigned to read the book while the other students made their assigned object noise. This would give students the opportunity to be creative with their different noises they wished to make. Reading this story gave every student the opportunity to participate. We also did another activity that took a childrens song and incorporated that into the story that was read. The teacher took the melody to the song and changed the words to some of the words in the book. This helps make the stories more interesting and gives the students the opportunity to not only listen to the story but to participate as well. The activities we learned this week showed us how to incorporate music into storytelling and also use the students creativity. Students can use their creative in any story that is told. This will help the students ideas to be used but also a learning experience for the students as well.
Student learning is enhanced in activities like this because the teacher presents the students with a problem that needs to be solved. In the case of The listening walk, the teacher present the students with objects and the students had to come up with an appropriate sound that corresponds with that object. Student learning gives students the opportunity to incorporate their ideas with the problem the teacher presents. Student learning also brings out the creativity in the students as for they have to come up with different ideas. Student learning is a great way to create a lesson which would really bring out the creativity in your students.
We also used our recorders this week. We learned the E note and combined that to play a nice melody with other notes we learned.

Journal 8

This week we talked about creativity and child. Its extremely important for children to be creative in the classroom. When children become creative it not only makes the class more interesting but also keeps the students interested and involved. It important for children to be creative because it helps with the childrens memories and helps them use their ideas. I think students learn a lot more when they use creativity because they expand their thoughts and ideas.
We can help children use creativity with learning different notes on the recorder and having them come up with different songs or melodies. Children can also use creativity by creating a steady beat or rhythm for a song or story. Students can also create different musical instruments with different craft or materials. All of these things students can do with just using their creativity. Students will find that class will be a lot more interesting when children just use their creativity. Students can even create their own songs. Children can do anything if they just use their minds and be creative!

The culture that I will be researching is the polish culture. I will be researching different aspects of the polish culture including music, dance, food, religion, stories, and much more. I look forward to learning more about the polish culture and their beliefs.

Journal 7

This week, we had our first test. In order to get prepared for this test, I used the study guide and other students in the class to help me prepare. I was able to use past assignments and in class notes to review for the test. I felt that reading the music and being able to tell the different notes was difficult for me. With not much of a music background I found it quit difficult to understand how to read the notes and what each note was. I found the most difficult was solfegee. I wasn't at all prepared for that or knew what this concept was. I thought that a lot of the stuff that we read in the book was easy. It was more terms and you could understand it with no musical background.I felt if I had more of a musical background this would have been a lot easier for me to understand. For me the best way to prepare for the test was to do the study guide and have students from the class review with one another.

So far this semester, we have learned different teaching styles for students. We also learned how to write a lesson plan. Not only were expected to write a lesson plan, but then present it to a group of students. We learned five different notes on the recorder (G A B C D). We also learned the treble clef which is also known as a G clef. We emphasized a lot on steady beat and rhythm. We also learned rhythmic notations and melodic icons. I feel that we covered a lot of material this half of semester but at times were rushed through things in order to cover all the topics.