Week 1 ST Reflection

This has been quite a week. Ms. Weaver needed to step out for IMEA in the latter half of

the week leaving me to teach all six of our classes for three days. I grew tremendously from this

experience and I am happy to have had it.

On the first two days, I only taught 7th and 8th grade bands. These lessons were written

from an outline for the week that Ms. Weaver had made ahead of time. For these first few days

and for the remainder of the week I got a lot of practice writing lesson plans that connected to

each other from day to day. While the basic “what to play” was done for me, I still planned

procedure for most of these lessons. In this was my aptitude in INTASC 7 was practiced more in

this one week than it had been in the previous several years.

The students in the middle school also learned a number of concepts this week including

new rhythms, time signatures, and keys. To teach these, I needed to use a variety of instructional

strategies and draw from my own knowledge of content and how best to apply it. For example,

when working with tough syncopation in the 7th grade, I wrote out the rhythms with doubled note

values to show students a way to make these rhythms easier to read. To practice a new key

signature in the 8th grade, I wrote one-bar rhythm-patterns on the board and asked students to

play the rhythms on notes of the scale as we played the scale one note per bar. When the sixth

grade was not matching articulation across sections, I modeled the proper articulation on my

saxophone and asked the entire band to play with me. In this way, the students would be more

able to play an articulation pattern in a way that matched other students at various points in a

piece. Through all of this, INTASC standards 4, 5, and 8 were practiced a great deal this week.

I was also given the opportunity to attend a staff meeting, which I feel was a valuable

experience. In it, I saw the relationship of other teachers to the principal and to each other. I was
able to see how INTASC 10. Additionally, with regard to standard 10, Ms. Weaver discussed

some email conversations she had had with other teachers and with parents that week. While I

did not engage directly with any other teachers, principals, parents, etc, I saw first-hand how this

takes place at Delta and learned a great deal from it.

The middle school faculty is participating in a “book club” of sorts wherein they are

reading Make it Stick, a book about the science of successful learning. On Tuesday I attended a

meeting in which teachers from a variety of content areas, led by the principal, discussed the first

chapter and its implications to their past and future teaching. This was an eye opening experience

as I found myself noting that the discussion taken place had the same tone as one that I might

have in my courses at BSU after reading a chapter in our text. It was refreshing to see these

teachers who had been in the field for varying amounts of time, all coming together in the pursuit

of professional development. INTASC 9 was exemplified through this experience.

This week was also a great opportunity to experience the long haul of teaching a whole

day. I came home on the first day quite tired and more aware than ever of what teaching full time

entails. Each night I spend a number of hours planning for the next day, revealing to me music

teaching’s nature of being longer than the first bell to the last bell.

This coming week, I look forward to the test that will take place in our theory class and

the playing exams that will take place at the middle school so that I may see standard 6 in action.

The longer I am at the school, the more practice I will have with standards 1-3, which I have not

focused greatly on this past week. Additionally, I look forward to further development of all

standards mentioned above in the weeks and months to come.

Week 2 ST reflection
Steven Moeller
This week was much calmer than last week. I believe my experience was probably closer

to the experience of my peers at this stage in the semester. Ms. Weaver and I split classes and I

spent a good portion of the week observing her teach. This being said, I still spent a large portion

of the week teaching and have grown greatly from it.

Ms. Weaver and I discussed the classroom management issues I have been having with

the 7th graders. She mentioned that this was due in part to their nature as 7th graders. This is a

point in their development when many have had hit puberty while many others haven’t; they

have begun to take interest in the opposite sex; social groups grow and change from their

elementary years; and countless other changes. All this goes to say that the greatest change in

adolescence often takes place in this year. This understanding of the students’ development will

help inform my classroom management and lesson planning from here on out. (Standard 1)

We also discussed some of the unique challenges and strengths of various students. For

example, two of our students are adoptive children of the same family but from different

biological families. Another of our students is currently living in a hotel with their family due to

issues with their actual home. A student at the middle school has a processing disability that

hinders their playing. This student understands concepts well and does well with written

homework, but has trouble putting them into practice. Knowing about these differences and

challenges is vital to proper planning and accommodating for all learners. With this knowledge I

can mold my lessons to best fit the needs of all of our students. (Standards 2 and 3)

