Sebastian Abbey

Dr. Kevin Gerrity

Music Education 150

April 29th 2023

Lesson Reflection

This peer teaching was probably my weakest to date. I walked in nervous, without eating

breakfast or taking my ADHD meds. I was nervous because my preparation and general

readiness for this lesson was sub par to say the least and I honestly didn’t know the class well

enough. I did not feel very comfortable with my peers because I hadn’t spent enough time with

them yet. It should be said that as I go into a real classroom for the first time, these things will

not be uncommon. So, this experience was one I needed to have so I know how I naturally react

to an uncomfortable situation and how I can not let that affect me.

First off, I’d like to address my lesson. The content and ideas on paper worked well,

however the way I went about teaching them was not the best. I was trapped in my own head

overthinking every word I said. One way I can avoid that is by preparing the ways I’ll say

different things. Going forward, I’ll use bullet points with prompts for what I should be saying

and when. One thing that I did well, and that I’ve been able to do well was teach my song. I find

teaching by rote to be very natural and easy. I had also used a template that I didn’t fully

understand or was all that comfortable with. Which led me to be uneasy with my entire lesson

because it all felt off. For this next lesson, I’ll use a template that I actually understand and read

in the moment so I don’t stumble as much.

Something else I can work on is moving from the piano. I feel like I didn’t move around

enough during my lesson. I know that moving while teaching helps me be less nervous and keeps
me from feeling like I’m trapped and being heavily judged. It also allows me to get a general

read of the class on how they’re doing with the song that they’re learning. I can hear if a specific

student is struggling and I can then isolate that section with the whole group so that student

doesn’t fall behind.

Something I learned was how difficult it is for me to lead a group in a scale and do

solfege hand signs at the same time. I don’t know my solfege hand signs all that well so trying to

demonstrate it for the group while keeping my pitches accurate was an unexpected challenge.

Going forward, I’ll be in a sight singing course so I’ll be able to study and improve my solfege

skills across the board.

On that note, I definitely could have tackled the scales concept better. The way I put it on

my lesson plan worked just fine. It just didn’t work for me in the moment of teaching the lesson

because I decided to do it with solfege. Had I used a neutral syllable, I would have been able to

lead that first part of my lesson better. The rest of the scales concept did go well once I got over

the hurdle of solfege. The problem based learning of asking the students to try and recognize the

difference between the major and minor scales went well. As well as keeping them engaged

when I was demonstrating by asking them to see which type of scale the song used.

This entire experience was very eye opening and all of the lessons I’ve found will be used

and implemented into my next peer teaching at the end of the semester. I’m looking forward to

correcting these shortcomings when I teach as well as incorporating the ukulele into my lesson