Individual Assignment : Reflective Papers and Integrated Music Lesson Plan
Reflective Paper (Part II a)
What is your philosophy as a preschool teacher? How does your philosophy influence the way you teach music and movement to young children?
My philosophy as a preschool teacher is that I see myself as a “mind-expander” for the children. This means that I have the capacity to help the children see and experience all the beauty and the wonder that the world can bring to them, through their minds.
Children are curious and inquisitive by nature. By fanning this natural curiosity of theirs, I can be their vehicle to grow their four key developmental domains of the physical, the intellectual, the emotional and their social domain.
I therefore see music and movement as a very important method for me to reach out to the children. Teaching them music, especially for the musically-inclined, provides a new pathway for every teacher to gain access to the mind of that child. They can also be taught linguistic and numerical skills through music and movement, whenever lesson plans are integrated to include language and mathematical concepts.
Music and movement is therefore a crucial teaching tool for a preschool teacher like me to reach out to the children who are musically-inclined, or otherwise. I can enhance my lesson plans by integrating music and movement into other domains like language, thus increasing the effectiveness of my lessons to the children.
Reflective Paper (Part II b)
Discuss the challenges that preschool teachers will face integrating music and movement across the curriculum. Provide recommendations on how these challenges can be overcome.
The challenges that preschool teachers will face integrating music and movement across the curriculum are many fold. I would list the following challenges as the key ones, and offer the following recommendations to overcome each of them:
1. The preschool teacher is shy to perform music and movement with the children, for fear of being ridiculed by the children or their fellow colleagues.
I believe that this is the Number 1 inhibitor to teachers using more music and movement in their daily lessons. I am keenly aware of this because I felt the shyness within me during my own lessons in class, when they were conducted by my lecturer. This fear of being ridiculed in front of children (or even adults) cannot be over-emphasized in its importance in deterring preschool teachers from using more music and movement in their lessons.
But I now learnt that the best way to overcome this shyness is to literally and as stated in the ever-present advertisement of Nike, “Just Do It”. Some preparation before the lesson on music will also help greatly. If there are fellow teachers who can join you in performing your dance and movements, and critiquing them as well, then, all the better.
2. The preschool teacher is untrained in music and feels inadequate to teach music to the children.
Feeling inadequate because one is not trained in a specific knowledge area is very natural, when one is asked to share that knowledge. It therefore stands to reason that some formal training in music and movement will help significantly in improving the confidence of a preschool teacher in delivering it to the children. In fact, some basic understanding on music will go a long way towards upping that confidence in every preschool teacher.
3. The preschool teacher is not supported with the right musical equipment by their centre.
This is a perennial problem. But it is a real issue, nonetheless. Preschools have to be prudent in their spending and musical equipments are by no means inexpensive. However, if the benefits of teaching music and movement are well understood by the management of the preschool, funding will be readily made available, especially if they understand that learning music is also learning other domains like numeracy and language at the same time.
4. The preschool teacher does not have the time to find (and learn) the songs that would interest the children, due to her workload in class.
The old adage that “Time is what you make of it”, rings true in this case. Preschool teachers have to embrace music and movement as an effective tool in growing a child. Once this is fully understood and internalized within the psyche of the teacher, I am sure that the time spent on finding new songs to reach out to the children of her class, will manifest itself.
5. Unfamiliarity with the songs will also hamper the preschool teacher from using them for her children.
This challenge is true with almost all new endeavours in life. But the unfamiliarity can be overcome if there is a will to learn new things, on the part of the preschool teacher. Who would have thought that I would be performing hip-hop at this stage in my life in front of other adults, as unfamiliar with hip-hop as I was, at the beginning of my own lessons last month? This is an excellent example of having the will and determination to learn something new, and in doing so, things become familiar.
6. The preschool teacher is fearful of singing out of tune in front of her children.
Singing comes naturally to children of preschool age. They appear to not worry about whether they sang in tune or off key. Such an attitude by children should also be adopted by preschool teachers. Children appreciate the enthusiasm shown by teachers when the latter are singing, more so than care for the tune itself. This in itself, is a lesson for all preschool teachers.
7. The preschool teacher thinks the parents of the children prefer to have more of their children’s time spent doing worksheets, rather than in listening to or singing songs.
