More than a third of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education.
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My students are tied to a daily life of evaluation and high stakes testing. They come to my classroom begging for something different than looking at a computer screen or writing with pen and paper. I evaluate my students, but in a much different way than most teachers. My music students create and perform music! My evaluations are tied to their musical creations and performances.
The students are learning a new language, called music. A young child learns language through experience, and my music teaching style is tied to this fact. A child’s first musical activities are tied to beat. Watch a baby respond to music, they bounce or flail their arms to the beat of their favorite song. A music student’s first experiences in my music classroom reflect this observation. Drums are the perfect instrument to guide the students through the beginning of their musical life. The addition of drums to my classroom will not only allow students the opportunity to build on their early rhythmic abilities, but it will also foster the ability to work together with other students and allow them something beyond pen and paper. Music is a universal language that is needed in our school's unique student population.
Several of the students that will be involved in this project have been identified as deaf or hard of hearing. Their experience in the music classroom can be challenging. Large drums will assist their experience through the visual of seeing other students hit with a large motion and through feeling the vibrations created with a drum. Their understanding of beat will greatly increase through classroom drumming exercises.
About my class
My students are tied to a daily life of evaluation and high stakes testing. They come to my classroom begging for something different than looking at a computer screen or writing with pen and paper. I evaluate my students, but in a much different way than most teachers. My music students create and perform music! My evaluations are tied to their musical creations and performances.
The students are learning a new language, called music. A young child learns language through experience, and my music teaching style is tied to this fact. A child’s first musical activities are tied to beat. Watch a baby respond to music, they bounce or flail their arms to the beat of their favorite song. A music student’s first experiences in my music classroom reflect this observation. Drums are the perfect instrument to guide the students through the beginning of their musical life. The addition of drums to my classroom will not only allow students the opportunity to build on their early rhythmic abilities, but it will also foster the ability to work together with other students and allow them something beyond pen and paper. Music is a universal language that is needed in our school's unique student population.
Several of the students that will be involved in this project have been identified as deaf or hard of hearing. Their experience in the music classroom can be challenging. Large drums will assist their experience through the visual of seeing other students hit with a large motion and through feeling the vibrations created with a drum. Their understanding of beat will greatly increase through classroom drumming exercises.