Fifth Grade Student Case Study

For my case study, I chose a fifth grade girl from general music who sings in choir and was chosen for a special singing festival. Right before I decided to focus on her, I had heard her sing a duet at another event. She had a good voice and obviously did not have a problem with singing in public, but just looked very bored on stage. I had not noticed anything too out of the ordinary in music class before then, but her attitude during this voluntary performance struck my attention. Sure enough in class the next week, I noticed that she looked absolutely bored to be there. What really got me was that she would not sing at all. I had just heard her sing with only one other friend in front of a crowd and knew she was in chorus, so why was she acting this way? From that point on, I watched her closely in class.

After noticing her sour attitude, I asked my co-op for background information on this girl, who I will call Z.B. My co-op knew Z.B.'s family well, and said she used to be a great student with a positive attitude, but started showing signs of change during this year. The teachers here have access to all student grades, so we looked at her marking period grades and teacher comments, and one of her class grades had changed pretty drastically between two of the marking periods. That teacher made a comment about her poor attitude and lack of participation. The other teachers had listed that she was a good student, so at least we know she was passive in more than just music class.

Throughout the rest of the semester, Z.B. mostly just sat in music class with her arms crossed while the rest of the class sang. During portions of class where we had review questions on our composers, she would raise her hand and answer questions. Sometimes she laughed when other students were goofing around, but that was the most I ever really saw her participate. There was one day where she had a good attitude and even smiled and sang, but every other time she was back to the usual "not caring" attitude. My co-op did have a talk with her after class one day, but she did not display a big change.

For the recent chorus concert, she did not wear dress clothes similar to the other students, and she once again did not look happy to be there. When talking to her, though, I found out she does enjoy singing. At the special singing festival, she was interacting with other students and expressed her enjoyment for the festival. From these observations and interactions with Z.B., I have decided that she is going through typical pre-teen attitudes. Her best friend in music class also displayed some of those passive attitudes, so I think they are influencing each other. I am not worried that she will stop singing. I guess some people just do not show much expression while singing.