Student Teaching

Bald Eagle Area School District: Wingate Elementary

Mentor Teacher: Jennifer DeRemer

January 6th, 2026- March 13th, 2026

During my time as a student teacher learning from and working with Mrs. DeRemer I gained experience in multiple pathways to music education in including the Orff Schulwerk approach, the Kodály approach, World Music Drumming, and the philosophies of Dr. Feierabend. Through the lens of Mrs. DeRemers melded system I was able to integrate various aspects of each approach into my own teaching rudiment. Ever dependent on my love of creating and composing, I developed my own system of transmitting musical concepts via a narrative-driven system utilizing Ollie and other characters. My time at Wingate allowed me to further explore and adjust my teaching through this system. The students instantly fell in love with Ollie and would sing his songs in the hallways as I entered the school or ask me “Is Ollie going to be in class today?” Their anchored interest to the unfolding storyline was equally reflected in their music making. Grades K-3 specifically held deep interest in the world that they helped create and demonstrated daily their musical growth.

I was privileged to study the explicit teaching of World Culture Music pedagogy with Dr. Sarah Watts in Music 460. As an educator dedicated to teaching the musical cultures of the world responsibly and effectively, I was privileged to bring the students of Wingate Elementary, via “virtual field experience”, to the continent of Australia and the First Peoples, The Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. Students explored this 40,000 year old cultures music, art, and dance. They witnessed culture bearers performing traditional music and story telling and learned how to perform and dance along with them. They not only learned about this culture, but made connections of the meaning of “country” and nationality to the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Kindergarten

Kindergarteners are some of my favorite people. Students entered the classroom with a routine of singing “Engine, Engine # 9” as we march in circle around the room. Then let out a collective “Choo-Choo” to sit down. Other welcome songs are sung including, help from puppet friends Otto the Otter, and Rick the Raccoon, for a call and response of “In Any Kind of Weather.” And finally sign through a Solfeggio Elevator song with Curwen hand signs. Through Ollies world, students focused their learning and creativity on a variety of musical concepts: steady beat, “Sol-Mi” or “high-low” identification, preparing “Do,” exploring dynamics, types of voices, and singing in unison and as individuals.

1st

First Grade

This particular group of 1st graders were excited and invested in their music class. Students entered the classroom with the same routine as the kindergarten classes. Though in many instances the welcome songs were led by students operating our puppet friends. Through Ollies world, students focused their learning and creativity on a variety of musical concepts: steady beat, “Sol-Mi” identification and composition, notation reading (ta, ta-ti, rest), preparing/identifying “Do,” exploring dynamics, transforming rhyme to body percussion and instruments, types of voices, and singing in unison and as individuals.

2nd

Second Grade

Each of the three classes of second graders were in such different places on their musical journey. While they followed the same general trajectory and lesson planning each group class had their own energy and took ownership over the flow of learning. The second grade language arts and world culture lessons of their regular class time allowed for great cross curricular collaboration. They learned about the country of Nigeria and explored the uses and music applications of the Gangan or “talking drum” and then the Aboriginal Australians and the Yidaki or “didgeridoo.” Through Ollies world, students focused their learning and creativity on a variety of musical concepts: steady beat, “Sol-Mi” identification and composition, notation reading (ta, ta-ti, ta-ah, rest and ta-ka-ti-ki), identifying “Do,” exploring dynamics, transforming rhyme to body percussion and instruments, performing in sections as part of an ensemble, types of voices, and singing in unison and as individuals.

3rd

Third Grade

These students experiences music through all of the aspects of Ollie’s World and then some. They were an advanced group of explorers who challenged themselves through pick-and-pass practice. They advanced their rhythmic reading skills greatly with the “rhythm randomizer.” They prepared themselves for choosing instruments in 4th grade band by learning recorders.

4th

Fourth Grade

We first immersed ourselves in traditional folk dances singing and dancing with the music. Those songs then became the pathway to creativity. Each class composed their own song lyrics to pair with a previously learned rhyme. They extended the piece with chosen words to create ostinato patterns and performed as a class and in small groups. Much of our time was spent utilizing the xylophones available in class. Students removed certain bars and explored syncopated rhythms and melody from on of the folk dances. Then expanded from that melody by composing their own melody with the same rhythms in various combinations.

5th

Fifth Grade

These classes discovered rhythms and a variety of musical styles of various cultures through the use of tabano drums. First with the reading of a book, The Drums of Noto-Hanto, they explored the transfer of vocal patterns to the drums through Taiko Drumming. The students improvised their own vocal and rhythmic patterns in call-and-response style play. Then they were tasked to create their own rhythms and long from pattern to perform as a small group. The students learned the complete form of a Matrsuri Taiko performance and performed it themselves. They explored more than the other grades through the lens of Aboriginal culture as well.