Secondary Observation

Dear Future Me,


This is a blog about the observation in Chief Joseph after you taught the rehearsal for the clarinet section. Jeph led the rehearsal this time and you observed and had to say all their names at the end. Here are some things you observed:

• It is helpful to the success of the learning process to have be thinking ahead and move swiftly. "Start at measure 5, this time for accuracy. One, two, ready, AND!"
• Each time you stop them, have something for them to listen for next time instead of saying "ok, let's try that again." Jeph had them listen for pitch accuracy and he demonstrated rhythm a couple of times too.
• They were all chatty Junior High girls except one boy. Reminding them of the prize at the end helps them to stay focused. We had chocolate that day, but it could also be a long term goal. Saying something like, "Remember that we have Music Festival coming up. How are you going to be prepared to sing in front of the adjudicators if we are wasting time talking?"

Overall this was a great experience and it left me wanting to help them more as a section. I had these above ideas in mind but when I taught, it didn't come out how I planned :) If I could do it again, I would've kept them more engaged by asking a few individual questions to keep them on task and remind them of the ending prize.


Sincerely,
Me