Action Research Adler · 2018. 8. 30. · Plumas Lake Elementary School District Author Note Ms....

Effects of Music Reading Ability on Student Engagement, Behavior, and Motivation

Winter/Spring E.C.O. Action Research Project:


Ms. Megan Adler

Plumas Lake Elementary School District

Author Note

Ms. Megan Adler is the TK-5 elementary music teacher at Plumas Lake Elementary

School District.

Correspondence concerning this action research should be addressed to Ms. Megan

Adler, Elementary Music, Plumas Lake Elementary School District, 1718 Churchill Way,

Olivehurst, CA 95961. Contact: [email protected]


Abstract

This action research project explores the question “In what ways does music reading ability

improve student engagement, behavior, and self-motivation in 5th grade music class?”. Data was

collected on student engagement and behavior, self-motivation, and music reading ability. This

project utilized research based measures of engagement and behavior using recorded time

sampling. Motivation was measured by asking students questions on a Likert scale questionnaire.

Music reading ability was measured using a curriculum book aligned to the National Music

Standards and data was recorded based on melodic notation reading and performing ability. Both

qualitative and quantitative data were collected monthly for three months. After three months the

data on student engagement, behavior, and self-motivation were analyzed to determine in what

ways increasing music reading ability caused improvement.



Phase 1: Question

The essential question for this action research project was “In what ways does music

reading ability improve student engagement, behavior, and self-motivation in 5th grade music

class”. This question was developed because of my personal profession development goals.

District Position

I am a full-time elementary general music teacher at Plumas Lake Elementary School

District at Cobblestone Elementary and Rio Del Oro Elementary. Students have music class once

a week for 45 minutes. August through December I teach weekly at Rio Oro Elementary.

January through May I teach weekly at Cobblestone Elementary. I have my own designated

music room that students come to for music class.

Background Information

Setting. Plumas Lake Elementary School District is in Olivehurst, California as part of a

planned suburban community. The district includes three schools: Cobblestone Elementary, Rio

Del Oro Elementary, and Riverside Meadows Intermediate School. The schools are located on

different campuses that are only a few miles from each other.

Population. Plumas Lake Elementary School District includes grades from transitional

kindergarten through eighth grade. Cobblestone Elementary consists of approximately 400

students and includes transitional kindergarten through fifth grade. Rio Del Oro Elementary

includes approximately 450 students and includes transitional kindergarten through fifth grade.

Both Cobblestone Elementary and Rio Del Oro Elementary students will attend Riverside

Meadows Intermediate School. Riverside Meadows includes sixth grade through eighth grade

and includes approximately 450 students.


School. During this research project I was teaching at Cobblestone Elementary during the

second half of the year. Students in transitional kindergarten through second grade have a

maximum class size of 24 students. Students in third grade through fifth grade have a maximum

class size of 28 students. Cobblestone Elementary students have a weekly music class for 45

minutes. Students have class at the same scheduled time each week unless a make-up class is

necessary because of a cancelled school day. This year is Cobblestone Elementary’s first time

having general music class.

Class. My focus group is Mrs. Harki’s fifth grade class. Her class is one of three other

fifth grade classes. There are 26 students in Mrs. Harki’s class. Most students are ten years old,

white, and speak English. Two students have Individual Education Plan’s, one student has

health concerns, and one student is an English Language Learner. In the general education

classroom 13 students display high math proficiency, 6 students display average math

proficiency, and 8 students display low math proficiency.

This is all of Mrs. Harki’s students first experience with general music; students are

academically low according to the California Music Standards. Only two students have even

experienced music class at any point. I assessed students vocal skills by testing their vocal range

and pitch matching ability and compared their abilities to their 5th grade peers. Overall, most

students displayed a basic ability to match pitch and were able to sing in a developmentally

appropriate range between C4 and D5. I classified 18 students as having average vocal skills

compared the their peers, 6 students as having low proficiency for vocal skills, and 2 students as

having high proficiency for vocal skills. There was a correlation between students’ math

proficiency skills and students’ vocal skills.

Question


The essential question for this action research project was “In what ways does music reading

ability improve student engagement, behavior, and self-motivation in 5th grade music class”.

Expectations . I expect that increasing music reading ability will positively improve

student engagement, self-motivation, and behavior. I expect that students will be motivated by

their achievements. I also believe that students who have a higher music reading ability will

understand more ways to practice and will therefore have more options for on task behavior.

Assumptions. I am assuming that Mrs. Harki’s students know appropriate behavior

during large group, small group, and independent work. For example, I assume that all students

know that they need to raise their hand before speaking when we are in large group. I also

assume that students will collaborate without direct teacher permission when we are working in

small groups.

Rationale

I was drawn to the question “In what ways music reading ability improves student

engagement, self-motivation, and behavior in 5th grade music class,” because my 5th grade

students were not displaying appropriate behaviors in music class. I assume that these poor

behaviors happened because students have never had music class before the content was new and

very difficult for them. I want to discover in what ways increasing students’ knowledge base,

specifically developing music reading skills, will improve music classroom behaviors. I believe

that observable behaviors are influenced by students’ motivation and level engagement.

Importance of Action Research

The question “In what ways music reading ability improves student engagement, self-

motivation, and behavior in 5th grade music class,” is important to me. My personal professional

development goals include improving student behavior when they work independently. I have


been trying different classroom management strategies throughout the year to meet my goal. I

may be able to meet my goal of improving student behavior if a higher music reading ability

does positively influence student engagement, self-motivation, and behavior.

