3 Minute Teaching Reflection

Teaching a concept in three minutes is challenging but rewarding. I found that through

this exercise, it is possible to create a meaningful and productive learning environment where

students are able to learn a new concept. I enjoyed teaching subdivisions and changing meter

because it is a great concept to teach through doing rather than explaining. My teaching tactic

was to go up in front of the class and, in very few words, have them successfully complete an

activity that demonstrated the concept. This particular activity involved the students counting

along to my conducting as I changed time signatures, and then eventually involved students

counting along in subdivisions to my conducting. The next activity was to divide my students

into groups so that they could all count in different meters at the same time. With very little

explanation, my students were able to successfully complete the activity.

My biggest mistake with this lesson was that I gave too little instruction at the

beginning. I admittedly did think it would be humorous to not give any instruction, which is

partly why I started by not telling anybody what was going on. However, although it did end up

alright in the end, I think perhaps just saying “count with me” would have been a decent

alternative. Another thing that I realized was that my lesson plan was not very accurate to

what I actually did in class. My lesson plan said that I would have something written on the

white board which I decided on the fly was not necessary, and my group activity was not exactly

as I had described it in my lesson plan. However, I actually think the result I achieved was more

effective than if I had followed my lesson plan entirely. I believe that this goes to show that you

can plan for hours, but you never will really know whether or not something is going to work

until you get out there and do it.