Hey friends!
I recently went to Frank Hobbs elementary school to observe a music class. I was lucky enough to sit in on a kindergarten music lesson, a grade 4/5 ukulele lesson, and a grade 2/3 recorder lesson. It was such a great experience and I found it valuable to my understanding of teaching music in an elementary setting. I loved watching the kindies in their music class, they were so sweet and surprisingly attentive considering eight university students were watching them while note-taking on laptops. I noticed right away the teacher had the students sit around an indigenous blanket during their singing, this I found was a simple way to incorporate Indigenous ed into the music room. She also had students walk around the blanket counterclockwise, which I have learned is apart of Indigenous traditions.
One thing that really stood out to me was the layout of the classroom. It actually wasn’t even a classroom in the school, it was a portable. I thought that it was such a great idea because students are able to make as much noice as they want to while musicking without having to worry about disturbing other classrooms. I think it also enhances the excitement of going to music as students are able to slightly remove themselves from the formal learning environment of the main school building.
Another aspect of this day that I was intrigued by was their “Karate” style of learning. Both the 4/5’s and 2/3’s were using “Karate belts” as their learning benchmarks. By this I mean that students were working towards yellow belt in ukulele and they were being assessed one-on-one on their abilities, if they met the requirements they would receive a yellow elastic to symbolize their yellow belt in Karate ukulele.
Photo retrieved from Unsplash.com: Dorothee Kraemer