Practicum Reflective Teaching Journal

Practicum Reflective Teaching Journal
Journal Entry #1
Your initial ideas, concerns, apprehensions, surprises, hopes, and elations
based upon how you are feeling about beginning the practicum and working
with your class.
-
I was super excited to get out and work with the new students.
After working with my 4k class a couple weeks ago, I was looking
forward to this new experience. Im nervous because I already get
to start teaching songs to the kindergarten and first grade classes I
observed. I know Im ready and can teach a song, but I dont want
to mess up or seem unprepared. I look forward to getting to the end
and being able to teach a full lesson. Im looking at this whole
experience as something thats going to stick with me the rest of
my career and Im not taking it lightly.
Journal Entry #2
Write a description of your cooperating teachers music room. Include the
name of the school, teacher, and grade. Be specific. Include the physical
layout, equipment, musical instruments available, technology, etc.
-
The school I am at is the Meadowview Elementary school. The

teacher is Mr. David Yentsch and the grades Im observing are
kindergarten and 1st grade. The room is a large room with small
stair stepped platforms in the back of the room. These stair
platforms were built into the floor and part of the whole room. On
these platforms were a much of small xylophones, just like the ones
we used for our orffestrations in class. There were also lots of
drums. In the back were a lot of large shelving units with lots of
smaller instruments on them. There was a piano in the front of the
room along with a projector screen. The room was pretty open and
had lots of space to move.
Journal Entry #3
Write a description of your class. Include number of students, gender,
attitudes, exceptionalities, behavior, musical skills, students willingness to
participate, etc.
-
My classes I observe are all unique in their own ways. Some classes
strive to go above a beyond to learn the material we present to
them. Other classes, especially one I have on my mind, really have
a hard time concentrating. All of my classes seem to have an even

mix of boys and girls and include all races. Its really cool to be able
to have a student volunteer to have them come and sing in front of
the class. You really get a chance to assess that students potential
in music and evaluate how they are progressing as a musician,
even if its just to see if they have a singing voice. Mr. Yentsch does
a really nice job of trying to incorporate me into the classroom and
trying to control the excitement of every student.
Journal Entry #4
What different strategies does your co-op use in lesson design (how the
lesson is sequenced, paced, content, materials, objectives, etc.), how he/she
interacts with the class, and in classroom management?
-
Mr. Yentsch has a really great personality when it comes to teaching

younger students! I love his passion and excitement for his job. The
pace he goes for the class is relatively fast, but I actually enjoy it
because it is never boring for the students or myself! His transitions
seem flawless and its really helping me learn how to come up with
smooth transitions as well. Hes really good with a guitar and his
singing voice is really relaxed and soothing to listen too. I
personally like his strategies for trying to get students to do certain
things and how he deals with misbehavior. If he wants the class to
stand up he would ask, First graders do you need to talk to stand
up? How about you show me? and the students demonstrate it
perfectly. He also sings a song to get students to sit down or to form
a circle. Even his kindergarteners are able to form a decent circle in
a short amount of time. Finally, when a student misbehaves, He
asks them to have a time out. This usually means going and sitting
out for the group for a little bit on a chair on the edge of the room.
It gives the student a moment to calm down and usually fixes the
problem. Only once did he have to send a student to sit in the hall.
Watching Mr. Yentsch teach is refreshing and really helps me when I
get up to teach a song to the class!
Journal Entry #5
Give a detailed analysis of one lesson taught by your cooperating teacher.
Include content/objectives, procedures, materials, etc. How did the class
respond to the lesson? What did they learn? How well did they learn? If you
were the teacher, what would you include in the next lesson?
-
Recently Ive been getting more and more included, whether it be

on the spot or me having something prepared. He always starts a
lesson with a class by singing a song to them with guitar. Student

sit and listen and sometimes they get to incorporate their own ideas
and Mr. Yentsch sings. After they do a vocal warmup. Ive seen him
use sounds cards or a slide whistle. For the rest of the class it goes
pretty regular. A couple of songs with a dance break in the middle.
For the songs, the students wither sing along or play some sort of
game that coincides with the song. The dance break is really cool
because Mr. Yentsch uses this CD that had people putting
choreography to classical music selections. One of the one I really
enjoyed watching was the Bizet Carmen suite, with choreography
being a bull fight.
Journal Entry #6
Write a description of your plan for teaching your observed lesson. What will
your objectives/content be? What skills will you work on with your students?
How will you feel when you are in front of the class? What are your
predictions on how the students will respond? What teaching skills do you
want to focus on during your lesson? How will you evaluate student learning?
-
I plan on cooperating with my CT to teach the students the

