Harlee Castro Balajadia

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Lesson Plan: (Word Document Download Link) / (PDF Download Link)

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Class Assignment: MUS 382A - Elementary Choral Literature and Techniques, EDSS 300N - Introduction to Teaching Music (Fall)

Professor(s): Dr. Joshua Palkki, Dr. Tamara Thies

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Name of Piece: In Solitaria Stanza (In a Solitary Room) 

Year Composed: [1838]

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)

Poet: Jacopo Vitorelli (1749 - 1835)

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This setting ....

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Skills and Strategies Used:

Experiential Collaborative Teaching

Modeling and Responding (Call and Response)

Student Participation

Foreshadowing Activity by connecting to Student’s Previous Experiences.

Scaffolding around previous teacher’s lesson plans.

Self Reflection:

After reviewing my teaching for this lesson, I realized that one of the many feelings that can come up is adrenaline. This rush of energy then can come across as frantic or unorganized. From the initial visual standpoint, it is obvious that my shirt is partially untucked and appears to be wrinkly. For next time, remember that teaching and professionalism can come across from a visual, aural, and kinesthetic standpoint. Other ways to diffuse such energy can be through using more facial expressions - learning to keep my body grounded, keeping my composure.

Remembering to address myself as Mr. Balajadia or Mr. B, never from a First Name Basis. This is regardless of the students you may be teaching. Doing this establishes your position at the teacher. Standing should be firm, not shifting weight from one foot to another. Such a stance can come across as lax. When I said, “Good thing some of you don’t know how to wrap a present,” that comment can possibly come across as insulting; highlighting a student’s inability to do something rather than wording and shifting my phrasing to celebrate a student’s opportunity to learn something new. By bringing up the concept of Origami, which was mentioned in a previous lesson (yet out of context in the video), is asking about what they learned from a previous teacher appropriate? Where does the “assuming what the student’s already know” take place?

The tone of my voice in my opinion has the potential to sound more authentic. This is especially true when I attempted classroom management. Calling out students’ names in the fashion after they have interrupted class should not be in a sassy connotative way.

What would help in getting the vocabulary in origami across is if I included visuals of what I am trying to say (i.e. “Crease). Teaching students some of the customs associated with Origami can reinforce the concepts that I want my students to learn. For example, “Valley Fold” and “Mountain Fold”. In addition, what can help students make a more defined crease or fold when teaching origami is to teach them the “thumb trick”. This usually required a flat surface where the student uses his/her thumbnail and presses on the fold they want to make against the table. What is effective when students are not familiar with such jargon is to connect a simpler image or phrase to the desired action. This can be seen when I say “Give your paper a ‘High Five!’”

From personal experience, what I have found effective to reinforce the lesson and let the student practice the concept is to undo the lesson and let the students discover if they can recreate the material on their own. This allowed me as the teacher to walk around and give individuals any sort of attention or aide that I may be able to provide.