Standard 1: The teacher of PK-12 music has skills in pedagogy (planning, delivering instruction, and

assessment) for vocal, instrumental, and general music.

Teachers in music education must have skills in planning, delivering instruction, and assessing the
instruction that they have given. If you can’t successfully plan an appropriate lesson, your students
won’t be successful. If you can’t deliver instruction effectively, your students will never become better
musicians. And finally, if you can’t assess your students, you will never be able to tell if they are
improving.

During my time at K-State I have been fortunate to be a part of so many things that make me very
qualified to teach this standard. I have performed my with numerous ensembles during my time at K-
State ranging from Concert ensembles, jazz ensembles, and finally athletic bands as well as choirs. In
those ensembles I served in leadership roles such as principal player in Concert Band and Wind
Symphony, assistant section leader and music instructor in marching band, and a conductor for
University Band. These roles all required specific duties that I had to be effective in. As a principal
player I planned and ran sectionals, this allowed for me to assess my peers in the section for
improvement as well as our improvement as a section. In marching band as an Assistant Section Leader
I did a lot of the behind the scenes planning, such as setting up pep-bands and making sure things would
run smoothly in the section. My senior year of marching band I was fortunate enough to be Music
Instructor for the trumpets in marching band which allowed for experience in planning a sectional once
a week. I had to be prepared to address issues from seven different angles to make sure that the
section would be able to understand what we needed to do effectively. Finally I was a conductor for
University Band. Each week I stood in front of an ensemble for 25 minutes and had to lesson plan and
deliver instruction on how we as an ensemble could improve the piece.

These skills have continued to develop through my student teaching experience as I spend time in the
classroom. Planning lessons for elementary school is different from class to class, one approach will not
work the same for students in the same grade level. Through learning more about the students, I am
able to adjust my planning, delivering of instruction, and my assessment from class to class.

Through these experiences I am able to picture how my future classroom will look. My students will
have the opportunity for student leadership in my classroom. Student leadership is a vital part of
ensembles and helps things run smoothly. My students will have the opportunity to attend KMEA just
like I did as a student. My classroom will be a constant learning environment and my students will give
feedback to me on a daily basis, as well as to their peers. I will have rehearsals where students stand by
me and listen to what the ensemble is playing and give feedback based on what they hear. My students
will have the opportunity to grow as a person everyday through a music education.

Through all of the experiences that I have had, I believe that I am very qualified to teach this standard.
Planning, delivering instruction, and assessing is something that I do on a daily basis to myself and I want
my students to see that constant evaluation as well as to constantly be evaluating themselves and their
peers.