difference between andante/allegro and forte/piano. I plan on
leading a vocal warmup, followed by a beat page of Bow Wow Wow.
I also plan on playing piano to show the difference between these
styles and dynamics. I will assess the students by asking them what
they hear when I play an excerpt. I will know they understand if
they answer correctly. I also will assess the beat page to make sure
they can keep the beat and see it. I think the students will respond
really well, as long as I dont have a problem class! The students
usually take to me really well. I think I will feel really comfortable in
front of the class. I get in front of college ensembles and conduct all
the time, so I think this will be easy.
Journal Entry #7
After you have taught the lesson in Journal Entry 6, write a reflection of your
thoughts about that lesson. Evaluate each component of your lesson,
including the pacing of the lesson. What did you do that was successful?
Unsuccessful? Did the students respond as you predicted? Were the
objectives attainable? What evidence do you have that the students were
learning the content? Were you able to manage the behaviors of the class in
a positive respectful manner? If you could teach the lesson again, what
would you do differently and how would this make a difference in how the
class learns/reacts to your teaching?
After teaching my lesson I felt really good about it overall. I felt like
the pacing was really good, and the cooperation with my CT was
really helpful. I did start off asking the students Can you do this,
and I got lucky none of them challenged me. After those couple of
hiccups with my language and fixing them, I felt really comfortable
being in front of the class. I felt like the students responded super!
They were really into everything I was teaching them. Although,
when I taught them Bow Wow Wow and put the beat page to it,
they kept putting a space on beat 4 instead of patting their legs
through the rest. They audibly know that there dont ding on that
beat so they were using that knowledge and not patting on that
beat either. When I assess the students for the andante/allegro and
beat keeping, they all did really well. I could tell they were really
understanding the new content I was providing to them. They would
keep the beat, and they could easily tell the difference in styles and
dynamics. The behaviors overall were manageable. There were no
outbreaks or major disruptions. If I was to reteach this lesson, I
would change my beginning of my lesson slightly so it was a little
more structured. I was kind of winging the vocal warmup because
to me it was easy. I could have also been better at using more
teacher language in the beginning too. Overall though, I had a lot of
fun teaching the first grade class. It was a really exciting
experience!!
Journal Entry #8
Reflect on the entire practicum experience. Refer to Journal Entry 1 and
comment on how the experience was as you predicted, different than you
predicted, etc. What did you like/dislike about the experience? How did you
grow as a teacher because of the experience? What are your goals for future
growth and which areas do you want to learn more about, improve, etc. What
did you learn about teaching elementary music?
-
I think I was a little too harsh on myself from the beginning. I said I
wasnt going to take this lightly, which is true, but I could have had
a better mid set from the beginning. Its not a bad thing, but I could
have expected to have more fun. Overall, I really liked the entire
experience. I think the skills I acquired are really valuable and
important. I can use these everywhere I go to teach now, not just in
the elementary setting but in all of the scenarios where I teach.
Even though I still want to be a college professor, I definitely
wouldnt be bored teaching elementary school. I definitely grew as
teacher. I was able to solidify my abilities and build a solid
foundation in which I can further myself and my students. I want to
learn more about how I can use all 3 methods of teaching in one
cohesive and fun classroom. Kodaly, Orff, and Dalcroze all have
important and super beneficial concepts when it comes to teaching
students about music. I feel all of these need to be equal. In other
words, I dont want to specialize and teach in one philosophy, rather
I would like to teach using all 3. Overall, I learned that you can
teach little kids anything and they will find it fun. Their excitement
to learn and please you is refreshing and motivating. I would always
rise to the challenge to broaden their horizons everyday.

Practicum Reflective Teaching Journal

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Practicum Reflective Teaching Journal

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Practicum Reflective Teaching Journal

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Practicum Reflective Teaching Journal

The school I am at is the Meadowview Elementary school. The

a hard time concentrating. All of my classes seem to have an even

Mr. Yentsch has a really great personality when it comes to teaching

Recently Ive been getting more and more included, whether it be

lesson with a class by singing a song to them with guitar. Student

I plan on cooperating with my CT to teach the students the

You might also like