Choral Methods: Hayes Middle School Observation

Doug Armstead. An incredible musician, and an incredible teacher. The two things are separate, but when together, they create an unstoppable addition to the music and educational world.

We first began with seeing an energetic and fun-loving Josh Gronlund teach the group of almost 60 girls! He began at the piano having the vocalize up and down. There was a large incorporation of movement. He used analogies as if they were going out of style. His method of classroom management during the warm-ups matched up very similarly with Doug's. He would NOT try to talk over the ensemble, but rather he would voice his disappointment and say that he was willing to wait for them to begin behaving. When he would do a movement that he wanted the whole ensemble to mimic and he had a student that would not be matching, Josh would make a joke about it. He would do the movement and then look at the way his body was quizzingly and make a thoughtful sound. He would say something like, "huh, I thought for sure my arms were straight..." And then once the student(s) who was out of alignment fixed their position he said, "oh, there we go." He cleverly made the management into a joke rather than calling out the students which established the atmosphere and learning environment for these students. Josh also frequently modelled for the students which is something that we have learned and has been reinforced in our classes here at MSU.

Doug seamlessly took control of the classroom and began to run the warm-ups. Josh would stand in the classroom and give as much if not more energy than Doug. After they finished warm-ups they moved into sight-reading. He utilized technology so that he would be able to design the type of sight-reading that he wanted and knew they needed to practice. This is a great way to hone in and help your students practice where they are weak.

Another interesting thing that they incorporated in the classroom is the reading for the day. They had a quote Doug reasoned would help improve the students in their daily lives, something that would lead them to becoming better people. They also had to include math in their daily routine by

While they were running the songs he picked out one student to compliment and said that we can all do what she is doing. And that was a way to not call out the other students for not doing a good enough job, rather positively affecting one student.

Armstead's overall teaching methods led to a positive environment for his students. He neither called them out for their behavior nor did he let them slack on their work. His motto is "WHAT WE TOLERATE BECOMES OUR STANDARD." I believe this to be completely upheld in his classroom. He did not let his students slack off in his classroom. He is a very capable teacher.