Video Analysis and Reflection 2

Kelsey Georgesen
6th Grade at Fall Creek Intermediate
Lesson taught on October 5th, 2015
Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/tkTMjPK3uTg
This Lesson in Context: This lesson is an introduction to the music
and history of the decades of the 1920s and 1930s. I have taught
portions of this lesson to the previous two rotations of 6th in a
combined class with sixty students. In this lesson, students build on
their current knowledge of the decades from their social studies
classes and connect the changes in history to the changes in music.
The students learn a modified Charleston dance and Swing dance. The
following lessons in this unit include a condensed history of George
Gershwin, listening to Summertime, Rhapsody in Blue and listening
to and singing Swanee and Ive Got Rhythm. These lessons then
transition to an introduction to the blues, where students learn about
blues form and style.
INTASC Standards: The INTASC Standards covered include:
Standard 3: Learning Environments
The teacher works with learners to create environments that support
individual and collaborative learning, encouraging positive social
interaction, active engagement in learning and self-motivation.
Standard 5: Innovative Application of Content
The teacher understands how to connect concepts and use differing
perspectives to engage learners in critical/creative thinking and
collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global
issues.
Standard 8: Instructional Strategies
The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies
to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas
and their connections, and to build skills to access and appropriately
apply information.
Standard 10: Collaboration
The teacher collaborates with students, families, colleagues, other
professionals, and community members to share responsibility for
student growth and development, learning, and well-being.
Music Standards:
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and
disciplines outside the arts.

9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.

MU:Re7.2.6b: Identify the context of music from a variety of genres,
cultures, and historical periods.
MU:Cn10.0.6a: Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate
to personal choices and intent when creating, performing, and
responding to music.
MU:Cn11.0.6a: Demonstrate understanding of relationships between
music and the other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily
life.
Objectives: My objectives, listed below
-Students will be able to make connections between the history of the
1920s and 1930s and how cultural changes and music affected one
another.
-Students will dance a modified Charleston and Swing Dance, and
understand how these dance related to the time periods and styles of
music.
Setting or Environment created: This lesson was taught as a
combined class which promoted social engagement with the students
and a variety of prior knowledge and contexts from which students
may connect to the material. I have seen much growth in my
classroom management, and in the video I can find several instances
where I use humor to draw engagement or use something fun to nix a
behavior before it is a problem, rather than lecturing my students on
talking. For example, I have learned that having students freeze or
strike a pose keeps them quiet and engaged for a transition in a
lesson, without the teacher having to request silence or a sterile
environment. Instead, students anticipate the next segment. Another
way that I frequently keep behavior in check is by identifying the
student who is causing trouble immediately and addressing the
problem. Some situations are best dealt with by speaking with the
student one-on-one, but in large classes like this, oftentimes
announcing the consequence for a specific action (such as, if I see
iPads, Joe, I will take them) reminds all of the students of the
expectations.
Questioning used: Questioning was used as probe for knowledge
throughout this lesson, and as a means of assessment for
engagement. Because students had so much prior knowledge on the
topic of the 20s and 30s, they had many questions about the details
of the stock market crash, and what life was like during the Great
Depression. I spent more time on some of the discussion segments of
the lesson than was planned because these classes were really
interested in the history related to the music that we were studying.

How were all learners engaged, responding, participating, and

represented: Because I used questioning to assess prior knowledge
and understanding of students, I was engaging those who had
knowledge or something to share, and students who did not were
thinking through what they had learned about history and culture at
various time periods trying to make connections. Connections were
then facilitated through the experiences that students have today
related to music, fashions, and finances, and compared to the
experiences of people living during the 1920s and 1930s. Teaching
the dances from the time period used a lot of repetition and modeling,
with students immediately reacting, practicing, and responding. The
dances were then performed to the music of the time period, all of
these cultural elements being products of the history just discussed.
Personal Idiosyncrasies and Solutions: Perhaps the most difficult
element for me to adjust to in my lessons and teaching now is
remembering to gauge student interest when my own personal
interests override the lesson. This is true of this unit on the 1920s and
1930s because I know a lot about the music, culture, and history of
this time period, and am very interested in these details. It is easy for
me to overwhelm students with information because I personally find
all of this information relevant and meaningful. The information needs
of a 10-12 year old are very different from my own, however, and I
must constantly assess the balance of their interest compared to my
own.
Progress and Growth Demonstrated: Over the course of this
semester, one area that I have noticed improvement in is my ability to
acknowledge accuracies or inaccuracies in answers provided by
students. I have learned how to listen to all ideas about a topic
neutrally before revealing the actual answer, but when students are
volunteering facts or prior knowledge as in this lesson, I have learned
to highlight any truth or relevancy in their statement and then to
correct their error in a respectful way. I am also seeing more and more
consistently improved pacing in my lessons as I am responding to
students directly and adjusting pacing a transitions as needed which is
determined by the students. I am learning to leave some space for
students to digest new information, and to repeat instruction and
practice many times before moving on, guiding and monitoring
students who need more time or more challenge to an activity. I am
even improved in logical methods for teaching motor skills, as I learned
that the best way to teach a dance move was to have students
practice the gross motor skills required for a weight shift, before
teaching fine motor skills involving the direction that their toes are
pointed.