Ashley Kraus

ME-311 Secondary Classroom Methods

Dominick Ferrara
9 May 2023
 

Observation Paper

         Before the beginning of the semester and throughout the semester I observed a total of

twenty hours of secondary education— ten hours at Lenape Valley Regional High School

observing David DiGrazia (with only five of those hours recorded towards my fifteen required

observation hours), two hours at the Eliot Upper School observing Stefano Marchese, three and a

half hours at Newton South High School observing Lisa Linde, and four and a half hours at

Brookline High School observing Michael Driscoll. During my time at these different schools, I

was able to observe and assist teaching in a variety of different classes and ensemble rehearsals,

ranging from seventh and eighth grade general music classes that utilized music technology to

high school wind ensembles and a capella choirs. The classroom dynamic between the middle

school classes and the high school classes more similar than I came into the observations

expecting; though the maturity level of the students differed between the two levels, many of

classes gave the students a sense of independence to use what they learned to create projects and

music on their own or in small group settings. 

The first of my observations was at Lenape Valley Regional High School in Stanhope,

New Jersey where I observed the high school band director, David DiGrazia. For the ten hours I

was at Lenape, I observed Mr. DiGrazia’s History of Rock and Roll class, Symphonic Band

classes, Music Theory class, Introduction to Piano class, private lesson periods, and after school

Jazz Band rehearsal. History of Rock and Roll and Introduction to Piano both were classes that

included students that were not in any of the ensembles classes or extracurricular ensembles at

the school. Compared to the ensemble classes and Music Theory class, the students in History of

Rock and Roll and Introduction to Piano seemed less engaged in the material, with some being
on their phones and others doing homework for other classes, especially in History of Rock and

Roll. Students started to be more engaged in the lesson towards the end when Mr. DiGrazia

started to ask students about artists that they are currently listening to and incorporating it into

the lesson. Unfortunately, I was not able to observe much teaching in the Introduction to Piano

class since Mr. DiGrazia had me teach a small woodwind sectional in one of the practice rooms

for the majority of the class. 

When it came to the rest of my observation, I got much more teaching experience then I

did experience seeing Mr. DiGrazia teach. During Symphonic Band, I was able to play with the

clarinet section and conduct. When playing with the clarinets many students took the chance to

ask me questions and the section as a whole felt really engaged in the music. While on the

podium, I found it difficult to gain the attention of the students after some time without Mr.

DiGrazia’s help, many students were practicing during breaks in between the music or turning to

talk to their friends in their section. In Music Theory I co-taught with Mr. Digrazia, answering

students' questions that they had on the worksheet they were doing about the diatonic chords of

the major and minor scales. During the private lesson periods I worked with groups of woodwind

players on songs they were learning for their upcoming All-Schools concert, and during Jazz

Band I led a sectional for the saxophone section while Mr. DiGrazia led a sectional for the brass

and percussion section in a different room. I found doing these sectionals difficult because I was

not familiar with the music that the students were learning and Mr. DiGrazia did not give much

instruction regarding how the students were doing with the music thus far in the school year. I

ended up focusing a lot on making a good quality of sound as an ensemble using the music as a

guideline to do so rather than drilling sections of the music itself. I also gave the students I

worked with tips they could use in their personal practice at home. 
 My next observation was at the Eliot Upper School in the North End of Boston where I

observed the K-8 music teacher, Stefano Marchese. During this observation I observed Mr.

Marchese’s 7th and 8th grade general music classes. In both classes, students were working on

the same project, a Band Lab composition, and were in the finishing stages of the project since

their music elective cycle was going to end at the end of the week I was observing. How Mr.

Marchese structured each class was the same, he started by going over the criteria of the

assignment and directed students to where to find it on their own computers, and then students

started working independently on their projects and could sign up to meet with Mr. Marchese

individually if they needed help. Students were at all different levels in their projects, ranging

from barely starting the project to having it completed. When Mr. Marchese was not meeting

with a student who needed assistance, he would walk around the room checking on students'

projects and asking students who were sitting around not doing their projects to show him where

they were at in the project, which prompted them to start working. The 7th grade class overall

was more engaged in the work they were doing and were farther along in their projects compared

to the 8th grade class, which had students often off topic and moving around to different stations

to see what their friends were doing in order to avoid doing their own projects. 

