Rebecca Negro

Student Teaching Portfolio

Fall 2023

Lesson 1

In this lesson, the students’ main objective was to learn the main melody of the first 13

measures of “Where the Light Begins”. This is a melody that is repeated throughout the piece,

and in order to make musical decisions, they needed to know how to sing this melody accurately.

They accomplished this objective, and it is evidenced in the video when at the beginning, they

were struggling to know notes and rhythms, and at the end, they sang these 13 measures with

accuracy and precision. Though there is work still to be done, they learned the main melody,

which was the end goal.

In this lesson, I stuck to my plan the whole way through. I had no reason to change what I

planned, because it was evident that the students were on their way to achieving the objective

that I had set. This also allowed me to structure my time well, and I was able to get through

everything that I wanted to in a timely manner.

I mostly monitored student learning on my own. The decisions I made were based on

what I heard, what I wanted to improve, and what I felt that within the limits of time we had, that

the students could improve. There are a few moments in the video when I asked the students

what they would like to work on. I ask things like, “Do you feel good about what we have gone

over so far?”. Asking these kinds of questions invites the students even into the learning process,

and allows me to understand their understanding of the melody.

In the next lessons, I want to better address student needs by paying more attention to

what is happening in the group during rehearsals in case I need to address anything. I need to
share my feedback and let the students share feedback in an even manner. I also need to better

take their feedback and apply it to what we are learning.