FE4/PS4 SELF ASSESSMENT

Part 1 Fundamental Competencies

Act as a cultural facilitator Act as a cultured professional who is at once an interpreter,
C1
when carrying out duties. facilitator and critic of culture when carrying out duties.
Based on what you have experienced during your field placement:
 What steps did you take to integrate rich and meaningful cultural references into teaching and learning
situations? How did you encourage students to articulate and justify their representations, tastes,
references, and practices with respect to culture?

I do not view cultural facilitation as something that is necessarily or exclusively integrated through pre-
selected learning and evaluation situations. Rather I find the most meaningful method of cultural facilitation
comes from creating space in the classroom for culture to flourish naturally. Interacting with culture within a
shared space such as the classroom is necessarily a collaborative effort and should be approached thusly.

In my classroom, students are first and foremost encouraged to explore and develop a criticality towards
cultural references which are naturally appealing to them. This looks like my Sec. 3 student who is on the
spectrum spending much of a semester composing and recording an alternate soundtrack for Star Wars III
with specific and actionable feedback from myself. It also looks like my Sec. 2 student spending 2 weeks
struggling to write and record a hip-hop song and then switching to guitar and collaboratively choosing a
rock song to cover with the class band. Of course, this approach is idealistic, and I do make executive
decisions on student activities if that structure is beneficial, however I try to do so with as much student
input regarding what I envision as possible. If I do bring in cultural references to our shared space which are
unfamiliar, I try to keep the time spent on them brief and to demonstrate their relevance. A specific example
of such teaching includes using the canonic music of Led Zeppelin and Kendrick Lamar to give a 20-minute
presentation on the applications of a musical concept called “polyrhythm” in rock and hip-hop.

I find that when I truly manage to facilitate cultural learning instead of directing it, students “…establish
closer ties with their own culture and to examine it more critically” (pg. 2, Sec. 1 Music). Furthermore, I
find that the critical thinking skills students develop in response to familiar cultural references do in fact
translate into other cultural landscapes, something which the scholar Lucy Green has also found in her
research with the Musical Futures project in the United Kingdom. Such an example includes the fact that my
junior lunch band independently chose to cover a blues by Sam and Dave from the 1960’s, something hardly
familiar to the vast majority of children aged 12 and 13. It is the consensus amongst modern educators that
students ought to be exposed to new ideas. In this placement, the student chose to study a powerful musical
form originating from African American musicians of their own accord which I know was outside their
regular palette because they regularly come into my classroom after school to sing karaoke of 21 st-century
pop icons like Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa.

Opportunities for cultural discussion occur naturally in this environment. Students ask questions like “Why
don’t we sound like them [the original artist]?” which presents an opportunity to explore the musico-cultural
traditions of a particular genre in an authentic and immediately relevant way (like the concept of a “blue
notes” and the limitations of a traditional, western tonal system. Furthermore, because of these
conversations, when it comes time to create their own music, students are already somewhat fluent in the
language of creation within and beyond their own culture.

Communicate appropriately in the language of instruction, both

Master the language of
C2 orally and in writing, in all contexts associated with the performance
instruction
of duties.
Based on what you have experienced during your field placement,
Guiding  How did you effectively present ideas coherently, intelligibly, critically, and respectfully in both oral
Question(s) and written communications?
 What different modes of language expression (visual, spatial, aural and gestural)did you offer to support
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the development of the students’ language competencies?
 In what ways were you able to check the quality of students’ language and offer frequent feedback to
help them correct themselves and demonstrate their ability integrate the rules and usages of language,
both spoken & written?

(Remember to cite clear examples from your field placement)