This past Wednesday there was a professional development delay at the schools. This

entailed the students arriving to school two hours late so that the staff could participate in

professional development activities. At the middle school we watched videos and saw power
points on “computational thinking” and “station rotation teaching”. Computational thinking was

a new name for a concept with which I am already familiar. We were encouraged to allow our

students opportunities to look at tasks in context, use procedural memory, strip away unneeded

information, and prioritize actions in our lessons this week. Additionally, we were given time to

plan a station rotation lesson which Ms. Weaver and I are planning to do with the 8th grade on

one or more of their pieces from the upcoming concert. Part of this PD session involved

collaborating with other staff members on plans and discussing the information being presented

to us. (Standard 9 and 10)

We also had another meeting on Make it Stick this week in which we discussed low-

stakes or no-stakes quizzing as a method to increase retention. Studies have shown that this

method increases test performance demonstrably for other subjects. I spent a good deal of time

considering how one would use this method in a music setting. I would like to plan these types of

quizzes in my lessons in the future. (Standard 9)

Ms. Weaver also suggested that I change somethings in the way that I talk to the students.

She pointed out that I will often say things in the first person such as, “I would like the crescendo

more dramatic.” She asked that I try to phrase things more collaboratively by saying, “The

crescendo needs to be more dramatic.” In general, I intend to avoid using “I” as much in class

this week. (standard 8)

This week I was able to help administer a playing test for both the sixth and eighth grade

classes. In both classes I took roughly half the class into another room and listened to them play.

They were all given two chances to play and if a second try was needed, they were given

feedback before they played again. If they could not pass on the second try, they were asked to

re-do the assessment at a later date. In this was, it was more of a “pass-off” than a playing test. I
like this method of assessment because it is low stakes and allows the teacher to hear individual

students and give individual feedback. (Standard 6)

Next week, I will work on planning further in advance and discussing plans with Ms.

Weaver ahead of the actual lesson.

ST reflection 3
Steven Moeller
Another week of tremendous growth has passed. This week was another lighter week of

splitting work between Ms. Weaver and me. In this way I was able to both practice teaching and

to observe Ms. Weaver teaching, both valuable learning experiences.

This week, I was able to see ISSMA solo and ensemble from a brand-new angle. Because

very few of our students take private lessons, Ms. Weaver and I were by every student’s side as

they went through the process. We met students in their warm-up room, talked them through

nerves, waited outside performance rooms, watched them play, and were there when they got the

results. There were both tears and cheers through-out the day. Seeing the elation from one

student in particular after getting her result was particularly inspiring. I was also able to meet

several parents, communicate with them, and witness the relationship they had with Ms. Weaver.

I saw the varying emotions of students prior to their performances; I was surprised at how few

were visibly nervous or scared. Confidence was the prevailing emotion of the day. At lunch time,

Ms. Weaver and I ate with several other directors that she knew. I was able to see the

relationships that can exist between directors in neighboring areas. We had one judge that was

particularly harsh in her rating. We discussed with other directors to confirm that the evaluations

seemed to be slightly unfair. Ms. Weaver made note of this with the hosting director. I greatly

appreciate having been able to join Ms. Weaver for this experience. (Standard 1,3,10)
 On Friday, we had a basketball game. When the games are during the week, many

students stay after school, meaning that Ms. Weaver and I had to stay after school to supervise.

This was a wonderful opportunity to get to know students and build relationships with them. I

brought a card game and a student brought Rock Band, both of which got played quite a bit. We

ate dinner with the kids and got to know them better than our 50-minute class allows. This

knowledge can help inform my teaching and planning. (Standard 1-3)

This week, I started planning for more than one day at a time. This allowed me to give

more thought to planning and sequencing for the week. I hope to be increasing the foresight of

my teaching more and more as the semester goes on (Standard 7 and 8).

The vast majority of my teaching so far has been centered on performing. In the week to

come and on through the semester, I would like to increase the standards used in my teaching. I

will work to get the students listening, singing, connecting, and evaluating music, rather than

simply playing. This will be my main goal for the week. (Standard 8)

The week to come will also see me teaching the full day in Ms. Weaver’s absence once

again. I look forward to the unique challenges this will present. For two weeks now, I have been

teaching half or less of only some classes during the day. Teaching for the whole day will be an

exercise in planning, pacing and teaching strategy variation. It will also be a challenge to my

own energy level as well. Some good sleep will be needed! (Standard 8)

ST reflection 4

Steven Moeller

This week had ups and downs. I have come out on the other side with two more days of

full-time teaching and numerous other teaching opportunities from earlier in the week.
 This week, I had planned to incorporate standards beyond those deal directly with reading

and playing from the page. With sixth grade, I planned a writing activity that got the students

thinking abstractly about the music and writing out original thought in a narrative. I was quite

proud of this idea, but I do not think I gave it quite enough thought before trying it in the class.

