Self Reflection

Looking back on this semester at Wyoming Public Im overwhelmed by

how much Ive learned both from my mentor teacher and the process of

gradually integrating myself into a teaching role in a real live classroom. In

reflecting on and beginning to form my identity as a music educator, I have

become more confident in the importance of music to bring awareness to

important issues and aid in the personal development of students, as well as

audiences. There is something very powerful in opening yourself to the

experiences and stories of others, and music achieves that in a very powerful

way.

In composing my Unit Plan, I intended to center the themes on this

philosophy, choosing activities and a piece that would encourage students to

enter into the experience of others and develop their capacity for empathy. I

also aimed to help my students develop and apply critical thinking skills to

music and society at large. I aimed to achieve this it by an activity of

comparing and contrasting two different choirs and performances from

different genres, as well as encouraging students to thinking critically about

prominent historical figures such as Elvis, and the impact that he had in pop

culture. In Chapter 10, Anita Woolfolk discusses the phenomenon that there

are specific people and groups of people that create history and determine

what is and isnt remembered (Woolfolk 361). This is especially prominent in

music and is demonstrated in spirituals, a genre that was viewed as

unintelligent. In my teaching of Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho, I hope I was

effective in bringing awareness to these injustices and helping students

engage in the experiences of another group of people. Creating the Unit Plan

helped me identify what I think is important about music education and my

passion for participating in the role that music teachers can play in the

development of students beyond academics.

I thought the Unit Plan was effective as a whole, if I stretched Lesson 4

and 5 into weeks of rehearsal. I covered a lot of rehearsal techniques in

those lessons, but it would take much more than two days to learn the notes,

rhythms, and pronunciation of an entire piece. Because of the time I was

given, I needed to focus on rehearsing the piece during my time at Wyoming,

but in an ideal world, I would have discussed the sociocultural implications of

the piece with the class in depth as well.

In teaching my Unit Plan, I struggled to find a balance between my

mentor teachers routine and the way I wanted to do things. Mrs. Miller was a

firm believer in the power of routine, and did the same warm ups every day.

She felt that students relied on the routine with their crazy lives, but I found

it to be rather disengaging. I found students to be very receptive to my warm

ups, although it took them a bit to get used to trying new, sometimes out-of-

the-box things. I also struggled with how much to do like Mrs. Miller when it

came to assessment. When talking about objective assessment in Chapter 7,

OLAS states that objectivity in testing means that the answers or judgments

are not open to interpretation, bias, or dispute and that test performances

can be reduced to statistical representations such as scores, grades

(Oakes, Lipton, Anderson, Stillman, 207). Music by nature is constantly open

to interpretation, especially at the more advanced level. When creating

assessments, I realized that objective assessment in music is the most basic

level, and exists with correct pitches, rhythms, dynamics, and articulation.

Objective assessment in music is found on the pages of the music, but to

make effective, powerful music beyond the written notes requires a deeper

understanding of what the music means and how to interpret it. This is an

element of teaching I didnt have much time to actually teach when teaching

the kids at Wyoming, but was something I focused on in my hypothetical

lesson plan.

This semester has been largely about gaining confidence in front of

students and learning to navigate the challenges that brings. Ive found it

difficult to balance having fun with students while maintaining control, as

well as multitasking between what I would like to say and watching students

to redirect them when needed. However as the semester progressed I gained

confidence and increased in my ability to be attentive to students actions

while determining my own actions as well. Having become accustomed to

the rehearsal expectations of a collegiate choir, I had to adjust to differences

in rehearsal expectations of a junior high choir. This caused me to think

about the expectations for my own future choir someday. I think there is

importance to having high expectations, but even more important for

beginning choristers to have a positive, engaging experience in choir. I think

it is also important to consider that students have a more positive

experience when they achieve higher musical achievement, which often is a

result of high expectations. However, I think teachers should find a delicate

balance between the two, and strive to make high expectations as engaging

as possible.

1. Oakes, J., Lipton, M., Anderson, L., & Stillman, J. (2013). Teaching to
Change the
World (Fourth ed., p. 207). New York, NY: Roulegledge.

2. Woolfolk, A. (2013). Educational Psychology (12thth ed., p. 361).

Indianapolis, IN: Pearson.