Educational philosophy. Researching this question supports my philosophy of

education. My philosophy of music education drives me to inspire each student to discover their

passion for music and encourage blossoming creativity in a positive environment, all while

continuing to enforce important character traits that will lead them towards being well-rounded,

wholesome individuals. I believe that teaching students to be self-motivated and behave without

prompting is part of leading them towards positive character traits. I would be proud to have

influenced my students and be responsible for teaching them to identify as self-motivated or

always engaged and behaving.


Phase 2: Plan of Action

Formulation of Plan

Before starting this project I needed to research the most reliable methods of recording

student engagement, behavior, and self-motivation. After finding reliable methods, I will need to

determine how I use these methods to collect data on student’s music reading ability, student

engagement, and self-motivation. Data will need to be collected as a pre-assessment, intermittent

assessment, and post-assessment.

Music reading ability. I will need to assess students on their music reading ability. I

anticipate that students’ note reading ability will improve drastically during this time. I plan to

create assessments that best reflect their current ability. As a pre-assessment for music reading

ability I will give students an assessment for labeling pitches E4-F5 on a treble clef staff. I will

also record what pieces they are able to read and perform as a large group while reading melodic

notation. Based on my previous semester of teaching experience at Rio Del Oro Elementary, I

anticipate that I will give students a post-assessment that demonstrates their music writing ability

using a treble clef staff. It is likely that I will have students notate “Hot Cross Buns” on the treble

clef staff as a post-assessment; I will adjust my plan for a post-assessment if student ability level

does not meet or exceeds my expectations.

Behavior and engagement. I plan to find a way to measure student engagement and

behavior that is scientific and clear what I am measuring. I will need to list exactly what

behaviors constitute as engaged and on-task or not engaged and off-task. This method needs not

to interfere with regular general music class time. It is possible that I could record my class via

video or have another teacher come observe my class and record engagement and behavior.


Self-motivation. I plan to find an accurate way to assess student self-motivation. My

principal, Mrs. Nichols, suggested having students assess themselves using a Likert scale. A

Likert scale categorizes answers into “never”, “sometimes”, “often” and “always”. I would like

to use a Likert scale using researched questions that assess self-motivation in music class. I also

intend to include questions that are not relevant to my research question so that students do not

expect what I am assessing. I intend to include not relevant questions in my students’ self-

motivation self-assessment to collect less biased and more reliable data.

Timeline

This action research project will be performed February through April. I plan to create a

timeline that distributes with workload evenly and is manageable with my teaching schedule.

February. In February I will need to research reliable ways to collect data, teach material

that improves music reading skills, and establish my baseline data. After I have decided how I

will collect data, I will then establish my baseline data. I will do this by giving students pre-

assessments. Music classes are weekly, so I will divide up my data collections by week. One

week, I will assess students note reading ability and keep student work samples. I will also have

students perform melodic notation on recorder and keep the sheet music as a student work

samples. The second week, I will film the class or have an independent observer collect behavior

data. The third week, I will have students self-evaluate themselves using a Likert scale. Every

music class I will include at least one activity that improves student’s music reading skills. In

addition to collecting data, establishing baseline data, and teaching I plan to write Phase 1 and 2.

March. In March I will continue to teach music reading skills each week. I will divide up

intermittent assessments and plan to collect the different data on separate weeks. During this


month I will collect intermittent data and student work samples on music reading skills as well as

record student engagement and behavior. I plan to write Phase 3 and begin to write Phase 4.

April. In April the action research deadline is the last week of April. During the 2nd week

of April I will give a music reading post-assessment and keep work samples. I will have students

perform melodic notation on recorder and keep the sheet music for student work samples. I will

assess student engagement and behavior for a final time and have student self-evaluate

themselves using a Likert Scale. I will complete writing Phase 4 and 5 and include student work

samples in the Appendixes.


Phase 3: Data Collection

Instruments Used to Collect Data

I collected data on note reading ability, self-motivation, behavior and engagement. Each

data collection method was selected using educational literature sources.

Measuring music reading. I collected data for music reading using the worksheets, sheet

music, and assessments provided in the Gameplan curriculum. Because I only see students once

a week for 45 minutes, these assessments are valuable because they provide accurate information

but only take about 10 minutes. For data collection of music reading I include qualitative data of

the group’s sheet music reading ability. Quantitative data was collected using worksheets and

paper assessments because they provide an accurate measure of students’ individual music

reading ability. The sheet music and paper assessments are provided in Appendices A-C.

Measuring behavior and engagement. I collected data on behavior and engagement

using the time sampling recording method because the Data Collection Methods Reference

Guide states to “Use this method if the teacher is interested in group performance (multiple

behaviors of multiple students)” (p.7). Time sampling recording allows me to teach my music

lesson as usual and use the recording for later data analysis.

Time sampling is when small samples of time within larger time intervals are scrutinized

for data over a set observation period. My observation period for measuring behavior and

engagement over a 45 minute music class. I collected data for the first 30 seconds of each 5

minute interval within that lesson.

Behavior. Student behavior was recorded based on music room rules and was recorded as

the percent of behaviors that were either appropriate or inappropriate. Appropriate behavior was

sitting/walking only when prompted, performing on instruments only when prompted,


singing/discussion when prompted, moving around the room safely, and speaking at appropriate

volume levels during transitions. Inappropriate behavior includes sitting incorrectly,

crawling/rolling instead of walking, performing on instruments without being prompted by the

teacher, talking instead of singing/performing, talking over the teacher, moving around the room

wildly, and speaking at loud volume levels that are disruptive during transitions.