My plan was to have the students listen to the piece that we had already worked on for a few

weeks and take notes on the things they thought of as they listened. After two listens, they were

then given the remainder of the class to turn their ideas into a three-paragraph narrative. From

here, I had planned to have them share the documents with me so that I could offer feedback and

discuss what parts of the music inspired their various ideas.

A number of issues came up when I tried to implement this. I had not considered that the

students would not be able to share the google doc with me because I do not have a school-

approved email address. This meant that I had to have the students send their stories to Ms.

Weaver, who was not present that day to forward them to me. This removed the ability to give

individual feedback. Instead, I opted to let volunteer share ideas with the class in the next lesson.

The students then discussed the stories and what parts of the music inspired them. Then as I

rehearsed the piece, I made refence to the students’ stories. Additionally, I did not research the

writing standards for students at this age. I had no idea what “write a three-paragraph story”

really meant to these students. Some wrote a reasonable amount with ease, others seemed

confused on what constituted a paragraph, and others were baffled by the idea of writing three

paragraphs in a single class. In the future, I will need to consult the standards for the other

disciplines I attempt to incorporate into my teaching. This will become especially relevant when

the time comes to implement my LAMP project. This idea was quite ambitious for me, and while
it was not a complete success, I feel that it was a valuable experience for my students and for me

as a growing teacher. (standards 1,2,5,7,8)

Also this week, Ms. Weaver and I went over my progress in the semester so far. I came

out as “basic” or “basic+” in the majority of categories. In numerous places on the rubric, a

single word or phrase (such as “Routinely”) kept me from being in the “Proficient” category. The

experience was quite eye-opening. I am happy with the feedback I have received relative to my

progress in the semester. The rubric has given me more specific goals to strive for as I move

forward. I will be sure to reference the rubric more often as the semester progresses. I look

forward to the next occasion for evaluation so that I may measure the progress I have made

again.

In the week to come, I want to work on writing more detailed plans that contain “closure”

sections. This is a weakness of mine, as discussed in the meeting mentioned above. I will also

work to have more smooth transitions. I look forward to demonstrating my high school teaching

for Dr. Palmer and getting feedback at this level. My demeanor with this age is a concern of

mine, as I often feel that I talk down to this group. I have been told that I have a talent for talking

to middle schoolers “at their level” and I worry that I have trouble changing my demeanor for the

older students.

ST reflection 5

This week at the middle school, I planned the groups’ book work on my own and carried

out the teaching by myself. For each class, I planned a week worth of book work and tried to

relate the exercises to each other so that the week of work taught the students one or two

fundamental concepts. (Standard 7)

 When teaching the book work, I try to present concepts that are present in our music.

Often this is articulation or terminology. Students are taught the concept in the first part of class

then prompted to find the content in their concert music. The hope is that students will learn that

content is applicable in a variety of contexts. (Standard 5)

I was also able to carry out a playing assessment this week with the sixth grade. This was

not quite a new experience, but I was able to hear a different group of students than last time and

help each of them through the scale as needed. I really enjoy the opportunity to hear the students

play individually and I feel that this is one of the most important elements of assessment in a

music classroom. In the week to come we will be carrying out an assessment with the seventh

grade that I designed. I went over the piece that I am rehearsing with this group and picked out

different parts for different instruments. My hope is that in addition to being able to hear

individual students, this assessment will foster a motivation to practice some of these more

difficult parts. (standard 6)

On Saturday, I was able to attend a jazz festival with our jazz band. Having participated

in marching band and jazz band in high school, I am no stranger to these run-outs. However, this

week I was able to see a much different perspective. My role was predominantly to observe the

day. I aided in helping the students get through their day. After the performance, we stayed

around to attend clinics and see an evening performance. The evening performance featured the

“director’s jazz orchestra” which was comprised predominantly of band directors from the area.

This group was quite inspiring, as I would love to continue performing well into my teaching

career. In addition to guiding the band through the day, I made a point to observe the interaction

between the various bands and their directors. I was also able to talk to the students more than on
a typical day. In this way I was able to get to know many of them on a deeper level. This

information will help inform my planning moving forward. (standards 2,9,10)

On Wednesday in sixth grade, I was working with the students on an exercise in book.

This was the third day on this piece and it was not going well. There were no skills foreign to the

students in the music. In the 2 days prior, I tried nearly every instructional strategy I know. I

even asked Ms. Weaver for help. At the end of the third day on this piece, the students still

struggled significantly to the confusion of both me and Ms. Weaver. Ms. Weaver decided to

make the piece a playing test for them and gave them a week to learn it. She told me that in the

mean-time, I would touch on the piece a little bit with them but that most of the responsibility

needed to be in their hands.

