As we progress in our experience at the Middle School and become more familiar with the students, my classmates and I know that more is going to be expected of us. Every week, I have to try and find a balance between meticulously planning every detail of a ten-minute lesson and being able to improvise when necessary. This week, I worked on a duet version of "London Bridge" with the second period class. I wanted to try and do everything possible (model, ask questions, demonstrate concepts, etc.) in the time that I had, and for the most part, I think that I was able to do that. However, there were still a few things that I missed. To help the students understand the concept of duet and harmony, I played the piece with them with all of them on one part and just me, on my flute, on the other. In an attempt to have them hear me, I played the entire piece up an octave, but apparently, this still didn't work. I got a great suggestion from Mr. Knasas that I could have just played with one student to emphasize harmony, and it would have come out much clearer. There were a lot of other ideas that I wanted to incorporate (including using Smart Music more), but I think the time limit combined with my strict attention to structure might have thrown be off a little bit. I think when it comes to these short lessons, it's important to remember what you want to accomplish, but know that teaching can't have a script.
Regarding my case study, she is doing much better with the new flute. We still are working on increasing her breath support (I had her work with just the head joint and gave her some exercises to do at home) and her fingering. She was especially struggling with switching from D to F, so we isolated one spot in one of her songs that involved that same switch with quarter notes, slowed it down, and practiced it over and over again. She made a big improvement in the five minutes that we worked on it, so if she keeps up good practicing habits, she should feel much more confident in her dexterity.
Regarding my case study, she is doing much better with the new flute. We still are working on increasing her breath support (I had her work with just the head joint and gave her some exercises to do at home) and her fingering. She was especially struggling with switching from D to F, so we isolated one spot in one of her songs that involved that same switch with quarter notes, slowed it down, and practiced it over and over again. She made a big improvement in the five minutes that we worked on it, so if she keeps up good practicing habits, she should feel much more confident in her dexterity.
John has some good suggestions in this week's critique..you did well again here, especially in your preparation and planning. Don;t forget the importance of modeling sound on your flute and insuring that each student is solid on notes/partials, etc. We'll discuss using SmartMusic this week.
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