2nd Grade Week Seven Lesson Analysis

This lesson ties together the song that was taught the previous class with rhythm
practice. In the video you can see that when the pumpkin lands on students, they have the
opportunity to pull out rhythms to create our four-beat pattern. There are only Ta’s, Ti Ti’s,
and quarter rests (shh) in the pumpkin. After four are chosen, they class goes over the
rhythm a few times together. In the video, I always ask the students what the note is when I
get the note from the student.

The camera is set up behind a few students out of frame. You can hear them talking
a lot because it is so close to them. There is also one student in this class that was not
allowed to be videotaped so I had to work around that and put that student in places where
the camera would not see them.

I like the review I did with the students and the flower video in the beginning. If I
was going to change this lesson, I may have swapped lesson 2 and 3 videos because this
one was simpler than the one, I played the previous class. I love the idea of group learning.
If I was going to continue this lesson, I might have the students do this activity again but
have the student pick out the rhythms and clap them so I could see individual assessment.
Then to involve the rest of the class, I might make sure the student is clapping the rhythm
correctly (or do this with them or in a pair) and then have the class echo the rhythm.

Whenever I am working with younger grades, sitting close together on the floor
helps keep their behavior under control. You can tell in these videos that my students are
very excited. They are not used to a camera out and they are very talkative. If I could go
back in time, I might have started the recording process earlier so they would not be so
affected from the camera. Change of any kind always impacts classroom routine.

At the end of class, I did the same pumpkin assessment and I brought back the
assessment from the first class. I had one more student understand the difference between
a Ta and a Ti Ti from the first lesson. I would consider even this one student progress. All
students learn different ways and at different speeds. If I couldn’t reach everyone during
these past three classes that shows me that I might need to change the way I am presenting
my information. These children who are not grasping the concept might be a learner that
needs to see it physically in front of them or do an activity on a computer. There is no one
way to learn and I would take that into consideration for the following lesson.

In the video, you can hear that majority of my students are answering correctly.
There are some that do the same rhythm over and over because it is what they are used to.
I try to model the correct rhythm to the students, but I also give them a chance to think
about it again before we try the rhythm another time.