Within the context of Singapore, this perception may well be true. But I believe that it is borne out of ignorance on the part of the parents. So if teachers can reach out to parents by showing them how their children have learnt numeracy, for example, better when combined with music and movement, I am of the opinion that the parents’ views will change, for the better. This challenge is indeed a real opportunity for teachers to increase their own interaction with parents themselves, which therefore becomes a side benefit for the teacher.
8. The curriculum of the preschool itself may have a much stronger emphasis of all areas of teaching other than music and movement, therefore giving the teacher the impression that music and movement is of lesser importance to the management of the centre.
This situation may well be true in some preschools. However, in almost all forward-looking preschools, the emphasis on music and movement is always discernible, and they are proud to say so to the parents of the children in the class. The management of the preschools who are not inclined towards music and movement can therefore be swayed to make changes, if teachers in those schools continue to influence the thinking of management by showing them positive results. Slowly but surely, the views of management will change, for the better.
9. The preschool teacher does not fully understand the enormous developmental benefits that a child can get by being exposed to songs and movements in class.
This challenge can be easily overcome if preschool teachers are willing to entertain new ideas and keep their minds open. Attending music lessons that are targeted at children of preschool age may be a worthwhile venture for some of these doubtful preschool teachers.
10. The preschool teacher feels that music and movement should be delivered to the children through enrichment programs offered by other service-providers external to the centre services.
If this situation is present within a preschool, I feel that it is incumbent upon the management of that preschool to help their teachers understand the real benefit of providing these music and movement lessons in-house, as opposed to farming it out to other service-providers. This is a straightforward matter of educating the teachers themselves, and the management should take the initiative to do so.
Integrated Music Lesson Plan (Part 11 c)
(A) Theme : Animals and the Railway
(B) Subject Areas : 1. Music and Movement 2. Art and Craft
(C) Age Group : N2 – K1 (4 - 5 years old)
(D) Number of Children : 12
(E) Duration : 40 minutes
(F) Prior Knowledge : Children know various animals and the MRT.
(G) Objectives :
1. To move rhythmically to the song and to the words of the rhyme, “Piggy on the Railway” ( to the tune of “Eensy Weensy Spider”).
2. To draw and paint the images of the rhyme/story.
(H) Materials :
(i) Words of the rhyme
(ii) Art paper
(iii) Water colour palettes
(iv) Brushes
(v) Aprons
(I) Procedure:
(i) Tune-in Activity:
1. Teacher will invite the children to sit in a semi-circle.
2. Teacher to ask the children to describe their favourite animal:
- what is it?
- why do they like it?
- what colour is this favourite animal?
3. Teacher will write on the whiteboard the animals and the colours of the animals, as said by the children.
(ii) Main Activity (include 3 questions you would ask children):
1. Teacher will begin by saying out loud the rhyme and to ask the children to listen carefully.
2. Teacher to ask the children to follow the movements of the teacher, as the teacher sings the song for the 2nd time.
3. Teacher will ask the children, “Would you all like to do this song again?”. The teacher to then repeat step (2).
4. Children to now do the rhyme and movements by themselves.
5. Teacher to then form 2 groups of 6 children, with one group performing the rhyme and movements, as the other group watches. This will be repeated by switching the role for each group.
6. Teacher to ask the children : “Are you enjoying yourselves, children?”
7. With an emphatic “yes” from the children, the teacher will then ask the children to do the rhyme and movements, one last time. Children to sit down after this, and have a drink from their water-bottles.
8. Teacher to distribute the art paper to each child, with their water colour palettes and brushes.
9. Teacher to ask the children : “Do you remember the rhyme and the story in it?”
10. Teacher to then ask the children to draw and paint whatever images they can think of that they like about the rhyme, or whatever pictures that come to their mind when they think of the rhyme.
11. Teacher to allocate 30minutes for this painting activity.
12. Teacher to announce that there are 5 minutes left before asking the children to finish their work samples.
(iii) Closure:
1. Teacher to ask the children which part of the singing of the rhyme thay enjoyed the most and why.
2. The children will each be asked by the teacher to describe what they have painted, while the rest of the class listens.
(I) Followup:
To extend this Lesson Plan into the Language domain, the teacher will ask the children in the class to remember, speak and then write the 4 key words of the rhyme :
1. Stones
2. Bones
3. Fair
4. Care
This will be done with the guidance of the teacher.
Appendix
(A) Words of the Rhyme (sung to the tune of “Eensy Weensy Spider”):
Piggy on the railway
Picking up stones
Down came an engine driver
Broke his bones
“Aah”, said the Piggy,
“That’s not fair”
“Oh”, said the engine driver
“I don’t care”
Reflective Paper (Part II a)
What is your philosophy as a preschool teacher? How does your philosophy influence the way you teach music and movement to young children?
