Standard #1: The
teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of
the disciplines he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make
these aspects of subject matter meaningful for pupils.
Artifact: Fall Concert Reflection
Knowledge of Central Concepts
The central concepts of music are time, pitch, melody, harmony, texture, form, and expressive elements. All of these concepts should be addressed in a music classroom, and learning experiences should be created around them. In Concert Chorus, students reflected and evaluated their concert performance. They watched and listened to recordings of their concert and analyzed their performance through discussion and writing. We first discussed things the students did well and things they could improve upon. These included many central concepts such as pitch, harmony, texture, and expressive elements. One of my students utilized the WSMA guidelines placed in their Fall Concert Evaluation to particularly note how our overall expression could be improved through being facially alive, and by continuously striving to improve our dynamic levels and shifts.
Knowledge of Tools of Inquiry
The tools of inquiry for music are musical analysis, musical artifacts, and scholarly research. In the Concert Chorus student’s evaluation of their performance they analyze tone, pitch, harmony, texture, expressive elements, and rhythm, and give specific examples from their musical artifacts in the form of measure numbers and text references. It is important to reinforce these concepts in a way that is meaningful to individual students; here this was done through the aforementioned formal assessment, which was a part of their grade.
Meaningfulness to Students
The content area purpose of music is the expression of human experience through sound. Using the student’s experiences outside of choir to help prepare for and broaden their experiences in choir is a great way to impact student learning. Furthermore, evaluating their own musical performance gives them another level of experiential learning. The students provided thoughtful responses in their evaluations regarding what they observed and experienced; this is a reflection activity on an experience for students that is memorable and meaningful.
Artifact: Fall Concert Reflection
Knowledge of Central Concepts
The central concepts of music are time, pitch, melody, harmony, texture, form, and expressive elements. All of these concepts should be addressed in a music classroom, and learning experiences should be created around them. In Concert Chorus, students reflected and evaluated their concert performance. They watched and listened to recordings of their concert and analyzed their performance through discussion and writing. We first discussed things the students did well and things they could improve upon. These included many central concepts such as pitch, harmony, texture, and expressive elements. One of my students utilized the WSMA guidelines placed in their Fall Concert Evaluation to particularly note how our overall expression could be improved through being facially alive, and by continuously striving to improve our dynamic levels and shifts.
Knowledge of Tools of Inquiry
The tools of inquiry for music are musical analysis, musical artifacts, and scholarly research. In the Concert Chorus student’s evaluation of their performance they analyze tone, pitch, harmony, texture, expressive elements, and rhythm, and give specific examples from their musical artifacts in the form of measure numbers and text references. It is important to reinforce these concepts in a way that is meaningful to individual students; here this was done through the aforementioned formal assessment, which was a part of their grade.
Meaningfulness to Students
The content area purpose of music is the expression of human experience through sound. Using the student’s experiences outside of choir to help prepare for and broaden their experiences in choir is a great way to impact student learning. Furthermore, evaluating their own musical performance gives them another level of experiential learning. The students provided thoughtful responses in their evaluations regarding what they observed and experienced; this is a reflection activity on an experience for students that is memorable and meaningful.