In the week to come, I will be planning for my lamp project which will be over triads in

Music Theory. I look forward to being able to implement many aspects of the knowledge I have

gained over the last four years. Additionally, as the concert gets closer, I intend to really bring

musicality out of the concert pieces, as the students are doing well with notes and rhythms at this

point.

ST reflection 6

This was week in need of great reflection on my part. Some things went well, while many

others did not. I hope to move forward from the parts of this week that did not go so well and

learn from them as much as possible.

Ms. Weaver and I had a disagreement in front of a class at one point this week in which I,

unintentionally, became rather hostile. While teaching a figure in 3/2 to the eighth graders, I was

cutting the 3rd beat short in my model. Ms. Weaver pointed this out to me to which I responded
with a short, “okay”. I fully accepted my mistake and had no intention of arguing. The short

response was an effort on my part to accept the mistake and move on in the lesson as quickly as

possible. However, because of the tone I took, Ms. Weaver thought that I might be disagreeing or

flatly dismissing her input. She then continued to explain my mistake to which I continued to

respond “Okay”. At one point she told me to “calm down” and I responded that I was only trying

to get back to teaching. Eventually we did return to teaching and the rest of the lesson was fine.

After class I explained myself and we went on with the day. Later that evening Ms. Weaver

apologized to me for any embarrassment or frustration I may have felt. I explained that what

came off as hostility was merely an attempt to continue teaching. I apologized for my tone and

said that I well be more mindful of it in the future. There are no hard feelings between Ms.

Weaver and I. Ultimately this whole situation could have been avoided with a bit more tact on

my part, but I have learned from it and will take the lesson with me as I go on to deal with other

teachers, parents, administrators, and even students in the future. (9,10)

When assessing the seventh grade this week, we asked the students to play selections

from the piece that I am teaching them. They were informed what measures would be covered at

the beginning of the week and the measures were listed on the board every day. I selected

sections for each instrument based on difficulty and importance to the piece. I attempted to be

fair as possible, but the hardest measure for a flute player will almost always be harder than a

trombone player’s most difficult section. All this said, I felt a weakness in my skill set was fair

assessing of this material. I found myself trying to apply the same scrutiny to assessments that

were drastically different in difficulty. This led to my feeling as though I graded unfairly. Ms.

Weaver did not disagree with scores that I gave, but she also did not hear the students play. In
the near future, I intend request that I watch her do a playing test with the students so that I may

get a feel for the type of scrutiny she applies. (6)

I am happy with the amount of prior planning I was able to do this week. Looking

multiple days in advance helps improve my pacing and the overall quality of my lessons. I intend

to continue this trend moving forward. (7)

In the week to come I will finish the planning of my lamp project and send the plans

along to Ms. Weaver for feedback. I will also have the opportunity to see a meeting between all

of the corporation’s music teachers and the principals so that they can plan a concert and the

logistics around it. It will be interesting to see the teachers interact with the administration given

that I know they are not greatly supported in this corporation.

I hope to be uploading lesson plans for the lamp project by Wednesday. Feedback is

welcomed!

Reflection7

The time is really flying by. I had the opportunity to go to campus this week and was

surprised at how foreign it felt. It is strange to think of how close I am to being done with this

degree. I have been seeking jobs more and more often lately. I have assembled all of my

applications materials and, with the exception of some changes to my cover letter for each

school, I am ready start applying. I have been practicing interview questions with myself and

otherwise preparing for the future. I look forward to being able to show these principals and

administrators all I have learned here at Ball State.

This week, I really hit my stride with regard to questioning. I have started to practice

using questions in all places where I might otherwise simply state information. This keeps
students engaged and avoids the lesson becoming to “lecturey”. I find that this questioning is

easier to do in the middle school than the high school. Often, I will find myself talking for

minutes on end in front of the high school about their music. I am not quite sure why this is, but I

can now sense myself going long in my feedback to the class and can try to wrap things up more

quickly. I will also work this week to use more questioning (instructional strategies, Learner

Development)

I have begun to work with the jazz band more lately, which is giving me a new challenge

in teaching. I am an experienced jazz musician, but I have never had to teach Jazz in a school

setting. The band is working on “Impressions”, a tune I know fairly well. I have worked with

them on modal jazz, contrafacts, and some jazz history. The students are enjoying soloing on this

tune because of its freedom and simplicity. These students read music quite well, so I am finding

that I need to have my deeper score study done sooner than with other classes so that we can

really dig in almost right away. I am having trouble knowing what to do with rhythm section

when I am working with the winds and vise a versa. In other classes I tell sections I am not

working with to look ahead or silent practice. Often in jazz band, I find myself working with

winds or rhythm section for quite a while at a time. Passing is something I will work to perfect

with Jazz band as we move forward. (content knowledge, Application of content)

