Isaac Cotnoir

Student Teaching Block 3

Video Reflection 1

This lesson that I recorded around the time of my mid-block assessment was of a sixth

grade beginner violin and viola class. At the Thomas Harrison Middle School Orchestra

program, all students have the opportunity to take orchestra starting in sixth grade. It is not a

requirement to have any prior knowledge or experience as a musician, which makes this class

so important for most students. During this particular lesson, the students reviewed how to

play a C on the G string and then learned how to play a one octave G Major scale. The students

then did a daily written worksheet that assesses how well students are reading music notes and

rhythms. After this, students reviewed a repertoire piece “The Mighty Triad” and then worked

on a repertoire piece entitled “All Around My Hat”.

For the first part of the lesson in which students reviewed how to play C on the G string, it

took some time for students to remember how to use all the techniques required to play the

note, including changing the angle of the bow, dropping the wrist of the left hand, and using

enough weight to get a good sound on the G string. After some review and explanation

students were able to remember and acoomplish the goal so the class could move on to

learning the G Major scale. I ensured that students were aware that the G major scale was

something that they technically knew how to do already based on the number of notes that

they are able to play. After I demonstrated and explained the G Major scale to the students

they were able to successfully reach the goal after minimal time spent on it.
 After this part of the lesson, students worked on their worksheets and took turns giving

answers out loud to the class to check their work. After this, students reviewed repertoire

piece “The Mighty Triad” which introduces to them the concept of harmony. They successfully

played through the piece, so we moved on to learning a new piece called “All Around My Hat”

which is a slightly more challenging piece that also incorporates harmony among the sections.

The goal for the lesson was to get through the first five measures successfully, and they were

able to do so before the end of class.

Overall, I found that this lesson was productive and effective. I think the pacing was an

effective aspect, ensuring that the students do not lose focus by doing one activity for too much

time. Although the students were somewhat talkative due to the fact that it was last period on

a Friday, I found that my classroom management techniques were effective. These included

waiting for the students to stop talking, holding my hand up, and directly stating what I would

like the students to do. If I could change one thing about this lesson, it would be to focus more

on the students who were unfocused and were not properly playing along with the class. There

was one or two students that were not following as well and continually lost focus, and I think it

would benefit them in the future if I give them more special attention.