Written Critical Reflection on Teaching Video

The context for this instructional sequence consists of seven 7th grade orchestra students. These students perform at the beginning level. Three of the seven students started playing a stringed instrument in the 6th grade. Two of them perform at an intermediate level. The other four students started this year, in the 7th grade. Their combined class meets three days a week for approximately 60 minutes. However, time for transitioning to orchestra class and back to their core, class takes up about 8- 10 minutes of the 60-minute period. There is roughly 40-45 minutes remaining for actual classroom instruction.

I chose this lesson because it fell in line with my action research study on intonation. I have had some concerns about the intonation of my students, particularly, the f# on the d string. Most students can get the e and the g note but for some reason, the f# is always too low. I decided to focus on this problem and I have been experimenting with various strategies and techniques in order to help improve the overall intonation of the class ensemble. This lesson was one of those lessons where we focused primarily on intonation.

Each year when we returned from the GMEA Large Group Performance Festival, we discovered that intonation was our weakest area. This year, because of the action research project, I was able to devote much more time to working on intonation than I had in previous years.

Another feature of my teaching context is my classroom. It is relatively small, has one door, and a double window. It is cold in the winter and warm in the spring. The heating and cooling units have not worked sufficiently over the past seven years. It is the last classroom in the gymnasium and is tucked away in the far corner. This helps me to maintain a healthy and safe environment for my students to learn.

I am provided with an annual budget of approximately $2,000.00 per year, although I hardly ever see the goods until the school year has ended, so we are really operating on what was ordered the previous school year.

In this lesson, I demonstrate technology use simply by using the desktop computer to play the tuning CD during the tuning exercise. The sound from the computer is amplified with a Yamaha Monitor Speaker MS010II. This enables the children to hear the tuning notes much louder and much clearer than they would if we were to use the computer speakers alone.

My instructional objectives for this lesson were:

The student will be able to:

(1) Differentiate between two pitches and determine if the pitches are the same or different with at least 90% accuracy.

(2) Tune instrument accurately with assistance and demonstrate an increasing awareness of good intonation.

The goals are appropriate for this class because I have a number of students who have the potential to be great players but do not seem to be in touch with their inner ear. If the players are not hearing the notes in their minds, it is very difficult for them demonstrate the notes in tune on their instruments. Let me share with you why I picked this class to videotape.

Although I have high expectations for all of my students, this class has students with great potential and a desire to enhance their current skills. For example, Student #1 is a gifted student. She has some minor behavior problems and is easily frustrated. She reads music pretty well but her intonation is the worst in the class. I have been trying to get her to correct her poor left hand posture since the sixth grade, she has not responded. Lately, I have noticed that she is starting to hear the difference in her intonation when she commits to holding the instrument properly. Over the year, as she completed weekly playing test, I have tried to get her to understand just how closely related her technique is to her ability to play in tune and to reach those notes. She is still not able to adjust herself without my having to tell her. I often tell her to check her technique.

Student #2 is a great student, but is very bashful. She does not like to be singled out from the crowd. I give her praise often and verbally encourage her to push herself beyond her comfort zone. She is one that would prefer to stay inside the box and never come out. She plays an instrument in the school band and has difficulty with timing and staying with the group. I am concerned that she is unable to get in touch with her inner voice. She experiences few intonation problems when playing alone. During her playing test, she is confident and bold and plays more in tune when she is under pressure than when she is not under pressure. She is an avid reader and is very much a left-brained child. She is always reading a book and it does not take her long to complete them. She is new this year and has pretty much caught up with those who started in the 6th grade last year. She has minor intonation problems and is becoming a great music reader. She has a lot of potential and a bright future.

Student #3 is a bright student and plays an instrument in the school band as well. She reads often and is a little playful. Sometimes her left hand gets out of place and she does not really hear it, and therefore, she makes no adjustments. She often second-guesses herself, but is actually a solid player. When playing for weekly assessments, she is very confident, but her left hand is generally out of place. She is a hard worker and has made some improvements in her intonation.

Of these three students, one has been playing for two years, and the other two started learning to play this school year. I am knowledgeable about my students and their playing abilities. I know which students require more questioning drills, which ones need constant praise, and which ones need constant reminders about posture and technique. I am able to do that by moving around the room and getting into close proximity to them.

