Elizabeth Anderson

May 5, 2014
Secondary Methods
Course Reflection
Through my work in this Secondary Methods course, I have increased
my knowledge of both the theoretical and practical aspects of teaching
secondary classroom music. As a result of this class, I feel more confident in
lesson planning and in getting in front of a classroom. I had a very good
experience in this class and with this age range in my observations, and I
was impressed by what middle and high school students are capable of if
given the right introduction to the material and space to be creative.
Study of educational theorists such as Bloom and Gardner have
contributed to my knowledge of instructional sequence and the importance
of a multi-pronged approach to explaining new concepts and also turned my
mind to the broader question of how music education fits in with a twentyfirst century career skill set.
ramifications for classroom use.

Blooms Taxonomy in particular has clear

As I noted in my classroom observations

this semester, students struggle when they do not have the necessary
knowledge, application practice, and analyzing power to create music of their
own.

When students are underprepared, the experience is frustrating for

students and teacher alike, but proper preparation can be assured by

following Blooms outline. I was also inspired by Gardners Five Minds for the
Future, because I am convinced that music education can fulfill the need for
the synthesizing, creating, respectful, and ethical minds, all the aspects of

education that are frequently neglected in the standard disciplined

approach to education.

As a music educator, I will need to keep these

twenty-first century goals in mind to make sure that my classroom supports

growth in these minds.
Peer teaching, the practical aspect, was invaluable for many reasons.
The first is simply that peer teaching provides an opportunity to practice the
act of teaching and become comfortable in front of a classroom. More than
that, though, peer teaching is an opportunity to try out ideas, watch how
they go over, and get feedback. Often I had ideas that didnt go quite like I
had expected them to go in the writing of my lesson plan. I tried to use
concepts that were unfamiliar to the class, which violated Blooms Taxonomy
and therefore were unsuccessful. Many activities also took longer than I had
expected, which forced me to realize that full comprehension of material is
far more important than breadth of topics introduced. This means that, in
addition to going slower and planning less per lesson, I also need to reinforce
concepts over multiple lessons by applying them in various ways.

For

example, listening skills may be reinforced by applying them to many

genres, as I did in my unit plan, or polyrhythms can be presented in a
physical

activity

(stepping

and

clapping),

using

technology

(online

sequencer) and through listening activities.

I also appreciated the opportunity to watch my peers teach their own
lessons. I got some great ideas from watching my classmates and also saw a
few common mistakes that I had to remind myself to avoid.

One of the

lessons that stuck out to me were Emmas cup game lesson, which I thought
was

great

combination

of

contemporary

music,

movement,

and

improvisation, among others. A few mistakes that I saw, and that I was also
guilty of at times, was talking too fast or too quietly, especially in the highschool lessons that required more of a lecture approach, and leaving
students to do quiet work all by themselves even when many students were
struggling or had questions and would have benefitted from having the
teacher walk around the room. A few teachers also had problems with wrong
information or bad examples, which convinced me all the more of the
importance of checking my information and reviewing my lesson plan before
teaching.
The only thing I think Im missing at this point is the experience of
working with real middle school and high school students. I want to make
sure that my demeanor and the content of my lessons would actually get the
attention of this group of students, who may no longer see music as cool but
also have the capability to produce higher-quality work. It is one thing to
work with Berklee students who are all interested in music and able to
successfully accomplish any music task given to them. Its another thing to
work

with

real teens

who

may not

be quite

as

enthusiastic and

accommodating of falters. I am excited to have the chance to observe more

classes in the middle school age range and perhaps even student teach at
these grade levels. Because of one very inspiring observation at Gibbons

Middle School in Westborough, I am now entertaining the idea of working

with this age group in the future.