Note: The name of the school and teacher have been changed to maintain confidentiality. Below are my thoughts and reflections after observing a second grade general music class taught at Chuckatuck Elementary School by Mirka Kelly: This course that I observed, general music for second graders, was most similar to a music course that I had grown up taking out of the three practicum observations that we did. However, I do not remember most of what I did in second grade, so while it did seem similar, I’ll never actually remember if it actually was something we did when I was in elementary school. The first thing that I noticed when walking into the classroom was how colorful and friendly it was—this built a welcoming atmosphere and made the room seem happy and lively. I also loved how there were baby blue ukuleles all along the wall of the room! When the students walked in, they knew exactly what to do and where to sit. She had developed a system of assigning each student a letter on the circular mat and it worked so smoothly. They had a new student in the class and she quickly got him adjusted to what they did each class. When she taught, I was impressed by how she subtly incorporated assessment into the necessary activities they did, like taking attendance. She had her iPad out to take attendance, but also had them match pitch and sing that they were here when she sung their names. It was a simple way to assess if they could match pitch or not. She also had a good, balanced amount of group learning and assessment, as well as individual assessment. After taking attendance (individual assessment), she reinforced their knowledge of dynamics with a group story that included using egg shakers and a singing game (group learning), and then had then individually play dynamics on the djembe (individual assessment). All these activities provided a variety of ways for students to learn the same concept of dynamics. She also used popsicle sticks that had letters of the alphabet written on them to provide a fair way to call on all the students. Popsicle sticks can be a hassle for teachers because it takes time to write all the students’ names on them, but by using alphabet letters, she saved a lot of time and made the tool more of a help than a hindrance. She had a very kind, gentle, and mother-like personality, and it worked for the students. She got them excited about music even though she wasn’t high energy all the time. It made me wonder and appreciate how she was able to put her own personality into her teaching style. She was still herself and did not have to change her personality because of how she taught; rather, she incorporated it into her teaching and it gave her a style that was unique to her. I appreciated that because it makes me more confident that I can still be myself and teach like me, but also use the different ideas and techniques from my peers at JMU to become a better teacher. At the end of the lesson when we went up to talk to her, she said that she graduated as a performance major, but then decided to teach. This was comforting to hear that you can’t really make a “wrong” choice in life, you simply take a detour until you are on the path you need and want to be on. Comments are closed.
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Davina MiawOn this page, I will present examples of my leadership through videos, lesson plans, and reflections. Archives
December 2019
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