Student Motivation
In my classroom I think the overarching goal for students is to be able to read and perform music as well as evaluate their performance, as well as others, to help them improve. In order to accomplish this in 4th grade we learn to play recorders. When we start I try to show students videos of what we will be working towards to give them a goal to look forward to. I also use recorder karate and students get a piece of yarn to tie onto their recorder each time they master a piece of music. At the end of the unit we get to take our recorders and play and sing along with the Kansas City Symphony at the Kauffman Center.
In an elementary room, giving students a recorder and pieces of string usually gets them pretty excited and they can't wait to try to get to the black belt. When we start working I tell students about my first experience with recorders and how I could not play them well at first and was not excelling at the same rate as the rest of my class. This frustrated me and some days I wanted to quit, but I kept trying and practicing and eventually passed most of the other students in my class. I think by sharing my story with my students it helps them to realize that I understand and they may not get it all right the first time.
This YouTube video is one that I found last year on how to motivate students with recorders. It is a little silly and out there, but the overall motivation tips are good and have helped in my classroom.
Throughout the recorder unit we have testing days where I have students come up one at a time and play for me to get their belts. While doing this I am able to see how students are doing and give them encouragement to keep trying or give them tips on what they could change to make their playing even better.
Students do not have to make it all the way to the black belt by the end of they unit, but they do need to be constantly improving, and this looks different for each student. When we play the white belt for the first time it sounds awful. But I record the students anyways using my phone or other recording device. They always ask me why I am recording them when it sounds so bad and my response is so they can hear how far they ave come at the end of the unit. During the last week of the unit I will play the recording for them. Sometime I get looks of surprise, other times I get laughter. Usually the students are shocked that they ever sounded like that and can't believe they thought the white belt was hard after all the other music we have played.
A dream of mine for my classroom would be to do an activity like this, but instead of the whole class, each student would record themselves individually. We have not done this in the past due to a lack of devices. I would love to have students record themselves the first time they play each belt and once they have mastered that piece of music. I think allowing students to hear the accomplishment is huge for them to see how far they've come and it helps to motivate themselves to achieve more. My job would be to provide encouragement and feedback along the way to reach their end goal. I think through this process I could work on being a better mentor to my students and help them to see their full potential.
In Jennifer Thomas' blog she has a list of ways the teacher can help students. She talks about being their biggest cheerleader, but the one that stuck out to me the most was "expect their best, not your best." Sometimes I get an idea in my head of what students need to accomplish and what they should sound like, but they most likely will not meet those expectations. Students need to set their own goals of what they want to accomplish and I need to do my best to help them reach those goals.
I think that by using a blended format in my classroom I would be able to help students succeed even more. One thing I wish I had was more time with students. Testing days go very quickly and I don't always get to see every student individually. In a blended setting, students could view videos on how to improve their playing, they could play games to help them recognize note names on the staff to improv their reading music skills, and they could record themselves for me to watch and give feedback outside of class if there is not enough class time. These are just a few ideas of how students could use a blended learning environment to improve their performance on recorders. I also think this would help me to see students more one on one and give more feedback or encouragement to help students achieve their goal.
In an elementary room, giving students a recorder and pieces of string usually gets them pretty excited and they can't wait to try to get to the black belt. When we start working I tell students about my first experience with recorders and how I could not play them well at first and was not excelling at the same rate as the rest of my class. This frustrated me and some days I wanted to quit, but I kept trying and practicing and eventually passed most of the other students in my class. I think by sharing my story with my students it helps them to realize that I understand and they may not get it all right the first time.
This YouTube video is one that I found last year on how to motivate students with recorders. It is a little silly and out there, but the overall motivation tips are good and have helped in my classroom.
Throughout the recorder unit we have testing days where I have students come up one at a time and play for me to get their belts. While doing this I am able to see how students are doing and give them encouragement to keep trying or give them tips on what they could change to make their playing even better.
Students do not have to make it all the way to the black belt by the end of they unit, but they do need to be constantly improving, and this looks different for each student. When we play the white belt for the first time it sounds awful. But I record the students anyways using my phone or other recording device. They always ask me why I am recording them when it sounds so bad and my response is so they can hear how far they ave come at the end of the unit. During the last week of the unit I will play the recording for them. Sometime I get looks of surprise, other times I get laughter. Usually the students are shocked that they ever sounded like that and can't believe they thought the white belt was hard after all the other music we have played.
A dream of mine for my classroom would be to do an activity like this, but instead of the whole class, each student would record themselves individually. We have not done this in the past due to a lack of devices. I would love to have students record themselves the first time they play each belt and once they have mastered that piece of music. I think allowing students to hear the accomplishment is huge for them to see how far they've come and it helps to motivate themselves to achieve more. My job would be to provide encouragement and feedback along the way to reach their end goal. I think through this process I could work on being a better mentor to my students and help them to see their full potential.
In Jennifer Thomas' blog she has a list of ways the teacher can help students. She talks about being their biggest cheerleader, but the one that stuck out to me the most was "expect their best, not your best." Sometimes I get an idea in my head of what students need to accomplish and what they should sound like, but they most likely will not meet those expectations. Students need to set their own goals of what they want to accomplish and I need to do my best to help them reach those goals.
I think that by using a blended format in my classroom I would be able to help students succeed even more. One thing I wish I had was more time with students. Testing days go very quickly and I don't always get to see every student individually. In a blended setting, students could view videos on how to improve their playing, they could play games to help them recognize note names on the staff to improv their reading music skills, and they could record themselves for me to watch and give feedback outside of class if there is not enough class time. These are just a few ideas of how students could use a blended learning environment to improve their performance on recorders. I also think this would help me to see students more one on one and give more feedback or encouragement to help students achieve their goal.
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