Impact on Student Learning Project

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to be able to teach the students about different types of

rhythms in three different ways. These different rhythms occur many times within the music that

they are working on for their fall concert, and will also give them some perspective for future

pieces of music.

Unit Plan: Before starting the lesson, I will ask the students to play a series of different note

values on their concert Bb, and I will grade them on their ability to play them properly (see

rubric below). Following up afterwards, throughout the course of three lessons I will teach the

series of notes rhythm in three ways - the first way will be by visually writing out the notation on

the white board and explaining how each rhythm should be played, and having them play the

rhythm on their concert Bb. The second way will be aurally singing the rhythm with added

pitches from do to sol so the students will then have to use their aural skills to recognize the

types of notes. The third way will be by aurally playing the rhythm with added pitches from do

to sol so the students will continue to use their aural skills to recognize the types of notes. The

students will be assessed once again on their ability to play the note rhythms and their ability to

recognize the pitches the same way as they were the first time.

Formative Assessment: To assess the students, I will be using a rubric (see below) to grade

them on their ability to play the series of rhythms with different notes. On a scale of 1-4 with 1

being poor and 4 being great, the students will be assessed on their initial abilities to play the

rhythms and recognize pitches properly.

Summary Reflection on the Process: When I asked the students to play the written out notation

on their concert Bb the first time, they picked up the rhythm rather quickly. There were only a

couple of students who were playing incorrect rhythms or playing in rests when they shouldn’t

be. Going into the first lesson, I wrote out a series of half, quarter, and eighth notes and visually

showed the students how the notes should be played and how they sound. I then explained

subdivision, and how each note is a division of the previous note and is twice as fast as the

previous note, and had the students clap the rhythm. More and more students got comfortable

with the lesson as time progressed, and they played the rhythms on their concert Bb just fine.

Moving on to the second lesson, I sang notes between do and sol with different rhythms and had

them repeat what I sang. This time, everyone was fairly confused with the task at hand. The

students did not recognize the pitches that I was singing, even though I sang them rather clearly

and accurately. The students were just not used to singing and relating vocal pitch to instrumental

pitch - also known as audiation. Finally, I played the different notes from do to sol and rhythms

on a marimba and had the students repeat the rhythms and pitches back to me. This time, all of

them played the rhythm well and with confidence, and were able to recognize pitches much

better. There were still a few of them that played some pitches incorrectly, but compared to the

singing portion it was a big improvement. If I were to do things differently, I would have

combined both visual and aural representations together and make one big lesson as opposed to

doing it in three different ways. I would have also related the rhythm to their music a bit more

and possibly made that the post test since the students were all comfortable with the rhythm by

the end of the entire project.

 Lesson 1

Objectives: The students will be able to play different rhythms by visual representation after

being exposed to them the first time.

Procedures: First, the students will be asked to clap half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes to

the best of their abilities. During which, I will explain the process of subdivision, and how each

new note being presented is half as long and twice as fast as the previous note. I will then have

the students play the rhythms that I write out on the whiteboard on their instruments on their

concert Bb. I will grade them as they play the rhythm.

Assessment: Students will be assessed formally for their ability to play the rhythms that I write

out, but will be assessed informally throughout the explanation of subdivision.

Reflection: The students did not seem to struggle too much with their abilities to play different

note values that I had written out. This proves that they are comfortable with reading music at the

stage that they are in. However, once I went in depth as to what subdivision was that was when I

started to lose them. Nevertheless, they played the rhythms with little trouble and will grasp the

concept of subdivision once they are exposed to different types of rhythms.

 Lesson 2

Objectives: The students will be able to play different notes that I will sing to them.

Procedures: First, I will review their first five notes (do through sol), as those are the notes that I

will be having them play back to me. I will then have the students play the notes that I have sang

for them, with different notes and note lengths.

Assessment: Students will be assessed informally based on their ability to recognize different

pitches and rhythms by utilizing their aural skills.

Reflection: The students did not seem to enjoy learning different note patterns this way. It is

probably because they were not used to relating their voice to their instruments. However,

introducing them to this concept now will help them develop their aural skills down the road.

Everyone seemed comfortable with the rhythms that I sang, however they struggled a little bit to

recognize the different pitches being sung.

 Lesson 3

Objectives: The students will be able to play a series of notes and rhythms that I play for them.

Procedures: First, the students will review their first five notes (do through sol). Next, I will

play different notes and rhythms on the marimba. If there were half notes being played, I would

roll them. After playing the examples, I would have the students repeat the rhythms and pitches

back to me.

Assessment: Students will be assessed formally on their abilities to play correct notes and

rhythms on a scale of 1-4.

Reflection: Compared to the previous lesson, they all seemed much more comfortable and

confident with their ability to play the rhythms and different pitches. This is probably because

they are used to listening to a note on an instrument and finding the pitch that way as opposed to

listening to a voice. The students averaged a four, with only two three’s. This group definitely

learns from experience, anot not from explanation - which is a good opportunity for me to

expand upon within my teaching.

 Pre/Post Assessment Rubric

The student is able to play accurate, precise rhythms and pitches after listening to an example

without any external aid.

4 - The student plays rhythm consistently with no rhythmic insecurities, and accurately identifies

all pitches.

3 - The student plays rhythm consistently with 1-2 rhythmic insecurities, and recognizes pitches

well with 1-2 wrong notes.

2 - The student plays rhythm inconsistently with 3-4 rhythmic insecurities, and recognizes

pitches decently with 3-4 wrong notes.

1 - The student struggles to play the rhythms and identify pitches precisely.