Reflection 4

This lesson was during my second to last week of teaching in my secondary placement.

This lesson was with the treble concert choir a beginning level treble voice ensemble. During this

lesson I lead a listening example, warm ups, sight singing, continuing our learning of Letter

From A Girl to the World and An Irish Blessing. I was really proud of this lessons structure and

the execution of this lesson.

One of the most immediate things I notice during this lesson compared to others is my

engaging demeanor. I think part of this has to do with the new set up within my at home teaching

set up. I managed to set up the computer differently so students could see more of my body when

I was standing, and so the camera was at eye level. I was also just much more energetic with my

instruction and was able to hold their attention better. Part of this had to do with the listening

example I began class with. A live performance of the song From Now On from the movie The

Greatest Showman. This is a very popular movie, but this song talks about returning home and

really resonated with my students about returning to school and singing with each other in

person. This set up the lesson to have a positive environment.

One thing I immediately note when watching my warm ups is how much the backgrounds

can impact the instruction. Google meet has added virtual backgrounds and in order to encourage

students to turn on their cameras my cooperating teacher and I use the new backgrounds.

However I noticed that it can sometimes cut off different parts of my body, for example my

hands. I was very excited seeing how far my vocal warm ups have come. I have grown in

confidence and my instructions and breaths are much clearer and easier to follow.

During my instruction the main think that I need to focus upon improving is maintaining

my steady beat. When teaching An Irish Blessing I noticed that I was speeding up during the
longer notes. One thing that I did notice improvement in was my conducting, the repositioning of

my camera allowed for a better view of my conducting pattern allowing me to be more

expressive and clear in what I wanted from my singers.

I am very proud of this lesson plan and it’s execution. I have grown tremendously during

my student teaching experience and that is shown in my pacing, lesson structure and my students

progress.