Stubbe TWS page 1

Northern State University

Pre Student Teaching Experience
MUSIC Teacher Work Sample
Fall 2016
Candidate Name: Noelle Stubbe
Candidate Phone Number:

Candidate ID Number:

Name of School where data Simmons Middle School

was collected:

Subject/Content Area: Orchestra

Grade Level: 6-8th Grade
Date Submitted: 4/17/17

I understand that obtaining, or attempting to obtain, a passing grade on a TWS by falsification or

misrepresentation may result in a failing grade in a course or expulsion from the teacher
education program.

I grant permission for the School of Education to use my Teacher Work Sample as an exemplary
(outstanding) model for teacher candidate and university supervisor training purposes in the
future. I understand my name will remain on the document for proper credit.
Signature of Candidate Submitting the TWS: Noelle Stubbe_ (electronic submission)

Website URL: http://noellestubbestrings.weebly.com/

Table of Contents
I. Professional Goal Setting 2

II. Contextual Information 4

III. Instructional Design and Implementation 5

IV. Analysis of Focus Student (Case Study) 11

V. Reflection and Self-Evaluation – Goals 12

Task I: Professional Goal Setting

1. Knowledge of Self as an Individual

Goal: During this experience, I will gain confidence in becoming an educator in the

classroom.

Procedure: In new situations, I tend to feel nervous. I will accomplish this goal by

completing my actions in a professional manner. I will learn the student’s names and

form a professional relationship with them to become more comfortable in front of

the classroom.

Evaluation: I will evaluate this goal by asking my cooperating teacher to examine

me and inform me of my confidence level from their perspective. I will ask them to

then give me any information on what I could improve upon and how to do that.

2. Knowledge of the Learner

Goal: During this experience I will gain knowledge in how to help students further

their knowledge in music and of musical abilities.

Procedure: I will accomplish this goal by learning how to interact with the diversity

of students in the school. By doing this, I will be able to understand how to properly

communicate in a way that they understand. I will learn how to help those students

with disabilities while also being able to continue to have a strong group overall.

Evaluation: I will evaluate this goal by asking the student’s different musical terms

and have the students play a piece at the beginning of my student teaching. Then

towards the end, I will ask those same students the same terms and to play the same

piece to see if they accomplish these tasks. If they do this correctly, I will know that I

have accomplished this goal.

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 3. Knowledge of Content

Goal: During this experience I will be willing to try to learn techniques and apply

those to techniques to one’s I have learned through my educational courses as a

student.

Procedure: I will apply my knowledge of teaching that I have learned as a student to

the techniques I learn from my cooperating teacher. This way I will be able to have

my own style of teaching, yet know what works and what does not work in the

classroom setting. This will help the students learn in a fashion that works for them.

Evaluation: I will evaluate this goal by communicating with my cooperating teacher

about techniques I have learned through my courses and asking them about

techniques they have applied in their classroom. I will discuss with them what has

worked and what has not worked, then apply that to my own style of teaching.

4. Knowledge of Pedagogy

Goal: During this experience, I will focus on learning to teach instruments I do not

have much knowledge on.

Procedure: I will accomplish this goal by taking small groups of students that play

instruments that I have limited knowledge on, and teach a piece or two with them. I

will also ask my cooperating teacher to inform me of any information of these

instruments before trying to teach them. This will help me expand my pedagogical

knowledge, and will help me teach a classroom effectively.

Evaluation: I will evaluate this goal by having my cooperating teacher give me a

piece to work on with a small group of students. Later in the semester, I will have

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 this small group play for my cooperating teacher. I will have them inform me of

things I did well and things I could work on while helping these students.

5. Knowledge of Self as a Teacher and Member of a Learning Community

Goal: During this experience, I will learn how to communicate professionally and be

seen as a professional with coworkers, community members, and the parents of the

students.

Procedure: I am currently seen as a student through the eyes of many people. I will

accomplish this goal by learning how to present myself in a professional manner.

This will help my confidence when communicating with students, coworkers, and the

parents. My coworkers, community members, and the parents will then view me as a

professional and not just a student.

Evaluation: I will evaluate this goal by communicating with my cooperating teacher

about my actions and words I use towards coworkers, community members, and the

parents of the students. I will respond to any feedback in a professional manner and

apply the feedback right away.

