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 2nd 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 2nd
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.
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