Microteaching #1: Tideo
October 21, 2004
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Reflective Essay

I prepared quite well for this lesson.  My girlfriend’s mother is an elementary general music teacher in Indianapolis, and I went to her about a week and a half before the first possible presentation day and asked her for help selecting a song.  After talking with her, she suggested “Tideo,” which I copied from her book.  Then, I researched the song on the internet, but didn’t find a whole lot of useful information.  She then called me and told me about the hand motions that we could put with it.  I took these ideas and sat down at my computer and, in my mind, stood in front of the class and pretended to teach the song, typing it down and planning what I would do.  Finally, I spent three or four sessions in a practice room with a piano, and I taught the song to the wall.  As I did this, I edited and revised my plan.  Each time, I also timed myself to make sure that it was within the time requirement.  Also, I even came up with a piano accompaniment that I could use, particularly while the students were singing without me.  I felt very confident and well-prepared going into the microteaching itself.

During my presentation, I felt that I explained concepts well.  Though I did not teach anything new besides the song and its motions, I explained the rhythmic concepts well (like when I had volunteers write the rhythms on the board) and made good connections to our “previous lessons.”  Also, I had good questioning.  Though a little timid, I managed to ask my questions fairly closely to how I had practiced and hoped to ask them.  I also gave good follow-up questions, like when Derek didn’t answer my question to the extent I had hoped for, I probed with a slightly more detailed question.  Also, Megan gave a generic answer, and again, I got her to explain that there are 4 16th notes per beat by asking a slightly more detailed, leading question.  Finally, I performed the song well.  I am always unsure of my voice and afraid to sing, but I did pretty well.  While the melody may not have been as audible the first time as it should have been, I played a nice accompaniment and sang well.  My model for the students was well-done.

My weaknesses were, from my perspective, harder to define.  I was not entirely comfortable being in front of the class, and that showed somewhat.  My voice was fairly strong and clear, but at times, especially when I was trying to remember what it was that I had planned to do next, for example, I spoke softer and mumbled a little.  Also, I must mention Dr. Inks.  Especially after two days of silent observation by Dr. Scheib, I was startled and honestly somewhat frustrated by Dr. Inks’ reactions during my presentation.  I do not question the validity of her statements and suggestions; they were fine and very accurate and helpful.  However, I did not appreciate them in the middle of my presentation.  I only had 10-12 minutes, and I had prepared 10, planning on it taking a little longer than I planned (if that makes sense).  But then she interrupted two times, which took more time and, more to the point, threw me off my lesson plan for a short while and made me unsure of myself.  I know that I need to be prepared for the class to go off my lesson plan; however, that was not happening in these lessons, and even at that I had planned some other possibilities during my planning and practice.  However, I did not plan for Dr. Inks to interrupt with suggestions.  I’m not upset at her, it was just unexpected and I think accounted for some of my lackluster performance.

The students responded as I expected, answering my questions closely enough for me to be able to narrow their answers until I got the answers I was looking for.  They sang well, as I also expected.  The only things I added to the lesson were the things Dr. Inks had me do.  Likewise, I only subtracted a couple activities (like doing the song in a round and using additional percussion instruments) due to the distraction and following lack of time.  Overall, I still think my teaching went pretty well.  I accomplished 95% of what I had hoped to accomplish.  I had no significant stumbles, and I came out feeling pretty good about it.

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