K-12 Performing Arts

Task 2: Instruction Commentary

TASK 2: INSTRUCTION COMMENTARY

Respond to the prompts below (no more than 6 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the
brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Commentary pages exceeding the maximum will not be
scored. You may insert no more than 2 additional pages of supporting documentation at the end of this file. These pages
may include graphics, texts, or images that are not clearly visible in the video or a transcript for occasionally inaudible portions.
These pages do not count toward your page total.

1. Which lesson or lessons are shown in the video clips? Identify the lesson(s) by lesson plan
number.
[The videos I chose to use for this commentary are video 1, the end of lesson 2/day 2, and
video 1, the middle of lesson 3/day 3.]
2.

Promoting a Positive Learning Environment

Refer to scenes in the video clips where you provided a positive learning environment.
a. How did you demonstrate mutual respect for, rapport with, and responsiveness to
students with varied needs and backgrounds, and challenge students to engage in
learning?

[In the second video clip of lesson three I demonstrate responsiveness to students with varied
needs and backgrounds by asking them each to respond to the question that is unique to them.
With my knowledge of each students learning ability each question is designed to challenge
and meet the student at his or her level of learning. You can see this when I address students
after the listening example and ask them to respond to a personalized question, that they were
given before the example was played. When the student answers the question I listen intently
and reaffirm what they say, to support the student, and also engage the rest of the class. In the
same clip of lesson 3 challenge my students to engage in learning by incorporating
interdisciplinary ideas into the lesson and relating them to ideas that they are familiar with. You
can see how I incorporate choral music terminology and have my students use their contextual
understandings of music to connect how the choral terms apply to the pyramid of sound and
relate to the instrument families present in band. I also use this as an opportunity to engage
students with varied needs and backgrounds, as I allow my one student who is involved in choir
to help take leadership in the lesson by sharing his choral knowledge with the class. During this
segment I also accommodate my gifted student by assigning each section on the pyramid of
sound a mathematical number that corresponds with the music, so that he can internalize the
concept in a way that he connects with. In the first clip of lesson two I establish a mutual respect
for students by letting them respond and find the important part for each line of music, before
giving them the answer that I found previously. By allowing my students to justify their
responses and discover musical parts on their own, I am establishing both mutual respect for
my students and a supportive learning environment. In first video clip of lesson two I also
demonstrate a positive learning environment by establishing a rapport with my students by
providing encouragement and acknowledgement to their responses. I use phrases such as I
like that and use an upbeat tone when addressing my students. In video clip one, of lesson two
I challenge students to engage in learning by prompting students to discover the musical parts
in lines other than their own. An example of this is at 7:52 where the student who plays third is
the only one raising their hand, instead of having him answer I instead ask the student who is
playing fourth to try and find where the third line has their most important part in the music. By
doing this, I am challenging my students to be aware of other lines and when it is their
classmates time to shine in the music. ]
3. Engaging Students in Learning
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K-12 Performing Arts

Task 2: Instruction Commentary

Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts.
a. Explain how your instruction engaged students in developing and applying

knowledge/skills (e.g., tools/instruments, technical proficiencies, processes,

elements, organizational principles),

contextual understandings (e.g., social, cultural, historical, global, personal

reflection), AND/OR

artistic expression (e.g., interpretation, creativity, exploration/improvisation, individual

choices).
[In video one, of lesson plan two I engage students in developing their artistic skills by asking
them to discover where each line has their important expressive part. I demonstrate this by first
asking the class a question about playing musically, and if they think it would be musical to play
the entire piece at one dynamic. One of my students demonstrates his creativity by immediately
responding with a mathematical response. By responding this way my student demonstrated his
ability to connect his contextual understanding of math and musical knowledge to the artistic
expression of the piece as a whole. I use his response to begin to develop my students
knowledge on how to find the musical parts for each player as I take them through a step-bystep process to discover the musical parts in their piece. This process will help my students
develop their artistic skills and knowledge of how to piece together chamber music. I also utilize
my students contextual understandings of music in a large ensemble setting and apply it to a
small ensemble setting. An example of this is in video two, of lesson three where my students
make connections between the different instrument families and their place in the pyramid of
sound. By prompting my students to make these connections, I am building their contextual
understanding of how chamber music is designed to sound like, and what their place is in the
chamber group and pyramid of sound. In video two, of lesson plan three I continue to build the
students musical knowledge and contextual understanding of a clarinet quartets concept of
sound by asking them to respond to questions after listening to an example of a clarinet
quartets that exhibited proper balance. In video one, of lesson two I engage the students in
building their sight reading skills by having the class play each line in unison while finding where
each line has their time to shine. By having the whole class play each line I allow my students
to continue to work on their sound in large range of the instrument, as they play all four lines of
the piece. I also use this time as a way to engage my students in developing their technique
when sight-reading. When the group first played the first line they missed their F sharps, I
quickly addressed this after they were done playing and asked them to be more diligent during
the rest of the activity.]
b. Describe how your instruction linked students prior academic learning and personal,
cultural, and community assets with new learning.
[In video clip one, of lesson two I linked my students prior knowledge of dynamics and music to
new learning by asking them to play each part individually and pick out where each part has
their time to shine. My students were able to make assumptions about the music using their
previous knowledge of what makes a part important in relation to other lines, something that
they learned in their large ensemble class. During this lesson (video one 8:15) there was one
point where my student was having difficulty justifying his response to why the part was
important in the third line, I then connected his prior knowledge of a phrase that my cooperating
teacher frequently says in class bring out the moving lines, which linked his important part to
the context behind why it is important. In the beginning of video clip two, lesson 3 I have
students respond to questions on the listening example question I ask a secondary question to
prompt my students to connect their response back to their previous musical knowledge. In
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K-12 Performing Arts

