September 10th 2019: 7th Grade Band

In the beginning of my student teaching experience I was leading middle school students

in their warm-ups. This specific lesson reflection is for a 7th grade band class of approximately

17 learners. My instruction consisted of leading a major chord round, tonging to the 9th in Bb

Major exercise, and segueing into instruction by introducing 6/8 meter though modeling on fife.

I like that I had great eye contact with the students, and offered clear cues for them to

enter together confidently. Additionally, I offered several different problem-solving measures to

get the brass players to play the higher partials that they were struggling with initially. And, my

directions were clear and direct to support student learning.

However, I do not like that I talked over the students’ playing once. I should have waited

until they had stopped playing before offering feedback. Furthermore, I did a poor job of

including every learner in instruction when the brass players needed sectional and individual

attention.

The biggest aspect of this lesson that I would change is the pacing of my instruction. I

would say this was due to inexperience, and not thinking through enough “what if” scenarios in

the planning stages of my lesson. I should have been more prepared for my brass players to

struggle with hitting the higher partials, and built up the lesson differently accordingly. Ideally, I

would give my students what they need to succeed in the front of my lesson, and not have to do

damage control during due to not successfully predicting their needs. I also wish I involved my

woodwind players when I needed to work with the brass. I could have used their ears and

feedback, or given them an alternate task to work on quietly.

While the flow of my lesson can be improved upon, it was very clear that my students’

made progress in their playing abilities, as well as demonstrated improvement on 6/8 meter.
 October 7th, 2019: 8th Grade Band

For this lesson I warmed up the band, ran through one of their pieces of repertoire for the

first time, and then dismissed the woodwinds to work on Area Band audition music while I

worked with the brass and percussion on the piece of music we ran as a class.

I really enjoyed how conversational I was with the 8th Graders throughout my teaching.

They were involved in their own learning, and that level of engagement is great to see.

Additionally, it was clear that I was more aware of what was happening in the classroom. I was

correcting students’ behaviors in a way that seamlessly pulled them back into the lesson.

Furthermore, I like that I modeled bell tones and accents on a clarinet so they could hear what

the difference is. Modeling is so much better than trying to describe what you want with words.

I would like to further improve my conducting. I was familiar enough with the music to

conduct with expression, but I was not confident enough to get my nose out of the score.

Additionally, the flow of class broke down when I shared with them that this was my last week

conducting them. In the future, I should plan to have conversations like that at the end of class.

After we ran through the piece of music, I assessed students’ learning by having them

listen to themselves, and write on the white board what they noticed. My goal for this was not

only to assess what they heard, but also for them to create their own standards. I wanted to be

able to reference what they want to grow on as we progress through warm-ups, and other

components of rehearsal, instead of instilling my standards onto them.

Overall I am encouraged to see that I have good rapport with my learners, and have

improved upon the pacing of instruction. Additionally, I have learned how to consistently

involve all my students in classroom learning, or give them alternate tasks when I need to work

on something that does not apply to them.

 November 14th 2019: Kindergarten General Music

A large focus of this lesson was on steady beat, and identifying pitched and non-pitched

instruments. We started off by learning lyrics to the song “Five Fat Turkeys”, and discussing

what the song is about. Then I introduced the melody on a finger piano, and taught them what a

finger piano was, as well as inserted some music history/context by asking the class to vote on

whether they thought the finger piano or piano was older. As we sang the song more and more,

and I continued to add in additional instruments for the learners to play a steady beat on after we

identified them as either pitched or non-pitched. I wrapped up the lesson by playing the Lucky

Locket game with Five Fat Turkeys, to assess whether or not the learners understood loud and

soft.

I thought the planning of my lesson and integration of VA Music SOLs was well done.

The execution was also successful. However, my demeanor was not nearly as thrilled working

with these younger learners as I was to be working with the middle schoolers. It really took me

by surprise to see me look beaten down in trying to manage these Kindergarteners. What are

healthy expectations for 5 and 6 year-olds?

The learners seemed to enjoy the lesson, and did well at identifying pitched and non-

pitched instruments, as well as playing loud versus soft. However, there was not a recognizable

steady beat. They seemed to do better without instruments, but then got excited, and just wanted

to play without regard to tempo when they had instruments.

I like both the content and pacing of my lesson, but I would go back and change my

energy level if I could. Additionally, I relied heavily on my cooperating teacher to identify on-

task students to be rewarded with instruments instead of multitasking by teaching and identifying

students myself.