My philosophy as a preschool teacher is that I see myself as a “mind-expander” for the children. This means that I have the capacity to help the children see and experience all the beauty and the wonder that the world can bring to them, through their minds.
Children are curious and inquisitive by nature. By fanning this natural curiosity of theirs, I can be their vehicle to grow their four key developmental domains of the physical, the intellectual, the emotional and their social domain.
I therefore see music and movement as a very important method for me to reach out to the children. Teaching them music, especially for the musically-inclined, provides a new pathway for every teacher to gain access to the mind of that child. They can also be taught linguistic and numerical skills through music and movement, whenever lesson plans are integrated to include language and mathematical concepts.
Music and movement is therefore a crucial teaching tool for a preschool teacher like me to reach out to the children who are musically-inclined, or otherwise. I can enhance my lesson plans by integrating music and movement into other domains like language, thus increasing the effectiveness of my lessons to the children.
Reflective Paper (Part II b)
Discuss the challenges that preschool teachers will face integrating music and movement across the curriculum. Provide recommendations on how these challenges can be overcome.
The challenges that preschool teachers will face integrating music and movement across the curriculum are many fold. I would list the following challenges as the key ones, and offer the following recommendations to overcome each of them:
1. The preschool teacher is shy to perform music and movement with the children, for fear of being ridiculed by the children or their fellow colleagues.
I believe that this is the Number 1 inhibitor to teachers using more music and movement in their daily lessons. I am keenly aware of this because I felt the shyness within me during my own lessons in class, when they were conducted by my lecturer. This fear of being ridiculed in front of children (or even adults) cannot be over-emphasized in its importance in deterring preschool teachers from using more music and movement in their lessons.
But I now learnt that the best way to overcome this shyness is to literally and as stated in the ever-present advertisement of Nike, “Just Do It”. Some preparation before the lesson on music will also help greatly. If there are fellow teachers who can join you in performing your dance and movements, and critiquing them as well, then, all the better.
2. The preschool teacher is untrained in music and feels inadequate to teach music to the children.
Feeling inadequate because one is not trained in a specific knowledge area is very natural, when one is asked to share that knowledge. It therefore stands to reason that some formal training in music and movement will help significantly in improving the confidence of a preschool teacher in delivering it to the children. In fact, some basic understanding on music will go a long way towards upping that confidence in every preschool teacher.
3. The preschool teacher is not supported with the right musical equipment by their centre.
This is a perennial problem. But it is a real issue, nonetheless. Preschools have to be prudent in their spending and musical equipments are by no means inexpensive. However, if the benefits of teaching music and movement are well understood by the management of the preschool, funding will be readily made available, especially if they understand that learning music is also learning other domains like numeracy and language at the same time.
4. The preschool teacher does not have the time to find (and learn) the songs that would interest the children, due to her workload in class.
The old adage that “Time is what you make of it”, rings true in this case. Preschool teachers have to embrace music and movement as an effective tool in growing a child. Once this is fully understood and internalized within the psyche of the teacher, I am sure that the time spent on finding new songs to reach out to the children of her class, will manifest itself.
5. Unfamiliarity with the songs will also hamper the preschool teacher from using them for her children.
This challenge is true with almost all new endeavours in life. But the unfamiliarity can be overcome if there is a will to learn new things, on the part of the preschool teacher. Who would have thought that I would be performing hip-hop at this stage in my life in front of other adults, as unfamiliar with hip-hop as I was, at the beginning of my own lessons last month? This is an excellent example of having the will and determination to learn something new, and in doing so, things become familiar.
6. The preschool teacher is fearful of singing out of tune in front of her children.
Singing comes naturally to children of preschool age. They appear to not worry about whether they sang in tune or off key. Such an attitude by children should also be adopted by preschool teachers. Children appreciate the enthusiasm shown by teachers when the latter are singing, more so than care for the tune itself. This in itself, is a lesson for all preschool teachers.
7. The preschool teacher thinks the parents of the children prefer to have more of their children’s time spent doing worksheets, rather than in listening to or singing songs.
Within the context of Singapore, this perception may well be true. But I believe that it is borne out of ignorance on the part of the parents. So if teachers can reach out to parents by showing them how their children have learnt numeracy, for example, better when combined with music and movement, I am of the opinion that the parents’ views will change, for the better. This challenge is indeed a real opportunity for teachers to increase their own interaction with parents themselves, which therefore becomes a side benefit for the teacher.
