Week 14

REFLECTION: Look back across all your posts – what have you learned? Has your thinking changed? Where did you grow the most?

One thing I have learned a lot about this semester is transitions. I started the semester with some broad ideas about a lot of different skills and content I wanted to teach, and ideas about how to include those things in every class, but what I hadn’t thought about was how to connect those parts of the lesson together in a way that makes sense, and in a way that limits down time in the class. This is anything from using the same key for activities throughout the lesson, to choosing a specific concept like dynamics and having kids be attentive to that in each activity we do. I also have figured out more efficient ways of using all my different materials so that I don’t leave time for kids to disengage. My head of school even commented on my transitions when she came to observe, because she thought they were really smooth, and she noted that my students knew the routines of the class really well and knew what to expect, so that was great to hear.

I think I have also learned a lot about how to assess my students in an authentic way that accurately reflects what they know. It’s been helpful to try out different kinds of assessment in classes and try new versions of them if I’ve made certain things too confusing or unclear. I look forward to building up a solid set of assessments that I can reuse over the years because I know they work well, and I think I am on my way toward that. And, even though my classes are based on singing, it is really nice to be able to have written work to really be able to quantify what they know. It was also very helpful to have written work like journals and assessments to use for report-writing, because our reports for middle school are narratives, and so I could actually quote their writing or look at their assessments to explain to parents what their kids are thinking about and what they are able to do. One thing I want to work toward (and I maybe will start this with my vocal workshops class next semester) is having kids create portfolios of their work as well, with recordings of their singing, so that there is an even better picture of the work they do in my classes.

I have also thankfully learned a ton about my students! I feel a closeness and a trust with many of them that wasn’t present in September, and it feels good to be able to welcome kids into a classroom where they know they will be loved and supported and where their voices matter to me. I’m slowly getting to know their families as well, which is important for understanding them and why they are the way they are. This week I had invited the mom of one of our 7th graders to come in and share with our class, both about her Caribbean heritage and the music that her family knows, and about a children’s book she had written that was accompanied by a song with a positive message. It was such a beautiful class in general, but it also helped us understand that student’s family and their values and their heritage. I’m hoping to do more things like that so we can all know each other more deeply and celebrate each other!