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Off-Campus Observation Map

Your Name

Stephanie Rengifo

Name of School:

E-Mail: sreng005@fiu.edu

Zelda Glaser Middle School

Town: Miami

Name of Teacher Observed: Mr. De Jess

Observation Date: 10-06-2014

Describe the teaching

environment. Who are the
children? Who is the teacher?
How might the school environment
impact what happens in the
classroom?

Class:
Time: 9:15am

State Fl
Band

Grade(s): 8th , 9th

Date Submitted: 10-07-2014

I saw a very organized room, with stands, very professional, percussion instrument and some sort of sitting
arrangement, the walls were white and clear, no distractions or any type of decoration. There are small rooms for
the children to practice by instrument. The group is very diverse, there are children in many different levels, grades,
ages, and musically. The teacher has been working here for about two years and is trying to make his curriculum
work for the advantage of his students. The school is in general very supportive of music and arts in general, which
gives students the possibility of learning more of this and exploring a beautiful area of knowledge, and its reflected
in their development and progress.

What were the teachers goals for

the class/ensemble? How did
she/he act on those?

The teacher wants them to be responsible and mature, so he thinks they shouldnt be treated like children, he
wants them to be prepared for concerts, fundraisers and several events that involve performing so they work
towards them; but he also wants them to be somewhat well-rounded when it comes to technical studies so he
focuses a little bit on these in the beginning and at the end of the school year.

What teaching/rehearsal
strategies did you see? What was
the learning sequence?

We werent exactly observing the class as much as we were a part of it, I saw that they have some fingering charts
to guide them a little bit when approaching the instrument, like I said before they are all in different levels but they
all share the curiosity and hunger towards learning how to play the instrument and be better at it. They seem a bit
concerned about playing, saying or doing something wrong.
I think they need a little more guidance on how to approach the instrument, how to hold it properly, it seems like

What would you do differently?

its more of a try and fail type of learning which might help them in some aspects but at the same time might not
What was missing from the lesson?

give them many tools to actually play the instrument properly and better their sound and technique without
getting injured, though I also take into consideration how hard and time consuming can be to try and help every
student individually and still get fairly fast results.

What evidence did you observe

that would indicate that the
learning goals were met?

The fact that, even though its such a diverse group, they all understand how their body and the instrument work
together, they have this muscle memory that helps them understand the instrument as an extension of their body
and not an external object. How with short instructions they can figure out rhythms, melodies, ornaments, etc
and are able to play a musical piece considerably well.

What evidence of critical thinking,

critical feeling and/or critical action
did you see?

Specifically in my interaction with the flute players, they would tell me exactly what they thought there problems
were, whether the issue was technical with the flute or musical, as in understanding the musical piece, rhythm and
melody. They were also very thoughtful of their sound and very open to any suggestions we had.

What National Standards did you

see?

MU.68.C.2.1
Critique personal performance, experiment with a variety of solutions.
MU.68.S.3.1
Sing and/or play age-appropriate repertoire expressively.

How did students engage in the

classroom? What was happening
at the time when students were
really focused?

I think they are very committed to playing, they enjoy learning and making music, they were also very focused and
disciplined, they actually wanted to listed what we had to say and were very opened to everything, they specially
wanted us to play with them and hear us play, they were very mature when it came to learning, listening and
following the directions we would give them.

Describe a "teachable moment"

that you might have witnessed.

I had the opportunity to work with a very shy girl, she had been playing flute for about a year, I really liked her
sound so I didnt really go into that a whole lot, but I did try to help her with her right hand position because I
thought that was slowing her down a little bit, but I mostly focused on the rhythm, because that was what was
causing her more trouble, so I started working on that and specifically on the dotted notes, trying to get her to
understand why it sounds the way it does, we used a couple of different methods in order to get to this, tapping
the beats, subdividing, singing and finally playing. It was very rewarding watching her do it by herself and especially
watching her open up to me enough to sing and do silly rhythm experiments in front of me without being shy, then
we played together, I think it was wonderful.

What constructive comments might you make about this lesson/rehearsal?

Its important to find an effective way of using the short time we have, there are a lot of students that need to
learn many things, play music together, better their technique and sound and none of this would be possible if
the teacher doesnt use this time properly and effectively, I think he does a great job with that.

What is your overall assessment of this teacher, the students and the lesson/rehearsal?
I wouldnt know what the students background is, as in where they first started playing these instruments, but
I do think its remarkable how they have gotten to a certain level where they can actually make some decent
music, to me, sound is key and I was actually very impressed by the quality of the sound of the girl I worked
with and even though the teacher cant really give each one of them a whole lot of attention, it seems to me like
he has tried to give them the best possible tools given the circumstances.