Sunday, February 5, 2012
Orchestra Observation (Feb. 2nd @ 8:15 am)
This was my first time in an orchestra classroom. I really would have loved the opportunity to play in orchestra! My musical life would probably be quite different today. One thing that I noticed throughout my observation was that there are many different ability levels among the students. This is common sense, but it was really obvious and visible in this smaller orchestral setting. I could hear each individual section, and there were even some students that really stood out from the group. Another thing that I noticed was that there were different commitment levels. I understand that this shows a judgement made on my part, but I saw some players that looked as though they were not as committed to their instruments of the group. I guess the key as a teacher is to be able to see things as they, but not let your observations cause you to give up on a single student. You never know what your influence can do for each individual student...
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Good observation—reading body language is a complicated thing with intermediate students because there is the whole “cool” thing happening. But there is nothing wrong with letting your students know that they are assessed on attentiveness, effort, and posture (we call this class participation). In some cases if the whole groups seems bored, then perhaps this is a good sign that the teacher needs to do something to liven things up a bit…speaking of which, what about the lesson might have seem more or less interesting to students? Was there a piece that seemed to more or less popular?
ReplyDeleteYou have made a couple of good observations, but I would encourage you to expand your thinking a bit more on your reflections (aka blogs). See if you can relate what you notice to those three essential components that we have been talking about:
1) CM—Classroom Management: What does the teacher do to create an environment of effective instruction?
2) LG—Learning Goals (and outcomes): What are the goals of the day?
3) REP—Repertoire: What sort of materials or music was being played?
In the future please expand on these ideas to receive full credit on your reflection.
1/1 NS