Below is a small part of a paper I submitted as part of a class on collaborative and cooperative teaching. Nothing to do with our task at hand but maybe some thought-provoking stuff!
Daddy V
Reflection Paper
Or
What I Did Over Summer Vacation
I’ve been teaching general music classes and band in elementary, middle school and high school settings for 30 years. To say I knew nothing about collaborative or cooperative instruction before this class would certainly not be the truth – I just never called it that! In the case of band class, the very nature of the class makes it both collaborative and cooperative. As I am quick to point out to administrators, schools get a lot of “bang for their buck” from band directors (and choir directors, for that matter). Consider this if you will. A typical middle school band for me will include 40 – 45 students. Each of these bands is automatically divided into 9 different small groups: flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, French horns, trombones, baritones, tubas, and percussion. Each small group (section) member is responsible for the “right notes” in their own section as well as having large group responsibilities to the band as a whole. Small group responsibilities break down even further when you consider, let’s say, a clarinet section of 10 members where two members are assigned to play from one music stand. This creates 5 more small groups within the small group within the larger group - the band. To further complicate matters, each instrument is played differently and in different clef signs and keys. In a math class, an instructor may write “2 + 2” on the board and the answer of “4” will be the same for each member of the class. In band, a “C” written on the treble clef staff is played differently by each treble instrument and would be confusing to bass clef instruments who don’t read treble clef notes. Teaching 9 different sections in band is very close to teaching 9 different subjects at the same time, all of which must reach a common goal (performance) together. As I stated before, by its very nature band (and choir) class is, in my opinion, the ultimate “large group-small group-collaborative-cooperative” learning environment.
Thoughts, comments, prayer requests?
Daddy V
Reflection Paper
Or
What I Did Over Summer Vacation
I’ve been teaching general music classes and band in elementary, middle school and high school settings for 30 years. To say I knew nothing about collaborative or cooperative instruction before this class would certainly not be the truth – I just never called it that! In the case of band class, the very nature of the class makes it both collaborative and cooperative. As I am quick to point out to administrators, schools get a lot of “bang for their buck” from band directors (and choir directors, for that matter). Consider this if you will. A typical middle school band for me will include 40 – 45 students. Each of these bands is automatically divided into 9 different small groups: flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, French horns, trombones, baritones, tubas, and percussion. Each small group (section) member is responsible for the “right notes” in their own section as well as having large group responsibilities to the band as a whole. Small group responsibilities break down even further when you consider, let’s say, a clarinet section of 10 members where two members are assigned to play from one music stand. This creates 5 more small groups within the small group within the larger group - the band. To further complicate matters, each instrument is played differently and in different clef signs and keys. In a math class, an instructor may write “2 + 2” on the board and the answer of “4” will be the same for each member of the class. In band, a “C” written on the treble clef staff is played differently by each treble instrument and would be confusing to bass clef instruments who don’t read treble clef notes. Teaching 9 different sections in band is very close to teaching 9 different subjects at the same time, all of which must reach a common goal (performance) together. As I stated before, by its very nature band (and choir) class is, in my opinion, the ultimate “large group-small group-collaborative-cooperative” learning environment.
Thoughts, comments, prayer requests?
It sounds to me like a multi-Arms theory for a military.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with The Greatest French Horn Player.
ReplyDelete