When not stressing and panicking about the edTPA, I spent my time preparing students for yet another major concert. My cooperating teacher gave me a huge responsibility for this program. I conducted the only piece for the concert orchestra, two of the three movements of a piece with the chamber orchestra, and a major movement from a serenade with the top group. She must have great confidence in me, as this was a considerable amount of music. Preparation for this concert was difficult. With the concert orchestra performing only one piece of music, I had to manage rehearsal time in order to effectively rehearse all music, but also keep students engaged. Performing one song with this group is difficult because they get bored quickly. Thankfully my spontaneous rehearsal techniques kept them on their toes! Throughout the process, I considered standard 7 - Assessment. Although performances are a normal part of the musical process, it is important to remember that they are actually assessments! The students and I enjoy performances because they don't seem like assessments. The students worked hard and were excited to share their progress with their parents, other students, and other faculty members.
We are transitioning teaching back to my cooperating teacher, and it is great to see her working with the students again. She works well with them and knows them, and I enjoy seeing her strategies to combat common classroom issues. One such example comes from Wednesday when she had a very energetic rehearsal with the Chamber orchestra. Her high energy kept them engaged and I will certainly use that style of teaching in my future job.
The planning portion of my week was related to job applications and the future. I've applied to several positions, and am waiting to hear about interviews. In addition to applications, I'm beginning to think about how I will structure my future classroom. I've considered method books, group breakdowns (by grade and ability), extracurricular groups, instructional strategies, homework, projects, and performances. I considered standard 3 in this planning: "The competent teacher plans and designs instruction based on content area knowledge, diverse student characteristics, student performance data, curriculum goals, and the community context. The teacher plans for ongoing student growth and achievement." I want my future students to achieve great things and much of that rests on my ability to plan for their success!
In the week ahead, I hope to see how my cooperating teacher keeps students focused. Although I'm close to finishing the student teaching semester, the students still have another month of school. They are in summer mode already! I see that many of the teachers are struggling to keep students focused and I know I will need to combat this in the future.
Goals for the week ahead:
- Relax, no more edTPA!
- Continue searching and applying for jobs
- Encourage students to work hard and assist with final concert preparations
ReplyDeleteMr. Kleven,
With all that your week entailed, you seem to continue to be positive, focused and reflective. You are certainly finishing strong and any school will be lucky to have you. Fifteen down and 1 blog to go!
Best,
Dr. Austin
While you had a great edTPA score, I've been spending a considerable amount of time trying to figure out why the low scores for you in Task 2. Unfortunately the only feedback you receive is the repeat of the rubric level commentary. Most of the evidence for scoring came from your videos so there must have been something that we were missing. The only thing I can think of is if your voice was too low or not enough students responded verbally to show engagement, questioning/responding that may have triggered Rubric 7 and 8. If your scorer decided you did not model enough that would effect your score for rubric 9. Enough about edTPA!!! You passed!! You're a fantastic educator and musician!!! It's time to talk about your final days at your student teaching schools. You ARE correct! Your CT has tons of confidence in you, thus the reason for giving you the responsibility for the conducting the music with the concert orchestra. Have a great week working toward your final goals!
ReplyDelete