Lesson One Reflection Sarah Dean What instructional decisions did I make before and during the lesson

n and why? Before the lesson, I decided to introduce the djembe drum through a discussion of the drum and how it is used in the African culture. I wanted to use videos so that the students could hear how all the different sizes of drums sounded when they were played together and so that they could observe how the drums were played. Based upon student performance, discuss the instructional decisions for the next or future lesson.

I think if I do another drumming lesson I will let the students play the drum at the end of the lesson and let them demonstrate the different sounds that the drum can make. For this lesson I chose to only talk about the origin of the drum and save the drumming for the next lesson, but I think the students would be more engaged if they were able to play it at the end of the lesson. How did you engage or motivate the students successfully? In this lesson I used many different modes of instruction and I think having variety in the instruction helped to motivate the students to pay attention to the material and keep them engaged. What instructional mode(s) was employed? (lecture, small group, demonstration, experiment, etc.) I started the lesson by first asking the students to listen to a recording of African drumming and telling them to think about what types of instruments are being played and where they think the type of music is from. After the recording I let the students tell me what they thought about the recording. Next, I gave some background information about the drums using the Smart Board with visuals. Then I demonstrated the different sounds of the drum on two different drums that were in the classroom. I then let them watch a video of djembes being performed in Africa. I let me the students come up the board and point to the different drums that make different sounds. Lastly, I asked the students different questions about the material to assess what they remembered about the djembe drum and reviewed the vocabulary we went over for the day. How effectively did you use instructional aids, i.e., whiteboard, video, calculators, manipulatives, computer, etc.? For this lesson I used the Smart Board, whiteboard, audio recordings, a video, and two actual drums that I used for demonstration. With the Smart Board the students were able to view a variety of different images of the drums as well as a video of drumming. I was able to use student involvement with the board by having them come up to the board and tell me what different drums on the board make different sounds. With the white board I was able to write out the music vocabulary words that we were learning as we went through the lesson. I was comfortable using all the varieties of instructional aids during the lesson and I think I planned out the sequence of using the aids well because I was able to flow easily from one aid to the next without any downtime in between. Were the students actively or passively involved? How so? With this lesson I tried to keep the students actively involved as much as possible. While we were listening to the recording I gave them questions that they had to think

about and answer at the end of the recording. While we were watching the video I would pause and ask them about the different drums being played. While I was using the power point presentation I would ask them to identify the different pictures on the board. During the drumming demonstration I asked them what types of sounds they heard out of the different drums. I tried to keep the students as active as possible during the lesson. The only passive sections of the lesson were when they were listening to me lecture briefly about the origin of the drum. Did you present the information in a clear and logical manner? How so? Yes. By introducing the music and having them think about the recording first, learning about what we heard, and then summarizing what we learned at the end of the lesson, the students had several opportunities to pick up on the key points of the lesson through a variety of methods. How effective were the materials and resources you selected for the lesson? I think using a variety of methods for instruction engaged the students and helped the pacing of the lesson move smoothly. The students enjoyed listening to the recordings, they were intrigued and engaged by the pictures of Africa, and they loved watching the video of real drummers playing in Africa. Using the real drum for demonstration was effective because the students were able to see firsthand what the drum was like and how playing the drum in different ways can make different sounds. Were you able to or could you (in the future) relate the lesson content to the lives of the student. I was able to relate the lesson to the lives of the students because we talked about drumming and the students were interested in that type of music.

Describe any discipline or classroom management techniques used during the lesson. Were these techniques effective or would you employ a different technique the next time? When the students would speak out of turn I would remind them to raise their hands. When they would speak during the video or recordings I would remind them that we need to have our listening ears on. Next time instead of asking them to raise their hands I will simply raise my hand and put my hand on my mouth to indicate that they need to ask permission before they speak. This seems to be consistent with what the teacher does when the students speak out of turn. Reflect on your interaction with the students. Would you describe your treatment of the students as being fair, respectful, and ethical? How so? I think I treated the students fairly because everyone had an equal opportunity to be involved in the lesson. When asking questions I tried to call on students who hadnt already answered a question so that everyone got a turn to be involved. Were you able to summarize the lesson and relate it to the following lesson or homework assignment? I summarized the lesson by asking the students questions about the lesson as well as reiterating some important points at the end of the lesson. I also told them that in our next lesson they would be able to play the drum and that they needed to remember about the drum in order to play the game.

Was your estimated time allocation for this lesson as noted in your lesson plan accurate? If your time varied, what factors contributed to this variance? I wanted to spend about 15 to 20 minutes on the lesson. We spent a little more time than I allowed because more of the students wanted to participate than I anticipated. I am pleased with the lesson even though it was longer than I anticipated because the students wanted to be involved in the lesson, which is a sign that they were engaged in what we were learning.