Standard 1: The teacher of PK-12 music has skills in pedagogy (planning, delivering

instruction, and assessment) for vocal, instrumental, and general music.

To be skilled in pedagogy a teacher must be able to effectively plan, deliver instruction, and
assess their students’ comprehension of the topic. Over the years, I have constructed numerous
lesson plans, both formally and informally. I have developed a variety of teaching styles and I
am able to model for my students. I am continuing to learn how to best assess my students’
understanding of a concept, and how that assessment influences my teaching strategies moving
forward.

My students’ learning benefits from this standard in a number of ways. For instance, through my
pedagogical skill of planning, I am able to prepare lessons in advance which helps to ensure the
lessons are taught efficiently. By planning in advance, I am less likely to waste my valuable and
limited time with my students. One of the ways I avoid wasting my students’ time is by planning
out what I will do for every second of my lesson, including: questions, possible answers and
responses to those answers, transitions, time for collaboration, review, etc. Another way I am
proactive is by thinking about what part of my lesson will be a potential struggle for my students
and coming up with a couple solutions for that difficulty. Another aspect of my skill in pedagogy
is my development of various teaching styles. While each of my lessons are similar because they
all incorporate my own personality, I have also developed a variety of teaching approaches. For
instance, I have studied a number of teaching methods such as: Kodaly, Orff, Dalcroze, Gordon,
and World Music. In addition to learning each of these methods, I have also practiced
incorporating them into my teaching. For example, two of the methods I enjoyed utilizing the
most were Orff and Dalcroze because of their emphasis on movement and its benefit to learning.
My students benefit from my understanding in this field because I’m able to teach them through
a number of different approaches. This is important because each student learns differently.
Another way my pedagogical skill of delivering instruction is boosted is through my ability to
model for my students. It is beneficial to my students that I am competent in the ability I am
requesting of them because then they have a good example to model after. Lastly, my students
also benefit from my pedagogical skill of assessment. In each of my lesson plans I attempted to
try different forms of assessment outside of “teacher observation”. My skill in assessment is
beneficial to my students because the better I assess what my students did and did not understand
from my lesson, the better my future lessons will be because I will know how to adjust to my
students’ needs.

From my musical and educational experiences in the past, I feel that I am equipped with the
necessary skills and knowledge to successfully lead instruction for students in a music
classroom. Planning, delivering, and assessing the instruction are skills that have been developed
and continue to be built upon during my time as a music educator, to better serve my students.