Task II: Contextual Information

Pre Student Teaching Middle School consists of students in the grade 7 orchestra. These

students are between the ages of 11 and 12. The students at this age start to grow into who they

are as an individual. The Junior Field Middle School is located in a suburban area. In this area

out of the community population there are 91.3 % Caucasians, 0.8% African Americans, 3.9%

American Indian, 1.1% Asian, 0.50% Native Hawaiian, and 1.8% other. The average household

income for this area is $65,164 with a 2.44% unemployment rate for males and a 1.90%

unemployment rate for females.

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 Looking at the district’s information, roughly 85% of the students are Caucasian. The

district’s data shows that 89.97% of the students of the 2015 year completed high school.

Looking at the demographic information of the Junior Field Middle School, the male to female

Teacher Candidate Name: Noelle Stubbe

Grade Level: 7th Grade
Subject: Orchestra
Date: Friday, April 7, 2017
ratio seems to be 1:1. Roughly 90% of the 473 students are Caucasian. 52 of the students in the

school are reported with disabilities, and 135 of the students are reported economically

disadvantaged.

Based on this information, my teaching style in the lessons and classroom will be focused

on helping the students further themselves in their knowledge of music and their musical

abilities. Since most of the student population is Caucasian, it is my job to make sure that those

who are ethnically diverse feel included in the activities of the classroom. I went to a large

school district myself, so large numbers in class size will be nothing new from my past

experience as a student.

Task III: Instructional Design and Implementation

Lesson Plan 1:

Northern State University

Millicent Atkins School of Education: Common Lesson Plan Template
MUSIC – BME VERSION
PLANNING
List the State Standard(s) to be addressed in this lesson:
HSp.MUe.Pr.5.1.a Develop strategies using expressive intent to evaluate their success using
self-reflection, peer feedback, and teacher provided criteria to refine performances.
List the Learning Objective(s) to be addressed in this lesson:

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Students will be able to:
 Apply musicality to their solos
 Perform the solo in front of peers
Describe how the objective is relevant to students’ lives. (Rationale)
According to Vygotsky, children’s most important learning comes from the social interaction
of a qualified tutor. Vygotsky calls this co-operative or collaborative dialogue. By
understanding the actions or the instruction provided by the tutor, the child internalizes the
information, using it to guide or regulate their own performance.
List the words relevant to the content area that you will either introduce and/or review
during your lesson. (Vocabulary)
 Musicality
 Emotion
 Dynamics
List the materials you will need to teach the lesson.
 Instruments
 Solo music

ASSESSMENT
Pre-Assessment: Explain how you know your students are ready for this lesson:
The students have been working on their solos outside of class. Allowing them to get private
instruction time on their lesson is important for them as performers.
APPENDIX: Include a blank copy of the lesson pre-assessment. (if applicable)

Explain when will you use the pre-assessment (if applicable):

Insert a table/chart/graph that shows the pre-assessment data results. (if applicable)

Describe how the results of the pre-assessment will be used to design the lesson objectives,
instruction, and post-assessment. (if applicable)

TECHNOLOGY
Describe the instructional and/or assistive technology that you will use:
N/A

ACCOMMODATIONS
Describe the accommodations/differentiation/modifications you will use to meet the needs
of all learners and accommodate differences in students’ learning, culture, language, etc. *
(Based on what you identified/described in your contextual information).
All of the students are able to understand English, therefore being able to communicate with
them should be fairly simple. I will need to explain what some of the musical terms are when
addressing musicality so that the students are able to express themselves in their solo.

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 MANAGEMENT
Identify the management and motivational strategies to keep students on task and engaged. ]
I plan on staying positive and always be encouraging with the students when they come in for
a mini lesson with me. These students have already worked hard on their solos.
Understanding more musical language can be difficult.

LESSON IMPLEMENTATION
Lesson Opening Describe how you will engage students (hook)
I will allow the students to tune and warm up with my cooperating teacher. After this, I will
pull out students who have solos for the contest to help them on technique and expressive
qualities.
List Activities (modeling, guided practice, rehearsal techniques, etc.)
I will have the students play through the solo for me first. During this, I will be listening and
watching for certain things I can help fix. For example, technique or intonation problems.
After they play the solo, I will inform them of these new ideas or things to watch and listen
for when they play. Then I will play the solo for them so they can listen and watch me. After
this, I will have them inform me of what they saw or hear and ask them how they can apply
that to their playing. Then we will both play the solo together.
Lesson Evaluation Describe how you will determine the success of your students
(Include a blank copy of your post-assessment (if applicable)
The students will be playing a “mini recital” at the end of the week for their peers. This will
allow for the student to receive feedback from their peers, my cooperating teacher, and me.
Lesson Closing – Transition Describe how you will reemphasize the lesson objective(s) and
transition to a new activity
I will send the student back to the large rehearsal and take out another student for a mini
lesson.