Engagement. Student engagement was recorded as either “appeared engaged” or “not

engaged”. Students who appeared engaged were participating in singing/instrument performance,

getting materials/equipment and going directly to their position in the classroom, making eye

contact with the teacher or visual, or helping others achieve the goal. Students could be having

poor behavior but still considered engaged; a student who was practicing the lesson’s instrument

part at an inappropriate time would be an example of engagement with poor behavior. Students

who are not engaged were not participating in singing/instrument performance, wandering

around after getting materials/equipment, not making eye contact with the teacher or visual, and

distracting others from achieving the music lesson goals.

Measuring motivation. Self-motivation was measured by students answering a Likert

Scale questionnaire. A Likert Scale provides a measurement by participants selecting “never”

“sometimes” “always” and “often” to answer each questions. The students answered the same

Likert Scale questionnaire two times: once at the beginning of the research process and once at

the end. A copy of student work for measuring motivation can be found in Appendices G and H.

The relevant questions can be most easily divided into four categories of cognitive and

affective measures of motivation. Those four categories include goal activation, evaluation and

devaluation, experience, and perceptual biases. Including four different ways to measure

motivation helped provide the most accurate data.


Relevant questions. The questionnaire purposefully misleads students to believe the

intent of the assignment was to compare school in general, music, PE, and math. I did this to help

ensure that student’s answers were not skewed by their perception of the questionnaire. Each

question was asked the same way about the four different categories. For example, questions

number one through four were “How often are you happy to come to school?”, “How often are

you happy to come to music class?”, “How often are you happy to come to PE?”, and “How

often are you happy to do math centers?”. Only the questions related to music were relevant to

my study.

Questions 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42, 46, 50, 54, and 58 were about music

class and used as data in my research on student’s self-motivation.

Goal activation. In motivational psychology “goal activation” refers to the accessibility

and inhibition of goal-related constructs. More simply put, goal activation is how often the goal

is thought of. Goal activation is used to measure motivation that is outcome-focused, or focused

on the final product of meeting the goal.

Questions #10 and 14 were relevant to goal activation. Question #10 asked “Are you able

to focus in music class?”. Students who replied “often” or “always” would be more motivated

because of frequent goal activation. Question #14 asked “How often do you get in trouble in

music class?”. Students who replied “often” or “always” would be less motivated because they

are engaging in activities that hinder their goal activation.

Evaluation and devaluation. A student’s enjoyment of the activity can inform me about

how motivated they are. The study How to Measure Motivation states “… motivation can be

measured by the degree to which a goal. . . is evaluated positively (p.3).” Measuring how

students evaluate music class provides data for both outcome-focused and process-focused


motivation. Questions #2, 6, 18, and 53 in my questionnaire were relevant to this category of

self-motivation.

Question #2, 18, and 53 asked students how much they positively experienced music

class. Students who answered “often” or “always” would be more motivated because they

evaluated the class more positively. Question #5 asked students how often they wanted to avoid

music class. Students who answered “never” or “sometimes” would be more motived in music.

Experience. Motivation can also be measured by a person’s subjective experience.

Experience is similar to evaluation and devaluation as it includes student interest. Subjective

experience also includes perceived competence, effort, value/usefulness, pressure, and choice.

Students answered question #26 to indicate their interest level, question #30 to indicate if they

felt competent, question #34 to indicate their personal effort, question #38 and 42 to indicate if

they felt music had educational or emotional value, question #46 to indicate if they felt

pressured, and question #50 to indicate if they felt they had choice. Students who are more

motivated answered that they perceived they were competent, they gave appropriate effort, that

music class had value, they were not pressured, and that they had choice.

Perceptual biases. Perceptual biases can be measured by how easy or difficult a student

believes their goal is to achieve. Students who believe that music class is easy to be successful in

are more motivated. Student who believe that music class is extremely difficult are not very

motivated.

Questions #22 was used to measure student’s perceptual biases. Questions #22 asked how

often students found music class hard. Students who answered “never” or “sometimes” were

more motivated.

Actual Data


Data was collected for student motivation, behavior and engagement, and music reading

ability. All data points included a pre-assessment and a post assessment. Student behavior and

music reading ability included an intermittent assessment. Both qualitative and quantitative data

was collected for each data set when applicable.

Music reading pre-assessment data.

Quantitative. Students completed Activity #1 to measure their pitch reading ability.

Work samples of high scoring student, an average scoring student, and a low scoring student are

included in Appendix A. The average score on Activity #1 was 15/16 or a 94%. Students have

successfully read quarter note, quarter rest, barred eighth note pairs, flagged eighth note pairs

rhythms as a large group. Using recorders students read and performed “It’s in the B-A-G” sheet

music as a large group. A photocopy of the music is provided in Appendix A.

Qualitative. Mrs. Harki’s students seem very confident and proud that they know how to

read all of the notes on the staff. Her students are able to confidently read quarter note and eighth

note rhythms, and they are just beginning to maintain a steady pulse while reading rhythm

flashcards. Students do appear unsure how quarter note and quarter rest rhythms are similar. The

students are able to read pitches, read rhythms, and echo on recorder separately but they struggle

to synthesize their knowledge. “It’s in the B-A-G” required lots of teacher guidance and many

students could not identify when they made a mistake.

Music reading intermittent assessment data.

Quantitative. Students were able to perform “Old Tom White” as a large group on

recorders and xylophones. A copy of the student’s recorder sheet music is provided in Appendix

B. Students have been introduced to half note/rest and whole note/rest month. Students are

reading rhythm flashcards that include quarter note/rests, barred/flagged eighth note pairs, half


notes/rests, and whole note/rests as a large group. Students have been exposed to score reading

and have attempted to identify different sized intervals independently.

