Teaching and Incorporating FPPL into Lesson

My group mates and I worked on the topic of composing at Grade 7 level. Overall, the lesson went smoothly as planned. It was great that most of the students participated fully and enjoyed our activities. Since that we have done both of the activities that we presented in class before, we adjusted it a bit so that students would not get bored doing the same thing. For example, the warm-up game (“passing the rhythm”) was done in a group of five setting in a previous class, we thought that as we are adults and have known each other in our cohort for a year, it would be excellent if we make the game more challenging by playing it as a whole class. According to our lesson plan, one of our ways to assess students’ learning progress is by observing their participation. All students tried their best to create original rhythms and mimic the rhythms created by the people before them. We could also see that they were learning in the second activity as everyone in the group had a different instrument, it was easy to distinguish each person’s unique part within their piece. My part in the presentation was to introduce the instruments and give brief instructions on how to operate them. I think that it is an important part when teaching music since students should be informed how to properly handle and make music with delicate instruments and learn to respect that instruments have history and stories behind them before they use them. To improve my part, I should make it more engaging, rather than having just me in front of the room, teaching in a teacher-center command style. I personally have never been confident in music class in both elementary and middle school, especially when it comes to composing. I think that I should seek strategies that help students, like me, to be more comfortable performing in class before I become a teacher. My professional growth goal for this lesson was to be able to speak confidently in front of the class. This teaching experience allowed me to display the results of my professional growth plan and I wouldn’t have realized how much I have grown and improved in this professional aspect. I was a bit nervous but definitely not as anxious as I would be before participating in the growth plan and I was able to keep teaching even when I was under pressure. I will continue on with my professional growth plan by seizing opportunities to teach or speak publicly.