Michael+Bruno

**4th and 5th Grade Band** **Michael Bruno, Director**
 * West Greene Elementary School**

My name is Michael Bruno and I am a music educator in the West Greene School District. As part of the M and D (Motivation and Determination) I worked with my elementary band students to develop a line of inquiry that would try to determine what strategies might promote increased motivation and determination regarding individual practice habits.

To begin this process I worked with the M and D CIG to develop the initial line of inquiry, "How can inquiry strategies be incorporated into music and arts classes to improve motivation and effort toward students' practice habits?" Our goal was to determine what motivates our students to practice their chosen art form and how we could motivate them further. We decided to gather information through the use of a pre-test survey. On this survey we asked students what they wanted to learn in our classrooms, what kinds of things motivated them, and how often them practiced. Our survey totaled 13 questions.



I administered the pre-test survey to my elementary band students and scored the results. More than 70 percent indicated that they practice less than 4 times per week and 0 percent indicated a private teacher outside of class, though over 80 percent said that they would like one. What interested me most was that nearly all of my students said that they would be more motivated to practice if there was some sort of rewards system in place. I decided that this would be the focus of my unit of study. During our next meeting I discussed the results of the pre-test survey with my students, specifically their apparent interest in a rewards system. I talked about what a line of inquiry is and asked to come up with one that might fit. After several ideas one student said,"Will getting rewards for knowing our band music make us want to practice more?" I re-worded this question and we began operating under the inquiry question, **"How will implementing a practice rewards system impact individual student practice?"** For the remainder of class we discussed what the rewards should be, how often they should be given, and what criteria would be used to justify getting a reward. Two ideas prevailed; a short term award given to individaul students every week, and a long term award that all students would need to work toward.

For the short term award the students decided on coupons that could be redeemed at the school store, held every Wednesday morning. I met with the president of the parent organization and together we created 'Band Bucks' which came in two amounts, 50 cents and 1 Dollar. I then designed a rubrick that I could use to grade student performances. I initially included the fields rhythmic accuracy, melodic accuracy, and reasonable tempo. At 5 points each the students could earn up to 15 points per playing test. If they scored 14 or 15 points they would earn a 1 dollar Band Buck coupon. If them scored 10-13 points they would earn a 50 cent Band Buck coupon. If they scored less than 10 points they were not eligible for a coupon until the following week. After the first couple weeks I made some adjustments based on nessecity. I included a field for having your book and instrument on the day of the test and created a new rubrick for percussionists in which melodic accuracy was replaced by sticking accuracy, as my percussion students are only learning non-pitched instruments.

For the long term award students asked for an end of the year band party. After speaking with my principal I told the students the party would be a go if they indeed earned it. In order to do so we decided that every student in class would need to reach a certain level of proficiency measured by the scores on the playing tests. I created a chart in which each student's name was written in the left collumn and the remaining weeks of the school year were written across the top. If the student scored at least 8 points (out of 15) on the weekly playing test, they would earn a star on the chart. If every student in the class earned 10 stars (out of 14 remaining weeks) the entire class would be eligible for the party. If, however, one student failed to earn 10 stars, not students would be eliglible for the party.

The first week yielded positive results. All of my students earned at least a 50 cent band bucks coupon and several earned a one dollar coupon on the first playing test. The students were excited and I felt good about the chances of this working.



The second week was a different story. Because the students indicated a desire to be challenged, I had assigned new music in which they only had one week to learn. It was not beyond their capability, but it would require an adequate amount of regular practice outside the classroom for them to be prepared for the second playing test. The students did not respond well. One student earned at one dollar coupon, and 2 students earned 50 cent coupons. The rest earned scores below the target lines, and several did not achieve the 8 points required to earn a star on the board. I hoped this failure would show the students that in order to receive the band bucks they would need to put in the time. There was a slight rebound but the following week, but not to the degree I had expected. All of my students earned the 8 points for a star on the board, but only a handful earned coupons. Since then I have continued with the weekly playing tests and have seen similar results. I believe that although the prospect of earning a reward might spark initial interest in a student, it will not necessarily keep them practicing or motivate them to practice more.

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