Street smart versus school smart”
I remember hearing people use this phrase when I was in elementary school.
20 Matching Annotations
- Dec 2025
-
academic-oup-com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu academic-oup-com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu
-
-
David’s excitement was soon lessened as he settled into the long (excruciatingly long to him) two days of rehearsals. He then realized that this event was going to be the same as many others he had experienced. His intellectual abilities and talents often earned him honors and experiences that his brain and body were not able to handle. How embarrassing to have both the band director and District Band conductor talk to his mom about his behavior (“hyperactive” and “impulsive” were the words they used) at the end of the day. Suddenly, David hated band and was ready to quit. He knew he wouldn’t be allowed to quit because he had already quit soccer, baseball, violin, and the chess team. Maybe he could fake sick tomorrow morning to get out of his second day of District Band.
Is there a way that the conductor could’ve had a little more grace with David?
-
Music educators who teach gifted students are sometimes challenged by the depth of creativity and divergent thinking presented by students during instruction
I’ve seen some choirs do this but maybe having a gifted student conduct a piece and rehearse the piece with their peers. This can really challenge their creativity by controlling how the ensemble plays. This will also keep them engaged longer with them thinking about conducting.
-
Moreover, once a gifted student has learned the concept, the rest of the time needed by others in the music classroom to absorb, apply, and master is often wasted for this student.
Maybe planning more for the gifted students might help. For example, if their task is to learn the Eb concert scale maybe have the gifted students play it in more rhythms or starting on different scale degrees. To try and get them to be occupied for longer.
-
It is helpful for those who teach gifted students either to be ready with responses to questions and concerns posed by a student or to set an appropriate time to work with these students in an individual or small group setting.
I think this is a good idea not just for gifted students. Especially when teaching general music and the students sometimes say the most random things.
-
Students who are highly gifted may find themselves waiting after assignments are completed for as much as 50% of their school day, and students who are profoundly gifted may “waste” 75% of their school day (Webb et al., 1994)
This surprised me. The fact that so much time is wasted for gifted students.
-
Children up to about 140 IQ tolerate the ordinary school routine quite well, being usually a little young for the grade through an extra promotion or two, and achieving excellent marks without serious effort. But above this status, children become increasingly bored with school work, if kept in or nearly in the lockstep. Children at or above 180 IQ, for instance, are likely to regard school with indifference, or with positive distaste, for they find nothing to do there. (Winner, 1996, p. 401)
What is the best way to challenge students while not leaving other students behind?
-
These tests include some nonverbal testing that serves students who do not appear gifted according to their expressive language skills but who possess a high intelligence level.
I haven’t actually thought about the range of being gifted and how some students will show it differently.
-
Renzulli spent much of his career encouraging schools to include more creative and artistic opportunities for students who were gifted (Renzulli, 1986).
I wonder if people easily got on board with what he was saying.
-
She was a little relieved that Hannah would not be in the band on a regular basis because she wasn’t sure how she would be able to teach her much, let alone challenge her.
This addresses a broader issue than just Hannah. I feel like this happens a lot in a concert band setting of course not as extreme as Hannah. But when you have one concert band in the entire high school how do you program pieces that will be playable for the freshman but challenge the seniors.
-
-
academic-oup-com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu academic-oup-com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu
-
a) assign bus and rooming lists yourself; (b) if you want students to sign up themselves, require students to have representatives from different groups (sections, classes, etc.); or (c) if you are on a longer trip, have a different rooming list every night.
I’ve never thought about trips like that. Some of them I can see a practical use for like assigning bus and rooming lists yourself but in my opinion switching the rooms every night might be a little more trouble than what it’s worth.
-
At times, a student can exhibit a behavior that is distracting or counter to the classroom culture and not be aware this is occurring.
This has happened to me once or twice while I’ve taught. The students that usually have these outbreaks have paraprofessionals and they usually handle this in the school that I’m student teaching in.
-
Creating a classroom culture that includes a regular and efficient manner of communicating and enforcing rules is important
In my current placement I just taught a lesson about Flutophones and as a class we came up with Flutophone etiquette and then after that decided as a class that if they can’t follow the etiquette they would get Flutophones that don’t have mouthpieces.
-
a) student proximity to the teacher
In my placement this semester there are a lot of students that have student proximity to the teacher in their IEP’s. To address this when I have them come to the carpet all the classes have assigned squares on the carpet that they go to.
-
His daily routine is coming into the classroom and taking his shoes off because the material sometimes irritates him. His teacher encourages him to leave them on at all times, but we have an agreement that he leaves them near the door in case he needs to put them on quickly. We have also discussed that if he chooses to slide around the room in his socks, he will have to put his shoes back on.
I wonder what other accommodations Carson has in his class besides just the shoes. I also wonder if he has enough accommodations after reading the next paragraph. It seems like he might have a hyper sensitivity that is not being addressed.
-
- Nov 2025
-
academic-oup-com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu academic-oup-com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu
-
interrupt the learning of others in the classroom
I have an observation experience where one of the students interrupted the learning of others. He kept calling out and making the other students laugh.
-
if a child has speech challenges, it may be beneficial to observe the student in speech therapy. Consulting with the speech therapist after the session may provide insight into improved communication within the music classroom.
I think that things like this could be really beneficial especially in a choral classroom or lesson. This could be helpful in a lot of ways including seeing how a teacher that is around the student more often than a music teacher would get the student to learn the best.
-
Skill-specific group: Students are grouped together based on shared skills or abilities.Heterogeneous Grouping: Students with mixed levels of understandings or skills are grouped together to learn from their peers.Flexible Grouping: Using several types of groups at the same time.Learning Centers: Organized self-instruction areas of a classroom used to promote independent learning.
How might these types of grouping for self-contained classrooms affect the students learning?
-
Do not assume that the inclusion classroom is always the least restrictive environment (LRE). Some students with learning differences function best in a self-contained classroom free of the distractions of an included classroom. Often, these can be opportunities for reverse inclusion, where a general education class can join a self-contained classroom for music.
I have come to learn that this statement is true. My original thought is that inclusion classrooms are better because it allows students with differences and dissabilities to interact with their peers. However I observed a music class in a self contained classroom and now I realize how self-contained classrooms are needed and how it could get in the way of learning for students without differences or dissabilities. And on the other side I've observed classrooms where some students who are in inclusion classrooms can disrupt thier classmates from learning. I think that if they were in a self-contained classroom that would be better for both parties.
-
Engagement with special education faculty
I agree with music educators collaborating with special education faculty to better reach students with differences and disabilities. I see this a lot in my current placement the special education faculty work with the teachers on how to help these students specifically. I feel like doing this is beneficial for everyone in the class.
-