Teaching 1: My first lesson that I recorded and assessed myself included instruction on

how to play a minor scale for a warm up. I started off by asking a lot of questions and I talked

way too much throughout the whole lesson. Although I was explaining the concept of minor, I

think that I could have done a better job of trusting their understanding. It is also easy to lose

their attention when this happens. I realized that I made a few mistakes when I was telling them

how to find their starting note too but I regained control and made sure everyone was confident

on their first note; I went around the room and told each student their note. I think after

reviewing and discussing, I could have done a much better job of giving them a more visual

representation of what we were doing. It was very helpful later on to write the notes out on the

board for them to visually see and to also further explain that the notes used are the same as

those in a Concert Bb scale. I also think that the whole concept could have been taught better

by starting simple and having them listen to a song in a minor key and comparing that to a major

song. I later used piano chords to explain this and it helped.

For their book work, I decided to just get a run through to see what happens

which I both liked and disliked. I think it was great that I reminded them of the key signature but I

also should have let them speak the rhythm first or had them air guitar their parts while I played

it for them. On the positive side, doing a run through at first helps them discover some of the

things they might typically not think of or see from the start which I think is great for their

comprehensive reading skills. After this first run through, I decided to talk about their dynamics

that they were missing. To make this better, I could have either worked on crescendos and

dynamics in the earlier part of the warm up or broken apart the sections a lot more. Overall, they

still did a wonderful job of both watching and responding to the feedback I was giving them.

Teaching #2: I started off this lesson by reviewing the G minor scale they have been

practicing for a few weeks. I liked that I asked them what note they were starting on instead of

telling them. I tried my hardest to let them listen more and problem solve instead of me telling
them things to fix; I asked them if a certain scale was better going up than down to see if they

could tell they were slowing down on the way up. For the most part, they were able to discover

the issues themselves. After this, I did the scale in rounds which did not go as well as I had

hoped at all. It took them a few tries for them to understand how the round worked. I wanted to

talk less and see if they could understand just by watching but it sadly was not the case. My

intention for this was all about balance and blend as well and I don’t think they understood the

objective. Therefore, I could have told them beforehand what the purpose was along the way as

well. I did however tell them that I needed less of group 1 and more of group 2, etc., but they

had no idea why I did that. For balance purposes, I do like that I took percussion out for a few

minutes but it left them with nothing to do for that time. I have discovered though that sometimes

you have to break apart these sections for clarity as long as you are occasionally letting

everyone play a section while you are addressing sectional issues to avoid boredom.

For the second half, the band worked on Dark Fortress. I liked that I was trying to get

them playing as much as possible instead of talking. I tried my best to give instructions in as few

words as possible. I did notice that there was a lot of playing and pitter pattering in the

background which I should have done more by telling them to stay focused and not play while I

was talking. I also think that I did a good job of thinking on the fly as far as separating parts if I

heard something that needed to be addressed. The whole goal of this lesson was to not slow

down in certain sections and while I did address the slowing down. I could have assisted in

some way with a metronome or physically clapping. I think if I did this lesson again, I would use

more aids in tempo and I would also listen better to notes that are still being missed. At the

moment, it’s really hard to hear every single thing going on in the band but even after going

back and listening, there are so many students struggling with notes that I should have

addressed. I realized that sometimes, I need to go to the piano and physically play the note for

them or model it. I realized this because I told them they were playing the right pitch when they

actually weren’t.
 Overall growth: Between both lessons, I believe I gained tremendous confidence and I

gained better flow of how the lesson went. I also think my variety of feedback was a lot better

than my initial recording; I didn’t always say “good” or “great” but instead, “it was better” or

“watch this part here.” I also asked better questions instead of those answered with a simple yes

or no. My ability to connect more with the students was also something really rewarding to see

between the two videos.