I have been planning for LAMP a lot this week. Theory is a relatively new subject to me

with regard to pedagogy. I welcome this challenge and look forward to growing as a teacher in a

new subject. Planning for two weeks at a time in this way is new to me. I am also not

experienced in creating worksheets. This project has held many challenges that I have enjoyed

working through and look forward to showing in the classroom. (application of content and

Content Knowledge)
 The week to come is ISTEP week at the middle school and the school is operating on a

modified schedule. This means many odd things for Ms. Weaver and I such as teaching a choir

class, teaching two classes at the same time, and not seeing certain classes on certain days. This

kind of schedule and testing stress will have its effect on both us and the students. I am glad I get

to experience this week and work through it. (learner differences and learner development)

Reflection 8

The LAMP project and ISTEP each brought their own challenges this week. I am glad I

had the experience and I look forward to implementing what I learned.

This week, I started a daily “game” with the students wherein I ask a trivial question to

which the answer is a number. The student with the correct/closest answer receives a raffle ticket

which will be entered into a drawing for a prize to be given at the end of my time here. I feel that

this is good activity to get students looking forward to band and build a relationship with me. On

the first day, we realized that asking the question at the top of the hour led to a distraction and

time waster. To combat this, MS. Weaver and I decided to give the students a calendar on which

they would silently answer the question and pass down to me to be tabulated. Then they received

the answer the next day. This way, the game takes as little time as possible.

LAMP is off to a great start. The students’ scores on the pre-test were mixed. The spread

of knowledge was such that little change was needed in the planning. The lessons for the first

week went well. The students are given instruction for roughly 50-65 percent of the class, then

given time to work with the concepts in a practice worksheet. We have also spent time with aural

training and used musictheory.net as a class. The students learn fast and I expect excellent marks

on the post test. In the week to come, the project will continue and I will assign their project,

which involves harmonization of a given melody. I have noted how fast the class moves through
material and slightly adjusted material for week 2. I will likely continue to teach the next set of

material after the project has ended, meaning I will really be able to follow through on a large

unit. This project has enabled me to work with a class with which I had no experience prior to

this semester. I did well in my own music theory classes, but had never considered how I might

teach those concepts to students of my own. I am glad I have been able to work with these

students in this setting as it has made me a more versatile music educator.

ISTEP week has been an interesting challenge at the middle school. The school was on a

very different schedule for most of the week. We had classes for very long periods of time and

on one day, we had two classes at the same time. On one day, Ms Weaver needed to proctor a

test, so I taught the sixth grade for 90 minutes. This is a very long time for adolescents to be in a

class and constant motion in the lesson was needed. I also needed to take a break from playing in

the middle of class because they were clearly getting quite fatigued. On another day, I taught

sixth grade in the choir room while Ms. Weaver taught in the band room, next door. There were

no music stand in the choir room, so I needed to be rather creative in my planning and

instruction. We worked on playing by ear, breathing, articulation and rhythm. Despite the many

hurdles, I feel that this was still a very productive week at the middle school. I learned a great

deal about how students handle these testing weeks. While my future job may not have ISTEP, I

will not escape standardized testing.

The week to come is the final run up to a concert and I am very excited to get the students

going the extra mile on this music and really bring the music out.

Reflection 9
 The week before a concert, like many things in band, is much different for the director

than for the students. I also finished the teaching portion of my LAMP project this week and

aided in the audition process for the talent show.

All classes were well prepared for the upcoming concert this week. Our classes were

spent mostly on performance practice; This is a factor of music education that I had no

previously considered. Middle school students do not inherently know how to get on and off a

stage and how to accept applause. I am glad I was able to observe this teaching process so that a

middle school band I may lead on stage in the future will know how to behave as well. Much of

our rehearsal time was spent on run-throughs. The varying levels of endurance of our classes is

also not something I would have thought about prior to this experience. Sixth grade’s pieces

were both just over a minute long, while the high school band played a suite that lasted nine

minutes in addition to their part in the finally. Endurance will certainly be a factor I consider in

the future. The largest issue facing any of our groups is consistency. The students learn concepts

and perform them well, but then forget about the material the next time we play. This is the same

across all classes and on music taught by me and by MS. Weaver. Much of our rehearsal this

week was on concepts that we already taught. Consistency is something we both plan to push as

we move forward. I greatly enjoyed working with the students on this music and I look forward

to their performance on Monday.

