Sonya Bangia

11/6/2020
Peer Teaching Reflection
Peer teaching a lesson over Zoom was definitely a valuable learning experience. Some of my

goals were to have kids learn the meaning of simple and compound meter, and know how to identify what

type meter songs were in, based on the beat divisions. By the end of the lesson, I also wanted the students

to be able to clap along to the beat in both types of meters. They also learned how to divide the beat

clearly into groups of twos and threes in their warm-up.

To help them reach the goal of being able to divide the beat, I had them use words like peach, ap-

ple, and straw-ber-ry, while patting their laps on each beat. This analogy demonstrated that each is a

complete word, like one beat, but can be divided into syllables, like beat divisions. I used call and

response to help them achieve this. The sequence of this was to first start with a call and response of each

word individually over a metronome, then to ‘peach’ and ‘apple’ or ‘peach’ and ‘strawberry’ together.

Finally, I had them put ‘apple’ and ‘strawberry’ together to create a two against three pattern, leading to a

smooth transition.

To achieve the goal of students learning the meaning of and being able to identify the use of

simple and compound meter, I used a lot of student engagement and discussion. First, they told me what

they thought the terms meant, and then I explained it, tying the definitions into previous concepts in the

warm up. The sequence of activities began by asking them what they knew, then showing the definition

and explaining. I then explained how we knew the next song was in simple meter (groupings of two) then

asked them to explain how they knew the meter for the next song. For sequencing, I tried to demonstrate

first, then ask them to explain to me after that.

The students achieved what I hoped they would. I know because I assessed them by asking

questions throughout, and they answered them correctly. Students knew that the second song was in

compound meter because of the three beat divisions. I also assessed them aurally by listening to their

beat divisions as we were clapping to the metronome. Finally, I gave them a five finger assessment,

which told me that they learned the concepts of beat divisions and meter from the lesson.
Sonya Bangia
11/6/2020
Peer Teaching Reflection
If I could do it all over again, I would speak slightly slower so that students could understand

everything I was saying. I would also incorporate a little more student engagement, because students

learn best when they are actively thinking and teaching themselves. If I had time, I would repeat the song

exercises one more time each, without the teacher clapping along, so I could see how clearly they

understood where the beat was. Overall, coming up with and executing this lesson was very helpful, and

taught me a lot.