I found the language skills of students at James Lyng to be both the most advanced and least developed out
of any teaching placement I have completed. Though many students demonstrated significant challenges in
written communication, their oral use of musical vocabulary was very strong. Students could determine the
form of a song with relative ease, they navigated accelerando and odd time signatures, they discussed vocal
timbre and affect with surprising nuance. Importantly though, they hardly ever used these specific terms.
This is because these terms are not authentic to or relevant in the musical circles in which these students
walk. The students communicated just fine without these terms and to a higher degree than I have
experienced in any other school music program.
I believe this is because popular musicians are traditionally informally trained or self-taught. They are
Response people who grew up practicing in basements and garages, not concert halls and universities. They are people
who have developed a method of communication which works with four high school friends who decided to
form a band, one of whom might have dyslexia and another who might have ADHD, not a group whose
parents went to university themselves and can afford tutors. That is not to say the vocabulary of traditionally
trained musicians is pretentious, inaccessible, or even without purpose in popular music circles. There are
many instances I can think of where a better grasp of these terms would have enhanced students’ musicality.
I simply mean to say that the students’ mastery of the language of instruction and musical vocabulary,
though lower in a traditional sense, was at such a level where they communicated their ideas effectively.
Understanding this was crucial to effective communication with students at all times. When explaining
polyrhythms, I avoided using the traditional words which came naturally to me such as “composite rhythm,”
instead opting for something like “two different rhythms at the same time.” Paired with multiple visual,
kinesthetic, and auditory models, acquisition was higher than I anticipated.

Part 2: Competencies central to working with and for students

Design and plan teaching and learning activities and situations that
Plan teaching and learning
C3 are appropriate for the students, the learning content and the
situations
education objectives.
Based on your field placement,
 What steps did you take to develop teaching and learning situations that took into account curriculum
content and students’ prior knowledge in order to plan learning?
 How did you take into account student diversity when choosing the materials and preparing the teaching
Guiding and learning situations (diversity related to gender, ethnicity, socio-economics, culture, religion,
Question(s) language or a disability; students’ conceptions, needs and areas of interest)?
 What did you consider when planning activities for students so they could prepare, integrate, transfer
and reinvest their learning in order to optimize competency development? What helped you plan ways
of presenting content in a structured manner so that students could grasp the relevant points und
understand their contingent nature?
Response
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To design and plan teaching and learning activities and situations that are appropriate for the students, the
learning content, and the education objectives, I found it was important to immerse myself in the musical
culture and traditional practices with which they are familiar. For example, watching multiple performances
of the song “Be Quiet and Drive” and reading up on the history of the song. This allows me to reflect on the
most salient learning objectives I can pull from the music which align with the QEP. This looks like
identifying the nuanced connection between rebellion and emotional pain and the power of owning that
vulnerability in musical performance and expression and connecting that to the Broad Area of Learning of
Health and Well-Being (I.e. Empowering yourself to rock out and be emotional/passionate on stage in a way
which is authentic to yourself). Furthermore, it is only through understanding that the very nature of this
music and the very nature of such an objective demand that it does not come from an authority but rather
originates organically.

It is only after the salient and authentic objectives have been established that I focus on strategies to achieve
these objectives in an accessible way for all students. This looks like reflecting on principles of Universal
Design for Learning, and providing multiple ways to represent the knowledge, and for students to engage
with and express it. For example, showing the “rocking out” in the music video, leading by example,
brainstorming different ways to “rock out.”

Finally, it is imperative to reflect on how a lesson went and what can be improved. It is inevitable that we
will not plan or execute perfectly the first time, but we can gather information and adapt for the next class.

Implement teaching and Implement and supervise teaching and learning situations appropriate to the students and
C4 the educational aims.
learning situations
Based on your field placement,
 How were you able to uncover student’s preconceptions and reactivate students’ prior knowledge
needed for learning situations?
 How did you look after students, individually and collectively when engaged in planned learning from
the beginning of the learning to its natural conclusion?
 What diverse approaches, strategies, and stimulating tasks did you provide to trigger and maintain active
Guiding
student engagement in the task as well as foster students’ autonomy?
Question(s)
 How were you able to implement and supervise demanding teaching and learning situations and
mobilize your ability to adapt to the situation?
 Describe how you used feedback to continually check student’s understandings of concepts,
knowledge, strategies, or rules.
 In what ways did you provide opportunities for feedback so as to foster students’ abilities to synthesize
their learning?
(Remember to cite clear examples from your field placement)

Once activities have been planned in the manner described above, the implementation is relatively straightforward. Here
are some frequent strategies for engagement I used:

Practice your part alone for 1-minute, Competition between instrument groups to see which group currently knows it the
best, Looping and Layering parts, Chunking, Popular musician strategies (yelling tabs, counting repetitions etc.). Show
your part to a partner. Students diagnose the problem.