This week, I finished teaching my LAMP unit on triads. Students showed clear

improvement on their post-test. I was quite presently supposed by the results on the students’

projects. The harmonization project they were given was designed so that students could choose

the “safe route” or be more adventurous; I was surprised to see how many of the students opted

to be more exploratory in the harmonies they chose. There was not a fear of failure. It became
clear early in the week, that these students could handle more than I had planned in my project,

so I have already started to plan for next week with excitement for what the students will be able

to do. I look forward to the analyzing of this data and the opportunity to learn from my own

successes and failures in the teaching.

I aided in the auditions for the talent show this week. I was surprised to see how many

non-music students were auditioning and performing quite well. The school has a number of

very good singers who are not in band or choir. There was also a large number of dancers that all

did quite well. Apparently, the school is quite near a dance studio that puts out fantastic

performers regularly. Is would be good for me, in a position of my own, to be aware of

community resources such as this for non-musically involved students.

Next week, I will be writing up LAMP documents, conducting part of the concert, aiding

with the talent show, and continuing to teach each day.

Reflection 10

This was quite the eventful week. A concert, a dress rehearsal, a talent show, teaching

experiences, a staff meeting, and a job interview, just to name a few. These kinds of weeks will,

no doubt, be common in my own teaching so I am glad that I was able to experience it.

Monday was the day of my first concert as a conductor and teacher. My learning

experiences here were mostly logistical. The day started with a “field trip” to Emens with two of

our bands to rehearse the finale of the concert with members of the choirs. This was a rather

large undertaking as it involved around three hundred students. My role for the day was to ride

the bus with the high schoolers and guide them through the rehearsal. Ms. Weaver sent me a text

in the morning which, in my slightly overwhelmed state, I did not follow to a tee. I had the

students lay instruments on the wrong side of the auditorium seats and grabbed the wrong stack
of seating charts and was therefore unable to hand seating charts to the section leaders as

instructed. Neither mistake was catastrophic to the rehearsal, but I felt bad nonetheless. I have

taken pride in my ability to work under pressure, but this did not come through on that day.

That evening, my role in the concert was to conduct three pieces and to help get students

from their seats in the balcony to the stage for their performances. Doing this quietly proved to

be quite a task and I were the room any more live, the audience surly would have been well

aware of the students as they moved. Students up in the balcony were quite rowdy, which is

somewhat understandable given the nature of a middle schooler and a two-hour requirement to

be quite and attentive. Once again, the deadness of Emens saved the audience below the

disturbance of the performers-in-waiting above them.

I quite enjoyed being able to hear all the choirs. It was a learning experience for me to

hear what each age/grade level was capable of. I took some notes on the music performed,

should I ever need to know this in the future.

On Tuesday evening, we had a dress rehearsal for the talent show. Ms. Weaver and I

spent some time during the day setting up a sound system, which is the expertise of neither of us.

This just goes to show that a band director must wear many hats. The rehearsal showed that

many students were unprepared despite being told that if they were not ready, they would be cut

from the show. The staff opted not to cut these students, but they were sternly warned. It was

refreshing to see many of these students that sang, danced, and even performed magic were not

in band or choir, but were finding ways to get arts into their lives regardless.

On Friday, the talent show went off without a hitch, despite some turmoil in its

preparation. I worked as a stage hand, moving mics and a piano for each act before they went on.
This lead to my being cheered on as “mic guy” by the audience: a lesson in the maturity and

humor of high schoolers. I am glad that these students all put themselves on the line and had fun

performing. I think that aiding in a talent show is something I would be interested in for my own

teaching career.

On Thursday, I had my first job interview for a teaching position. While it did not go as

well as I would have hoped, I learned a great deal about the interview process and have come

away much more prepared for my next interview. The interview was over the phone, which I

have no experience with. I was called, introduced to the committee, then told I would have four

minutes each to answer two questions. I was ill prepared for this format and came off flustered

and as a poor communicator. I did not represent myself well and for that reason, will not be

surprised by my not moving on in the process with that school. Despite this, I gained valuable

knowledge about the hiring process and the types of questions for which I should be prepared.

I learned a great deal with week about many facets of the music education field. I look

forward to the week to come as it will hold another faculty-wide professional development

seminar and an opportunity to work with students in the week before their spring break.

Reflection 11

I learned a great deal this week and I feel that I am really a better teacher now than I was

on Monday.

