The OMIA Foundation
The OMIA Foundation, a private non-profit, charitable organization, has been developing and presenting original and innovative lesson plans to Michigan’s K-12 students since 2004. The Foundation is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and supported by dedicated and caring teachers, musicians, and cohorts. Funding is received from private donations, government grants, foundations, service clubs, businesses and individuals.
History
To enhance the learning environment by stimulating student interest, diversity can be inserted into schools by bringing outside music inside the classroom. The OMIA Foundation includes a group of volunteers who perform for and teach Michigan’s K-12 students lessons that are developed by the OMIA Foundation and approved by participating teachers. The organization pulls from a variety of concepts:
• linking lessons to students’ prior knowledge
• using unique tools of connectivity
• interdisciplinary collaboration, and
• developing well-rounded education.
INCREASING DIVERSITY
The OMIA Foundation will increase diversity in Michigan’s K-12 schools by using music as a tool of connectivity. The OMIA volunteer can begin a lesson by connecting to students as individuals and as a group. The OMIA Picture Person can start with a piece of art that is well known by the group. For example, the Music Man can ask the group what songs they are familiar with and then perform the song. Once the class is involved and interested, the Music Man can vary his lesson to include a music genre with which the students are unfamiliar. Using the tool of connectivity will allow the musician to extend the lesson to cover subjects new to the students.
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
Interdisciplinary collaboration can spring from teachers’ involvement with the OMIA Foundation and its goals. In a third grade setting, for example, the OMIA Music Man could sing a song about simple multiplication, thus pulling from basic math curriculum. In a high school political science class, the OMIA Music Man could draw from the pool of songs from the 1960′s about political unrest and even extend the lesson to current events and today’s music with a similar undertone. When the instruction technique is tweaked to include the musician as lecturer, a positive impact can be seen in populations who historically have been at educational risk. The Music Man can reach across cultural boundaries.
HOW DOES SOMEBODY LIKE THE MUSIC MAN STIMULATE LEARNING?
Music can be used to stimulate overall learning. “It is widely believed that music learning, music reading, and/or music participation enhance academic achievement, especially reading and math (Tucker, 1981). Regardless of the method of literacy instruction, there is a growing body of literature that supports specific music experiences and activities in order to teach and practice essential literacy learning components utilizing both phonics and whole language approaches.” (Register, D., Darrow, A. A., Standley, J., Swedberg, O., 2007, pp. 25). There simply is not a scholastic subject that cannot be enhanced through a connection to music.
A well-rounded education will be improved by inserting music into Michigan’s classrooms. A well-rounded education includes a firm grasp on diversity awareness. Because students are drawn to subjects of which they have prior knowledge, music can be used to overcome that barrier. It is not be difficult to teach a lesson about the inner-cities and urban economic strife to those who are living it. It is not difficult to get a student to listen to hip-hop if that was his favorite music genre. It is difficult to get the hip-hop student to learn a lesson about rural America, which he has no prior knowledge of. But, if hip-hop is used as a tool of connectivity, then the lesson about rural America would go over smoother. The application of music to curricular themes stimulates student interest in subjects they would otherwise slough off. If they enjoy folk music, for example, then they would enjoy a lesson plan that employs folk music. In a study, one music teacher “identified music that related to curricular themes, for example, teaching a dozen American folk songs corresponding to the different U.S. regions that Grade 3 students were studying.” (Pressley, M., Mohan, L., Raphael, L. M., Fingeret L., 2007, pp. 228). Instead of a bland and boring lecture, the lesson was given with vibrancy and was well received by the children.
If a teacher is searching for the best way to connect to a group of students who are from diverse ethnic backgrounds, the teacher must use music to cross cultures. If a teacher is aiming to convey a lesson to a group of students who are all of the same ethnic background, the teacher must use music to bring diversity to the classroom. Music is the enabling tool to achieve both of these goals.
Whereas some children prefer math and others sports, music exists in all of them. “Music is a basic intelligence which is a part of all human beings (no matter the race or gender). Musical thinking requires the mind to behave in ways different from logico-mathematical thinking, and musical development is therefore important for total child development. Musical literacy is possible and should be the goal for every child.” Already labeled as a tool of connectivity, music can also form itself into a stimulator of basic intelligence and cognitive ability. “An environment that allows children freedom and time to construct their own musical knowledge is an environment that provides opportunity for individual expression of each unique child. Such an environment also encourages integration of music with other areas of children’s play. Group music activities help children sense the social values of music, and also provide opportunities for caregivers to facilitate integration of music with other content.” (Hart, C. H., Burts, D. C., Charlesworth, R., 1997, pp. 104-139). There is no better method by which to socially integrate children than through musical group activities.
NeoOffice
All documents produced by the OMIA Foundation are created with the shareware program NeoOffice. This program is a cross platform office suite similar to Microsoft Office. OMIA uses a Mac and if you do too you can download NeoOffice [here].
Sources
Register, D., Darrow, A. A., Standley, J., Swedberg, O. (2007). The Use of Music to Enhance Reading Skills of Second Grade Students and Students with Reading Disabilities. Journal of Music Therapy, XLIV, 1. 23-37.
Pressley, M., Mohan, L., Raphael, L. M., Fingeret L. (2007). How Does Bennett Woods Elementary School Produce Such High Reading and Writing Achievement? Journal of Educational Psychology, 99 , 2, 221-240
Hart, C. H., Burts, D. C., Charlesworth, R. (1997). Integrated Curriculum and Developmentally Appropriate Practice: Birth to Age Eight. Albany State University of New York Press
