Theresa Perez

Student Teaching Block 3

Student A Observation and Adaption

Student came in to the school just last year ago not speaking any English from the
Philippines. She was placed in accelerated English learning program at her high school and has
learned the language at a quick pace through integration and exposure. During choir she is
particularly quiet but participates in singing each day with excitement and willingness to
participate and learn. It is evident that she looks forward to choir each day as something that
improves upon it, and it is a positive experience to work with her and help her grow.

When transitioning to a new country there are so many things that change. One thing
that is relatively consistent between cultures is music and singing. While the context changes
and the repertoire is different, singing is essentially universal. It has the opportunity to allow
people to connect across cultures and language barriers. It has also been correlated in some
research to help people learn new languages and interact with them in a way that might be
more familiar. It allows for the use of text revolving around universal themes and helps build
vocabulary. It can also contribute to a better understanding of a language’s syntax and sentence
structure.

During class I have also noticed that student A has a tendency every once in a while, to
look around and check student response to different instruction. To me it seems almost as if
she is waiting to make sure she properly interpreted instruction. Along with this, she tends to
be a more visual learner with instructions, watching classmates and working by following them
and teacher visuals. While she may have had this language barrier, that doesn’t mean she isn’t
understanding almost everything we do. There is an inherent advantage in teaching music
because there is plenty of unique dialect and lingo that are specific to the class that everyone is
learning together. This means that most things in the course can stand to be explained a little
more in-depth and reviewed frequently. She understands musical symbols and notation, and if
they are put on a visual display, she seems to understand them as well as the rest of the class.

In a classroom with so many students, there are only some things that can be directly
planned and accommodated for. With student A in particular, her improvements mean that she
can actively participate in the class with minimal limitations. However, this type of challenge
can still be adjusted for in a classroom in a non-interruptive manner. One way to do this in a
choir classroom is trying to teach more non-verbal lesson plans. One thing I observed in college
was my choir teacher lead whole activities in 7 words or less. While in a high school classroom
this might not be as effective in practice but trying a mostly silent lesson plan might be
something worth implementing at least once. Students tend to pick up on things faster than we
expect, and even if the experiment isn’t effective it would be a learning opportunity for me as
the teacher and for the class.

Another tool that could be employed is offering plenty of visual aid as well as more
interactive instruction. Having the class all move toward something, she catches on well. This
means that things that can be made kinesthetic or appealing to more than only auditory
 Theresa Perez
Student Teaching Block 3
teaching could be implemented more frequently in the classroom to help facilitate a better
rounded understanding to the content.