Chapter 10 questions to consider

Which of the learning activities/skills can you think of that lend themselves to learning through modeling?

How might self-efficacy and self-regulation contribute to the intervention plans you use in your case study?

     In my field, modeling is extremely important.  If a musician does not have a musician to listen to, then he or she will not develop as well.  Humans are not naturally born knowing what a trumpet is supposed to sound like, so if a student begins playing the trumpet, his or her tone quality will never develop if he or she does not listen to experienced players.  This can be seen in the way that instruments sound different in different parts of the world, because that is the desired sound in that region, learned by listening to others from the region.

     Self-efficacy and self-regulation are what makes the student desire to develop in this way.  The student has to desire to sound good on his or her instrument, and has to have the self-regulation to listen to recordings of professional players, and imitate their tone quality.

Chapter 9 questions to consider

How would you define successful mastery of your lesson objectives from a behavioral view of learning?

Consider your CSEL intervention case study. Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case? What are they?

     In music, the students strive to be complimented on their performance.  If students are playing out of tune and missing notes, and the teacher allows this to continue, then the expectations are not set high enough and the students will continue this behavior.  When playing out of tune is not allowed by the director, the students begin to engage more and realize that just playing and not listening is not good enough.  This active listening results in a much better quality band program, and much better quality musicians. 

     I would say that in band, the behaviorist tools are more for rewarding the musicians for playing well.  It is not often that the musicians need to be convinced to sound good, as all musicians want the band to sound good, so rewarding them for playing well tends to have better results than punishing them for  playing poorly.  Some "old school" directors go with the philosophy that you tell the band they are playing poorly until the day before the competition where you tell them they are playing excellently.  From experience playing in bands with directors of this mentality, the students realize what the directors are doing, and the meaning of the criticism and compliments diminishes.

Chapter 8 questions to consider

Consider a lesson plan you might use. Which metacognitive skills/abilities are involved as students gain facility/knowledge in this domain?

Think of an activity or lesson component that explicitly teaches one or more metacognitive and one or more problem solving skills.

     A lesson plan that I would use would consist of using a piece of music to emphasize a certain aspect of playing an instrument.  For example, a beautiful lyrical piece of music such as Perthshire Majesty by Samuel R. Hazo, can be used to work on phrasing and expressiveness.  Though the notes in a slower song are easier to play, many students overlook the fact that slower music is actually more difficult to play well.  Slower pieces of music emphasize tuning, phrasing, and tone quality, all important aspects of playing an instrument.  In a slow piece of music, the students must constantly be listening to themselves and the others around them, thinking "is this the best tone I can have" and "am I in tune with the ensemble?"  The slow music gives the students the oppurtunity to really focus on specific aspects of playing their instrument.

Chapter 7 questions to consider

Make a list of the sequence of skills necessary for ultimate mastery of the content of your lesson through a constructivist approach. 

 

Which of these learning activities/skills lend themselves to student’s individual or group construction? How might you structure learning activities that lead students to discover these skills/these principles?

     To fully master playing a musical instrument, there are many things that must be learned in specific order. 

For this example, I will use my primary instrument, the trumpet.  A trumpet player must first understand how the trumpet produces sound, which is the lips vibrating in the mouthpiece.  The player must also understand the importance of air when producing the vibrations.  Then the student has to understand what a desirable tone should sound like, which is learned from hearing good players, and work to develop that sound (this takes years of development).  Once the student is playing their instrument, the student must learn to read the notes of the staff, then rhythmic notation, then meter notation, tempo notation, dynamic notation, and finally stylistic notation.  Most of the words written in music are in Italian, and therefore nearly every word must be taught.  For example, music does not say "play loud" there is simply an f below the staff, meaning Forte which is Italian for loud.  From this point, the student will continue to develop for the rest of their playing career, developing style, interpretation, articulation, music theory, and several other aspects of music.

     All of these learning skills lead to develop both individual and group abilities.  The students are always progressing on an individual level, and during band class, the individuals come together to produce music as a band.  These learning activities are structured through daily classes, and each fundamental is worked before moving on to the next.  A student cannot learn different articulation styles until they can produce a sound, and cannot produce different rhythms if they cannot articulate the notes.

Chapter 6 questions to consider

What are the essential skills and/or learning outcomes you want your students to know and be able to do that relate to cognitive learning? 

 

How might your knowledge of the memory processes guide your instructional decisions? 

      The essential skills that I want my students to have, relative to my subject, is for them to actually understand what they are doing.  Many students come to band class, and play their instruments, but if they do not understand what they are playing, then they are not getting the full extent of the class.  Instead of just playing the notes written on the page, the students need to know what the music is made of.  I would like to offer a music theory course if the school allows, and teach the basics of music beyond what is being heard.  These basics include scales, harmonies, chords, and context.  If the students begin to recognize these aspects in the music they are playing, they can better understand and appreciate the music.

     For example, the set of pitches used in standard tuning, such as a piano, are adjusted so that all the notes are equally out of tune.  This way the instrument can play in any key, and all keys sounds the same tuning wise.  The way that the sound waves work, this tuning system is not perfect.  The reason it is set this way is because if a piano was set to a certain key, then all the other keys would sound out of tune.  Instruments and voices though, can make subtle adjustments to their pitches, and can place any note where it needs to be relative to the key.  In a chord, the third has to be slightly lowered to sound "correct" and if a student can recognize the theory behind the music he or she is playing, they will better understand why certain pitches have to be modified.

     Knowing the way that memory processes work, I can plan my educational patterns accordingly.  Sequencing instruction in a logical way is the only way for students to remember all the different aspects of the music theory behind the music they are playing.