INTASC Standard #6
Communication Skills
The teacher
uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal, and media
communication techniques to foster active inquiry,
collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom.
Great teachers
must be great communicators. Using fewer words is more
effective than giving lengthy explanations of what I would
like students to do. A simple nonverbal communication
technique that saves time is writing the page number on the
board. I point to the page number written on the dry erase
board while the students are getting their books and listening
to the piece that we are going to be using for the lesson.
This simple process saves me from telling 12 students turn to
a particular page in the text.
Nonverbal
communication helps with classroom management. Students know
that when I pause during a lesson, I am waiting for them to
get quiet before I continue on with my lesson. An important
part of communicating with so many different grade levels is
gearing my vocabulary to age of the students I am teaching at
a particular time. During student teaching, every grade
learned about the Composer of the Month. I would adjust and
adapt the stories and listening activities according to the
grade level of the class.
The media
communication I used regularly during student teaching was
Powerpoint. Our music classroom was equipped with a TV
connected to the computer so that they entire class could see
the pictures of the composers from the Internet. Students
enjoyed being able to see pictures of what Mozart, Handel,
Copland, and Beethoven. Using this technology helped The
stories of the composers come to life in the minds of the
students.
Beethoveen Powerpoint
Presentation
I also used the overhead projector in my lessons. There
were times that I used transparencies to help point out
specific items from a piece of music in the book. When all the
students are looking at a piece of music on the overhead it is
easier make sure that students are looking at the same symbol
or note within that piece of music. Reading music is a visual
process and looking at a page in a book with little guidance
can be overwhelming to students. When I point to specifc notes
and symbols on the tranparency I can guide them in the process
of reading music. Here is a transparency that I made for a
lesson using the song Aiken Drum. This lesson focused on
reading the notes ABC.
Aiken Drum Lesson Plan
Aiken
Drum Transparency
While student teaching, I learned that in any lesson it
is important to model exactly what you want students to do. It
is sometimes helpful to model the wrong why to sing or play
and then model the correct way so that students can compare
the difference. Then it is important to give specific feedback
on how well they are accomplishing what they have been asked
to do. While rehearsing the music for our CD, time was spent
running class like a choir rehearsal. We would always review
proper vocal technique and go over ways to improve the tone
quality.
Preparing
for the CD pictures
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