This was my first experience with teaching students fresh from an extended break (spring

break). I came into this week on the assumption that most students had not practice for the entire

break. While, in my own program, I would prefer this not to be the case, I understand that in

many cases it is out of the student’s control. With this in mind, I started all classes with basic

warm ups. Each class had a short breathing-gym, followed by some long-tones that centered
around review of scales that they had worked on prior to the break. We spent some time working

on achieving a good sound before moving into their concert music. Student’s ability to count

rhythms and play notes had not faltered, but tone production was weaker. The first day back

taught me a lot about how to approach returns from extended breaks in my career. These skills

will come in handy right from the get-go, if I start my first job in the fall.

Throughout the week, I was able to teach several lessons centered on practice techniques

to students. On one day, I had the idea to teach the seventh graders the importance or slow

practice. To achieve this, I found a technical exercise in their book that predominantly used scale

and arpeggio in B-flat. I had the students attempt to play it at a tempo I knew was far too fast for

them. I also recorded this first attempt. Needless to say, it did not go well. From hear I asked the

students what they needed to do, to which they rightly responded that they must slow the tempo.

I told them the metronome marking and asked them where they thought we should slow it to. I

took the first answer I hear, knowing that it was still too fast. I lead them through it at that tempo

and let them realize again that it was too slow. I let this happen again and for a third time. On the

fourth attempt, they gave a tempo they could handle, which was roughly half of where we

started. From here we ran it at this tempo a few times, until it was played well. Then I asked the

students where we should move the tempo up to. When a student suggested ten clicks, I let them

try it and realize it was too much. The purpose of this lesson was for students to see how

drastically they must slow things down and incrementally they must speed things up. I feel that

this lesson was quite effective, and I fully intend to use it again in the future.

In 8th grade, somewhat unintentionally, I found an answer to my talking to playing ratio

issue. On one day, I used student transition time to talk and ask questions. At several moments I

played over their transitions with an example of something on my saxophone, then asked them
questions about it. I feel that this was an effective use of time and allowed us more time for

playing.

On Friday, I was able to see a fundraise representative present at the middle school.

While I didn’t do any teaching that day, I still learned a great deal. Making students aware of the

financial situation of the band can be important. Students should understand the cost of running

their program and how much of it does not come from the school. This holds true for any

program, as fundraiser support will be vital in my own career too. Having the representative

come out and explain correct sales methods is a wonderful touch, that I hope to be able to do this

with my program in the future.

On Friday, I was able observed once again. This observation made me more aware of the

talking-to-playing ratio in my teaching. While I can see marked improvement in this facet of my

teaching, I still have work to do.

Next week, Ms. Weaver and I will be transitioning into my full-time teaching. I will be

taking over all six classes, each day. I greatly look forward to this opportunity to not only

practice my teaching but also too get a feel for the work that goes into full time teaching.

Reflection 12

This week, I learned a fair amount about planning, instruction, classroom management,

and about the physical wears of teaching. Ms. Weaver and I have started the process of my

taking over the full day of teaching. For Monday through Wednesday of this week, I taught all

three classes at the middle school and one at the high school. On Thursday and Friday, I taught

for the entire day. This brought on the opportunity for a great deal of learning on my part.
 I learned a great deal from Ms. Weaver’s planning. She broke out the rest of the concert

cycle by day. She has assigned specific measure ranges for each day. For this reason, the outlines

of my planning are already done; It is on me to plan how best to teach those measures and what

to approach each day. Ms. Weaver plans in much smaller chunks than I would tend to. In many

cases, I am teaching ten or so measures for 2-3 days. This has challenged me to reevaluate my

own planning. I have focused hard on the elements of the music that foster teaching

opportunities. I have taken concepts that I may not have spent any time teaching and planned a

whole day around them. I have also streamlined my teaching so that I move through specific

material and move on rather than digging into large chunks and not being able to cover very

much in a day. I have thought hard about ways to keep students not being directly worked with

engaged. I have found that students retain more under this system. I have grown a great deal in

this element of my teaching this week and I know that I will grow further over these final weeks.

I plan to use this kind of planning in my own teaching, especially at the middle school level.

With the end of the year nearing, the students are showing their excitement. Many of the

students are far more talkative than usual and classroom management has become an issue. It has

been pointed out to me that I rely quite heavily on “shhshhing” students (using it 50+ times in a

single lesson). The sound has become a filler word like “umm” for me and I am seeking to

change this quickly. I am trying to move toward a system wherein I only teach when the room is

silent. I also plan to start a timer in a particular class to show students just how much time they

are losing to their own talking. I plan to ponder this issue at length in the week to come so that

not only can I manage these classes and the classes in my future, but also be able to detail my

classroom management plan to interested parties like employers.

