Accomplished Teaching - Reflection #1

As I work in private school I chose to from the CEL 5D+ framework, as that seemed the most impactful and meaningful for a music teacher.  All five dimensions of this framework are represented in a music classroom, particularly student engagement, and purpose.  One of my strengths from the CEL 5D+ framework is “Curriculum and pedagogy”.  My Kodály training in the summer has provided a solid pedagogical foundation for me.  One area I want to improve upon is “Assessment and Student Learning”.   This dimension is difficult to display and engage with in a typical music class, as the pace of instruction doesn’t allow for long drawn out assessments.  I want to use more rapid but meaningful assessments to fuel my pedagogical decisions.

           

My Kodály background provides a solid base for learning to occur.  The Kodály method is highly detailed, methodical, and clear.  Each grade has a particular set of curricular goals.  Each goal has clear set of steps, sometimes upwards of seven or eight steps, in helps of achieving that goal.  Teaching a 2^nd grade student how to match pitch on a certain melodic interval can take up to three months of highly detailed and thoughtful instruction.  Educators not familiar with the pedagogy are usually surprised at how long the process takes for what seems like a simple task, however the evidence is clear and the Kodály method has stood the test of time.  It takes a long time to teach musical concepts as there is nothing for the student to physically grasp and the ideas presented are incredibly abstract in their minds. Because of the Kodály method’s highly thorough pedagogical framework, my teaching is clear, purposeful, and well structured. 

One area of teaching that I do not feel confident in is assessment.  More specifically, I need to improve my ability to utilize quick assessments that deliver useful feedback and data.  In a 2^nd grade Kodály classroom, instructional time is 30 minutes. Within the 30 minutes a lesson will range between six to eight different activities each containing their own learning goal for that day.  Finding the time to assess can be difficult when I only have minutes for the entire activity.  Collecting assessments is not something that I want to do at the end of the trimester, in a rushed manner.  Good teaching constantly assesses students in a lightweight, low magnitude manner.  These assessments are the ones I want to focus on incorporating in my teaching.