Response Some formative assessment strategies I frequently used were: Checking in with student using a thumbs-up-medium-
down scale. This is so much more effective than a binary system, since students are encouraged to think about what they
do and do not understand, and provides more detailed information for me. I also asked “Do you understand? It is totally
fine if you don’t,” which I felt created space for not knowing and once again led to a discussion which provided more
helpful feedback for me as an educator. Finally, I employed a lot of self-assessment strategies such as asking the group
“How did that go?” or “What’s next?”

In the event that a particular strategy drastically failed or an objective was totally unmet, I would usually move on to
keep the momentum going (this was partially related to the needs of the student population at James Lyng). I learned to
accept imperfection in favour of continuing progress which I felt led to better learning overall.

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Develop, choose and use different methods for evaluating knowledge acquisition and
C5 Evaluate learning of competency development.
Based on your field placement,
 How did you use evaluation to respond to the varied needs of the students?
Guiding  Describe how you provided students with frequent and constructive feedback that allowed them to track
Question(s) their learning and support their progress.
 What were your choices of evaluation instruments or methods based on the programs of study to make it
possible to check student learning?
(Remember to cite clear examples from your field placement)

Summative evaluation was not something we did much of at James Lyng since the program follows a
portfolio model where work is assessed at the end of each term. However, we did give frequent formative
assessment. One way I did this was by spending 5 minutes with each student per class, listening to their
project and brainstorming with them how to achieve the product they wanted. It is difficult to give formative
Response feedback on creative work, since deciding what is and isn’t good music is subjective. Instead, I would ask
them “How do you feel about it? What do you envision?” and I tried to help them realize those visions.
Alternatively, we would consult the rubrics posted in the classroom and collaboratively evaluate their work
against it. Again, I tried to avoid using the rubric as an extrinsic motivator, opting for achieving the creative
visions of the student instead when possible as it aligns more closely with teaching philosophy and artistic
values.

Manage how the class Organize and manage a class in such a way as to maximize student development,
C6 learning and socialization.
operates
Based on your field placement,
 How did you structure the environment, implement a certain number of rules based on explicit values,
anticipate, and manage lapses in behaviour, etc.?
 How did you ensure that the time devoted to teaching and learning is effectively managed?
Guiding  How did you direct, and guide classroom activities and the appropriate behaviours needed to live in a
Question(s) community?
 In what ways did you build and maintain positive relationships with students?
 How did you help students recognize and appropriately manage their behaviours and emotions?
 In what ways did you implement activities that enabled students to develop their social and relational
skills?
(Remember to cite clear examples from your field placement)

I learned a lot about classroom management at James Lyng. It really reinforced my conviction that 90% of
classroom management is well-designed lessons. Still, there were occasional behavioural incidents in
various classes. On occasions where I felt these incidents needed to be addressed, I did so, often referring to
my own boundaries regarding respect for others and how I personally felt uncomfortable with specific
actions or language.

I also try to view every negative feeling I experience in the classroom as a puzzle which, when solved
correctly, reveals a learning opportunity. For example, when a Sec 3. band member refused to turn down
their guitar and played whenever someone tried to talk despite the band’s annoyed complaints, I let the
Response situation simmer for a minute while I considered what to do. I then asked the band why they thought he was
not turning down the guitar in spite of the negative attention. They were obdurate in their conviction that it
was because he was “just an annoying person”, however I suggested that he was actually unable to turn
down guitar because he, like so many people, was digging in deeper as to give in would be to admit
wrongdoing, and that this was a natural human phenomenon. On top of the shock factor which gave pause to
the 5 bandmates, I think that in revealing the ubiquity of the psychology at work, I created space for this
student to turn down the guitar without feeling like an exceptionally “annoying person,” and unveiled a
valuable learning opportunity. I checked in with the student afterwards as I recognized the potential anxiety
associated with the amount of attention placed on him by me in that moment, and all was well (it should be
stated I knew this student had a fairly stable confidence in themselves).

