TWS #8 Reflection, Self- Evaluation, and Professional Development

Section 1: Whole Class In my showcase lesson, I believe that most all of the students understood my lesson and were able to decipher the meter in a piece of music when the lesson was completed. I taught the main part of lesson on the white board. I repeated everything that I wrote on the board to reiterate the information. To involve all of the students I as ed them to use their fingers to show how many beats are in a measure according to the meter on the board. In order to promote greater student learning, I should have given broader e!amples of meter and actually applied it to a piece of music. I believe that I should have also had the students come to the board and write an e!ample showing the correct number of beats in a measure. I believe that if I ma e these changes in a future lesson, the students will all progress significantly throughout the lesson.

Section ": Three Individual Students

TWS #8 Reflection, Self- Evaluation, and Professional Development

#. The student that was most successful has previous musical bac ground. This student attended the #CTS program in $reenwood, so most of he school wor focused on music. This student also plays the violin so he already new how to read the meter in a piece of music. I allowed this student to help the struggling students around him. %e was very helpful, but while I was e!plaining to the class how to find the meter in a piece of music, this students yelled out answers. I had to e!plain to the student that he needed to give the other students an opportunity to answer the &uestions so that they could understand how to find the meter. '. The student that was the least successful, did not try to understand meter. The student was very passive and always said that (I can)t do this*. I tried to e!plain further to the student, but she did not try to understand. When I told the student that she would be given a &ui+ that would go into the grade boo , she started to become interested in learning how to find meter. The student still struggled with the topic, because she had not listened to me as I was e!plaining it to the whole class. I believe that if I could repeat my lesson I would tell the students at the beginning of the class that there will be a &ui+. I also would try to pair the struggling student with a peer that is understands the topic. C. The student that was average, struggled with the pre assessment, because he was very unfamiliar with the sub,ect. The student had no musical bac ground and this is the first choir that he has ever been in. -nce I e!plained how to find the meter in a piece of music he was able to answer the &uestions correctly. The student did struggle with some of the harder &uestion, but after I e!plained the concept more he was able to answer correctly. -n the final &ui+ the student received a ./0, which showed a great improvement form the pre assessment. This student is a hard wor er and tries very hard in this choir class.

Section 1: 2eflection on additional "34 lessons 5esson 61

TWS #8 Reflection, Self- Evaluation, and Professional Development

In my first lesson I was very nervous, because I had never taught high school students. #t the start of my lesson I introduced musical form to the students. I used their theory boo s to e!plain the different types of form that are seen in music. I used previous nowledge and instruction by as ing the students to pull out the pieces that they have been learning in class and tell me what form those pieces were in. I then introduced a new piece of music, which the students will perform in their Christmas Concert, and I spent the duration of my time wor ing with the students on the pitches and rhythm. I first as ed the student to identify the ey in the music then I as ed them to put their notes on solfege. #fter solfege I them as ed each section to sing their part to me. I decided that the students were not &uite getting the pitches right so I sang each part to each section then they sang it bac to me. #fter, I demonstrated the rhythm and the students repeated it bac to me. I then had the students sing their part on solfege and rhythm. The students struggled with trying to do that, so I separated them be voice part and reviewed the rhythm and the solfege with the students. #fter I reviewed with each section we put all the parts together and sang through the first part of the piece. I believe that I had a positive impact on the students learning of the new piece. I helped each section learn their part. I reviewed with each section and also modeled the correct pitches to each section. I used small group instruction to help each section learn their part. Throughout the lesson I remained positive and up beat. I also encouraged the students by saying ( that sounds great* or ( $reat 7ob8*. 9y lesson plan was accurate. I did have to review over the music more than I had anticipated, but we did not lose trac of time. #fter I had taught the first section of the music to all four parts, the class put all of the parts together to review what they learned. In my second lesson we did much of the same things as the first lesson, because I am teaching the students a new song for their Christmas Concert. The first activity that they competed was (:ive 9inuet Theory*, which the students did individually unless they needed my help with a challenging part. ;e!t I lead the class in warm3ups. I did these at the beginning of every lesson to warm the students) voices. <uring warm3ups I introduced a new warm3up that I had to demonstrate several times in order for the students to sing it. ;e!t I reviewed the parts of the new piece that the class new, then moved to the new section of the music. In the new section, the ey was different as well as the rhythm, so the class established the correct ey

