Lazaro Lopez

5164219
Class Observation (Mr. Dejesus)

The teaching environment is very clean and student friendly.

The students are either grade 8 or 9 and have at least a year of knowledge on their
instrument.
Students easily respond to what the teacher requests from them.
Goals were set for the classroom and were met (get students into sectionals so they can
work on their music).
The teacher based his work on what the students needed mostly and what they asked for
so he can educate them.
Teacher used a very friendly tone with the students and they seemed to enjoy that with
little, seemingly, no protest at all.
Since students were in sectionals, the teacher would freely move between sections and
check on the progress and even sit in for an extended time to work with a section who
was having trouble.
I would not do much different from what the teacher is currently doing, except maybe
instead of doing so many different sectionals, have sectionals by parts in music since not
every single instrument has a different part in music and many instrument can share the
same music at a given time.
There was clear evidence that goals were met in the classroom because as the hour went
by students progressively got better and even when us students sat in they asked
questions and showed clear understanding of what was in front of them.
Students in the classroom were not afraid to play even if wrong and were very open to be
stopped and helped.
I saw critical thinking when I helped the French horns on a certain melody and I saw
actual puzzlement on their face. After explaining certain things I would see their face
contort into that of an understanding student and instantly their knowledge was satisfied.
It was clear that students were actually trying to comprehend what was happening and
were open to any help and explanation.
I saw a teachable moment when the trombones were at standby and many of them were
not doing anything except looking around and when it came to playing they would still
play the wrong rhythm and/or notes. This was actually caught and fixed by the trombone
student who was helping the section at the time.