 Teaching all day can be quite tiring and I have found myself needing some time for rest

when I get home. I have found that balancing the rest and the time needed to plan has become an

issue. Time management was sometimes an issue for me when I was in classes at ball state. I

always got assignments in and was prepared for tests, but sometimes at the cost of my own

health. I know that this may be an issue in my actual teaching career, so I will need to address it

in the weeks to come. I plan to use my prep period more effectively this week so that some of my

planning is done ahead of time. I have also done a good deal of my planning for the week this

weekend. In the week to come, I have made it a goal to get some more sleep.

Next week, I will continue to teach all six classes each day. I hope to develop my time

management and my classroom management. I need to film my teaching, not only for university

assignments, but also to reflect on some of the improvements I need to make and how best to

reach my goals. I intend to make the most of these final weeks.

Reflection 13

This was a week filled with both education and emotion. Ms. Weaver and I finally broke

the news that she would not be returning next year. It was also the second full week of my

teaching all classes each day.

Given that I plan to be in graduate school in the next one to three years, Ms. Weaver’s

handling of her return to school has been a learning experience for me. Ms. Weaver has known

for about two weeks (and that there was a possibility for months) that she would officially not be

returning in the 2018-2019 school year, but chose to wait until her resignation had received

board approval to announce her leave to the students. She told her administrators as soon as the

letter had come announcing her acceptance into a PhD program. This lead to a roughly two week

period wherein just about every relevant party except the students knew about the leave. We had
to quell roomers and, in one case, even lie to a student about the leave. This Wednesday, the day

finally came. We set up each class so that they worked with me for all but about 15 minutes of

class. In the final 15 minutes, Ms. Weaver broke the news to the students and fielded questions.

In all five classes, some key points remained: she was not leaving out of any hard feelings for the

school, this was a good opportunity for her and the right time in her life to pursue it, the program

was quite selective, she received a full ride, she wanted the students to hear it from her before the

job was posted and it got to them from someone else. I feel that all of these things helped give

the students some context and eased the blow quite a bit. Student reaction was mixed but we got

through the day without any tears. I was pleasantly surprised with the students’ reaction to the

news that I would not be taking the job; many were quite upset. The biggest reactions came from

seventh grade and concert band, two classes I was not aware I had made that much of a

connection with. I am flattered that the students wanted me to take the position; it assures me that

I made meaningful connections with many of them in my time here.

On the teaching front, I learned a great deal this week as well. In the concert band, there

was a rhythmic challenge for both me and the students. The low voices has a rhythm that came in

on the third eighth-note of a 6/8 measure. They had a great deal of trouble with the entrance and I

had a great deal of trouble teaching it to them. We tried numerous things throughout the week

with more than one intervention from Ms. Weaver. These events revealed to me a weakness in

my teaching that I made some headway in fixing this week. I have worked on my ability to come

up with teaching strategies on the spot for issues that I was not aware would come up. I have also

been more diligent in my score study so that these issue do not come as a surprise at all. Both

skills will be ongoing processes as I move forward. Additionally, with more teaching experience

will come more strategies to draw from, making these issues easier to solve in the future.
 At one point, Ms. Weaver informed me that I had removed a great deal of fun from the

eighth grade. This class is, by far, the highest performing class relative to their age. This has led

to my teaching the class at a high level because I know that they have a great deal of potential.

Unintentionally, the rehearsals have gotten to be somewhat similar to a college rehearsal and the

students are getting tired and unenthused by the end. I have scaled back the intensity of these

rehearsals and tried to make them more fun. I will continue to work on this in the week to come.

In theory this week, I taught a small unit on form. The book was quite light on musical

examples, as each lesson is limited to one page. This required me to come up with my own

examples to use in class. I tried to draw from a variety of musical genres and eras. They heard

pop songs, folk songs, jazz, classical, and even some bluegrass. I also had the opportunity to

write a quiz on the unit. It was nice to teach on a smaller scale than the LAMP but with many of

the same principals applied. The students did quite well on the quiz and I believe that it will be a

real grade.

In the week to come, I will be finishing preparation for my final conference on Friday. I

will also be teaching a bit less as we are will be phasing me out. I have chosen some pieces to

continue to work with and teach the students, including the piece I was having trouble with in

concert band mentioned above. I want to focus my efforts in the final two weeks on improving

my teaching/talking ratio, my ability to work on small sections rather than large chunks, and my

tempo/rhythmic consistency.