Planning and Preparation
1a Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy
"The Rise of the Cello Through the Baroque Era: How Today's Violins Came to Be". I wrote this paper my Sophomore year of college, and I find myself reflecting on it to this day. Examining the history of my preferred instrument provides fuel for teaching. Knowing that stringed instruments went through so much change, physically and stylistically, inspires me to keep exploring what these amazing instruments can do. I wrote the rough draft for this paper in one night, so excited to connect pieces of history together and eventually to my present. To examine how early societies engineered one of the most important aspects of my life really connects me to my art, and helps me become enthusiastic to share it. I believe that music and history are not exclusive, as both capture humanities that run in our veins, and music with no story or background has little meaning.
1e Designing Coherent Instruction
This picture shows a type of visual learning progression that all teachers worked on during our after-school PD meetings. We were given a subject, and asked to identify all the elements needed to teach the subject and write them on sticky notes. We then arranged the sticky notes in a chronological order of learning. My topic was teaching students the three main types of Native American Pow-Wow dances. This learning progression in particular was huge for me, because it was my first unit I designed from scratch (no curriculum book, just based on interviews from Natives and scholarly, ethnographic publications). I wrote down all the pieces of information students would need to know in objective statements such as, "Students can move feet to a steady drum beat" or "Students can use accents for steady, expressive beats". I used this learning progression to properly guide lessons, and construct a clear idea in my head for how to teach this brand new subject to each grade level.
1f Designing Student Assessments
Phase one: Scoring
Phase 2: Find solutions and create new objectives
When it comes to student assessment, it is incredibly effective if students are involved in the process. This photo is taken from a class self-assessment. The 5th Grade Orchestra was recording playing "Twinkle", and the recording was played back to them so they could hear what they sounded and looked like. I then wrote categories on the board, followed by a rating system next to each category. We went through each category, and I had them hold up fingers for how they felt they did with each one (1 was worst, five was best). After getting the consensus, I would call on several students to tell me why they are receiving that score, and how we can improve it.
In music, assessments are absolutely obligatory for success. Assessments are self-reflections of performance, which allow students to make corrections and grow as a class and individually. Here, the 5th Grade Orchestra was allowed to discuss why their performance wasn't quite as satisfactory as they had hoped, and decided on what to do improve it. With guidance, they received, and even created, quality feedback that would shape the direction of their learning, as well as created new objectives for their time spent in class.