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Mare Island Technology Academy is a technology based school. The school opened for business in 1999 and did not offer its first music course until the spring semester of 2010. At the beginning of the fall semester of 2011, this was the only music course available at the middle school level. As school years passed, many students began to be re-enrolled into the course. Not only were students repeating the course, several new students who were enrolling in the course had previous music experience mixed in with beginning music students. There were no varying levels of music courses offered which led to lessons being differentiated to meet the needs of all learners but some students struggled more than others, engagement levels faltered, and students with different interests than in previous semesters needed to be catered to as well. Using best practices for the 21st century learner, how can we engage an audience of students with diverse learning needs within the music classroom?
To address the needs of all learners, students will produce and create instructional modules to assist other students within the same classroom and abroad, and create websites featuring genres and artists of their choice while sharing their knowledge and creative ideas for retaining music theory concepts such as music notation while increasing their retention as well. Students’ modules will include reflections and “take away” tools and tips on how they retain the information in addition to accessible Internet and downloadable resources.
To address the needs of all learners, students will produce and create instructional modules to assist other students within the same classroom and abroad, and create websites featuring genres and artists of their choice while sharing their knowledge and creative ideas for retaining music theory concepts such as music notation while increasing their retention as well. Students’ modules will include reflections and “take away” tools and tips on how they retain the information in addition to accessible Internet and downloadable resources.
Analysis of Problems and Opportunities
As one of the four electives courses offered and only being a semester long course at a technology based charter school, there have been high volumes of repeating enrollment of students within the same school year or the year after combined with new students enrolled in the same class period. It is also apparent that many students are simply placed into these electives courses because of scheduling conflicts and the lack of a variety of elective course offerings and also the fact that electives classes are not scaffold and are all beginning courses, several class periods become filled with students at varying levels of performance skills, engagement and interest levels, and diverse learning styles and needs to be addressed. The need to increase student engagement and retention of music theory concepts is evident. Engagement in a music class is crucial because learning music will benefit students by developing their 21st century skills; collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, and technology use in the music field. These skills are relevant to have as they will increase students’ skills that are needed in the 21st century workforce. Teaching music theory concepts with the infusion of specific technology will help with engagement. A way to do this would be to develop a project which students create instructional modules for helping other struggling students or any other beginning musician to retain music theory concepts; specifically reading music notation. This is turn will hopefully help with student engagement in the music elective class, while at the same time help with student retention of music theory.