Qualitative. Students were successful at reading the pitches and rhythms to “Old Tom

White” but it required great focus to remember to be silent during quarter rests. Students needed

teacher support to maintain a steady beat while reading music in ensemble. Students seem

confident reading rhythm flashcards that include quarter note/rests, barred/flagged eighth note

pairs and half notes, but they speak less confidently when reading whole notes/rests or half rests.

Students have also began questioning parts of the sheet music that I have not yet explained, like

barlines and time signatures.

Music reading post-assessment data.

Quantitative. Students completed Activity #4 to measure their ability to write melodic

notation on the treble clef staff. Work samples of high scoring student, an average scoring

student, and a low scoring student are included in Appendix C. The average score on Activity #4

was 26/30 or a 87%. Students are reading rhythm flashcards that include quarter note/rests,

barred/flagged eighth note pairs, half notes/rests, dotted half notes, and whole note/rests as a

large group. Students were also able to read and perform “French Song” sheet music and

memorized the songs larger AABA form as a large group. A score to “French Song” is available

in Appendix C.

Qualitative. Students were successful at reading the pitches and rhythms to “French

Song” but most students are not able to immediately recall pitches B-A-G yet. Students need a

while to quietly process each pitch before answered correctly. Students no longer need teacher

support to maintain a steady beat while reading music in ensemble. Students seem confident

reading rhythm flashcards that include quarter note/rests, barred/flagged eighth note pairs and


half notes/rests. I notice that students often confuse half notes and whole notes when reading

rhythms, and are not confident yet reciting the dotted half note rhythm. Students are starting to

be able to help each other by catching and correcting each other’s musical mistakes.

Behavior and engagement pre-assessment data.

Quantitative. Students were recorded in February and quantitative data was collected on

their behavior using the time sampling data collection method. During each time sample interval

student behavior was recorded as appropriate or inappropriate. Engagement was recorded as not

engaged or appeared engaged. This data is included in Appendix D. During the class period data

was collected on average 93% of students displayed appropriate behavior and an average of 92%

appeared engaged in the music lesson.

Qualitative. I felt that the observed music class behaved unusually well compared to

previous lessons. I saw that some students noticed the camera. This is the first month we have

introduced recorders and students are trying very hard to have good behavior so that they may

play it; one of the consequences for poor behavior is having your instrument privileges

temporarily taken away. Students were the most well behaved and engaged during recorder time.

At the end of class, I noticed that I had to be very clear with clean-up instructions and students

still had to be reprimanded for their unsafe behavior.

Behavior and engagement intermittent assessment data.

Quantitative. Students were recorded in March and quantitative data was collected on

their behavior using exact same data collection method as before. This data is included in

Appendix E. During the class period data was collected on average 75% of students displayed

appropriate behavior and an average of 78% appeared engaged in the music lesson.


Qualitative. During the lesson students were often in trouble if they were not actively

singing or playing instruments. This lesson involved more sitting than usual and class behavior

and engagement reflected that. As the seated part of the lesson continued less students continued

to be engaged. About 30 minutes into the lesson students began to play instruments and all

students were engaged in learning. However students showed poor behavior because they were

practicing or discussing instead of following my quiet sign. At the end of the lesson when

students put instruments away they were reprimanded for their poor behavior during instrument

clean-up.

Behavior post-assessment data.

Quantitative. Students were recorded in March and quantitative data was collected on

their behavior using exact same data collection method as before. This data is included in

Appendix F. During the class period data was collected on average 97% of students displayed

appropriate behavior and an average of 94% appeared engaged in the music lesson.

Qualitative. This lesson was recorded during the same week that the principal requested

classroom teachers discuss and enforce new school rules about being respectful, safe, and

responsible. This week was also the week we returned from spring break; because of this I

reviewed music rules and procedures and planned more time for physical movement through

dance. Students were energized and excited about learning a new dance, and they seemed a bit

physically tired after. Overall this was one of the best behaved classes we have had together.

Motivation pre-assessment data.

Quantitative. Students answered a Likert scale questionnaire to provide a pre-assessment

to measure motivation using quantitative data. Students answers were recorded from never

motivated to always motivated. The percent of students motivated was calculated from the total


number of answers (sometimes students forgot to answer a question). This data is provided in the

table Appendix G and is followed by a student work sample. The pre-assessment found that on

average 6% of students felt never motivated, 19% of students felt sometimes motivated, 38% of

students felt often motivated, and 43% of students felt always motivated in music class.

Qualitative. At the beginning of this research, I felt as if many students find music fun

and are sometimes motivated. I notice that when presented with new information students will

often wait for the person beside them to understand. Students do not yet seem to understand how

to solve problems in music; this seems to lessen students’ self-motivation. I also have observed

that once students complete a music task they immediately begin to talk to their classmates about

something else. I observe that students who complete tasks in music have outcome focused

motivation and do not appear to be process focused.

Motivation post-assessment data.

Quantitative. The exact same Likert scale questionnaire was given as a post-assessment

to measure motivation. The data was measured in the exact same manner as the Likert scale

questionnaire used for the pre-assessment. This data is provided in the table in Appendix H. The

post-assessment found that on average 11% of students felt never motivated, 18% of students felt

sometimes motivated, 31% of students felt often motivated, and 39% of students felt always

motivated in music class.

