Chapter 8: Questions for Annece

Question 1: What are some metacognitive activities we can incorporate into a band class?

Question 2: How can a band director require students to use higher-level thinking skills during a band class?
What can you do as a band director to help those students that struggle with higher-level thinking?

Post 6

I think service learning is a surprising application of constructivism in a band class. According to Ormrod, service learning is an activity that promotes both learning and development while working for the betterment of others and the community (Ormrod 232). I can show my students this by having my students give a vocal concert at a local nursing home. Even if my students are instrumentalists in a band, it is important for them to know how to sing. Band directors always say that if you can sing it, you can play it. I never thought that was true until I came to college and experienced it. Singing music, even if it may not sound absolutely beautiful, allows for much more expression and requires that the musician know the intervals and pitches, instead of relying on their instrument to hit the notes and intervals for them. The new knowledge of pitches, intervals, and natural expression through voice can then be transfered to the instrument. Not only does the student learn how to be more musical and musically accurate, the students are bringing joy to the elderly. At first, I think my students might react a bit negatively and wonder why the band director (me) is making them sing. My initial reaction would make a smart comment that if I wanted to sing that I would have joined choir. However, I think after a few rehearsals, the students might come to enjoy the singing practice and would have a lot of fun at the nursing home. Therefore, the students would be learning a new 'instrument' and new found musicality while contributing to the community.

Post 5

Behaviorism is basically learning and behavior explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships (Ormrod 285). Successful mastery through the eyes of behaviorism revolve around the behavior. First there are experiences with environmental stimuli. Learning involves a behavior change (Ormrod 286). I think that a personal behavior change shows successful mastery of a concept. When a concept is taught, a person can say they understand. It is not until they truly understand a concept that their behavior changes. If they do not understand, then they would have no motivation to change any part of their behavior. For example, say a student is taught about a difficult math problem. They may not understand and just sit in class and do not raise their hand to ask questions or answer the teacher's questions. If they do understand, the student might not have a blank face, be more likely to answer the teacher's question, and have the ability to teach other people the concept.

This concept that behavior changes is very important in the music world. In teaching instrumental music, asking the student if they understand is not always an accurate depiction of their real understanding. They need to explain it back to me or show me on their instrument before I believe they truly understand. Unless the student can show me with their behavior that they understand, then we as teachers may not correctly understand if they have mastery of a concept.

Social cognitive theory is basically that people learn from observing others and assume control of their own behavior (Ormrod 323). A social cognitivist would say that successful mastery of lesson objectives comes once the student has controlled their own behavior and has self regulated their own learning. Self regulation is part of social cognitive theory and is the process of setting goals for oneself and engaging in behaviors and cognitive processes that lead to achieving goals (Ormrod 325). Successful mastery is put into the hands of the students. They have to set goals for themselves and work at attaining those goals and that will show their mastery of a concept. The teacher can teach but unless the student has their own goals, there won't be successful mastery of a concept.

In band, this example can be shown through learning to play with good tone. The teacher can teach how to play with good tone and coach the student, but the student must self regulate his/herself to actually reach good tone. Good tone is all about the player, their observations, and their environment from a social cognitivist viewpoint.