Week 4: LAST WEEK!!!

Last week of practicum was extremely fun for me because I got to experiment/explore new teaching strategies, in choir I learned the canine version of 12 days of Christmas, and my AT and I celebrated the end of my practicum with CHOCOLATE CAKE. I learned a lot from my AT. During my last week of practicum I also taught my All About Me lesson to the grade 7s. Since the students just started learning their instruments and standard music notation, it was hard for them to compose a song/tune like I did for my All About Me. So instead, I taught them about graphic notation  I had the students pick a song/tune from their music book and rewrite the song using graphic notation. The purpose of this lesson was to help students recognize same /different notes&pattern and learn about the shape and direction of notes. 

Here is my graphic notation example: 

Can you guess which popular tune this is? (Hint: The brown symbol is bread/bun)

Standard music notation of graphic notation above.

 And here is an example of a student's work:

"The First Flight"

I summed up the lesson by explaining and comparing standard music and graphic notation (both notation use symbols to represent certain things), the purpose of graphic notation (used as a working progress by famous composers, such as John Cage), purpose of the lesson and sharing with the students the working process and final product of My All About Me.

Week 1: Vivian

Week 2: Winzie

Week 3: YiLin

Week 4: Sai

10 Silly Monkeys Song

10 Silly Monkeys

Here come those ten silly monkeys
You do what they do

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Silly monkeys with their friends

Monkey one and monkey two
Monkeys do the hula hoop
Ee ee ah ah oo oo oo

Monkey three and monkey four
Monkeys skateboard to the store
Ee ee ah ah oo oo oo

Monkey five and monkey six
Monkeys jump a pogo stick
Ee ee ah ah oo oo oo

Monkey seven and monkey eight
Monkeys make a silly face
Ee ee ah ah oo oo oo

Monkey nine and monkey ten
Monkeys hug a monkey friend
Ee ee ah ah oo oo oo

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Silly monkeys with their friends
Ee ee ah a oo oo oo

This is a silly action song that I did with my grade 2 and 3 students. They loved it so much they want to sing it every class!  

Week 3: YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week has been a pretty good week. Students finally got the idea that I will be teaching them every class now and THEY ALSO REMEMBER MY NAME!!! I am not just "hey" or "teacher" anymore I am "Miss Kwong". And this gives me authority. Students now listen to me when I ask them to do or not do something. 

This week I also had many firsts. On Monday, Winzie, Jen and I attended our first official monthly staff meeting. It was nice to see what these meetings are about. During this meeting teachers and principals had to discuss, report and/or remind each other about certain things, such as what teachers and students will have to do for the school concert that is coming up in Dec, clubs, workshops, etc.

On Tuesday I tried teaching the whole day for the first time (4 kindergarten classes and 2 grade 2 classes). I was exhausted by the end of the day. So I do not know how my teacher can do this every day/week.

And on Thursday for the first time, my grade 3 class was fully engaged into the song we  were learning, the "Old Brass Wagon". I must admit this was quite a catchy tune.

I also taught/helped flute, clarinet and trumpet students with their band music for the first time . I find it extremely difficult to keep track of the parts each instrument is playing or has to play. I cannot imagine how stressful it would be to teach the whole band.

Week 2: Hectic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 2 has been extremely busy for me. I had to teach all the primary grades (K-3) in the morning and helped out the gr 7's & 8's woodwind sections in the afternoon. I also helped choir and band students prepare for the Remembrance Day Ceremony. This week I discovered that my AT as a music teacher has a lot of responsibilities. Not only does she have to teach she also has to prepare students and put concerts together for every major holiday/celebration. 

The day before the Remembrance Day Ceremony my AT was so busy that she had to ask me to teach all the morning classes on my own with a presence of a supply teacher because I was not allowed to be left alone with the students. My lessons worked out well and the students and I had a great music class together. 

But I noticed that the students were a lot noisier when my AT was not around. I had to use various classroom management strategies to calm and settle them down. One strategy that I used this week  to get the primary students attention was to say the words "FREEZE! .... And everyone may quietly sit down". This strategy gave me time to give out instructions or to transit to another activity. I look forward to the next two weeks of practicum because I know that everything will only get better!

Week 1: Rotary Music (Kindergartens, grades 1-3 and 7-8)

Week 1 ended awhile ago but I did not get a chance to reflect until today so here it is.....

The first day I walked in, my AT told me that I would not get to teach due to Halloween events and assemblies. "PHEW!" and Thank goodness I thought in my mind. But I was not that lucky the second day. I was asked to teach 4 kindergarten classes to make up for that first day (See "Practicum Day 2" post below). Then for the rest of the week I taught the grade 1s and observed how my AT taught the grade 2s and 3s. 

At first, I was very hesitant and absolutely terrified when my AT asked me to teach the kindergartens and grades 1-3 because they are learning vocal music and I know absolutely NOTHING about singing. Although my AT showed and asked me to follow the lesson plans in a song book that she uses, I find it difficult to sing the songs myself. So when I was doing my lesson plans I used some songs in that book and incorporated some of my own games/chants to reinforce the concept/themes in my lessons.  

Generally, I think my week 1 went okay and I do not think that my lessons were too bad. I also found that the kindergartens and grade 1s are much better listeners then grade 2s and 3s. So I have decided to incorporate some listening games/activities when I teach the second week hoping that the grade 2s and 3s will become better listeners by week 3.

^___^ ~ Amy    

MR.SO-MI

This is Mr.So-Mi. He is a puppet that my AT and I use to help primary students warm up their singing voices. For example, Mr.So-Mi (my AT or I) will sing "so-so-mi" and then the students will sing "so-so-mi" back to Mr.So-Mi". Mr.So-Mi is also good at getting the students' attention. 

Sometimes Mr.So-Mi will wear a different outfit or an accessory to signify a holiday or event is coming up in school. In the picture, Mr.So-Mi is wearing a "poppy". The poppy reminds the students that "Remembrance Day" coming. Having Mr.So-Mi wear a poppy also helped my AT and I start talking about Remembrance Day (i.e. Remembrance Day ceremony on NOV.11,  the meaning behind this day, why do we wear a poppy, etc.) And a question I used today to start off the conservation was "What is different about Mr.So-MI today?"   

Practicum Day 2 - November 1, 2011

So...I finally had the chance to do some teaching today! I was extremely nervous to teach four kindergarten music classes but I managed. Today's theme was a animals and singing with loud and soft voices. I taught them new songs, played a few musical activities/games, and read them a story that reinforced the music concept of the day. I found out that even though I taught the four classes the same lesson plan, some of the activities didn't work too well in certain classes. I either had to modify the activity or move on to another activity. But generally I think my day went pretty well.