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Take into account student Implement, as part of an inclusive teaching approach, strategies for differentiating
C7 teaching practices so as to support the full participation and success of all students.
diversity
Based on your field experience,
 How did you adapt teaching and learning situations to support students based on their needs, challenges,
and capabilities?
Guiding
 Explain how you consulted or used available resources to meet students’ needs top overcome specific
Question(s)
obstacles to learning.
 Describe and justify what strategies you used to group students in ways that took into account the
educational aims and students’ differentiated needs?
(Remember to cite clear examples from your field placement)

Accounting for diversity occurs in all stages of teaching, from planning, to implementation, to evaluation and reflection. In planning, I
aimed to incorporate Universal Design for Learning principles of Representation, Engagement, and Expression. For example, creating
simple checklists for presentations, providing accessibility tools for research and writing, and providing frequent formative feedback.
Response
During my stage, we had a professional development series relating to collaborative problem solving in the classroom, which aims to
view behavioral problems as symptoms of lagging skills and accessibility barriers. I incorporated this philosophy when addressing
lacking participation with several students. I can think particularly of a Sec. 1 student who struggled with participation in the first unit,
but who quickly adjusted once we had a conversation about what he needed from me to do better.

Support students’ love of Cultivate the students’ natural desire to learn, their sense of discovery and their
C8 curiosity by bringing together the conditions required to help them all thrive.
learnig
During your field placement,
 How did you build and maintain positive relationships with students in order to spark their
motivation to learn?
 How did you help students develop self-confidence and persevere in their learning?
Guiding  In what ways did you ensure that teaching and learning situations included elements of every day
Question(s) life and cultural references with which the students are familiar?
 How did you foster collaborative work, discussions, participation, and mutual help among the
students?
 In what way do you feel you sparked interest in and curiosity about the subject, the knowledge and
skills, practices, tools and techniques, methods and procedures involved?
(Remember to cite clear examples from your field placement)
I find it a bit problematic to view the building and maintaining of positive relationships with students as the means to the ends of
learning. Furthermore, I don’t believe that the majority of teachers build positive relationships with achievement as their primary goal,
rather it is a more holistic and reciprocal exchange which benefits both parties. However, I acknowledge the utility in intentionally
developing positive relationships when the demands placed on teachers are so great. I simply mean to express that I try to engage with
students without a specific goal in mind, in the way you would with any person whom you respect, even if my motivation is ultimately
specific.

I find the model of the emotional piggybank useful for keeping up with relationship building. The idea is that you must deposit more
into the emotional piggybank than you withdraw. The problem with the model beyond its lack of verisimilitude is that not all
interactions can be classified as “depositing” or “withdrawing.” Sometimes “being real” with a student, even if you are reproaching
Response
them, can demonstrate a certain type of positivity that ultimately deepens a relationship. Still, it is useful to keep excess criticism in
check.

Once again, creating space for students to bring their own interests into the classroom encourages a love of learning that is intrinsic.

Because of the amount of student-led work, cooperation becomes imperative, especially within instrument groups. I will often ask
students to utilize their skills to help their peers, be it a student who has already taken piano lessons and can work independently with
one who has not, or a bassist with strong rhythmic sense working with a drummer. Not only does this provide opportunities for growth
for these more experienced students, I find that students are much more receptive when being peer-taught compared to teacher-taught.

Be actively involved as a Situate own activities in a collective framework at the service of the
C9 complementarity and continuity of teaching activities as educational acts.
member of the school team
Guiding Based on your field experience.

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 What experiences did you have to collaborate with members of the school team in defining and
adhering to the educational orientations and standards that make the school a healthy, safe, and
equitable environment?
 When required how did you collaborate with other members of the teaching staff in designing and
Question(s)
evaluating teaching and learning situation in accordance with the evaluation standards and methods
in force in the school?
 How did you participate in developing, implementing, monitoring, and reviewing individualized
education or learning support plans?
(Remember to cite clear examples from your field placement)
I tried to become actively involved as a member of the school by making connections with other school community members such as
the custodial staff, other teachers, and office staff. This was a very rewarding practice. I felt more at home in the school and was
consistently greeted each morning.

I was also actively involved in the lunch band program. During this time, I was able to make connections with students in a more one-
Response
on-one setting as the teacher-student ratio was much more manageable.

Lastly, I tried to actively participate in our professional development workshops, despite the fear of saying something naïve due to my
lack of experience. I did this not only in the interest of myself and my students, but also as a message of solidarity with the
administrative staff who planned the events and as a statement of commitment to betterment of the school community.