Task 2: Instruction Commentary

video clip two of lesson three, I connect students prior academic learning to new learning by
applying previous material discussed to the concept of the pyramid of sound. Another example
of my students linking their prior academic learning to new learning is in video one (0:28) where
one student connects the question on how to play musical to his knowledge about math. My
student explains how just saying the number 1 is not as musical as saying 1/1 or a different
fraction. In video two, lesson three I helped a student link his personal knowledge of choral
terminology to the concept of the pyramid of sound. Even though it is not shown in the videos I
link my students cultural and community assets in the beginning of lesson two by asking them to
consider the occasion where this type of piece would be played. I expand on this in the end of
lesson three when I ask students to play the piece how they would if they were asked to play for
a relatives wedding. By asking my students this question I linked their previous knowledge of
wedding ceremony music, to how they express the music when they perform. During the two
lessons I chose to select clips from I made connections from students prior academic learning,
personal, cultural and community learning, I was unable to show all of these connections in the
two clips selected, as some of the connections happened before or after the two 10-minute
video clips.]
4. Deepening Student Learning during Instruction
Refer to examples from the video clips in your explanations.
a. Explain how you evoked student performances and/or responses to support
students development and application of knowledge/skills, contextual understandings,
and/or artistic expression.
[In video two, lesson three, I evoked student responses by having them listen to a chamber
piece that exhibited exceptional balance and had them answer questions regarding the
example. During this discussion I help students build on their personal goals and musical
knowledge by customizing each question to my students personal goals and learning gaps. The
questions challenge each student to use their contextual understandings and musical
knowledge and connect them to a new concept, balance in a small ensemble. In video one,
lesson two I evoked student responses by having my students justify where each line had their
important part and give reasoning to support their response. By having them justify their
response with reasoning I engaged my students in developing their contextual understandings
of what elements factor in to make a part important. During video two, lesson three I engage my
students in a discussion on what it means to play musically. By leading a discussion on how to
play with musicality, I am supporting students development of musical knowledge and
contextual understanding of small ensemble balance. In video two, lesson three I evoke student
performance to support the students understanding of the pyramid of sound. An example of this
is (6:10) when I have students play the first phrase of the piece to practice applying the concept
of the pyramid of sound. After they play the first phrase I engage the class in a discussion on
how they can improve their overall balance of sound. Student reflection on their personal artistic
expression helps deepen and build their musical knowledge and artistic skills. The discussion
evokes responses from the class that utilize critical thinking skills and musical knowledge, since
students have to reflect on how they played the phrase and how their playing related to the
overall group balance.]
b. Explain how you used modeling, demonstrations, and/or content examples to develop
students knowledge/skills, contextual understandings, and/or artistic expression for
creating, performing, or responding to music/dance/theater.
[In video two, lesson plan three (beginning of video two) I use content examples to deepen my
students artistic skills for creating music by listening to examples of chamber music and having
them respond to questions related on how the group achieved balance. The questions I asked
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K-12 Performing Arts