ANALYZE
(Student engagement and learning)
(This portion may only be done after the post assessment is collected/scored.)
Post-Assessment: Include a blank copy and answer key of the post-assessment (if applicable).
Include and describe the results of the Post-Assessment including the following: Students’ progress from pre-
to-post assessment. (if applicable) Factors that may have influenced the post assessment results; How the results
of the post assessment highlight what areas of the lesson will require re-teaching (if any); insert a
table/chart/graph that shows the post-assessment data results (if applicable). Include a copy of the answer key
or a description of the desired outcome of your lesson.
Insert an image of your table/chart/graph here (if applicable).
I noticed that most of the students had applied what I worked with them on at the beginning
of the week, to the practicing they had done during the week. Most of the students
improved by the end of the week mini recital. Staying positive and encouraging when
working with the students inspired them to take note and focus on the technicalities of the
music, instead of just playing the music without emotion.

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 REFLECT
(Teacher performance and teaching strategies)

Teacher Candidate Name: Noelle Stubbe

Grade Level: 6th Grade
Subject: Orchestra
Date: Monday, April 3, 2017
Describe what went well.
All of the students were understanding of the feedback I gave them, and most of them would
apply it to when they played it next. I could see them thinking while they were playing. I
noticed when some of them played at the mini recital, they did take what I informed them of
and applied it to their practice.
List and describe challenges
There were a couple of students who had not even looked at their solo. This was difficult
because I was not able to help them as musically as I was able to with the students that had
already been practicing their solos. With these students I would play the solo for them so
they knew how it sounded, then I would have them play it through slowly. While they were
playing, I would watch and listen. Then I would explain to them what they could work on,
and by the end of this I would have to send them back so I could work with another student.
List and describe strategies for improvement.
I do wish I was able to have more time with each of the students. Trying to fit everything I
wanted to work with them on in such a short time was not working so well.

Lesson Plan 2:

Northern State University

Millicent Atkins School of Education: Common Lesson Plan Template
MUSIC – BME VERSION
PLANNING
List the State Standard(s) to be addressed in this lesson:
HSp.MUe.Pr.4.3.a Demonstrate an understanding of expressive qualities in a selected
repertoire of music.
List the Learning Objective(s) to be addressed in this lesson:
Students will be able to:
 Use their fourth finger when indicated in the music.
Describe how the objective is relevant to students’ lives. (Rationale)

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John Dewey once stated, “Children soak up knowledge and retain it for use when they are
spontaneously induced to look into matter of compelling interest to themselves. They
progress fastest in learning, not through being mechanically drilled in prefabricated material,
but by doing work, experimenting with things, changing them in purposive ways.” This lesson
will help students recognize when a fourth finger is notated in the music and use the fourth
finger when playing ensemble music.
List the words relevant to the content area that you will either introduce and/or review
during your lesson. (Vocabulary)
 Fourth finger
 Notation
 Open strings
List the materials you will need to teach the lesson.
 Instruments
 Music

ASSESSMENT
Pre-Assessment: Explain how you know your students are ready for this lesson:
I know students will be ready for this lesson because they know how to play a scale with
using their fourth fingers instead of open strings. Applying the fourth finger technique to
ensemble music is the next step.
APPENDIX: Include a blank copy of the lesson pre-assessment. (if applicable)

Explain when will you use the pre-assessment (if applicable):

Insert a table/chart/graph that shows the pre-assessment data results. (if applicable)

Describe how the results of the pre-assessment will be used to design the lesson objectives,
instruction, and post-assessment. (if applicable)

TECHNOLOGY
Describe the instructional and/or assistive technology that you will use:
N/A

ACCOMMODATIONS
Describe the accommodations/differentiation/modifications you will use to meet the needs
of all learners and accommodate differences in students’ learning, culture, language, etc. *
(Based on what you identified/described in your contextual information).
All of the students understand and speak English, so communicating with them will not be a
problem. This lesson will be time consuming and some of the students do not stay focused
as well. Being able to keep everyone’s attention will be one of the harder tasks, but by

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 keeping the lesson moving and having the students playing much of the time, those who may
have an attention disorder will hopefully stay focused.

MANAGEMENT
Identify the management and motivational strategies to keep students on task and engaged. ]
Teaching students how to use their fourth finger can be time consuming and discouraging at
times. I plan on keeping the lesson light hearted and always motivating the students.

