Video: Written Critical Reflection

Well, I think I have officially given up on uploading my video. I have tried several different ways on several different computers and nothing has worked. I do have the video on a dvd, so at least I have something to turn in. I wanted to take a moment and do the critical reflection on the video that I taped of my class. I had written this same reflection last week, but the computer froze up and I lost everything I had written. So, I will now attempt to redo it. In looking at the video, I was actually pretty surprised. When I have done videos in the past of myself teaching, I have always been surpirsed that what I thought had happened in class didn't. It seemed as if I had a false truth of what had actually happened in class. It not only had to do with certain behaviors, but my teaching as well. I would cover things I didn't have in my plans or not cover the things that I did. Well, in watching this video I became surprised by what I saw. I found that the video did not hold as many surprises as I had thought that it would. I started the class with a review of whole, half, and quarter note rhythms. We discussed how many counts each of these receive and the class had the opportunity to practice counting each one. We also reviewed the notes, played them, and then added the rhythms to it. We did a warm up exercise which involved the students playing each note for a certain count. We then rehearsed certain songs out of the recorder book so that we could review seeing the notes and rhythms in written form. We then moved chairs and talked about duets and rounds. We practiced each and did several examples of each. I really wanted the kids to get the idea of a round and be able to implement it with minor hassle. This is the first time we have attempted rounds and I thought the kids did a pretty good job. We have worked with duets before and I think the kids put that knowledge to use during this lesson. The lesson I saw myself doing in the video matched up pretty well with my lesson plan I had in written form. My ultimate goal was to get the kids to perform a duet and round without me having to prompt and guide as much. For the most part, I think the kids did a pretty good job. I have noticed that sometimes as a teacher, I get used to prompting and guiding too much. I have to reteach myself sometimes to not help as much as I want to do sometimes. I want to use the condcuting as a way to show the counts, but I find myself counting aloud and singing while the kids are playing. This is fine when the kids are practicing and learning a new technique, but I find myself doing it with songs the kids already know. In this video, I saw myself singing true, but I was surprised that I conducted as much as I did. When I watched the video, I found myself thinking more and more of Pink and his chapters on symphony and play. This class to me exemplifies these concepts. On one hand, I am letting them 'play'. This is a class that only certain kids have the opportunity to take. I let this class do fun things like work in groups, compose, and have competitions. THe 3rd graders really like this class and it has become an honor to be chosen. At the same time, I am teaching them basic fundamentals and techniques so that they can play and perform together as a large group. THey have to learn that mistakes are common at this stage and that they should keep going. They learn this concept that in band, recorder, choir, etc. that each member is part of something bigger. This is symphony in its finest form because the kids are not exposed to this kind of mentality in their other classes. Sure they work in groups, but they are working in groups for an activity, not for the success of the class in general. I did find something fascinating in the video. I remembered that one of the kids started having a hard time concentrating. I remember that I finally had enough of him sittign and twirling his recorder. I took his recorder away and told him to move his chair back. At the time, I wondered if I had been too harsh, but watching the video I agreed with what I did during class. This particular student has a hard time with anger management and following directions. I know him well enough now that I can usually tell when I just need to give the final ultimatum. As I watched him in the video, he was very restless and I had to say something to him several times. This class is actually one this particular student enjoys and has been working hard in this year. I noticed that most of my other students were on task and really trying hard to do what I was asking of them. I was happy with what I saw in the video. This was a worthwhile endeavor and I would definitely do it again. I think as teachers get older and more seasoned we forget that we can still learn from ourselves. We know what is supposed to happen in our classes, but we just get bogged down or accustomed to the same old routine.