Note: The name of the school and teacher have been changed to maintain confidentiality. Below are my thoughts and reflections after observing a Music Tech Class for sixth graders taught at High Point Middle School by Elbert Conrad: I was extremely impressed by how smoothly Mr. Conrad ran his classroom—he related well to the students and was funny and engaging. This was my first time seeing a music technology course and I was glad it was this one. He synthesized everything they had learned in a way that was easily understood, built upon their knowledge through the online tutorial, and then had them begin reconstructing their knowledge by creating their own musical track using Auxy. He also excelled at basic classroom management skills; he had a signal for them to be quiet and was firm and reasonable when it came to the classroom noise level. Overall, it was a very pedagogically sound lesson. I was surprised that Mr. Conrad taught all the music classes (musical theatre, band, choir, orchestra, music technology) at High Point Middle School. That’s a lot of skills to know how to teach and I would not feel adequate teaching all those things! Since he did teach all the music courses, all the music materials were in one classroom. I am used to the choir and band/orchestra having two rooms, so it seemed to constrain the space having choir risers and music stands with chairs in the same room. I did appreciate how colorful and well decorated the classroom was—it gave the room a welcoming feeling and made it be a place the students would like coming back to. Mr. Conrad was creative in varying the activities he did in one lesson, which kept the students engaged. It also was a mixture of him talking, the students responding, and the students doing their own work silently, which ended up being a good balance. I had never seen a listening log done before, but I liked the idea that it was a simple activity that only took 10 minutes, but allowed the students to be exposed to different kinds of music and critically think and articulate their thoughts about the song. I also love playing Kahoot, and was glad to see it being used in a music classroom in an effective way. I think that depending on the questions asked, it can be difficult to have a productive Kahoot; however, he had questions that reinforced the material they had learned and it was a fun and effective Kahoot. Lastly, I was amazed by how he used technology to his advantage. A lot of times I think it can be a hindrance to learning, especially when there are glitches. However, it seemed like he always had a backup plan if the technology did not work, which happened, and smoothly continued with the lesson. He had the students independently worked, which helped them take charge of their own learning, and then he reviewed with them to ensure that the main topics he wanted them to understand were highlighted. I was also glad that he used project-based assessment so that the students felt free enough to make mistakes and create a product that they enjoyed, rather than just adhering to a rubric. I thoroughly enjoyed his lesson and would love to ask him more questions on how he built such a great curriculum! 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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