LESSON IMPLEMENTATION
Lesson Opening Describe how you will engage students (hook)
I will let the students tune and warm up with my cooperating teacher. Then I will ask for the
1st violins to come with me to the other rehearsal room so that I can work with them. Once I
am finished with the 1st violins, I will take out the 2nd violins, and then the violas.
List Activities (modeling, guided practice, rehearsal techniques, etc.)
I will start by having the students play a one octave C Major scale while using fourth finger A
instead of the open string A. I will also inform the students that when putting down their
pinkie, they must also put down their third finger because the pinkie is not strong enough to
hold down the strings for long by itself. After going through the scale (up and down) a couple
of times. I will have the students play fourth finger on each string, while tuning it to their
opening string that matches the pitch. After teaching the students this, I will then run
through the measures that involve the fourth finger slowly with the students multiple times.
Making sure they at least understand the concept.
Lesson Evaluation Describe how you will determine the success of your students
(Include a blank copy of your post-assessment (if applicable)
The last thing I will do with each group is start the piece in tempo and have the students play
it through, hopefully using their fourth finger when it is indicated in the music.
Lesson Closing – Transition Describe how you will reemphasize the lesson objective(s) and
transition to a new activity
I will ask the students if they are ready to show my cooperating teacher their new skill, and
then we will head back to the ensemble ready to show the improvement we had made.

ANALYZE
(Student engagement and learning)
(This portion may only be done after the post assessment is collected/scored.)
Post-Assessment: Include a blank copy and answer key of the post-assessment (if applicable).
Include and describe the results of the Post-Assessment including the following: Students’ progress from pre-
to-post assessment. (if applicable) Factors that may have influenced the post assessment results; How the results
of the post assessment highlight what areas of the lesson will require re-teaching (if any); insert a
table/chart/graph that shows the post-assessment data results (if applicable). Include a copy of the answer key
or a description of the desired outcome of your lesson.
Insert an image of your table/chart/graph here (if applicable).
When returning to the large ensemble, I was watching the students I was able to work with
to see if they were applying the knowledge and techniques I taught them. A couple of the
students got it right away and were using fourth fingers often. The rest of the students

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 clearly need some more individual practice time to work on recognizing when to use fourth
finger, but they were still trying in rehearsal.

REFLECT
(Teacher performance and teaching strategies)
Describe what went well.
The students were cooperative and listened well. They were all good at listening to the
pitches and fixing theirs if it was wrong. They were also patient and quiet when I would walk
around to help students one on one.
List and describe challenges
There were a couple of students who decided they wanted to whisper and goof off while I
was trying to teach. These students were particularly difficult to get participating in the
lesson. But when I would walk around to each student individually to help, these students
started to participate.
List and describe strategies for improvement.
I feel that taking such a large group out to work with was not the best idea. Maybe taking
two stands (four students) out at a time would have been better. Working with a smaller
group of students would have given me more of a chance to work with the students one on
one.

Task IV: Analysis of Focus Students (Case Study)

Isaac is a 13 year old at the JF Middle School. Isaac is disruptive in class, and when told

to quiet down he just gets louder. He is a very social student, involving himself in any

conversation that is happening between his peers. I chose Isaac because of his disruptive attitude

and never having the materials needed for class.

Due to Isaac’s disruptive behavior I decided to ask my cooperating teacher about his

actions. I found out that his behavior may be due to his family situation and events happening

outside of the school. Isaac is not seen walking the hallways with other students, nor does he

seem to have a close relationship with any of the students in the classroom. I have seen that

Isaac tends to not have his instrument or the supplies needed for class often. This, I feel, has to

deal with the situation outside of school.

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 When I asked about Isaac’s family, I would have never guessed what I was about to hear.

His father is involved in slim to none of Isaac’s activities. Only dropping Isaac off, and picking

Isaac up for school and/or concerts. His mom is actually under probation in North Dakota,

where she has been arrested. She has not been involved much in Isaac’s life, but does try to see

her son when she can. By the sounds of it, he does have siblings. They are younger than him.

Isaac’s grade in the class is not the best, due to his behavior and forgetfulness. Keeping

his attention in class is hard to do. Without his instrument, he has nothing to keep himself busy

and occupied during class. I feel that making sure an extra instrument is available for his usage

some rehearsals would be good. Although, I would not want Isaac becoming reliant on never

having to bring his own instrument to class because one is provided for him. As far as his

behavior in class, I would have some behavior expectations set up. If he gets too out of hand, I

would have to send him to the office and/or notify his father.

