Marie Knight

Student Teaching Block 3

March 7th, 2023

6th Grade Chorus and Learning Moveable Do/F major

For my first block of student teaching, I came into the classroom with all grade levels

working on their sightreading abilities through daily individual and ensemble practice using the

online program Sightreading Factory. The 6th graders were working on reading VCDA Choral

Assessment Level 1 in C major. 7th grade was doing the same, with occasional practices in F

major. 8th grade (in preparation for assessment in March) worked on VCDA Choral Assessment

Level 2 in C, Eb, and F major.

I made the decision to work with the 6th-grade choirs for this project to introduce them

fully to the idea of moveable ‘do’ and teach sight singing in F major. To test students, I gave

them a Pre-Test and a Post-Test approximately 2 weeks apart. Both tests were identical and

featured a total of 23 notes on the staff that students were told to label with the corresponding

solfege. All examples were in F major. Students were told that all tests were to measure growth

and were not given back their tests after being graded. Once the post-test was completed,

students were told whether they improved or not and by how much. I used an excel sheet to keep

track of pre and post-test scores as well as overall improvement.

Before giving the 6th graders their pre-test, I briefly reviewed the concept of moveable

‘do’ and what the key of F looks like. The only information they were explicitly given was where

‘do’ is in F major, and that the key of F major includes one flat. With this information, only a

select number of students fully understood what that meant when given the pre-test. Most
students within the three 6th grade chorus classes scored on one of the extremes, either

perfect/almost perfect scores or ranged between 0-45% correct.

The two weeks following the pre-test, I started each 6th-grade choir class by teaching the

key of F. I began with marking the solfege for the whole F scale and went over how to move

from pitch to pitch (up and down movement, ex “If we were just on Fa, is the next put up, down,

or the same?”). Throughout the two weeks, I adjusted my teaching based on each class's

individual needs. The scores were all approximately the same in each of the three classes, but the

behavior and overall needs of each class were very different. In the last two classes before the

test, I took examples straight from the test paper and went over them in class so there were no

“gotcha” moments. As long as students were paying attention and asking questions, they had

seen all the answers before.

I made sure in each class to not just call on those who were willing to raise their hands

but went down each row and had each student identify the solfege of one pitch. This way, I was

able to answer the questions of those who were too afraid to ask and weren’t focusing. It was

also a way for me to do a quick informal evaluation of those who are understanding the material

and those who are still struggling.

The post-test was done after two weeks and students showed significant improvement

overall. Out of approximately 52 students, only three students showed regression from the pre-

test to the post-test. Out of those three students, 1 has an IEP, and the other two struggle with

focusing. There were 8 students whose scores remained steady, either because they got a perfect

score both times, or they continued to not understand the concept and stayed with a lower score

of 38%. All of the other students improved their scores from their first test, and it ended with

75% of the 6th grade getting a perfect score.

 Overall, I am happy with how this brief unit went with my chorus classes. I wanted to

challenge them by giving them a new key, but also introduce jumps higher than a 2nd, and I feel

successful in how I taught it all. If I had more time with these students, I would continue to work

on sightreading and take special notice of the students who scored below the average in each

class.