Co-operate with the family and Promote and encourage parental involvement in their children’s learning and
C10 education partners in the school life, and contributes to sustainable partnerships between the school and its
community community.
Based on your field experience:
Guiding  In what ways were you able to maintain good communications with the family regarding the students’
Question(s) success and well-being?

(Remember to cite clear examples from your field placement)

Communication with students’ families were limited to parent-teacher interviews which I mainly observed on account of the fact that I
Response
had only been at the school for two weeks.

Part 3: Cross-Curricular Competencies

C11 Commit to own professional Continuously analyze , evaluate, and develop all facets of one’s professional
practice and promote the status a nd recognition of the teaching profession by
development and to the
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profession fostering shared professional culture based on mutual support and cooperation.
Based on your field experience:
 What appropriate resources did you use and implement, or develop, to update your own professional
Guiding questions: competencies?
 In what ways did you adopt a reflective stance with respect to your own teaching practice in order to
continually improve your practice?
(Remember to cite clear examples from what you observed during your field placement)

Throughout my placement, I read a book called “Music, Informal Learning, and the school,” by Professor of
Music Education Lucy Green. The book recounts a multi-school study done in the UK wherein the teaching
philosophy and curricular design was very similar to my host school. This book discussed many of the ideas
Response:
central to popular music education and collaborative classrooms. The logical continuation of this reflective
exercise was to discuss these ideas with the Cooperating Teacher. From this practice we were able to discuss
what works and what is idealistic in our current teaching climate.

C12 Mobilize digital technologies Use digital technologies in order to benefit students and all education stakeholders.
Based on your field experience:
 How did you take a critical and informed stance with respect to the use of digital tools in the classroom?
 What methods did you use to produce content via digital technology?
Guiding questions:
 Explain how you used digital tools to foster inclusion and address diverse needs?
 How did you encourage your students to use technological tools in a creative and appropriate manner?
 In what way did you mobilize digital technology for personal and professional empowerment?
(Remember to cite clear examples from what you observed during your field placement)

Digital technology is a double-edged sword as we all know. I once heard a teacher say “I try to use
technology as little as possible since my class might be the only time of the day where they are not looking
at a screen.” On the other hand, technology can offer a lot of support in the way of diverse learning needs. At
James Lyng, we utilized a software called “GoPlayAlong” which is a collaborative rehearsal software
designed to help students read music notation with a scrolling bar and the ability to slow down and loop
sections.
Response:
Technology is also central to the beat-making and hip-hop side of the James Lyng music program. I spent
multiple night learning the software prior to my placement so I could assist students with basic skills.
Though this technology is a very powerful tool for musical creation, it is also on a computer with access to
the internet. Managing appropriate internet use was not easy, as I found my traditional “authoritative, not
authoritarian” approach was not sufficient, and instead a specific balance of authoritarianism and
permissiveness was necessary depending on the student.

Adopt and promote ethical and responsible behaviours

in order to create respectful and trusting relationships
Act in accordance with principles
C 13 with students, members of the school team and
of the profession
the wider education community.

Based on your field experience:

 How did you act and behave in a respectful manner toward the school and what it represents?
 How did you avoid all forms of discrimination by adopting equitable, transparent, and inclusive practice
Guiding questions: sand attitudes with regard to students, colleagues and the community?
 What methods did you undertake to act vigilantly and diligently to protect the confidentiality of
information that related to the private lives of students and other educational stakeholders?
 How did you respect the roles and responsibilities of people involved in the education community?
Response: (Remember to cite clear examples from what you observed during your field placement)

We all know that gossip is a common practice in schools. Gossip serves a purpose as it allows important
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information to spread but is not without consequences. As a guest in the school, I tried to avoid personally
spreading gossip about students and staff by allowing others to talk without contributing. One such example
was when a teacher recounted the unprofessional actions of another teacher in years past, who was a teacher
with whom I had developed a relationship. I simply said “wow that is interesting, like anyone I don’t judge
people off once instance but that is good to know.”

Acting respectfully towards a school means acting respectfully to all of its parts, the structure, the
constituents, and the ideals. This means I did not cut in front of students in the lunch line. I picked up
wrappers and other litter, and I spoke professionally and amicably with other staff. I made a concerted effort
to learn the names of all school community members, and I thanked the custodial and administrative staff on
my last day.

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