8. The curriculum of the preschool itself may have a much stronger emphasis of all areas of teaching other than music and movement, therefore giving the teacher the impression that music and movement is of lesser importance to the management of the centre.
This situation may well be true in some preschools. However, in almost all forward-looking preschools, the emphasis on music and movement is always discernible, and they are proud to say so to the parents of the children in the class. The management of the preschools who are not inclined towards music and movement can therefore be swayed to make changes, if teachers in those schools continue to influence the thinking of management by showing them positive results. Slowly but surely, the views of management will change, for the better.
9. The preschool teacher does not fully understand the enormous developmental benefits that a child can get by being exposed to songs and movements in class.
This challenge can be easily overcome if preschool teachers are willing to entertain new ideas and keep their minds open. Attending music lessons that are targeted at children of preschool age may be a worthwhile venture for some of these doubtful preschool teachers.
10. The preschool teacher feels that music and movement should be delivered to the children through enrichment programs offered by other service-providers external to the centre services.
If this situation is present within a preschool, I feel that it is incumbent upon the management of that preschool to help their teachers understand the real benefit of providing these music and movement lessons in-house, as opposed to farming it out to other service-providers. This is a straightforward matter of educating the teachers themselves, and the management should take the initiative to do so.
Integrated Music Lesson Plan (Part 11 c)
(A) Theme : Animals and the Railway
(B) Subject Areas : 1. Music and Movement 2. Art and Craft
(C) Age Group : N2 – K1 (4 - 5 years old)
(D) Number of Children : 12
(E) Duration : 40 minutes
(F) Prior Knowledge : Children know various animals and the MRT.
(G) Objectives :
1. To move rhythmically to the song and to the words of the rhyme, “Piggy on the Railway” ( to the tune of “Eensy Weensy Spider”).
2. To draw and paint the images of the rhyme/story.
(H) Materials :
(i) Words of the rhyme
(ii) Art paper
(iii) Water colour palettes
(iv) Brushes
(v) Aprons
(I) Procedure:
(i) Tune-in Activity:
1. Teacher will invite the children to sit in a semi-circle.
2. Teacher to ask the children to describe their favourite animal:
- what is it?
- why do they like it?
- what colour is this favourite animal?
3. Teacher will write on the whiteboard the animals and the colours of the animals, as said by the children.
(ii) Main Activity (include 3 questions you would ask children):
1. Teacher will begin by saying out loud the rhyme and to ask the children to listen carefully.
2. Teacher to ask the children to follow the movements of the teacher, as the teacher sings the song for the 2nd time.
3. Teacher will ask the children, “Would you all like to do this song again?”. The teacher to then repeat step (2).
4. Children to now do the rhyme and movements by themselves.
5. Teacher to then form 2 groups of 6 children, with one group performing the rhyme and movements, as the other group watches. This will be repeated by switching the role for each group.
6. Teacher to ask the children : “Are you enjoying yourselves, children?”
7. With an emphatic “yes” from the children, the teacher will then ask the children to do the rhyme and movements, one last time. Children to sit down after this, and have a drink from their water-bottles.
8. Teacher to distribute the art paper to each child, with their water colour palettes and brushes.
9. Teacher to ask the children : “Do you remember the rhyme and the story in it?”
10. Teacher to then ask the children to draw and paint whatever images they can think of that they like about the rhyme, or whatever pictures that come to their mind when they think of the rhyme.
11. Teacher to allocate 30minutes for this painting activity.
12. Teacher to announce that there are 5 minutes left before asking the children to finish their work samples.
(iii) Closure:
1. Teacher to ask the children which part of the singing of the rhyme thay enjoyed the most and why.
2. The children will each be asked by the teacher to describe what they have painted, while the rest of the class listens.
(I) Followup:
To extend this Lesson Plan into the Language domain, the teacher will ask the children in the class to remember, speak and then write the 4 key words of the rhyme :
1. Stones
2. Bones
3. Fair
4. Care
This will be done with the guidance of the teacher.
Appendix
(A) Words of the Rhyme (sung to the tune of “Eensy Weensy Spider”):
Piggy on the railway
Picking up stones
Down came an engine driver
Broke his bones
“Aah”, said the Piggy,
“That’s not fair”
“Oh”, said the engine driver
“I don’t care”
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