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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING TEAM REPORT

2011-2012

PLT Title

|Teaching Kids to Sing |

Blurb for PLT Conference Brochure

|In our culture, singing skill is widely believed to be something you’re born with or without. In reality, however, everyone with the ability |

|to speak can also learn to sing well and in a healthy way. The elementary music teachers are on a quest to teach every single child in the |

|BPS to use his or her singing voice in a healthy and fulfilling way. This year, we implemented a method in 4th-grade music classes called |

|Teaching Kids to Sing by Kenneth Phillips. This method teaches each student to use his or her body, breath, ear, voice, and song to become |

|successful singers. Our PLT explores the value of this program relative to our existing elementary music curriculum with an eye towards |

|standardizing some aspects of vocal pedagogy within the district. |

Contact Information (Write * next to facilitator’s name.)

|Name |School |Grade Level or Subject |

|Craig McMahan* |Wellington |K-4 Music |

|Christine Servilio |Winn Brook |K-4 Music |

Guiding Theme

|Differentiated Instruction/RTI |

|Integrated, Real-Life Experiences |

|Acquisition of 21st Century Skills |

|X Deepening Teacher Content Knowledge |

|Improving School Climate/Culture |

|X Teaching the “Whole Student” |

|Other (explain) _______________________________________________________ |

Inquiry Question

|“How do we adapt our approaches to the teaching of singing in order to ensure that all students learn how to use their healthy singing voices |

|and own the tools for a lifetime of healthy singing?” |

Process

|-Identify problem: not all students learn to sing in a healthy way before they leave elementary school |

|-Identify goal: all students will learn to sing in a healthy way before they leave elementary school |

|-Identify study group: 4th grade students |

|-Plan interventions: use Kenneth Phillips’ Teaching Kids to Sing method in 4th grade music classes in order to achieve goal |

|-Design lesson plans using the exercises and knowledge gained from the TKtS method |

|-Collaboratively practice teaching the exercises before implementing them in class |

|-Implement 15-minute lessons following this method each week in music class |

|-Informally assess students throughout the year on the 5 categories of singing: body, breath, ear, voice, song |

|-Narrow focus on the areas each teacher felt was lacking in his or her classes |

|-Implement lessons focusing on exercises in those areas |

|-Assess value of the method’s effectiveness in reaching the goal |

Findings

|-The exercises focusing on body/posture and breathing were most helpful in teaching students techniques that are somewhat counterintuitive |

|(deep, diaphragmatic breathing; engaging breath when singing; improving personal potential for breath control) |

|-The exercises focusing on energizing the ear were useful but could also be replaced or augmented with exercises from Conversational Solfege |

|and other methods already used by BPS music teachers |

|-The exercises focusing on energizing the voice were very useful in helping students identify 3 distinct registers of their voices: upper, |

|middle, and lower. These exercises helped both teachers and students look at singing from a scientific standpoint (which cartilages and |

|muscles are used for the human voice) and helped reduce the abstract and confusing aspects of teaching/learning to sing. |

|-The exercises focusing on energizing the song met with mixed reviews. Sometimes they were helpful in teaching specific songs, and sometimes |

|they seemed to take more time than they were worth. |

|-Overall, many more students have been able to understand and demonstrate proper posture and breathing for singing. |

|-Also, more students are willing to try and practice using different registers of their voices since they know how their voices work and why |

|they need to practice all 3 registers. |

Recommendations / Next Steps

|-Streamline lessons using the TKtS method so that they are less time consuming but still as effective |

|-Adjust lessons so that they can be used in other grades in school—some of the exercises can be used as early as grade 1 |

|-Seek out other techniques and visual aids to make healthy singing less abstract and easier to understand for young students |

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