Teacher Reflection
The children in both groups were introduced to print through the shared reading experience in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. The experience allowed for "hands-on" learning as the children emerged as readers. Small group as well as partner activities were provided. Each child had the opportunity to be a leader, a partner, and a member of a group. The shared reading experiences were teacher directed at times and child directed at other times. Through the use of repeated readings of the text, the children developed concepts of print (directionality and one-to-one correspondence), a sense of story & sequence, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, a knowledge of letter names and sounds, fluency, and the ability to read high frequency sight words. The child-centered learning environment with its many activities and manipulatives in the literacy learning center, provided opportunities for additional practice of the skills learned in the shared reading. The children also developed skills such as memory, sequencing and eye-hand coordination as a result of their experience with the drum. The addition of music provided the opportunity to introduce children to multi-cultural concepts as well. The music was motivating, unique, and fun. It provided a sense of "unity" to the group as the children gravitated to the beat of the music as they read. The music was especially helpful in attracting those children who were reluctant to participate in the group. They were drawn to the group experience by the beat of the drum, and eventually joined in the reading. The djembe drum appealed to all of the children in the class. Each child was given the opportunity to play the drum and participate in a unique music experience at group time. No one was denied the opportunity to explore the drum and its magic.
Implications for Future Instruction
(What needs to be explored more.......)
In the future I would like to further explore the relationship between music and emergent literacy. Because the children are so fascinated by the drum, I would like to explore the possibility of developing memory and attention span as a result of daily opportunities to work with the drum. Using the djembe along with singing or chanting, the children can learn to associate letter names & sounds, as well as develop skills such as rhyming and syllabication. Evidence of such skill development was seen in the shared reading experience with the music group as the children became more aware of the rhythm and beat of the drum. The children "discovered" syllables in words as a result of tapping the one-to-one correspondence on the drum. As one child said, "Hey wait, banana goes like this"-indicating the three syllables in the word. There was also transfer of knowledge to writing. The children wrote sentences daily using their invented or "approximate" spelling. The sentences described their art work or are entries in their journals. Several children commented that their experiences using the drum have helped them in their writing. As one child said "I pretend I'm playing the drum and I sound out words." Because the children were actively involved in their learning, they were able to recall experiences and apply their knowledge to other areas of learning. The experience had been meaningful and as a result learning had occured.