I have landed a great observation gig at a high school in Utah County. The cooperating teacher is plain awesome and I am learning a lot by watching him at work. So that I might remain objective on this blog, I'll not mention where I am just in case something negative comes along. I don't anticipate that happening because this guy is right on the ball and I'm completely in love with his program and his execution of it.
The focus of our Educational Psychology class lately has been metacognition. Metacognition is a fancy term for thinking about... wait for it... thinking. Yep, thinking about thinking and being aware of where your thinking is taking you. This is a fun process to watch in these choral classes. Mr. Choir (That's what I'll call my mystery co-op teacher.) often starts his classes with a "braindance." The kids pat their opposite limbs with their hands from finger to shoulder. Then they try some physical brain teasers. For example, bringing the index finger of the right hand and touch your nose. Then, take your left hand and grab your right ear. Got it? Now switch hands so your left-hand touches your nose and the right-hand grabs your left ear. Now do it quickly! How fast can you go? It's more difficult than it seems! The teacher then briefly explains HOW this activates their brains and WHY that using the whole brain is important.
During rehearsals, Mr. Choir often asks students questions that encourage metacognition. Vocal music can be quite "mental" as we internally visualize leaps and steps with the voice. We think about moving up an escalator or a set of stairs (depending on your personal fitness level) while heading down a scale to keep us from ending up under pitch? Why does this work? If you answered this question, then welcome to metacognition! It's questions like this that encourage the students to understand why they think about something and how their thinking can make a huge difference as they engage with the music.
Another element that is employed in the music classroom is that of the Cycle of Self-regulated Learning. This cycle - setting goals, monitoring performance, reflecting on the performance, and using those results to begin the cycle again. This cycle is most prominent in most rehearsal situations. Mr. Choir sets a learning target on the whiteboard and then explains what it means. Then, after each portion of the rehearsal, he asks how the students felt about how they moved towards the learning target and then evaluates how they can do better and then, they run it again. Many times music teachers use these tools intuitively and it is great to have labels for what we are already doing.
The focus of our Educational Psychology class lately has been metacognition. Metacognition is a fancy term for thinking about... wait for it... thinking. Yep, thinking about thinking and being aware of where your thinking is taking you. This is a fun process to watch in these choral classes. Mr. Choir (That's what I'll call my mystery co-op teacher.) often starts his classes with a "braindance." The kids pat their opposite limbs with their hands from finger to shoulder. Then they try some physical brain teasers. For example, bringing the index finger of the right hand and touch your nose. Then, take your left hand and grab your right ear. Got it? Now switch hands so your left-hand touches your nose and the right-hand grabs your left ear. Now do it quickly! How fast can you go? It's more difficult than it seems! The teacher then briefly explains HOW this activates their brains and WHY that using the whole brain is important.
During rehearsals, Mr. Choir often asks students questions that encourage metacognition. Vocal music can be quite "mental" as we internally visualize leaps and steps with the voice. We think about moving up an escalator or a set of stairs (depending on your personal fitness level) while heading down a scale to keep us from ending up under pitch? Why does this work? If you answered this question, then welcome to metacognition! It's questions like this that encourage the students to understand why they think about something and how their thinking can make a huge difference as they engage with the music.
Another element that is employed in the music classroom is that of the Cycle of Self-regulated Learning. This cycle - setting goals, monitoring performance, reflecting on the performance, and using those results to begin the cycle again. This cycle is most prominent in most rehearsal situations. Mr. Choir sets a learning target on the whiteboard and then explains what it means. Then, after each portion of the rehearsal, he asks how the students felt about how they moved towards the learning target and then evaluates how they can do better and then, they run it again. Many times music teachers use these tools intuitively and it is great to have labels for what we are already doing.
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