Georgia Orfanides Block 3

Video Recording Self-Reflection

The video I recorded was for the 6th grade Exploratory class. We worked on breathing exercises,

vocal warm ups, beatboxing techniques and history, and the percussion and Orff parts for The

Judge. Overall, I think I incorporated a good variety of activities. I believe I do well with not

getting off task if the students begin to get off task. While working on breathing exercises, I

encouraged the students to have better posture and to use their core muscles. They improved

their breath support which translated to better breath support during the vocal warm ups. After

vocal warmups, I had them complete a worksheet about the history of beatboxing and drum

machines. I think this was a good introduction to the concept but I think that it dragged on for too

long and I should have had them do a different activity before the worksheet. I think I could have

included at least two other activities during this class period. All of the activities felt too long.

I noticed that the transitions between activities also took a long time. This led to more

distractions. During the beatboxing lesson, I noticed improvement after I worked with individual

students. Their breath support and tempo improved. Reviewing the percussion parts for The

Judge felt a bit chaotic and I think I should have reviewed the rhythms for each instrument

before handing them out. The students were focused during the ‘run through’ of the piece and

remembered their respective parts. If I were to review the percussion parts again, I would have

had them sit in the order that the parts are played. Teaching the first Orff part for The Judge went

well and the students felt successful when they played it correctly.

I noticed my speaking tone while teaching tends to be quite direct and monotone. I need

to continue to work on having a less blunt and curt teaching persona. It can come across that I am

upset and I do not want my students to ever think that I am upset with them. I will continue to
work on smiling more and having more variety of intonation in my speaking voice. I will also

continue to work on incorporating more activities with movement.