Elementary General Music Lesson

Earlier in the semester, I was assigned for MUED 271 to come up with an activity with my classmate, Ailish Hall (link to her portfolio post here). We were assigned to create an activity for the kindergarteners attending the event. The national anchor standard we were given was number 3 and stated that students will be able to, "Refine and complete artistic work". For this event, all of the students at the elementary school were able to go around into different classrooms were JMU students had stations set up with different activities. In this post I have inserted a video of Ailish and I demonstrating our lesson plan for the activity. 

​
​When creating our activity we had to keep in mind the developmental stage at which the kindergarteners were at, their mental capabilities for that age group, and fine motor skills. Ailish and I settled on planning an activity based on a percussion circle. We decided that given the general music education they most likely would have received at that point it would be manageable for the kindergarteners to understand basic rhythms and sound production for simple percussion instruments. For our activity, we demonstrated rhythms and had the kids copy them on the drums. Then we had the kids get into groups and come up with their own rhythms. 

When we facilitated the activity at the actual event, it went slightly different than planned. Some of the groups of kindergarteners we had enjoyed creating their own, unique rhythms and demonstrating them for their friends. However, some had difficulty paying attention, and a few students had difficulty copying the rhythms we demonstrated. With the groups that didn't participate in the small group creative activity portion of our lesson plan, we finished our lesson plan in under 10 min. To make up for the time, Ailish and I had the kids follow our lead and play at loud and soft dynamics. The students responded really well to this activity and had a lot of fun. 

If I had to do this experience again I would make it a little less technical and more simple and engaging. I would incorporate more actions on the students part so the teacher does less explaining. I noticed when I talked in the activity that is where the students were less engaged. Overall, I really enjoyed the experience and I learned a lot more about how to teach that age group.