Ashley Kraus

ME-311 Secondary Classroom Methods

Dominick Ferrara
April 25, 2023

High School Lesson Reflection

When watching back my high school lesson, it was clear that I was less nervous than I

was when teaching my middle school lesson, however, my nerves still did shine through. I

realized that I get very comfortable in the front of the class when I am leading an activity that

allows the students to openly interact with me and each other, such as the “Guess the Hidden

Song” game at the beginning of my class and when students were naming Hip-Hop songs that

they knew had samples in them. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I tend to tense up, stumble

over my words, and talk at a faster pace when I am just lecturing on information, such as when I

was describing what sampling was to the class. Despite the nerves, I was able to make relatively

seamless transitions between sections of the lesson and was able to adapt the lesson on the fly

when I was running out of time to teach.

Compared to my middle school lesson, I allowed a lot more time for class discussion

which I feel made the lesson flow mor naturally and made my “students” more engaged in the

lesson overall. I built time for re-listens of the active listening activity songs as well as time for

questions to be asked during class. I was also very aware of how well my students were

following the lesson and called on students by name to check for their understanding throughout

the lesson, especially in the opening activity and when I was explaining the GarageBand project.

As for the lesson material itself, I had more material than would have fit in the class,

however it was difficult to simulate a true classroom environment with the latter part of this

lesson since I did not have a computer lab that was pre-checked, and the students had to use

mock projects that I created for them. That being said, whether the lesson in a real classroom

would have gone overtime or not, I still feel it is best to over-plan than under-plan in for a lesson.
Most of the changes I would make in my lesson come from the ending activity, adding samples

into the GarageBand project. For that section I would have added a disclaimer that not all

YouTube to MP3 websites are trustworthy, something that was brought up by Matt that I did not

think to add into my initial lesson. I would also add more allotted time for technology

troubleshooting as well as well as time to listen to my version of the project during the “I do we

do” section of the lesson. Lastly, I think using a web-based Digital Audio Workspace like

SoundTrap or BandLab rather than a downloadable one like GarageBand would benefit this

lesson greatly because students will be able to adjust their project from their computers at home

and I would easily be able to see the progress students are making on my own personal computer.

Overall, I took the adjustments that I reflected on and the notes I received from my

middle school lesson and applied many of them to my high school lesson, and that was apparent

when I watched the video of my lesson. My PowerPoint was much more informative, I provided

a takeaway for my students so they did not forget the material after the lesson was over, and

though I still had many moments of fast-paced talking and looking behind me when I did not

need to, my nerves were significantly more under control. Though there are still improvements to

be made in my teaching and the creation of my lessons, I feel that I have improved a

considerable amount between my middle school lesson and my high school lesson.