Qualitative. I feel that students are similarly motivated at the end of my research

compared to the beginning of my research. I notice that students appear less motivated if they

have had to be personally reprimanded within the past two weeks of music class. Students who

misbehave consistently reported that they were less motivated in music class; students who are

rewarded for behavior choices reported that they enjoyed music class. During the previous music


class four students got in trouble during class resulting in changes in the seating chart and

contacting two parents.

Literature Review/References

There were three sources that I used to most accurately collect and assess data. I assessed

student’s music reading ability and informed my teaching practices using resources from the

Gameplan music curriculum. I also used a Data Collection Methods Reference Guide provided

by a school district’s board of education to determine how I would measure behavior. Finally, I

used information from a recently published study to help create questions on my self-motivation

assessment that using a Likert scale.

Measuring music reading. The Gameplan music curriculum was provided by my school

district. The Gameplan is a spiral curriculum aligned to the National Music Standards which

offers weekly lesson plans for the K-5 general music classroom. In addition to lesson plans, the

curriculum includes visuals and manipulates to enhance student learning.

This is Plumas Lake Elementary School District’s first year of having elementary general

music, which means that my 5th grade lessons often have to be supplemented by younger grade

activities. Most of the content from my lessons used the beginning note reading and beginning

recorder lessons from the 4th grade Gameplan curriculum book. I sometimes used 2nd and 3rd

grade rhythm reading activities to supplement lessons for the students as well.

Measuring behavior and engagement. Los Angeles Unified School District compiled

the Data Collection Methods Reference Guide. This reference guide explored common ways to

collect data on behavior. The guide helpfully described which methods were preferred to

measure different behaviors and why.


Using the reference guide I compared frequency/event and rate recording, duration

recording, interval recording, latency recording, and time sampling recording. Each data

collection method included a description, examples of the behavior, special considerations, how

to collect the data, and how to summarize the data. The details for each method were most

helpful because I could quickly compare which methods would meet my data collection needs as

well as my teaching needs.

Measuring motivation. I measured student motivation using data from the study How to

Measure Motivation: A Guide for the Experimental Social Psychologist completed by two

professors of university. The study divided observable measures of motivation into two

categories: cognitive and affective measures, and behavioral measures. Cognitive and affective

measures included a person’s experience and perceptual biases; behavior measures included a

person’s speed, performance, and choice.

The study explored how to measure each type of motivation and provided how each

measure could be most accurately assessed. For example, a subcategory of “Cognitive and

Affective Measures of Motivation” was “Evaluation, Devaluation, and Perception”. The authors

explained that one way to measure motivation was to simply evaluate whether the person

perceived the subject positively or negatively. A simple “How much do you like ________” can

evaluate motivation because people more positively perceive goals that they are working

towards.


Phase 4: Analysis of Data

Organization of Data by Themes

The essential question for this action research project was “In what ways does music

reading ability improve student engagement, behavior, and self-motivation in 5th grade music

class”. The data collected is divided into three themes to determine music reading ability’s effect

on student motivation, music reading ability’s effect on behavior and engagement, and

motivation’s effect on behavior and engagement.

Music reading ability’s effects on student motivation.

Chart 1

The qualitative data based on the Self-Motivation Assessment (available in appendix G

and H) showed that students were less motivated in April than they were in February. The

number of students never motivated grew from 6% to 11% and the number of students always

motivated declined from 43% to 39%. Based on the data for the individual questions on the Self-

AlwaysMo*vated

43%

O3enMo*vated

32%

Some*mesMo*vated

19%

NeverMo*vated

6%

Self-Mo(va(onPre-Assessment

AlwaysMo*vated

40%

O3enMo*vated

31%

Some*mesMo*vated

18%

NeverMo*vated

11%

Self-Mo(va(onPost-Assessment


Motivation Assessment, I can compare how student motivation has changed or stayed the same.

During both months the highest number of students reported never motivated to question #50.

This means they were least motivated based on their experience; most students reported that they

felt they did not have much choice in music class in question #50. During both months the

highest number of students reported always motivated to question #14. Students self-reported

that they had high goal-activation on question #14; students reported avoiding behaviors that

would get them in trouble in music class. While the qualitative data for student self-motivation

may have declined with time, the data also showed that with time students still felt least

motivated based on their experiences and most motivated based on their goal activation.

An important connection can be made from the qualitative student-reported motivation

data and my qualitative observations. Individual students who reported as never motivated were

often the students who are notorious for causing disruptions in school. Individual students who

reported as always motivated were often the students known for being very smart and well

behaved. It is also important to consider that a few students had gotten in trouble in music the

class prior to my Self-Motivation Post-Assessment. The students who had gotten in trouble rated

themselves as less motivated than before. I think that there is an important correlation between

students’ behavior and their short term motivation in school. I also believe that a child’s

relationship with the teacher affects their motivation. Students who had gotten in trouble had a

more negative relationship with me during the post-assessment compared to their relationship

with me in the pre-assessment.

Student’s music reading ability improved from being able to read 1st grade rhythms and

read pitches on the staff to being able to read 3rd grade rhythms while performing/writing

melodic notation on the treble clef staff. This is tremendous improvement considering students


had only 11 music classes during the course of this study. Students would not have been able to

make this kind of dramatic academic improvement without being motivated to learn. I think that

the correlation between better music reading ability and lower motivation is more reflective of

some student’s temporarily negative relationships with me, the teacher, instead of being truly

reflective of their overall motivation.