I use my knowledge of the arts by infusing the singing and playing of songs and tunes that are familiar to them and making examples and comparisons that they can synthesize, which is what Gardner mentions in his book, 5 Minds for the Future. Student understanding is evident in the video by the verbal responses as well as the adjustments that some students began to make, as they were matching pitches. Some began to adjust their fingers until the note got in tune.

I was able to foster an equitable learning environment by calling upon all students to actively participate in the lesson. Students felt comfortable going when it was their turn to go. I made sure that students received adequate individual attention while encouraging them to be independent thinkers. I did this by allowing them to practice alone and having brief conferences with each student. In addition, working in small groups allowed students to work in a smaller setting, yet still be able to conference with the teacher in a small group setting. This allowed me to reinforce skills or to clarify misconceptions. As I made my rounds, I noticed that students began to provide feedback to one another.

The assessment strategy I used in this lesson was a lot of questioning. There were some short-ended questions used, such as "Was that note sharp or flat?" Short-ended questions allow me to access where they were immediately. There were also some higher-level, open-ended questions that allowed students to provide an explanation for their answer. Questions such as "What would Essence need to do to fix that?" My reason for using the questioning often is that it allows me to receive immediate feedback from the students and let's me know if I need to clarify or re-teach a specific concept or what direction the lesson will take from that point. It also let's me know if I need to go back and re-teach a specific skill. Questioning is a quick way for me to assess what it is they may or may not know.

Watching myself on the video was very beneficial to me. It allowed me to see that my students did meet the standard of being able to differentiate between two pitches as well as tune strings on their instruments with or without assistance. Self-reflection is something that we do not do often enough. It has given me some insight on how the energy level of my students increased during the small group activity. Students appeared to take ownership of the lesson and I appeared to be more of a guide, helping to steer them in the right direction. I looked for non-verbal indicators in the video as well. I was able to look at how many students were having issues with left-hand technique and posture. You can also see who is or who is not participating in the lesson.

What I learned about myself was that I know my students pretty well. They respond to me and like it when I interject play into the lesson. Pink reminds us that everyone needs some lightheartedness and time to play. I think that orchestra class, as a whole, provides this sense of play as opposed to the core classes.

I attempted to infuse Pinks' design into the lesson, where the students could relate to a beautiful and emotionally engaging tune of Somewhere Over The Rainbow as opposed to just learning the functional purpose of matching a note to its octave. To infuse story into the lesson, I attempted to do this by singing the song I'm Going Down in-tune and then singing it out- of- tune. I attempted to shape a narrative that went beyond reasoning, yet gave them an example of what in-tune and out- of-tune really means.

As a result of viewing this lesson, I became aware of the singing component of the lesson. All but one of the students were able to match a pitch while singing or humming. The one who could not was Student #3, the one who has the problems with her hand getting out of position and not being able to hear it and make an adjustment. This let's me know I'll need to do a little more differentiated instruction with her by introducing lessons that work on listening skills. I will expose her to online activities and listening sites that she can benefit from by helping her to develop her inner voice. I must find some meaningful activity or fun game for her to help her reach the point where she can hear the notes in her head.

I learned that I go through the lesson at a rapid pace and for the most part, the students hung in there with me. I learned that I made references to pre-assessments and gave validity to why I felt this lesson was necessary in the first place. I learned that if there is a problem, we can focus in on it and make it better. This also helped give me some ideas and strategies for future learning. In this lesson, through questioning, I realized that my students were having the most difficulty hearing notes that are slightly flat. They did pretty well with notes that were sharp or significantly flat. I will use this information to re-direct instruction for the next lesson. I will use this video to make adjustments in the way I make my delivery. I realized that perhaps I could implement a little more for the visual learner. Perhaps have the printed scale in front of them instead of doing a rote activity. However, my whole purpose for this activity was to get them to focus on the auditory part of the lesson. I attempted to blend function with significance as mentioned in Pink's A Whole New Mind.

The overall lesson fit into the symphony of an ongoing musical experience. I hope that it was a meaningful experience for the student. It was definitely a reflective learning experience for me.