2-1 Content Knowledge

The candidate understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he
or she teaches and creates content-specific learning and literacy experiences that make the discipline
accessible and relevant to assure mastery of the content. (This entry may be up to 800 words).

The candidate should complete a reflective essay illustrating appropriate content knowledge utilized
in teaching the content. Three artifacts are to be submitted and may include Unit Plans, Lesson Plans,
Course Plans, Class Syllabi, Teacher Observations, and Teacher Evaluations.

Within any classroom there is a very specific discipline the teacher must focus on that differs
and specializes from any other classroom. However, within each classroom from kindergarten to twelfth
grade each teacher instills a regular form of classroom procedures that remain consistent throughout
each lesson, school day, month and school year. These classroom procedures serve as an avenue that
allows the learning material to be organized in a cohesive way throughout each lesson.
Throughout my student teaching experience both of my cooperating teachers encouraged me to
begin instilling my own classroom procedures. I think the first moments of class are the most important
because they set the tone for the rest of the lesson. It became priority to me to find a way to begin my
class on a positive energetic note that would hook my students into the rest of the lesson. Within my
elementary placement I began to start each Kindergarten class with a story that would relate to our
lesson for the day. This classroom procedure spiked my student’s attention and hooked them into the
rest of the lesson. In my secondary placement I found it beneficial to begin class with warmups that
were familiar and introduce a new warmup that would focus on the objective for the day. If our focus of
the day was rhythms I would begin with an exercise that had them echoing the rhythms I clapped and
then verbally identifying the counts of the rhythm. These rhythms would correlate to a rhythm in the
piece we were going to work on, or had been a problem in the past.
In my student teaching experience I found that the most effect strategy to teaching content was
relevancy. In the elementary classroom as I introduced new musical concepts I would find a way to
relate the new concept to something they were already familiar with. For example when we were
learning Ta and ti-ti I had them speak the words “hot chocolate”. I then instructed them to pat each
syllable on their leg as they said the words “hot chocolate” after a few repetitions I demonstrated the
pats with the new syllables Ta and ti-ti. Without questioning the students followed right along with
speaking these new syllables. We did a couple more lessons that used words as the counting system and
then transitioned into the new counting system of Ta and ti-ti.
In my secondary placement I would have the students focus on the meaning of the lyrics and
give them time to think or even write a paragraph of what the lyrics meant to them. The following
lesson I would lead a discussion where students shared their opinions of what these lyrics meant to
them, or what message they thought these lyrics were trying to convey. After the discussion we would
apply our knowledge of the lyrics and message to the musicality of the piece.
Within each placement of student teaching consistency of classroom procedures and relevancy
of the content was the focus of my lessons. As my application of classroom procedures strengthened my
students responded in a positive manner with their behavior and mastery of the content. This became
evident in the secondary classroom as our discussions about the text deepened and there was entire
classroom participation. In the elementary classroom students began to identify the musical concept
without my aide. I plan to continue focusing on relevancy and consistent classroom procedures in my
professional career.