My third observation was at Newton South High School in Newton, Massachusetts where

I observed the high school band director, Lisa Linde. At Newton South I observed Ms. Linde’s

before school Wind Ensemble, Improvisation class, and private lesson period. The Wind

Ensemble just came back from competing at the MICA festival, so they used their rehearsal time

to listen back to the judges tapes from the festival rather than playing their instruments. Each

student in the ensemble paid close attention to the judges tapes and to Ms. Linde, none seemed

distracted from the task at hand. The students asked Ms. Linde clarifying questions if they did
not understand what the judges were trying to say, and Ms. Linde also added her own

commentary of the judges, reminding the students of critiques the judges said that they have

touched on in rehearsal time. Ms. Linde prompted group discussion after the tapes were over,

which she used as an opportunity for students to share their ideas and allowed her to discuss

broader concerns for them as an ensemble and in the band world in general. Ms. Linde and her

students were able to easily bounce ideas off of each other, and the students seemed comfortable

and inspired by the discussion afterwards. 

The actual school day started with the Improvisation class, who were preparing for two

upcoming shows in the next couple of weeks. The students in this class were able to run

rehearsal by themselves for the most part, picking what tunes they wanted to start with, what the

solo order for their performances would be, and would count themselves off. The ensemble acted

like a well oiled machine, knowing when to stop and self correct as well as being able to restart

after those corrections. The more teacher-driven part of the class was when Ms. Linde led them

through basic improvisation rhythms and chord progressions. Ms. Linde would have them repeat

the same exercise until the entire ensemble was projecting the same level of confidence, and

would prompt the students with questions on why the exercise is relevant after it is over. Ms.

Linde was very patient with her students while asking these questions, she waited for a student to

actually give an answer, no matter how long the awkward silence was, so she was actually able

to check for the students’ understanding. The period after Improvisation class was a free lesson

period, where another jazz ensemble came in to practice for an upcoming performance and other

students came in to work on projects for other music classes. Ms. Linde was much more involved

with the rehearsal process of the actual performance repertoire for this group of students,

however when she had to step away to help another student, the ensemble was able to give each
other feedback and break into sectionals to work on individual parts of the music. Overall, Ms.

Linde was up and moving around more in this class since this ensemble was not as self sufficient

as the last, and really worked hands on with a lot of the performers. 

My final observation was at Brookline High School in Brookline, Massachusetts where I

observed the high school choir director, Michael Driscoll. I observed Dr. Driscoll’s first four

classes of the day, which included AP Music Theory, Introduction to Piano, A Capella Choir,

and Concert Choir. The most unique aspect of each one of Dr. Driscoll’s classes is that no matter

what class it was, he used some elements of solfege in his instruction. Not only did all of his

students know solfege and think musically using solfege, even his AP Music Theory class and

Introduction to Piano class were confident in singing using solfege syllables. In his AP Music

Theory class he opted for the class to sing the examples using solfege instead of him playing it

on the piano, in Introduction to Piano the students sang the melody for Mary Had A Little Lamb

using solfege before playing it on the piano, and in both choir classes the students would sing

their parts using solfege first before adding in lyrics. Another consistency between all of Dr.

Driscoll’s classes regardless of subject were the absence of phones in the classroom. All students

were required to put their phone into a pouch on the side of the classroom, which I felt kept

students more focused for the majority of his classes. 

All of the classes I observed at Brookline High seemed very balanced between student-

driven instruction and teacher-driven instruction. In AP Music Theory, the entire first half of the

class students were able to ask questions to their neighbors and to Mr. Driscoll about their most

recent exam, and the latter half of the class was Dr. Driscoll in front of the classroom teaching

the students secondary dominant chords. In Introduction to Piano, there was a very similar split,

with the first half of the class being Dr. Driscoll in front of the classroom playing minor five note
scales and Mary Had a Little Lamb with the class (all of their pianos playing out of the speakers

of the keyboard) and the second half of the class being used as personal practice time as well as

Mr. Driscoll walking around individually checking every student’s progress. Both choir classes

were mainly group rehearsals led by Dr. Driscoll, however there were portions of the class where

students would be asked to work in sectionals while Dr. Driscoll floated around to all the

different groups to supervise. The two choir classes were very similar in the way they were

structured, however the student dynamics were very different. The A Capella Choir consisted of

students in upper grade levels; these students were more advanced in using solfege and takadimi

while learning their music and they also seemed more comfortable with sight reading and their

warm up routines. In contrast, the Concert Choir consisted of mostly 9th grade students, they still

were learning the concepts of solfege and takadimi and they were not able to get to as much

repertoire during the rehearsal. 

Overall, my observation experiences, especially in the Massachusetts schools, gave me a

lot of insight into topics I was not necessarily familiar with teaching at the beginning of the

semester, such as choir classes, music technology classes, and improvisation. I left all of my

observations feeling inspired by the teachers I saw, and have already seen myself implementing

their teaching techniques and ideas into my own mock lessons and lesson plans in class.