Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Lesson Reflection
Yesterday, in my Secondary Music graduate course, I gave a 10 minute "audition" lesson on the topic of tempo. Ironically enough, my teaching tempo was pretty inconsistent. My colleagues noticed that when I was teaching, demonstrating, or having my "students" practice something, that I was fluid and consistent with my presentation. It was the transitions that were killing me. I had great activities and examples planned out but when it came to changing from one to another, I lost the class's attention in the process. In a real middle school setting (and I am well aware of this after interning in one for 2-3 months) that downtime between instructions and during transitions can be deadly. A great amount of time can be spent trying to settle the class down and regain focus. I need to make sure that I am not leaving my class hanging at any point during the lesson. Even if I have to pause, I should do it with purpose. I need to hold the attention of the entire class no matter what. This means I need to be more deliberate with my teaching and directions so that there is no confusion about what I am asking of the students. In my lesson yesterday I started off with the students singing the ABC's in different tempos. I was too laissez faire with my instructions and this left my students feeling confused. As a teacher, I need to give thorough instructions for every task so that we are not wasting time revisiting instructions that were not clear enough. I think with more time and practice I will develop this meticulous method of giving instruction. I cannot assume that every student will understand what I am asking them to do if I am too vague with my directions. I had a plan going into the lesson, but now I know that my plan needs to be broken down into smaller pieces. I need to stick to my plan and follow the directions I write for myself. It may feel like I am micromanaging everything that could happen in the classroom, but I believe that practicing teaching at this level will help greatly. If I have a solid foundation going into the classroom then my lessons will run extremely well. Purpose, passion and persistence are what I want to incorporate into my next lesson. I think my ideas are well founded and are great ways to engage students, but the lesson itself isn't going to teach the class.
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Hi Dylan,
ReplyDeleteYou are quite right to say that you had a solid, well-thought out and concise lesson plan on "tempo". The fact that you started us off with "The Alphabet Song" was clever and yet simple enough for students of any age or academic level to understand and relate to. While everyone will know the tune in question, most of us have probably never thought of how varying tempos could factor into an arrangement, adaptation or interpretation of this selection. When we take this variable into consideration, "The Alphabet Song" has the potential to become something completely different from what we would typically envision it as. At the end of class, I recall Professor Schneider commenting on the lack of a starting note in the aforementioned activity, which I think threw many people in our class off. We were able to eventually agree on a tonal center, but unless you are dealing with particularly advanced students, even a high school class will have difficulty finding "home" without the aid of some type of sonic cue. The respective examples from Beethoven, Handel and Mozart, which you relied upon to illustrate slow, medium and fast tempos are standard members of the canonical repertoire in western classical music, but perhaps you might want to consider the incorporation of a contemporary piece as well. Although I am sure you have distinct thoughts of your own on my last comment and/or suggestion, I think that Wesley picked up on something ingenious by pairing Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk" with J.S. Bach. Regardless of the listening examples that you choose, I think that the entire class should stand up and move around when trying to "feel" the tempo. I am sure that like myself on saxophone, on the violin you were taught to keep time by tapping your foot. This is familiar territory for us, but with how "active" and susceptible to distraction the youth of 2015 seem to be, I think you would be better served to have them all moving, as opposed to sitting and tapping their feet. Your enthusiasm was terrific and I think that while your manner appears to be easy going, the passion that you have for your subject matter is obvious. Singing can definitely be incorporated into your lesson and I think that particularly in a general music class, students need to familiarize themselves with the power of our actual "first instrument": the human voice. These are children who typically have no other formal training and don't play a conventional band or orchestral instrument. The joy of singing cannot be stressed enough and is applicable to any of the topics that Professor Schneider assigned us. Great job yesterday and I look forward to your re-presentation in three weeks!
-Matt-
It's not easy to bring a subject like tempo markings to life, but you did a fine job at getting the idea across. I like the movement, and having all the examples is a great learning tool but perhaps you can have some of the students suggest songs as well. We could also experiement with the same song in different tempos as well.
ReplyDeleteLike some mentioned in class, there seemed to be lulls in the instruction. I feel its always important to keep moving forward, even if just a little so the class doesn't become stalled.
In general I think a better road map of how the lesson could flow work help. Perhaps some more movement or another activity as well. There was something to do in the beginning but only then. great job.
Dylan-
ReplyDeleteI think it's a great point that instructions need to be clear and concise, especially for grade 8 students. The students need to know exactly what's expected of them or they could lose focus.
You had all the right information and it made sense, just keep the class focused and it'll perfect.