Mariachi Instruction in Support of Literacy

Richard Carranza is the Superintendent of the Northwest Region in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada. While principal of Eldorado High School, he has overseen a decrease in the school’s dropout rate and increase in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the state’s proficiency requirements in English/language arts and math.

“So, how will this program help our school achieve its academic improvement goals?” This is probably one of the first questions the intrepid music educator is asked when proposing the creation of a mariachi program. This question is even scarier when it is posed during an evaluation conference while discussing an existing program.

Research shows a strong correlation between music education and increased student achievement in core content areas and the development of higher order thinking and reasoning skills. For example, a study reported in the Journal of Research in Music Education showed that students enrolled in high-quality music programs performed 22 percent better on English and 20 percent better on math standardized tests than students not in music programs (Johnson and Memmott, 2006).

In 2006, MENC commissioned Harris Interactive, Inc. to conduct a nationwide poll of public high school principals to assess the links between the quality of a school’s music programs and the school’s known educational outcomes. The poll revealed that schools with music programs—especially those with high-quality programs—have significantly higher graduation rates and attendance rates than schools without music programs. See MENC’s “Why Music Education?” page for more research on the benefits of music education.

The music educator must be armed with an arsenal of tools to provide literacy-based, high-yield instruction that engages students in mastering musical concepts and acquiring literacy. A well-structured mariachi music program, like any well-structured music education program, should strongly support a school or district’s literacy goals. With that in mind, I’d like to offer some tools for your instructional toolbox.

Literacy development is predicated upon active student participation in the processing of information and the use of writing at every opportunity. The following tools provide students with an opportunity to process information that has just been presented, viewed, or encountered through direct hands-on experience. These activities and strategies may be adapted as needed.

3-2-1 Activity

After presenting an explanation or demonstration of a topic, for example the typical song form of a canción ranchera such as “Ella,” pass out index cards and have each student list

• 3 important terms or ideas to remember
• 2 ideas or concepts they would like to know more about and
• 1 concept or skill they think they have mastered.

This activity is excellent for quickly checking on student mastery and progress.

Ticket out the Door

Pass out half-sheets of paper five minutes before the end of class or rehearsal. Ask each student to write one concept that they learned well today and two questions that they still have or concepts that they don’t yet understand. This activity is valuable not only when checking for understanding at the current lesson’s conclusion, but also when reintroduced as a review at the beginning of the next class.

A Note to a Friend

At the end of an explanation or demonstration, ask each student to write a note to a friend explaining a process, concept, or rule they have just learned. For example, let’s say you have just taught beginning mariachi guitar students how to play the I–IV–V chords in the key of G Major. Students would then describe, in detail, how to play a G major chord:

“To play a G major chord, you must begin by placing the first finger of your left hand on the fifth string, on the second fret. This creates the note B. The next step is to place your second finger on the sixth string, on the third fret. This creates the note G. The final step is to place your third finger on the first string, on the third fret. This creates another note G. It’s very important to arch the fingers so that they don’t interfere with the D, G, and B notes you will play on the open strings when you strum the chord.”

Again, this is an excellent check for understanding while providing content-specific opportunities for students to engage in writing.

K–W–L Groups

(What students Know, what they Want to know, and what they Learned)

One of the most useful tools for preparing student mariachi ensembles for performance is to watch professional mariachis “in action” on video. “K-W-L” groups are effective in preparing students to maximize the educational experience derived from viewing of videotapes, films, and even PowerPoint presentations.

Before viewing, have students work in groups of three to five. You might choose to group the students by instrument section—violins, trumpets, and armonías. Each group is asked to compose a log, listing things they already Know about the subject of the video, along with what they Want to know about the subject or questions they Want answered. Then show the video or film to the class.

Afterward, have the groups revise their logs, circling the Known information that was covered, putting asterisks next to questions that were answered, and listing additional facts or concepts they Learned as a result of their viewing experience. Depending upon how well the “Ws” and “Ls” match up, the various groups’ logs form the basis for implementation of the desired lesson from the video.

Cornell Notes

The Cornell Note-Taking System was developed by Walter Pauk at Cornell University as an effective tool for his students to use for recalling and reviewing lecture information. In the years since its creation, Cornell Notes have become a standard format for note taking in many English language arts classrooms in the No Child Left Behind era.

The Cornell Note-Taking System uses a five-step process: record, question, recite, reflect, and review. The system structures the notes page into several segments that facilitate the notetaking and studying process. Students use the cue column (one-fourth of the page’s width on the left-hand side) to list key terms. They record sentences and phrases in the note-taking column (three-fourths of the page’s width on the right-hand side) and use a two-inch row across the bottom of the page to summarize the lecture after class (Pauk, 2001, p. 238-239).

The Cornell Notes format provides a useful structure for note taking in the mariachi classroom—particularly when direct instruction is required. As principal, I encouraged all my teachers—across the curriculum—to implement this system. Teachers in certain areas, such as physical education and the arts, were initially skeptical, doubting its relevance to their subject matter. I responded by challenging them to adapt the note-taking document to fit their specialized needs. In this way, they came to feel a sense of ownership of the system, while reaping the benefits it put within the students’ grasp. An adapted format for use in a music classroom might substitute a music staff for the notetaking column, for instance:

Cornell Note-Taking System, adapted for the music classroom

Created by Steven New, Eldorado High School, Las Vegas, Nevada, 2006.

Substantial research shows that questions that require students to “analyze information (higher-level questions) produce more learning than questions that simply require students to recall or recognize information (lower-order questions)” (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). Bloom’s Taxonomy is the classic model used to classify the level of questioning from lower to higher levels:

Knowledge → Comprehension → Application → Analysis → Synthesis → Evaluation.

Devising music-related writing assignments to engage students at the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy is a great way to incorporate literacy-based activities within the mariachi classroom. For some question starters and potential activities for each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, click here.

We must remember that the mariachi classroom is, above all, a classroom. Providing writing opportunities is key to supporting literacy goals. Compared with our colleagues in the “core content” areas, we mariachi teachers have perhaps the best precondition for engaging students in the writing process. Our students really want to be in our classes—they have already bought into it! It is my hope that the incorporation of some of the techniques presented here will help you make mariachi music education an invaluable vehicle for our students to discover and express both their musical and academic voices.

References

Bellanca, J. & Fogarty, R. (1990). Blueprints for thinking in the cooperative classroom. Palatine, IL: Skylight Publishing, Inc.

Gregory, G. & Chapman, C. (2002). Differentiated instructional strategies: One size doesn’t fit all. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Harmin, M. (1994). Inspiring active learning: A handbook for teachers. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Harris Interactive, Inc. (2006). Understanding the linkages between music education and educational outcomes.

Johnson, C.M. & Memmott, J.E. (2006). Examination of relationship between participation in school music programs of differing quality and standardized test results. Journal of Research in Music Education, 54 (4), 293-307.

Kagan, S. (1990). Cooperative learning: Resources for teachers. San Juan Capistrano, CA: Resources for Teachers.

Marzano, R., Pickering, D. & Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Pauk, W. (2001). How to study in college (7th ed). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Saphier, J. & Haley, M. (1993). Activators: Activity structures to engage students’ thinking before instruction. Carlisle, MA: Research for Better Teaching.

Saphier, J. & Haley, M. (1993). Summarizers: Activity structures to support integration and retention of new learning. Carlisle, MA: Research for Better Teaching.