Houston Nelson

10/28/2014
Assignment #15 Kodaly Rhythm Reflection
My plan helped me most by giving me a good sense of direction over the course of the
lesson. There were times when I adjusted because I had not taken the students reactions into
account when charting out my lesson plan. While college age students are able to pick up on the
beat and concepts I was introducing at a relatively fast pace, children would struggle in the same
situation. Dr. Stauffer coached me through breaking down these steps into reasonable sized
chunks at certain points of the lesson, the first being in my initial teaching of the song. I set up
the atmosphere well by first having students echo clapping the song rhythms phrase by phrase.
However, I quickly led into having them pat the beat without first assessing their knowledge of
the song.
After this adjustment, I was able to continue following my plan for the most part. I
introduced popsicle sticks and asked different questions than I had planned in order for a
smoother process. I realized that I had not truly integrated the enactive process before the
popsicle sticks, so we clapped through the song several times.
In the popsicle stick phase of the activity, I adjusted and had the learners tap,
sing, hum and think progressively to build this part of the method into the experience. I had to
adjust by mirroring the learners as we tapped, sang, hummed, and thought through the song
progressively. I consider this iconic portion of the lesson to be successful. At this point I did not
have to stray significantly from my lesson plan and the ideas I presented were clear and
cohesive. I asked questions and provided comments based on the students ideas and responses to
my teaching.

In the symbolic phase of the lesson when we introduced eighth note bars

and pipe cleaner half notes, I also modified accordingly to how the students constructed their

own versions of long and short notes. We found new ways to make the connection between ti-titi-ti ta-ta and the respective eigth and quarter notations based on student input.
I noticed that I could have definitely provided more positive
reinforcement to the learners. I did make eye contact and was inviting in my body language and
vocal tone during the experience while I was not referring to my plan. Yet when the lesson
shifted from what I envisioned it would be to actuality, I struggled at times to maintain the
structure. I will definitely keep the end section where the children sing the song one last time
while they clean up the popsicle sticks because this ends the experience with music making and
keeps them on task with an activity in the process. I would refine the way in which I introduce
the physical beat of the song in the enactive phase and how I ask flexible, open-ended questions
during the iconic phase to drive the lesson more around the students needs and abilities and get
them to think more about what is happening. Student understanding and focus in these two stages
is especially essential to keep that interest when symbols replace familiar icons.
My goal for the next teaching assignment is to keep the flow of the lesson
going and adapt to the learners based on their prior knowledge, interests and needs. I notice that I
often provide instruction through statements like, Lets see if we can make this line into long
and short beats, rather than How can we show these long and short beats with the popsicle
sticks? Children respond to instruction much better when they are given a defined question or
problem to solve rather than a statement with the same instruction, which comes across as vague
in their minds. I could also make my positive reinforcement more effective by complimenting
individuals who are participating well or finding original ways to depict musical elements rather
than saying, Great job, you guys, as I do almost every time after they follow directions in the
video.