Music reading ability’s effects on behavior and engagement. Student’s music reading

ability improved dramatically over the course of the research. Students were able to read harder

rhythms and synthesize the melodic notation that they read more quickly. Throughout this

research students were also observed for both behavior and engagement. Appropriate behavior

was defined as sitting/walking only when prompted, performing on instruments only when

prompted, singing/discussion when prompted, moving around the room safely, and speaking at

appropriate volume levels during transitions. Engaged behavior was defined as participating in

singing/instrument performance, getting materials/equipment and going directly to their position

in the classroom, making eye contact with the teacher or visual, or helping others achieve the

goal. In spite of being able to read and perform more difficult melodic notation, the data suggests

that there is not a clear correlation between music reading and behavior and engagement.


Chart 2

The quantitative data collected from time sampling recording showed that in February

when student’s ability to read melodic notation was lowest on average 93% of students were

displaying appropriate behavior and 92% of students were engaged in the music lesson. In March

student’s ability to read melodic notation had increased as they were able to read music with half

notes/rests and whole notes/rests in addition to previously learned rhythms. However, in the

recorded lesson only and average of 75% of students were displaying appropriate behavior and

78% of students appeared engaged. In April students were able to read all previous rhythms more

confidently and correctly and they had learned dotted half rhythms. Students were also able to

write melodic notation and perform songs with both student instrument accompaniment or in

complex forms. The recorded lesson in April an average of 97% of students were behaving

appropriately and 94% were engaged.

The qualitative data also proves a dramatic increase in student’s melodic notation reading

ability. As the months progressed students were questioning melodic notation and able to use

93% 92%

75% 78%

97% 94%

Behavior Engagement

BehaviorandEngagmentAssessmentDataPre-AssessmentData IntermiJentAssessmentData Post-AssessmentData


higher order levels of thinking by thinking critically and applying their prior knowledge to the

current music they were facing. The recorded qualitative data suggests that student behavior was

closely associated with the activity or outside factors and not the difficulty of melodic notation

presented. Students showed the best behavior and engagement at the beginning of class and

when we were performing on recorders. Combined student behavior and engagement was

poorest during the clean-up procedure for instruments at the end of class. Poor student behavior

also increased when students were asked to sit for extended periods of time. An analysis of the

qualitative data does not show a correlation between students’ melodic notation reading ability

and their behavior and engagement, but it does show correlations with other aspects of the

lesson.

Correlated effects causing behavior and engagement levels. Students’ level of

behavior and engagement was correlated to the time in class and the activity. This correlation is

found when comparing the activity recorded in qualitative observations of behavior and

engagement to the quantitative data collected. Students continuously started off class

appropriately. The beginning of each class showed high engagement and appropriate behavior.

Large group singing activities often showed an average level of engagement and behavior

choices.

Each time recorders were introduced in the lesson students showed the highest level of

engagement and appropriate behavior. Potentially students are most excited, interested, and

motivated to play recorder and therefore are more engaged in the activity. It is also plausible that

students made better behavior choices in order to avoid punishment during their favorite activity.

Students’ worst behavior was during instrument cleanup procedure. I believe that this is

because the normal music consequence does not deter poor behavior choices. The normal music


consequence for poor behavior is sitting out of the activity. Younger elementary music students

enjoy cleaning up instruments and this consequence motivates them to behave. 5th grade students

do not appear to be motivated by this consequence.


Phase 5: Plan for Future Action

Struggles

I struggled with the different external factors that can affect student’s mood, motivation,

behavior, and engagement. I found that differences in how the classroom teacher dropped them

off and the outside weather changed how students acted. 5th grade student’s moods are also

highly affected by their personal lives. The many external factors made it hard to control

student’s behavior, engagement, and motivation consistently.

Weather. It may seem arbitrary, but weather plays a big role in student behavior.

Students walk to my classroom on an outdoor sidewalk without covered awnings. If it is raining

gently snails are everywhere on the sidewalks. If it is pouring rain students hustle or jog to my

classroom. If it is sunny and beautiful students want to be outside and play. Students are not well

behaved on the most beautiful days or on the most rainy days. The weather is an external factor

that makes it hard to have consistent behavior.

Classroom teacher. The classroom teacher has a huge effect on the mood, motivation

level, engagement of students in my class that that. I find that students often imitate their teacher.

If the teacher is sleepy and low energy, the students will be too. If the teacher is motivated and

enthusiastic, the students will copy. If the teacher is excited, the students will copy. Mrs. Harki’s

mood greatly affects her 5th grade student’s mood. This is another example of an external factor

that takes away my control of student’s behavior, engagement, and motivation.

Students’ personal lives. A 5th grade student is highly influenced by their peers and

family. Students can come to my class energized and ready to learn after a good morning.

Student can also come to my class distraught from social pressures and not thinking about music.

In 5th grade, particularly at the end of the year, students more emotionally charged. Their


personal lives and mood is another example of an external factor that can influence motivation or

engagement in my class.

Insights

I gained insight into how student behavior, engagement, and self-motivation were

influenced during the course of this study. I realized that alone, music reading ability may not

directly affect a student’s behavior, engagement, or self-motivation. I did learn that there were

other aspects of music class that effected these factors.

Difficulty of content. Based on my data analysis of music reading ability’s effects on

behavior and engagement I believe that using content and is at the appropriate academic level

does positively influence their behavior and engagement. Students are actively engaged if the

music is appropriately difficult for them. Students who are actively engaged in the lesson simply

behave better. Since this is my 5th grader’s first year of music, even easy music is engaging to

them because that is what they are able to learn. A student will be motivated and behave better

because they are more engaged if the material is appropriately challenging and therefore

interesting for that individual child.

