September 6, 2019

6th Grade Orchestra

45 minutes (12:58-1:43)

Materials Used: The class used their instruments, bows, and sheet music provided by the teacher
and not given to the students to keep outside of class

Classroom Plan:

The instruments sat together for the most part, although it wasn’t hugely organized other than
that. There were mostly violins in the class, so that took up most of the space, and next to them
the violas sat in one row and the cellos sat in the next. There was no double bass player in the
class I observed.

Sequence of Activities:

The class started with various warm-ups, with small sections given for feedback from the
teacher. This included scales and some easier songs to warm up with. This took maybe 20
minutes, before spending the rest of class on something new. The class then played more
difficult music given to them by the teacher and worked on this with constructive criticism when
needed for the rest of the class.

Observed Teacher Behaviors:

Lots of positive feedback. When criticism needed to be given it was given extremely kindly and
without much room for the student to begin to feel discouraged or bad about themselves. When
constructive criticism needed to be given, it was given much more quietly, and even so far as for
the teacher to sometimes just go up to the student they wanted to talk to and to speak quietly
without any other student really noticing.

Observed Student Behaviors:

Students were very well behaved for the most part. They took out their instruments in time and
followed directions very well. Sometimes they got a bit loud, but never to the point that
anything even had to be said. One special needs student didn’t participate much during the
practicum, but that was dealt with more individually by the teacher and didn’t affect the rest of
the students.

Final Thoughts on the Lesson:

Overall a lovely experience, seeing, especially a younger orchestra, just now learning their
instruments. It’s valuable to see the nuance of it all, and how the teacher uses the time given in
class to make strides with the instruments without the kids even knowing it. The whole concept
of making music just to make music was found here, and I learned an extreme amount from
observing it.