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This month’s feature article, “Differentiation and the Music Classroom” by Christina G. Lamb talks about differentiating teaching to reach different levels of student abilities. In this issue, you will also learn ways you can be an advocate for music education by circulating the Petition for Equal Access to Music Education, and see other announcements and opportunities.

As always, if you have comments, questions, or would like to share your chapter’s activities or recruitment strategies with us for publication in a future issue, e-mail Shauna Leavitt.

Differentiation and the Music Classroom

Christina G. Lamb is a music specialist at Burris Laboratory School, a K-12 laboratory school that is a part of the Ball State University Teachers College. She has a Doctor of Arts degree in Choral Conducting/Vocal Performance from Ball State University. She has taught at all levels of education, from kindergarten through college. Christina resides in the town of Fairmount, IN

The requirements of our educational system are constantly changing. One of the big pushes in education right now is teaching students who are gifted and talented (G/T). I teach music in a K-12 laboratory school. Whereas my elementary music and choir classes are not a concern for me due to the fact that the content of the classes can reach all students, my general music class is a concern. I know that I have students of all academic capabilities in the class, but I’m guilty of giving all students the same assignment. I’m sure that some of them are feeling bored and unchallenged, but I’ve never been sure how to remedy the situation without creating a whole lot more work for myself and a fiasco in the classroom.

This past semester I was offered the opportunity to take a class in gifted-and-talented education. It was an eye-opening course for me, and the techniques and strategies I learned have already proven to be invaluable. While there are several curriculum models one can use to teach G/T students, I found that the model that worked best for me is differentiation. Differentiation is a technique in which the teacher alters the curriculum to meet the needs of all students, wherever they are on the learning spectrum. Since the basic curriculum is the same for all groups, the workload is not increased. What is different is the type of assignments given to each of three different groups. While I cannot begin to share everything I learned in this article, I’d like to share some strategies that may help you better meet the needs of all the students in your class.

1) Plan your entire unit before you teach it. I’d never done that before, but I found it to be very helpful in deciding what particular concepts I wanted to focus on and in creating a better flow. It was also helpful in coming up with a variety of assignments for the students.

2) Make a list of the education standards that the unit will address. This will help you to find any educational deficiencies in your unit.

3) Evaluate each unit you are planning by writing down some answers to the following questions:

• What do I want my students to learn from this unit?
• What is the main concept of the unit?
• What are some of the smaller sub-concepts of the unit that are important for the students to understand?
   

4) Assess your goals for the unit by completing the following statement: As a result of this unit,

• the students will know….,
• the students will understand that…,
• and the students will be able to….

5) Find out what the students already know. By preparing some type of preassessment tool, you’ll find out if there are students in the class who already know the material you plan to teach. The preassessment tool could be in the form of a quiz, a worksheet, or merely some questions for them to answer. If you find out that there are students who already know the material, then you can give them an alternate activity. That way, you can keep them interested and on task instead of having them sit and be bored.

6) Come up with some creative introductory activities. Grabbing the attention of your students right at the beginning of the unit can help keep them focused and involved. Introductory activities can be as simple as some guiding questions or as complex as you want to make them. Put your creative juices to work and come up with some fun and interesting activities. The goal of the introductory activities is to catch the interest of your students before you even begin teaching them. If you can accomplish that, then they will more than likely be more interested in learning the material.

7) Develop a variety of teaching strategies. To meet the needs of all of your students, use a variety of strategies that are student oriented. Lecturing to your students while they take notes is not an effective way to reach them. Although there are times when lecturing and note taking can’t be avoided, there are many other times when other strategies can be much more effective. Listed below are some teaching strategies to try.

• Grouping strategies are an excellent way to begin. Giving the students a topic to discuss in groups or an assignment to complete in a group or with another student addresses all students’ needs. You can group students by student choice, by academic skill, by reading level, or by seating. Vary the groupings so that different students have the opportunity to work together at different times.
   
• Independent research projects are another excellent way to meet the different needs of the students. Set the level of expectation for the students based on their academic ability. Have students sign a contract for their project so that they will know what is expected of them.
   
• Creativity is key as you plan the unit; be as creative as possible. As you prepare to write an assignment, ask yourself if there is a fun, creative approach that you can use, such as role-playing, script writing, etc. Students are more willing to do assignments if they’re fun. If worksheets are necessary, consider some type of puzzle. There are some excellent puzzle-making websites. I like to use www.puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com, because it has a variety of puzzles available.
   
• “Tiered lessons” work well for all students. Using the same basic information, prepare three different levels of assignments – one for students who are struggling, one for students who are average, and one for students who are gifted and talented.
   

8) Assess your students continually throughout the unit. This doesn’t have to be done with a quiz. Evaluate a variety of student products, have students answer questions, observe students during a class discussion, walk around and listen to groups of students as they have a discussion, or use “exit cards.” At the end of a lesson and right before the end of class, distribute an index card to each student. Then ask a question that probes the students’ understanding of the day’s lesson. The students write their name and a response to the question on the card and turn it in as they leave the room. By reading the exit cards, the teacher can discover what the students do and don’t understand, which then helps in planning subsequent lessons. You can also use the 3-2-1 format with the exit cards. Have the students write the three most important ideas in the lesson, two questions they still have about the lesson, and one way they can use what they learned.

9) Be specific when writing your plan. Since differentiation is a new technique for you, this will help you remember what you want to do with the class. Also, another teacher should be able to read your plan and use it to teach a class.

10) Don’t be afraid to experiment. Tell your students about what you are trying to do. If your efforts are sincere, they should be more than willing to work with you. Besides, most students love doing fun, creative things in class.

11) Don’t be afraid of failure. Any time you try something new, there’s always a chance that it will fail. Take it in stride and go on. Don’t give up.

12) Use books on differentiation as resources. Although they don’t have differentiated units specifically geared toward general music class, the ones that are there can be used as a guide in your planning. I wrote a unit on the history of rock-and-roll music, and I was able to use a history unit in one of the books as a guide. Some books that I found very helpful are Differentiating Instruction by Cheryll M. Adams and Rebecca L. Pierce, The Differentiated Classroom by Carol Ann Tomlinson, and Differentiation in Practice by Carol Ann Tomlinson et al. (The last is actually a set of three books – one for kindergarten through 4th grade, one for 5th grade through 9th grade, and one for 10th grade and higher.)

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I could not begin to give you all of the information I learned during my class. However, it is my hope that in sharing what I have, you’ll be able to begin the process of differentiating your curriculum to better meet the needs of all of your students. Good luck on your journey toward differentiation!

 --Shauna Leavitt, May 15, 2009 © MENC: The National Association for Music Education.