Context
There are nearly 700 children at Netzaberg Elementary School. Netzaberg is a Department of Defense School in Germany. Our children have a lot of stress in their lives. One third of our children have a parent deployed to Afghanistan or some place else in the world at any given moment. One third of our Army families rotate from this base in Germany every year. The United States Department of Defense Schools are one the most ethnic heterogeneous schools in the nation. Families come from all parts of the world to become members of the United States Army. English is the second language for many of our students. Despite these conditions Department of Defense Schools often do better than other stateside schools on national tests.
There are nearly 700 children at Netzaberg Elementary School. Netzaberg is a Department of Defense School in Germany. Our children have a lot of stress in their lives. One third of our children have a parent deployed to Afghanistan or some place else in the world at any given moment. One third of our Army families rotate from this base in Germany every year. The United States Department of Defense Schools are one the most ethnic heterogeneous schools in the nation. Families come from all parts of the world to become members of the United States Army. English is the second language for many of our students. Despite these conditions Department of Defense Schools often do better than other stateside schools on national tests.
My classroom is the exact size of a normal third grade classroom at my school. This room has been converted into a music classroom. The music program has a large inventory of musical instruments, quality sound equipment, and many other small hand-held percussion instruments. All music equipment must be stored in the corner of the classroom, taking away space for students. The children have chairs that can be stacked to provide more floor space for movement. There are two laptop computers for student use and two desktop computers for teacher use. The room has a projector and a Smartboard. There are 150 recorders, enough for every 4th grade student. If weather or the schedule allows it, we could have recorder practice outside on the front lawn or playground. There is also a large multi-purpose room used for lunch and used by the middle school that is available on a very limited basis.
Our school has one computer lab that is utilized by classroom teachers. It is not available for the music classes to use. There are several COWs (Computers on Wheels). These COWs are assigned to grade levels to share. Specialists are not permitted to use COWs, as they are reserved for classroom teachers only.
The classroom is not a conducive environment for students to learn and practice their recorders at the same time. Last year, students were encourage to access the NES Music website using a hallway computer during class time. They could also access the same computer at recess, before school, and after school. While on the hallway computer they would submit their audition MP3 via the audition tab on the NES Music website for my evaluation.
Our school has one computer lab that is utilized by classroom teachers. It is not available for the music classes to use. There are several COWs (Computers on Wheels). These COWs are assigned to grade levels to share. Specialists are not permitted to use COWs, as they are reserved for classroom teachers only.
The classroom is not a conducive environment for students to learn and practice their recorders at the same time. Last year, students were encourage to access the NES Music website using a hallway computer during class time. They could also access the same computer at recess, before school, and after school. While on the hallway computer they would submit their audition MP3 via the audition tab on the NES Music website for my evaluation.