Pre-Student Teaching Prompts
1. What do you want to learn most from your experience as a student teacher?
There are many things that I really want to learn from my experiences as a student teacher. So many things that I do not know about that it is intimidating. However, the most important things I wish to learn about are classroom management, how to deal with budgets, working with other faculty and administrators, recruitment and retention, making broader connections to other academia through lessons/repertoire, how to transcend the classroom with your teaching, ways of selecting appropriate yet high quality repertoire, and gaining confidence in areas outside of my area of expertise. However, one of all the things I thought about, one thing really stood out: preparing for the unexpected. I know this sound contradictory, but it is gaining enough experience in the classroom to be able to work with whatever comes your way at a moments notice. These are the situations and events you can't teach, you can't prepare for, rather you experience and mature as an educator with them.
2. Briefly describe your experiences in the labs and practica sponsored by the University (day care center, peer teaching, etc.)
One of my first experiences in practica prior to acceptance into the music education major was through Music 295A. In this course, we began to observe various components involved in the music teaching process, developed basic music teaching skills, identified behaviors of effective music teachers, and began analyzing and reflecting on our strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. As part of this class, we did three peer teaching episodes where we taught a song without piano accompaniment, lead a rhythm or tonal activity, and taught a song with piano accompaniment. In addition, we had the opportunity to observe preschool to kindergarten students during their weekly music class at the Bennett Center as well as lead activities in their class as the semester progressed.
My next experiences in labs and practica occurred after I was accepted into the music education major through Music 395A, which grew upon the foundations laid out in Music 295A. In this course, we moved from teaching songs to reviewing/rehearsing songs, using our previous teaching experiences in Music 295A as a basis for our two peer teaching experiences in Music 395A (reviewing an unaccompanied song and reviewing a song with piano accompaniment). In addition, this course was concurrent with our course on Instructional Materials in Music (Music 341), which lead to crossover in activities and field experiences related to our discussions. For Music 341, we worked with the music education faculty for the different emphasis in the secondary and elementary settings (band, choir, orchestra, general music) on materials and repertoire. Through Music 395A, we had our first opportunities to observe local music educators in various school settings. These observations included high school band rehearsal with Rich Victor at State College Area High School, pull out instrumental lessons with Joan Kovalchik at Ferguson Township Elementary School, and middle school band rehearsal with John Kovalchik at Mt. Nittany Middle School.
In the spring of 2010, I continued on to the next levels of labs and practica through Music 345 (Instrumental Practices in Music) and Music 395B (Cohort Practicum II). These courses worked together to give students valuable experiences developing curriculum, working with students, selecting repertoire and materials, and gaining confidence in areas of music education that they normally wouldn't be exposed to through their emphasis. As part of my rotation for Music 345/395B, I first worked with Dr. Thornton on Instrumental Methods and Materials in Elementary Band. Most of our time was devoted to learning who to organize and plan rehearsals outside of the stereotypical elementary band rehearsal, observing actual elementary band directors at work, practicing concepts through peer teachings and working with actual elementary band students, and learning about repertoire and various manners and methods of assessment in the classroom. One part of this class involved going in small groups to local elementary schools to observe and work with elementary band students. For my in-the-field work, I worked with Mrs. Steinbacher, elementary band teacher at Benner and Marion-Walker Elementary Schools in Bellefonte, PA. Besides working in the schools with real elementary band students, Dr. Thornton also had us work with our peers who were playing secondary instruments.
The second part of my rotation was with Dr. Clements on Instrumental Methods and Materials in Secondary General. Here, we focused on developing and employing basic musical skills in any of the possible secondary general music classes, specifically the three main forms of listening. Dr. Clements had us explore these three forms of listening (attentive, engaged, enactive) through her lessons as well as through two teaching episodes at Mt. Nittany Middle School. As part of our in-the-school experience, I observed and worked with Mrs. Gardner's 7th grade general music class with two of my peers.
The last part of my rotation for Music 345/395B was with Dr. Leach in choral Land methods and materials. With Dr. Leach, we learned how to establish and use an effective warm-up routine to engage students as well as address fundamentals in singing, how to assess voices for part and choir placement, how to effectively work with the changing adolescent voice, the importance of repertoire selection, what it is like to work with choirs in various settings through field observation, and explored how to lead and rehearse a choir through two peer teaching episodes. While we did not have the opportunity to work with students in a choral setting while out in the schools, Dr. Leach arranged for us to have two peer teaching opportunities on Simple Gifts and Ave Verum. For our experiences out in the field, we observed Bob Drafall rehearse the men's choir at State College Area High School as well as Meredith Byron rehearse her 7th grade mixed choir at Bellefonte Middle School.
My last practica and lab experience is through my secondary instrumental capstone (Music 445W). Through this class, we are learning about selecting repertoire, developing units of study through core repertoire, choosing appropriate method books and materials, and other experiences related to high school band. For our field experiences, we have worked on sightreading and rehearsing pieces with the State College Area High School Advanced Band under the direction of Rich Victor. In addition, we have worked with Scott Sheehan of Hollidaysburg Area High School on developing units of study around band repertoire.
3. Briefly describe any other experiences you may have had as a teacher, supervisor, or counselor (80-hour work experience, etc.)
As part of my 80 hour work experience for entrance into the music education major, I spent time observing elementary band directors work their ensembles in the Fairfax County Public School system. I learned about the challenges of working at several schools, organizing materials and lessons relevant to their different schools, and strategies for rehearsing and retaining students. In addition, I served as the assistant pit orchestra director for several productions of the Westfield High School Summer Stage. This was a theatre camp open to rising 8th graders to recent alumni of the Westfield High School Theatre department that give several performances of a musical at the end of the camp. My role included organizing and recruiting local high school musicians to participate in the pit orchestra, collate music, and assist in rehearsals. Finally, I observed and assisted the clarinet instructor at the Franklin Band and Orchestra Camp in the summer of 2008. The clarinet instructor happened to be a former private teacher of mine and graciously allowed me to assist her in working with students ranging from elementary school to early high school on technique, tone, articulation, rhythm, proper breathing, and musicianship. In addition to experience gained through my work with the 80 hours, I also taught private clarinet lessons to a neighbor's son, who was starting middle school.