Videotape Analysis and Reflection Statement

Name:
Danny Miller
Date of Video: 2/19/19
Brief lesson description:

In this lesson I did warm-ups with the beginning concert choir at
Pendleton and focused on breathing, vowel shapes and some
rhythmic echoing to start building some music literacy skills. After
that I took the baritones for a sectional to work on their piece,
“Homeward Bound” and focused on finishing teaching them
pitches and rhythms for the whole song and started to aim for
expression.
Address the following items in detailed statements. Use examples
and illustrations from the video.
Planning:
1. What were the goals/objectives for this lesson as stated in
your plan? 


My objectives were for the choir to sing with healthy vocal

technique, especially breathing, phonation and resonance, for the
baritones to finish learning pitches and rhythms for Homeward
Bound and sing the piece with healthy vocal technique, and for
the whole choir to successfully echo some level 1 rhythmic
patterns.

Describe the overall degree to which you accomplished your

goals. 


During my warm-up portion, I think I accomplished my first goal

successfully and had my choir singing with a healthy vocal
production. My breathing exercise really helps the choir to start
with a good mindset and I made sure to remind them throughout
the warm-up that the breath had to continue. In my opinion,
focusing on breath is the number one key to healthy vocal
production and having them start with that exercise set them up
for success. I made sure to stop and address errors with vowels as
I did the resonance activities and the choir responded accordingly
and fixed those issues. I think I accomplished this goal within this
lesson but I still have a ways to go with the group toward a full
and healthy sound. My second goal was not met as effectively as I
would have liked. For the sake of time, and Mrs. Sprouse’s wishes
I decided to go through the remainder of “Homeward Bound”
fairly quickly and in doing so, did not stop many times to correct
errors. I was using a lot of rote instruction because that is what
the kids are used to, but I wish I had tried to build some more
literacy skills for their independence rather than rushing to finish
the piece. On top of that, the baritones were singing with a rather
strained sound during certain parts and were not using their best
vocal technique. That being said, I did stop to address that once,
but did not follow through and make sure it was fixed due to a
lack of time. A positive that came from that portion is that I did a
really good job with my questioning and leading the students to
think for themselves. My questions had the students critically
thinking about form and analyzing the pitches and rhythms on the
page. Overall, they did learn the remainder of the pitches and
rhythms, but it was not the most effective way to get there. My
last goal was met very successfully and the students are echoing
rhythmic patterns very well. My next step is to try echo
translation with them and keep working toward better music
literacy skills overall.

2. What additional standards were addressed in this lesson

that meet the ELL, Reading, or Exceptionality 
standards
 studied this semester? How are these standards manifested
in your plan? 


I utilized the “code breaker” method by having the baritones

recognize pitch and rhythm patterns from earlier in the song to
make assumptions about the next passage and recognize the
similarities and differences. I also noticed that the students were
“music users” because they applied their knowledge of vowel
shape and breath support while learning the new material. They
still have a long way to go but I could tell that they were used to
performing and understood how a piece should be sung.

Execution of the Plan:

1. What are some of your personal idiosyncrasies? How can
you address them as you grow as a teacher? 


I notice that I sometimes have a tendency to look down when I

am trying to hear better. I do this to try to focus on the overall
sound, but in the future I need to make sure I am looking up at
the students for classroom management and to also focus on how
the students are producing their sound, like vowel shapes and
posture for instance. Another thing I do is stay behind the piano
too much during warm-ups. I do this because I am afraid of the
students falling apart and losing their intonation but in reality,
that is information that I need to know and deal with as I do. The
students should be able to keep their pitch without the piano, so I
need to work on getting away from it more often. This will
improve my proximity, which in turn could help behaviors of the
kids. Lastly, one of the most dangerous habits I have is brushing
past errors for either the sake of time, not knowing how to
address them, or feeling bad for addressing the same errors
multiple times. Time is definitely a factor in teaching music and I
recognize that, but I cannot let the students get away with big
errors because of time. The more time spent on addressing errors
and building up skills to avoid them, the more time I will have in
the future with less errors. I need to work on my ear and being
able to pull pitches from thin air, because not knowing how to
address errors is not an excuse for not addressing them. Working
on my aural skills will help me immensely in stopping the
rehearsal and addressing errors without the need of a piano or a
do-over. Also, I realize that I will feel bad when addressing errors
that have occurred multiple times because I do not want the
students to feel bad about themselves. Again, this is not an excuse
to not fix the mistakes, and in the future I need to focus on
spacing out my corrections so that the students will still be held
accountable for fixing their mistakes while not being bombarded
with the same criticism over and over.

2. What did you do/not do to set the tone for learning? Would
you do anything differently? If so, what? 


This is something I am really proud of. My demeanor as a teacher

has always been my strong suit and I really like how I present
myself in front of the class. I did a good job by starting the class
right away with stretches to set the focus and the students
responded by not talking and focusing with me. I went through
the whole period with a goal in mind and I did not waiver from
that and did not give the students an opportunity to talk over me
or distract me from my objectives. However, my rapport with the
students was strong and I could still joke around and admit my
errors to the point where we could laugh about them and move
on. Having this kind of relationship makes the students feel
comfortable yet focused so that learning can occur.

