Westminster Choir College of Rider University Music Education Department ME 171: Critical Pedagogy I Off-Campus Observation Map

Your Name: Sarah McMahon SBN: 203 E-Mail: McMahons@rider.edu Name of School: RiverHead High School Town: RiverHead State: New York Name of Teacher Observed: Dena Tishim Class: Freshman Choir Grade(s): 9th Observation Date: October 17, 2011 Time: 8:40 to 9:34 Date Submitted: October 20, 2011

Describe the teaching environment. Who are the children? Who is the teacher? How might the school environment impact what happens in the classroom? The students were rowdy. The room was wooden and the sound resonated well. It was a smaller room so the students seem crowded. The environment may distract students because they are close to their friends

What were the teachers goals for the class/ensemble? How did she/ he act on those? The teacher wanted students to learn a new piece. She had some students reflect on an AIM for the day. AIM is a personal goal that students think about. AIM for the day- what are good rehearsal techniques that will help the choir come performance?

What teaching/rehearsal strategies did you see? What was the learning sequence? Started warm-ups with lip trills and chewing while humming. Then had students clap rhythms that were in the new piece. All students had to sight read the alto line of the new piece.

What would you do differently? What was missing from the lesson? I think that the lesion was missing more entertaining points than just singing the piece. The beginning of the lesion had tons of interesting warm-ups that kept the students intrigued. I would have had students break off into groups and work on the piece

What evidence of critical thinking, critical feeling and/or critical action did you see? The teacher asked students to think about the AIM before and after class. All students had to think about the quality of there own singing and the quality of singing in the choir itself

What National Standards did you see? 1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 2. Reading and notating music. 3. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music. 4. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments

How did students engage in the classroom? What was happening at the time when students were really focused? The students were very unengaged with the lesion. Few students were paying attention to the lesion. When students were focused the teacher would talk about the quality of the vowel sounds.

Describe a "teachable moment" that you might have witnessed The teacher stated that the students need to unify as a choir, then and only then can they improve their choir as a whole

What positive comments might you make about this lesson/rehearsal? The teacher has a very thought out lesion plan and she executed it well, regardless of if some students were acting out. I felt that the warm-ups helped the students hone in on the lesion for that day. What constructive comments might you make about this lesson/rehearsal? The teacher could have tried to engage students more so that they wouldnt act out. She could have delt with the misbehaving students better. It seems as though the teacher is new and it is hard for her to control the students. What is your overall assessment of this teacher, the students and the lesson/rehearsal? The lesion was very interesting and helpful to the students but the misbehaving students took attention away from the lesion as a whole. The teacher seemed new and was trying hard to keep students attention.