Self-Reflection on Peer Teaching of
"The Middle of the Night"
In our last class, I completed my second peer teaching of the semester on "The Middle of the Night." After having already reviewed a song in front of the group, I wasn't as nervous about being able to assess the needs of the student on the spot and formulate a teaching plan for that lesson. The one aspect I was a bit nervous about prior to this teaching experience was adding piano accompaniment to teaching and reviewing a song. While I might have done well in piano class and on the piano proficiency, I still do not feel as comfortable playing piano in front and the class and teaching from the piano. Since my last teaching experience, I decided to adjust some of my teaching procedures to best fit the needs of the students. Unlike last time, I made sure to warm-up my students on E phrygian after I sang the entire song for them. Not only did this warm-up help prepare their voices to sing the selection on their own, but it also re-familiarized them with the phrygian mode, which we rarely covered in class. Also, when having them sing the phrygian cadential melody, I decided to play the melody on the piano as they sang to help reinforce a mode they had rarely worked on. Finally, I decided to use chords in one hand as my piano accompaniment instead of two handed accompaniment because I felt that it worked better to outline the descending harmonic structure and didn't clutter up the style of the song.
After completing my second teaching experience, I felt that I made notable progress in several areas and continued upon success I had in my previous teaching experience. Some of the positive factors during my teaching session were projecting an infectious enthusiasm, maintaining a consistent tempo beat throughout the lesson, having great proximity with the students, and using appropriate and creative models when providing feedback to students. I also felt that I used the time I was allotted effectively by taking time to just listen to the students and making sure to address any issues I noticed or heard. In addition, I felt I stayed very professional with my appearance and language, but still was fun and energetic. One thing I also liked about this teaching was how I was varied and consistent in my feedback I gave my students, from addressing posture to working on mimicking my diction. All of these things helped boost my confidence while teaching, allowing me to be fluid in my teaching procedure and decide what needed to be addressed as I went along.
While there were many positive aspects during this teaching experience, I noticed there were some areas that could use more attention. First, while I have made great strides in improving eye contact, I still noticed times where I was looking up at the ceiling or focusing just on my music. I did notice how I did a better job at looking directly at individuals and making eye contact with this smaller teaching setting than I did with the larger, farther-spread group. One issue that emerged through this teaching experience was making sure that my piano accompaniment doesn't cover up the singing and that greater attention is needed to ensure melodic and harmonic accuracy while accompanying on the piano. It is much easier to play quieter at the piano than to overexert you and/or your students by having them sing louder to emerge over the piano. Another issue that somewhat carried over from last session was a lack of varied and detailed feedback. Several times I noticed how I would tell the students they did a good job or that was good, but good how? This comment also was reflected in the comments from my peers who evaluated this teaching experience. Also, other areas that could use improvement for future lessons include smiling more, talking less about instructions, checking back in with the pitch, and greater use of vocal inflection (it was good, but I feel I could have done more).
In the end, I felt that I did a great job at building upon the progress I made with my first teaching experience this year and making great strides at becoming more comfortable with assessment and working on the fly.
After completing my second teaching experience, I felt that I made notable progress in several areas and continued upon success I had in my previous teaching experience. Some of the positive factors during my teaching session were projecting an infectious enthusiasm, maintaining a consistent tempo beat throughout the lesson, having great proximity with the students, and using appropriate and creative models when providing feedback to students. I also felt that I used the time I was allotted effectively by taking time to just listen to the students and making sure to address any issues I noticed or heard. In addition, I felt I stayed very professional with my appearance and language, but still was fun and energetic. One thing I also liked about this teaching was how I was varied and consistent in my feedback I gave my students, from addressing posture to working on mimicking my diction. All of these things helped boost my confidence while teaching, allowing me to be fluid in my teaching procedure and decide what needed to be addressed as I went along.
While there were many positive aspects during this teaching experience, I noticed there were some areas that could use more attention. First, while I have made great strides in improving eye contact, I still noticed times where I was looking up at the ceiling or focusing just on my music. I did notice how I did a better job at looking directly at individuals and making eye contact with this smaller teaching setting than I did with the larger, farther-spread group. One issue that emerged through this teaching experience was making sure that my piano accompaniment doesn't cover up the singing and that greater attention is needed to ensure melodic and harmonic accuracy while accompanying on the piano. It is much easier to play quieter at the piano than to overexert you and/or your students by having them sing louder to emerge over the piano. Another issue that somewhat carried over from last session was a lack of varied and detailed feedback. Several times I noticed how I would tell the students they did a good job or that was good, but good how? This comment also was reflected in the comments from my peers who evaluated this teaching experience. Also, other areas that could use improvement for future lessons include smiling more, talking less about instructions, checking back in with the pitch, and greater use of vocal inflection (it was good, but I feel I could have done more).
In the end, I felt that I did a great job at building upon the progress I made with my first teaching experience this year and making great strides at becoming more comfortable with assessment and working on the fly.