3. Focus on your questioning. What did you notice in terms of

the quality of your questioning? 
Frequency? Levels?
 Response/feedback to students? Cite examples. 


I mentioned this a little earlier, but I think the quality of my

questioning was good especially in my sectional rehearsal. I asked
the baritones to evaluate how the new material was similar to the
material they already knew and asked them to find sections of the
song that had the same pitches or rhythms. This allowed them to
make connections and pay attention to form without them even
knowing. This also helped them to read the next section with ease
because they were already aware that they already knew the
pitches and rhythms. My questioning for the whole ensemble
could have been a lot more. I asked them a few times if they were
using their best vowels or using the most amount of air, but
beyond that I did not ask very much. I should have asked them
what kind of vowel I am looking for or had someone demonstrate
the proper way to take a breath. This would have held them all
accountable to know what I am looking for a lot better.

4. How well did you engage ALL learners in this lesson? Would
you change anything about the 
participation? If so, what
would you do differently? 


I think I had a good start in trying to engage all learners. I did a lot
of echoing and modeling, which was aimed toward the auditory
learners, but I must admit that that was the majority of my lesson.
I did a few kinesthetic exercises like having them hold their
abdominal region to focus on a better breath and I had the
baritones stomp their foot to the downbeat of their piece to get
them to start thinking about phrasing. I played to the visual
learners by demonstrating vowels with my mouth shape and hand
motions and demonstrated good breath by showing them with
my hands and abdominal region. I know that this is only a start
and I have quite a ways to go. I did an okay job for the aural
learners but there are so many other kinds of learners that I need
to attend to. I need to focus on doing more movement exercises
and showing more visual aids, such as a diagram of the vocal
mechanism to engage these learners.

5. Discuss the incorporation of the new standards in your

instruction. 


I incorporated a lot of standard number 5 by asking the baritones

a lot of questions that allowed them to analyze the music in front
of them. Also, by having them stomp to the downbeat to focus on
expression, I had them interpreting music in a specific way. I also
incorporated standard number 6 with that exercise because they
were interpreting music through movement. I also incorporated
that standard in the warm-ups through having the students move
their hands through the expansion of their abdomen. Lastly, I
incorporated standard 7 through my sectional rehearsal with the
baritones that allowed them to sing from rote memory as well as
from the written notation.

6. What are your greatest strengths in the delivery of this

lesson? 


My greatest strength is my demeanor and how I present myself to

the class. I really feel like I looked and acted like a teacher and
was very comfortable with the setting. This helped the students to
have success because they knew they could trust me and wanted
to do well. I also think a strength of mine is my ability to catch
mistakes and errors. Although I did not always address the errors
out loud for the sake of time, I almost always heard when
something was not going the way I wanted it to. Although my ear
and aural skills can always grow, I am confident with where they
are now. Lastly, I think my high level questioning with the
baritones was a huge strength and I really felt like I was getting
through to them that there is so much more to music then just
singing the notes and rhythms. I could really see the gears turning
in their heads because of my questions and I hope to keep
improving on that and incorporating it into my lessons.

7. What areas in this lesson need attention and improvement?


I definitely think a huge error of mine was not correcting the

mistakes when I identified them. This really hinders the students’
progress and makes them think everything is fine enough to move
on. Another weakness is my piano skills. This is always something
that I am self conscious about and I am trying to get better at. The
issue I am facing at Pendleton is that the students are very
dependent on the piano and I am not very good at playing it. I am
not doing a horrible job, but I make some errors and that messes
the kids up. In the future I need to figure out a way to build up
there aural skills so that they do not need the piano so that I can
get away from it and play to my aural and vocal strengths. Lastly,
because of the fact that I was stuck to the piano, my proximity
could have been a lot better. I had good proximity during their
breathing exercise because it required no pitch, but as soon as
that was over, I was behind the piano the whole time. Building up
there skills will allow me to get closer to them to improve
classroom management and my ability to detect individual errors.

8. On a scale of 1 (weakest) to 10 (strongest), rate your overall

effectiveness as a teacher in this 
experience. Defend your
rating with examples. 


I think I would rate myself a 7 based on this lesson. Overall, I really

felt and acted like a teacher and I believe that it was a successful
lesson. The kids responded to me and wanted to do well for me,
and that is a big chunk of the battle right there. I have started to
build there music literacy skills piece by piece and I think I did that
successfully in parts of this lesson and other parts not so much. By
not addressing multiple errors, I failed the students the
opportunity to grow and by teaching a lot of rote memory, I failed
them to become independent and musically literate. Those two
areas really made me lose some effectiveness that day, but my
overall ability to engage the students through my demeanor and
high level questioning allowed to me to have a successful lesson.