Lindsey Lorefice

Dr. Darrin Thornton

MUS 395B
April 4, 2014

Reflection on Band Unit

In reflecting upon my teaching experience during the band unit, I learned a
lot about my strengths and weaknesses. Concerning my strengths, I noticed that my
ability to be conversational with the students while teaching made them feel more
comfortable. I even got a laugh out of them! I believe that my enthusiasm for
teaching each activity encourages the students to perform better. Another strength
that I display is my ability to prepare the material I teach effectively. Memorizing the
exercises that I composed for the students helped me conduct them more
effectively. Also, memorizing the script that I wrote in conjunction with my lesson
plan helped me stay on task with my students. However, I need to improve my
directions. Specifically, I need to give more succinct directions. At times, I gave
longer explanations than what was necessary. Another area of improvement
consists of my ability to set the tempo for the band. Since the students were sight-
reading, the tempo dramatically slowed down. I need to push them forward in the
future so that they do not get stuck performing a piece at a slower tempo than what
was originally intended.
On the topic of achieving my goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the
semester, I am proud of my growth in my conducting. In my peer teaching, I used
various types of gestures in order to encourage the students to play each phrase of
music differently. Since I was less worried about my conducting technique, I was
able to listen to the students as they performed. This let me stray from my script in
order to address an issue that I noticed while the students were performing. I am
pleased with my ability to listen more effectively to the students and respond to
their needs as a teacher. However, I still need to improve my comfort level with
discipline, although this aspect of teaching did not come into play during this unit
since I was teaching my peers.
Concerning what I learned through this experience, I learned the importance
of having the students play more than the time spent for the teacher to talk. Dr.
Bundy highlighted to me that students need to be actively participating more than
just listening. This style of teaching is different from how I am used to teaching at
Summer Study Programs and the New York Talent Club. I frequently give lectures on
a topic and then guide the students through an activity. This teaching experience
opened my eyes to the fact that students perform better when they are more
actively engaged from the beginning of the lesson. I also learned that I need to ask
the students the right questions. I asked my peers very general questions in order to
allow them the freedom to give many different answers, but the students seemed
confused by how vaguely I asked questions. Fine-tuning the questions will help
them understand what I am looking for as a response in a shorter amount of time.
Moreover, I learned that my apparel affects my expressiveness in my conducting. I
need to be conscious of the suits that I wear so that I can allow my arms enough
room to show emotion.
I look forward to progressing in my teaching during the next unit. These class
assignments are eye-opening. I am truly thankful for the educational encouragement
to plunge into activities, reflect on the outcomes, and improve for the future.