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INTASC Standard #5 |
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Classroom Motivation and Management Skills |
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[Headings for INTASC standards are taken from - |
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In an observation of a local elementary school, I talked to the teacher about her ideas and techniques for her students later in the day and keeping them under control. I observed a class proceeding their lunchtime and it was evident that they were rowdy and ready for the end of the day. However, this teacher did an amazing job of keeping the students under control and involved in the lesson. In discussions during MUSED351, we talked about the importance to add a variety of activities for students to keep them involved. I know from experience, that young kids, especially, need variety to keep them interested in what they are learning. Once you have the students’ attention, you can motivate the students easily by changing activities within a given lesson. Not only do we need to motivate our students but ourselves as well. During the semester I took MUSED352, we had several large projects: a lesson file that contained bibliographical information of pieces as well as objectives, prior knowledge, skills needed and grade level; and a curriculum project that contained a series of lessons (ex. Boa Constrictor and Bear Hunt), philosophy, rationale, materials list, and assessment tools. These were both projects that required me to motivate myself to start early and constantly be working on to accomplish. During Choral Literature, we talked about some of the managing aspects of a choral literature library. We started a choral database during this class that includes all the literature we reviewed in class, as well as some literature we picked to include. This database will be a helpful tool later in our careers because it is an easy way to see what music you do and do not own. Also, we are able to search for the music by any of the criteria entered, such as voicing, skills, concepts, or various other areas. Classroom management and motivation can really define a classroom; both are equally important in the success of every class. I feel that students respect teachers who have control of the classroom and the students yet are fair in their ways. It is important that the classroom does not become a complete dictatorship. I intend to encourage my students to share their opinions and suggestions for their class. Students who are involved in classroom decisions tend to be motivated to participate and are more respectful of their peers and the teacher. My choral handbook contains sections on attendance, grading, and classroom management. As you will see, the reward section of the classroom management section is not complete because this is just one thing I would like for my classes to determine for themselves. An observation from Muncie Central shows evidence that this teacher was able to keep students motivated even though some of them were not willing to work. Ms. Schmaltz conducted a girls’ choir and attempted to keep her girls motivated and involved. Some of her students were not excited about being in class, but see continued to encourage them and try to get them involved. While they worked on choreography they were very energetic and interested in what they were doing. I think that for this class especially the physical movement proved to be a true motivator for these students. Organization of a music program can be extremely vital to its success. There are a number of ways to do this. There are software programs such as Win Choir, and Music Maid that can be used to help organize any music classroom. This software contains programs for grades, inventories, music libraries, finances, attendance, awards, and much more. The software can organize and help manage the music program quickly and will take up less space than traditional paper systems. In my administering the music program class, we designed a budget for a pretend program of our choice. This budget assignment was cushy for choral programs because it was meant for marching band programs. So we had a maximum budget of $30,000; as you can imagine, mine never came close to that amount because of the needs differences between choirs and bands. We were required to write a letter to the school board, budget summary, and a budget description. This project gave me a good lesson in what it takes to manage a music program. A lot of thought and consideration needs to go into the budget because there are a lot of aspects that need to be considered.
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