Hudson Elementary Music Classroom Observation

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Pages: 6

INTRODUCTION
I conducted an observation at Hudson Elementary school in a third grade music classroom which utilizes the Project Construct approach. Desmond Reichold is the current music teacher at Hudson Elementary. I find Mr. Reichold’s approach to education to be very refreshing and new compared to what I am used to seeing. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in his classroom, but after thinking about everything that he is doing with the students, I have some critiques as well and quite a few questions left unanswered for now.
Environment and Materials
The music room appears to be a very rich learning environment that is much more technologically advanced than any classroom I have ever seen or experienced personally. Before I go on any
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They collaborate with the students in the art classes in order to create a full production based on their ideas. The students are in charge of every aspect of this music video. They decide which songs they are going to pick, what the different themes will be, what they want to utilize in the video (i.e. fog machine, black lights, bubbles, etc.), and in general, what they want it to look like. They not only make these decisions collectively, but they are then in charge of making their dream come true. They must take the budget they are given and see what it is that they can realistically purchase. In this light, they are not only learning how to take control of their ideas, but also how to budget, and even mathematics by adding all of the totals together. On the whiteboard, there was a running list of all of the things they wished to buy. They added all the numbers together and decided how many of each item they could purchase. In turn, they learned that when you buy things in a larger quantity, you can usually get it for a cheaper amount. If they decide that they need more money or more equipment, they personally write requests for grants to various organizations or companies. Surprisingly, Mr. Reichold says that