What is Rhythm?

Rhythm is a pattern using sound or movement. The sound could be anything, feet stomping, fingers snapping, a horn, a drum. Movement could be what is making the sound. The movement could be a dance, a clap, your eyes blinking. Rhythm is something that surrounds us and occurs in even the most meaningless tasks, such as typing.

After watching Miss Taylor's rhythm video, I really liked how short, sweet, and to the point the lesson was. Teachers have a knack for going off on a tangent about something when they start talking. We've all done it before. It's distracting and not conducive to the learning process. She uses a lot of teaching strategies that I have successfully used in the past. Using different strategies within one lesson gets students thinking about the topic in different ways. At the beginning she used "think, pair, share" to engage student's prior knowledge of rhythm. There were opportunities to practice rhythm. Some students only understand a topic when they have had the chance to physically do something. She also "dumbed down" the definition of rhythm, making it a whole lot easier to understand. This made the light bulb go off in my own head when my brain made the connection so I can only imagine the "aha!" moments students would have.

The only thing about the presentation of the lesson I noticed to be an issue is that she didn't make eye contact with the camera. Students may be distracted by the thought of her looking off camera. What is she looking at? Who is over there? Why is she looking away? They may even be distracted enough to watch everything else in the video, looking for a sign of whatever is off camera. The only sure way to grab a student's attention is to look them in the eye, whether it be in person or on camera. If you are focused on them, they will focus on you. 

All About Me

Hello, my name is Hayley Long and I am an Elementary Education major from Sissonville, WV!
This is my second degree. I got my first bachelor's degree in journalism with a minor in creative writing at West Virginia University in 2009.

While at WVU I was in the marching band, "The Pride of West Virginia" for four years. In the spring semester I was in the concert band. So, I guess you could say I have a lot of musical experience. There is no way to explain the adrenaline rush I felt when I heard the drum cadence end, the crowd roar, and the blast of wind that hit my face as I ran out of the tunnels on Mountaineer Field. Every day I wish I could go back in time and do it all over again. Unfortunately, I can only go back in time once a year at the homecoming game with the Alumni Band.

 I have 2 cats and often refer to myself as a crazy cat lady. One of my cats is 17 years old! I also spend a lot of time with my younger cousin Harlee. I have no children of my own so she is my mini-me.

I'm very passionate about and dedicated to my job. I became a substitute teacher four years ago and decided three years ago to get my degree in Elementary Education. Since then I have held two long-term sub positions, one at Weimer Elementary as a Title I teacher, and my current position at Flinn Elementary School in the MI classroom. Being a teacher has become my entire life. When I'm not at work teaching, I'm in class learning about how to be a better teacher. Creating lesson plans, analyzing data, organizing materials, creating anchor charts and room decorations, and watching kids have fun learning is the best thing in the world to me. I've always said my student teaching semester will be my easiest semester because I won't have to balance or juggle work, class, and observations.
From this course I'd like to learn how I can use music in my classroom more. The most obvious way teachers use music in the classroom is creating little songs and then singing them. I'm not a singer and I'm almost positive my students would run out of the room screaming if I started singing. So, I'd like to find other ways to incorporate music or rhythm into our activities.
My only concern with this class is the price of the book. I'm still looking for a good deal.