Task 2: Instruction Commentary

were personalized to each student, which helps develop my students musical knowledge and
understanding of what it means to have a balanced sound, as a group. I also used the listening
questions to develop my students knowledge of artistic skills, by having my students respond to
the music presented in the listening example and explain what the listening example group had
to do to achieve balance on their instruments. Responding to the music presented engaged my
students for the core content of lesson three, the pyramid of sound. In video two, lesson plan
three, I also use content examples to develop my students knowledge on what the pyramid of
sound is. By asking students to think about the pyramid of sound in the choral context, I am
developing my students knowledge and contextual understandings of the pyramid of sound.
Also, I asked students to apply their knowledge of instrument families in the large ensemble
setting to pyramid of sound. After presenting the pyramid of sound using content examples, my
students had the tools they needed to then create music that embodied a balanced pyramid of
sound. These two content examples can be seen in video two (3:10-4:53). In lesson plan one,
not seen in either video, before sight-reading the piece I modeled aloud to my students the
mental steps I go through before playing a new piece of music. The demonstration showed my
students what they should consider before they pick up their instrument and attempt to play an
unfamiliar piece. To challenge my students and reinforce the concept of sight-reading, I
purposely left out a few things I do before I play a new piece of music, and had my students play
the first phrase of the piece and realize what they need to do personally to clean up the errors
they made. By demonstrating my thought process and then having my students discover their
own, I engage my students in developing their own artistic skills, unique to them, that they will
use when they sight-read music in the future.]
5. Analyzing Teaching
Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts.
a. What changes would you make to your instructionfor whole class and/or for students
who need greater support or challengeto better support student learning of the central
focus (e.g., missed opportunities)?
Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners,
struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic
knowledge, and/or gifted students).
[There are many changes I would make to my instruction that would benefit the class, myself
and improve the overall learning segment. One way I would change my instruction to better
support student learning would be to create smaller gaps of time between discussion and
playing. I felt that when there was a large gap of time when I was teaching a concept, my
students would lose focus easily and not be as engaged. By creating smaller gaps of time
between discussions and playing, I also would enhance student learning by allowing them to
experiment and apply the concept directly with their instrument, instead of waiting. The smaller
gaps between discussions and playing would benefit my student with an IEP as he tends to lose
focus easier than my other students. I would do this by purposefully planning playing exercises
into my discussions, and finding ways for my students to be more involved. An example where
this could have been useful is in video two, lesson three when I am discussing the pyramid of
sound. In between segments I could have my students play a scale, chorale or a part of the
piece applying the concept of balance and pyramid of sound. Another change I would make to
my instruction would be to record my students playing the piece before leading them through
the process of playing each line individually, seen in video one, lesson two. I would then use the
recording to have the students play along with as they play one line in unison. The recording
would better support student learning by giving them context to base their justifications off of. In
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K-12 Performing Arts

Task 2: Instruction Commentary

some of lines it is difficult to find where the line has their time to shine without the rest of the
accompaniment present. Evidence of the challenges that occur without having context is
present when the class tries to find where the second and third line have their moments to
shine, and are unsure. I could also use this recording later in the learning segment by having
students self reflect on the progress they have made with the piece from lesson to lesson. Selfreflection is a tool I use frequently to help my student who is an English Language Learner
connect with the class and the concepts being discussed, because he is able to listen to himself
and audibly hear changes in the overall sound, whereas discussion can sometimes be a
challenge to him.]
b. Why do you think these changes would improve student learning? Support your
explanation with evidence of student learning AND principles from theory and/or
research.
[One change I discussed is to create smaller gaps of time between spoken instruction and
playing their clarinets, which is supported by the chunking theory, proposed by George A. Miller.
The chunking theory is an approach that makes use of the short-term memory to reduce the
cognitive load of a long string of information. I would apply the chunking theory to my instruction
by alternating short bursts of spoken instruction and directly applying it back to the instrument. I
believe this would improve my students learning by giving them more time to experience
applying the concept on their instrument and giving them a change of pace in the lesson.
Evidence of students maintaining focus with short durations between playing and discussion
can be seen in video one, lesson two when we alternate back and forth between playing and
discussing where the important parts are, which leads me to believe that my student learning
would improve if I applied that style of instruction to all of my lessons. The second change I
discussed was to use a recording of my students to play along with to provide context during the
activity in video one, lesson two, this is supported by Tom Stichts functional context theory. The
functional context theory stresses the importance of having the learner relate new information to
knowledge already possessed and transform old knowledge into new knowledge. I would apply
the functional context theory to my instruction by having my students record themselves in
lesson two prior to discovering where each line has their important part. By doing this I am
improving student learning by engaging them to relate the new concept (finding the important
part) to their prior knowledge of the piece. By having the piece in the background while the
students are playing unison, they are able to focus on one line and how it relates in context,
which will deepen their contextual understandings of musicality and the piece as a whole.
Recording my students will also improve their overall learning by creating frequent opportunities
to self reflect and assess their playing, as a group. Evidence of my students deepening their
learning through self-reflection is present in my final reflection I have my students complete at
the end of the learning segment. There are four questions in the final assessment that engage
students in watching a recording of their performance, and then self-reflecting on their individual
and group performance. I found that these four questions were the most valuable to the
students, in the assessment and myself.]

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