This also leads me to reflect on how easily accessible challenging, fun, and on-level

music activities are to find. The easiest way for me as a teacher to find activities that are age-

appropriate, engaging, and meet the California Music Standards is to look in The Gameplan

music curriculum books. It is easier for the teacher to prepare fun and appropriately challenging

lessons if students are academically suited for the activities suggested in the curriculum. If

students are not academically suited for the curriculum’s activities, then either the teacher has to

work extremely hard to find suitable activities or the students do not receive lessons which are as

engaging as they could be.


Activity type determines engagement. As a teacher I strive to teach a lesson and have

100% of students are engaged the whole class. I have been trained and used many different

classroom management techniques to promote engagement and active participation. An insight

this project brought me was that the activity type determines student engagement. My data

analysis of the correlated effects causing behavior and engagement levels led me to realize that

students were consistently more engaged when we did activities they liked. Playing recorder and

instruments always had the highest percent of engaged students. Undesirable activities, such as

cleaning up or following a “boring” procedure, always resulted in less students being engaged.

Consequences/reward determines behavior. Students are extrinsically motivated to

behave during undesirable activities if there is a consequence or reward associated with it. I

gained this insight when determining the correlated effects causing behavior and engagement. 5th

grade students dislike both cleaning up and waiting patiently for everyone to be ready before

they can play recorder. The consequence for playing recorder at the incorrect time is the recorder

gets temporarily taken away. This consequence stops the poor behavior even though the students

dislike waiting. The consequence for not cleaning up correctly is not getting the privilege of

cleaning up next class. This consequence does not work well with 5th graders as few of them

desire to put away the instruments.

Motivation is more than playing ability. One of the biggest insights into my essential

question “In what ways does music reading ability improve student engagement, behavior, and

self-motivation in 5th grade music class?” was how we determine motivation. When I researched

how to measure motivation using the study How to Measure Motivation: A Guide for the

Experimental Psychologist I realized that academic success is only a small part of motivation.

During my data collection in Phase III I learned motivation is measured based on goal


activation, evaluation and devaluation, experience, and perceptual biases. If a child learns to read

music better, they would probably would feel more smart and talented in music. However, this

only affects their experience. Being smart or talented in music doesn’t make them think of music

more (goal activation), enjoy music class more (evaluation/devaluation), or think that it is easy to

be a great musician (perceptual biases). I realized that there are other more important parts to

motivation than being smart in a school subject.

Conclusions

Based on my research I can conclude that music reading ability affects student

engagement, behavior, and motivation in two ways. Improving music reading ability to meet 5th

grade level standards will improve student behavior and engagement because the teacher is able

to more easily find fun and exciting activities that exist in the 5th grade music curriculum.

Learning to read, write, and perform harder melodic notation improves student motivation based

on student experience. Students will only be more motivated by their experience if they are able

to recognize their academic progress and feel as if they are smart and talented or that music is

easy.

Future Directions

Researching for this project has changed my perspective on why music reading ability is

important in the music classroom. I now believe that a higher music reading ability is not only

important for students who want to pursue music as they get older, but it is preferable for a

teacher because we can more easily find materials that are engaging and fun and promote good

behavior choices. I am still driven to teach students to read music, but I now it is for a different

reason. Based on the reflections on my teaching, I will tweak some of the ways I teach. I will be

sure create consequences and rewards for undesirable activities. When I teach difficult or less


exciting material I will either use recorder time as a reward or plan to teach it at the beginning of

class when behavior is best.


Pictures

Pictures of student work samples and classroom materials are included in the

Appendices. Sheet music, scores, and worksheets that demonstrate student’s melodic notation

ability can be found in Appendices A-C. The Self-Motivation Assessment work samples can be

found in Appendices G-H.


References

Kriske, J., & Delelles, R. (2008). Game Plan: Grade Four. KiD sounds Publications.

Los Angeles Unified School District. (n.d.). Data Collection Methods Reference

Guide [Scholarly project]. Retrieved from

achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib08/CA01000043/.../Data%20Collection%20Methods.docx

Touré-Tillery, M. and Fishbach, A. (2014), How to Measure Motivation: A Guide for the

Experimental Social Psychologist. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 8: 328–

341. doi: 10.1111/spc3.12110


Appendix A

Music Reading Ability Pre-Assessment and Student Work Samples

Activity #1 measured note reading ability on the treble clef staff. The average score on

Activity #1 was 15/16 or a 94%. Each question was worth one point. Included work samples are

a high scoring student, an average scoring student, and a low scoring student.

Students were able to read and perform “It’s in the B-A-G” sheet music as a large group.

A photocopy of the music is provided.


Appendix B

Music Reading Ability Intermittent Assessment

Students were able to read and perform “Old Tom White” sheet music as a large group. A

photocopy of the recorder music students read is provided. “Old Tom White” demonstrates

student’s ability to read melodic notation on the staff.

The second picture is a photo of the abbreviated music notation students read from the

whiteboard to perform “Old Tom White” as an ensemble with xylophones and glockenspiels.

The final piece of music shows the score used by Ms. Adler in the lesson. Please note that

this is for reference and students did not read or look at this score.


Appendix C

Music Reading Ability Post-Assessment and Student Work Samples

Activity #4 measured students’ ability to write melodic notation on the treble clef staff.

The average score on Activity #4 was 26/30 or a 87%. An answer key is provided first; each

staff, rhythm, and pitch was worth one point each. Following the answer key are work samples

are a high scoring student, an average scoring student, and a low scoring student.

