Labuta, J.A., & Smith, D.A. (1997).  Music Education: Historical contexts and perspectives.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.  Pages 90-92, 104-107.

 

SUMMARIZE:

SELECTING LEARNING EXPERIENCES (pp. 90-92)

General Instructional Strategies

Ø       Expository Methods

·         Expository always is teacher-dominated

·         Lectures

-          Usually highly structured aural presentations, one-way, with little interaction

-          Outlines, study guides, summaries, work sheets, question/answer times all useful

·         Deductive teaching

-          Also expository, introduces generic rules, etc. from which students deduce specifics

-          Ex.: how to build major triad, show a couple, then students do a few

·         Demonstrating/modeling

-          Present example (live, video, picture, audio, etc.) and students imitate it

-          Trial and error learning should be allowed for refinement

Ø       Interactive Teaching Methods

·         Students learn by doing the whole time, not just listening

·         Teacher-students, student-student, materials/equipment-students, etc.

·         Combinations of discovery, discussion, and problem-solving techniques

·         Individuals maintain control over materials, pace, and learning

·         Discussion – most obvious alternative to lectures

-          Student-teacher and student-student

-          Three methods:

·         Entirely student discussions – free expression w/o concern for “goals”

¨       Teacher only helps to guide discussion

¨       Best with affective learning – not concrete info

·         When become too much teacher-dominated, become just answer/question sessions

·         Combination of two is best

¨       Teach can describe and ask about topic to be discussed, then allow discussion

¨       Help guide discussion

¨       Stop discussion once the students have nothing more to say about topic

·         Discovery teaching

-          Between lectures and unguided exploration

-          Students see, observe, “discover” something, and then use that to extrapolate specific rules, concepts, or principles

·         Guided, w/o “wrong” answers, but within guidelines – such as composition

A TEACHING/LEARNING STRATEGY (pp.104-107)

Ø       Model lesson plan presented next, with five steps:

Ø       Provide Purpose – Present and Clarify Objectives

·         Students must know intended outcome – they learn better this way

·         Interaction is always good, but know why they are doing something makes them care and try hard

·         They can also assume more responsibility this way

·         Suggestions

-          Tell students what they will accomplish

-          If applicable, give them printed objectives/goals

-          Sample questions

-          Examples/models

-          Question group periodically to check progress

Ø       Motivate – Secure Attention and Commitment

·         No commitment = no participation/response

·         No participation/response = no learning

·         No learning = bad J

·         Be very creative, even shocking!, with presentation techniques

·         Sincerity in value of material is often best way to sell it, however

·         Just keep kids thinking positively; don’t let frustration fester

Ø       Establish Learning Readiness

·         Remedial work may be necessary

·         At least just review past concepts briefly

·         Focuses attention on present material, helps direct learning

Ø       Provide Appropriate Situations and Activities

·         Use appropriate choices from the methods discussed earlier to teach

·         Planned activities need to be tailored to exactly fir the stated objectives

·         Focused experiences lead to learning

Ø       Provide Feedback on Performance

·         Questioning, observing, audio/video recording, etc. can be used to get student response

·         Small verbal or gesture can be appropriate response from teacher

·         Ignoring responses extinguishes them

·         Tests can be merely evaluative to see how learning is going and what may need to change

 

DISCUSS:

This material is all very interesting to me.  I have had many different experiences with different teachers in my past.  Most all of them have been positive, but nonetheless they’ve been different.  Many teachers have been good at responding to the students and keeping them involved, and those were always the more enjoyable classes, regardless of the material.  All kids have trouble concentrating on one thing for a long period of time; if that thing is of no interest to them, it is doubly hard.  I have also witnessed other kids totally tuning a teacher out because they were not involved and didn’t care, so they did not see a need to pay attention (okay, I must admit I’ve even done that at times J).  Also, I have been in a position of being in front of a group of people enough (I say it that way because I am not referring to only in teaching capacities) that I have already had some experience trying to balance interaction with instruction.  It is difficult most of the time; there’s no question about that.  But this reading only solidifies what I have experienced, and I will work to apply these strategies to my eventual teaching.