TWS #8 Reflection, Self- Evaluation, and Professional Development

before moving to the ne!t step. #fter establishing the ey I as ed the students to ta e three minutes and find the solfege for their part. I then went over the rhythm of the piece with each section as well as the solfege and pitches. The bass section really struggled with finding the correct notes so I spent e!tra time with them, while the other three parts were humming their notes. I believe that in this lesson the class wor ed really hard and completed the first half of the new piece. I was positive throughout the lesson. I ept the lesson moving so that the students did not have time to tal and disrupt the class. I treated each student fairly by helping each one with the difficult parts. I made sure that each student was comfortable with their part before I moved to a new section in the piece. In my third lesson I had sectionals. =ach voice part would ,oin me at the piano and I would run through their part with them. While I was wor ing with the one group the other three groups were to read a boo or wor on their theory. I believe that the sections were great and each group was able to receive special attention on the parts that they were struggling with. I tried to only spend fifteen minutes with each group, but some groups were still having trouble with their part, so I spent e!tra time with them. I was positive throughout each sectional. I praised the students for their hard wor . If I could re3do this lesson I would pay closer attention to the groups that I was not wor ing with at the piano to ma e sure that they are staying on tas . I would also try to ma e the sections come swiftly to the piano instead of slowly wal ing. I had to ma e some changes to the this lesson, because I had originally planned to have another group rehearsal. #s the students started singing the first half of the piece to review, I reali+ed that the sections needed some individual wor , so I &uic ly changed plans. The students were very actively involved with this activity. In the setting around the piano, I was able to hear every voice and find out where the students were having trouble. I believe that the sectionals helped the students to really learn their part, which made them sing more confidently in the ne!t lessons. 9y forth lesson was a compete run3through of the entire song. #t the start of the lesson I as ed the students to ta e their pencils out and circle any spots that they did not get in the music

TWS #8 Reflection, Self- Evaluation, and Professional Development

as we sing it all the way through. #s the students were singing I also made notes of the trouble spots so that we could go bac and fi! them. #fter singing the song all the way through, I them went bac and wor ed with each section on the part that they missed in the run3through. 'y singing the piece all the way through it showed the students as well as me what we needed to wor on in the remaining class time as well as in the future. The students were very forth coming with the areas that they wanted to wor on in the music, which was great, because it showed me that the students cared about their performance. Throughout the lesson I maintained a positive attitude and encouraged the students as they sang. #fter going over each area in the music that needed attention, I had the class run through the piece again. In this run3through the parts that the class wor ed on were much better. The class was able to see the improvement in the song by singing through the whole song at the end of the lesson. 'ecause the students did so well in this lesson, I now that in my future lessons I should allow the students to grade their performance. The students circled the areas that thy did not get correct, which made them reali+ed what part they needed to wor on.

Section 4: 2eflection and >rofessional <evelopment The professional development goal that emerged from my insights and e!periences with the TWS would be classroom management. 9rs. 7olly showed me the best way to handle high school classroom management. ?ntil this clinical I had only been in elementary school classrooms, so I did not now how to manage a high school classroom. I learned that you have to be firm with the students and do not let them wal over you. I also learned that the students react to positive attitudes. I was always positive towards the students, which gave them a respect for me. 9ost of the time, because I maintained a positive attitude, the students did not misbehave.

TWS #8 Reflection, Self- Evaluation, and Professional Development

The students were always very e!cited to see me and tal to me, which this clinical a great e!perience. The two steps that I would ta e to improve my performance in classroom management is to have a conse&uence when the student is disrespectful, and also to become more comfortable with the students. #t the beginning of my clinical I was very nervous about teaching high school students, because I was not much older than them, but I slowly became less nervous the more time I spent in the classroom. The second professional development goal that I learned was to always be over prepared for your lessons. In one of my lessons I finished early and I did not have anything else planned so I had to improvise, which was very stressful. I learned that it is better to always over plan your lesson than to finish the lesson early. The two steps I need to ta e in order to improve this s ill are to first plan a longer lesson, or have and activity for the students that finish early. I believe that these would help me in preparing my ne!t lesson plan.