Students were able to read and perform “French Song” sheet music as a large group.

Students performed the song using an AABA form. The first piece of music in this appendix is a

photocopy of the student’s sheet music for “French Song”.

The last piece of music shows the score used by Ms. Adler in “French Song”. Please note

that this is for reference and students did not read or look at this score.


Appendix D

Behavior and Engagement Pre-Assessment Utilizing Recorded Time Sampling

Students were recorded in February and quantitative data was collected on their behavior

using the time sampling data collection method. During each time sample interval student

behavior was recorded as appropriate or inappropriate. Engagement was recorded as not engaged

or appeared engaged. This data is included in table A1.

Table A1

BehaviorandEngagementData:Pre-Assessment TimeInterval

NumberofStudentsObservable

Inappropriatebehavior

Appropriatebehavior

PercentDisplayingAppropriateBehavior

Notengaged

Appearedengaged

PercentAppearingEngaged

0minutes

26 6 20 77% n/a n/a n/a

5minutes

24 0 24 100% 2 22 92%

10minutes

26 2 24 92% 3 23 88%

15minutes

18 0 18 100% 0 18 100%

20minutes

18 0 18 100% 0 18 100%

25minutes

18 1 17 94% 18 18 100%

30minutes

17 3 14 82% n/a n/a n/a

35minutes

16 0 16 100% 0 16 100%

40minutes

24 1 23 96% 9 15 63%

AveragePercent

93% 92%


Appendix E

Behavior and Engagement Intermittent Assessment Utilizing Recorded Time Sampling

Students were recorded in March and quantitative data was collected on their behavior




Table A2

BehaviorandEngagementData:IntermittentAssessment TimeInterval



Appropriatebehavior


Notengaged

Appearedengaged


0minutes

23 0 23 100% 7 16 70%

5minutes

24 1 23 96% 5 19 79%

10minutes

12 0 12 100% 2 10 83%

15minutes

23 0 23 100% 2 21 91%

20minutes

15 1 14 93% 0 15 100%

25minutes

12 9 3 25% 9 3 25%

30minutes

14 12 2 14% 0 14 100%

35minutes

14 4 10 71% n/a n/a n/a

40minutes

n/a(shortenedclass)

n/a(shortenedclass)

n/a(shortenedclass)

n/a(shortenedclass)

n/a(shortenedclass)

n/a(shortenedclass)

n/a(shortenedclass)

AveragePercent

75% 78%


Appendix F

Behavior and Engagement Post-Assessment Utilizing Recorded Time Sampling

Students were recorded in April and quantitative data was collected on their behavior




Table A3

BehaviorandEngagementData:Post-Assessment TimeInterval



Appropriatebehavior


Notengaged

Appearedengaged


0minutes

27 0 27 100% 0 27 100%

5minutes

27 0 27 100% 0 27 100%

10minutes

27 0 27 100% 0 27 100%

15minutes

9 1 8 89% 1 8 89%

20minutes

27 2 25 93% 0 27 100%

25minutes

27 0 27 100% 0 27 100%

30minutes

27 1 26 96% 12 15 56%

35minutes

19 0 19 100% 0 19 100%

40minutes

19 1 18 95% 0 19 100%

AveragePercent

97% 94%


Appendix G

Self-Motivation Pre-Assessment Data and Student Work Sample

Students answered a Likert scale questionnaire to provide a pre-assessment to measure

motivation using quantitative data. Students answers were recorded from never motivated to

always motivated. The percent of students motivated was calculated from the total number of

answers (sometimes students forgot to answer a question) and is presented in Table A4.

Following this table is a student work sample.


Table A4

Self-Motivation Pre-Assessment Data

Question

Number

Percent Never

Motivated

Percent

Sometimes

Motivated

Percent Often

Motivated

Percent Always

Motivated

2 0% 32% 48% 20%

6 4% 0% 48% 48%

10 0% 12% 28% 60%

14 0% 4% 24% 72%

18 4% 32% 36% 28%

22 0% 0% 38% 63%

26 12% 21% 32% 36%

30 17% 32% 24% 28%

34 4% 4% 28% 67%

38 17% 36% 32% 17%

42 0% 40% 28% 32%

46 4% 0% 29% 67%

50 29% 38% 29% 4%

54 4% 25% 29% 42%

58 0% 4% 33% 63%

Average 6% 19% 32% 43%


Appendix H

Self-Motivation Post-Assessment Data and Student Work Sample

Students answered the identical motivation assessment at the end of the research period.

They answered a Likert scale questionnaire to provide a post-assessment to measure motivation

using quantitative data. Students answers were recorded from never motivated to always

motivated. The percent of students motivated was calculated from the total number of answers

(sometimes students forgot to answer a question) and is presented in Table A5.

Following this table is a student work sample.


Table A5

Self-Motivation Post-Assessment Data

Question

Number

Percent Never

Motivated

Percent

Sometimes

Motivated

Percent Often

Motivated

Percent Always

Motivated

2 4% 8% 62% 27%

6 8% 12% 36% 44%

10 4% 12% 31% 54%

14 0% 0% 39% 61%

18 16% 20% 36% 28%

22 0% 12% 52% 36%

26 8% 32% 24% 36%

30 16% 32% 28% 24%

34 4% 19% 23% 54%

38 23% 27% 31% 19%

42 20% 24% 32% 24%

46 8% 16% 20% 56%

50 32% 40% 12% 16%

54 20% 16% 24% 40%

58 8% 8% 20% 64%

Average 11% 18% 31% 39%

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