Task V: Reflection and Self-Evaluation- Goals

The time spent for my Pre Student Teaching Experience was in a secondary classroom.

The students and my cooperating teacher showed me endless support and gratitude when helping

and teaching in the classroom. When I had questions, my cooperating teacher never hesitated to

help out and answer the question fully. This experience helped build my confidence as a future

music educator.

This experience helped me gain and expand my knowledge in why I want to teach music

education. I want to be able to give the students a safe place of expressing emotion, connecting

with others emotionally and socially, and expanding their musical knowledge and techniques.

My cooperating teacher was more than willing to discuss why she teaches music education. She

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helped take my ideas of why I want to teach music education and helped me turn those ideas into

a philosophy. Through watching my cooperating teacher and engaging in activities with the

students, I gained confidence in why I want to teach and what types of lessons I want to instill in

my students.

The diversity of the students allowed me to work with a different range of abilities. The

diversity of musical abilities within one grade level, and even all three, was astounding. Most

students are unable to have lessons, due to my cooperating teaching having to split her time

during the school day at both middle schools. The option for them to take private lessons is

available. Many students are unable to take private lessons because their parents do not have the

time or the students are in other activities that take that time away.

I was shown plenty of support during this experience from my cooperating teacher,

students, parents, and even the school. At the start of this experience, I knew that this is what I

wanted to do with my degree. Being shown the amount of support that I was shown, gave me

that much more confidence to continue on seeing myself as a future educator. Being able to be

completely comfortable in front of the ensemble is still something I need to work on, but this

experience helped me further my confidence as a teacher.

One of my goals was learning and growing on communicating professionally with

coworkers, community members, and the parents of the students. I feel that being employed as

an Educational Assistant in the school district helped me accomplish this goal because my

coworkers, the community members, and the parents all saw me as a teacher and would

communicate with me in a professional way. At the beginning of the semester I was still

learning how to communicate properly. But as the semester went on, I continued to grow in my

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aptitude of learning how to communicate professionally. I was able to do this with the help of

my coworkers and my cooperating teacher.

Another one of my goals was gaining knowledge on teaching private lessons to students.

I wanted to learn how to be able to communicate with students musically and have them

understand what I was saying. I also wanted to become more comfortable with teaching students

one on one. Through each individual lesson I taught, I became more comfortable with my role

as an educator and my pedagogical knowledge. I accomplished this goal with help from my

cooperating teacher, who would sit in on a few of the lessons and give me a critique afterwards.

My cooperating teacher used an interesting technique when teaching scales. My

cooperating teacher would state which scale the students were going to play, then tell the

students what note it was they were to start on, then played it for them slowly. This was so the

students were able to hear the scale, and think of their fingerings before playing it. The students

were not given a sheet showing the scales, this was all through the student’s auditory senses. I

also noticed that students were putting note names in their music rather than fingerings. I

personally do not feel like this is a good idea because the students are not mentally connecting

which fingers to put down for the note, they are just mentally connecting what the note looks like

to the note name not having any idea what finger it is.

In my time spent at the school, I was able to participate in the ensemble by playing the

instruments I did not have as much knowledge on with the students. This helped me better

understand the instrument, but participating in this activity also helped me create a bond with the

students in each of the sections. Taking them out for individual lessons became easier this way,

since I had established that bond. My confidence grew in myself pedagogically while playing

and teaching these instruments. At first, I was hesitant on participating with the ensemble on

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these instruments due to my limited knowledge. The students would step right up when I would

ask for help, each of them within the section wanting to put in input when helping me. I was

glad for all of the support I received from the students and my cooperating teacher.

My cooperating teacher instils in her students to be good citizens, peers, students, and

children. This is one lesson I took with me that I want to teach to my future students. When

participating in activities, the students would be encouraging of their peers. One specific

example was when the students performed a mini recital before solo contest. Everyone was

nervous. My cooperating teacher and I would give encouraging words to the students to help

build confidence and calm the nerves, but nothing helped more than when their peers would send

encouraging words their way right before they played. This was beyond inspiring to me, and I

hope one day to teach my students to give each other encouragement and support.

The bond created while working with the students at the Pre Student Teaching Middle

School will be unforgettable. I hope to one day take the lessons I have learned through this

experience and instill them in my students as well. I am eager to continue my education and gain

even more knowledge and experience through my professional student teaching semester. This

experience was extremely humbling, and I hope to one day become the best educator that I can

be.

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