FIU

Off-Campus Observation Map

Your Name: Sofia Da Silva

E-Mail: sdasi003@fiu.edu

Name of School: Dr. Carlos J. Finlay Elementary

Town: Miami

Name of Teacher Observed: Cathy Benedict

Observation Date: 11/20/14

Describe the teaching

environment. Who are the
children? Who is the teacher?
How might the school environment
impact what happens in the
classroom?
What were the teachers goals for
the class/ensemble? How did
she/he act on those?

Class: Elementary
Time: 9:30 am

State: FL
Grade(s): 3rd Grade
Date Submitted 11/24/14

The teaching environment within the classroom was very versatile due to all of the different teaching styles being
used by the Elementary Methods students. The students in the class seemed to feel very comfortable with their
teachers and peers.

I think the goal for the class was for the students to learn and apply what they were being taught; being able to
make connections between other classes such as math and reading while still remaining focused and entertained.
The teachers went about this by trying to make their portion of the class time as engaging and entertaining as
possible in order for their students to be able to retain the information they were being given.
Throughout the class, Cathy had a few of her Elementary Methods students teach at different points of the class.

What teaching/rehearsal strategies Each student demonstrated a different way of teaching and engaging with the children in order to keep them
did you see? What was the
paying attention and learning. The class started off with the children signing a song and analyzing the lyrics to song
learning sequence?

and from that they jumped into learning a Thanksgiving song with a dance, from there they went over some
dictation and then reviewing a song they had done in the past.

In general, I wouldnt really change much from what I had seen within the classroom. I think that goals were met

What would you do differently?

and everything was done in an orderly fashion, therefore I think everything was well and would not change
What was missing from the lesson?

anything.

What evidence did you observe

that would indicate that the
learning goals were met?

Evidence of the learning goals being met would be seeing the students apply what they were being taught when
asked to repeat/read a rhythm or song. A good example of this all would ben when the students were going over a
song they had learned earlier in the semester, this demonstrated that the students had learned what was taught
enough to recall it and sing it again.

What evidence of critical thinking,

critical feeling and/or critical action
did you see?

Evidence of critical thinking that had gone on in the classroom would be at the very beginning when one of the
Elementary Methods students was going over the lyrics of a song with the children in the classroom. This allowed
the students utilize certain skills that are not only useful in the music classroom but in a reading/English classroom
as well, allowing for the students to begin making a connection between the two and expand their vocabulary.

What National Standards did you

see?

Out of nine National Standards for music education, I saw several being implemented within the classroom such
as, 1 (Singing with a group), 5 (reading music), 6 (listening and analyzing music), and 8 (relationship between music
and other arts (dancing)).

How did students engage in the

classroom? What was happening
at the time when students were
really focused?

During the course of the class, there were moments here the students were feeling very focused and where
responding well to what was being taught, however there were also moments were Cathy had to pull aside certain
students for being disruptive. Overall though, the classroom seemed to engage with the activities going on at the
moment and enjoyed what they were doing.

Describe a "teachable moment"

that you might have witnessed.

A teachable moment I noticed was when the students finally grasped the concept of there being eighth notes and
quarter notes and were able to apply them by signing the rhythms to the note cards that were being used.

What constructive comments might you make about this lesson/rehearsal?

Something I really enjoyed seeing was how the students, at such an early age, were being taught dictation. The fact
that that they were able to distinguish the difference between quarter notes and eighth notes was pretty impressive.
Other things that I think were done well was the jumping of topics, the students were able to learn a lot within the short
amount of class time they had and still focused for the most part.

What is your overall assessment of this teacher, the students and the lesson/rehearsal?
The teaching environment of the classroom was very dynamic, several different topics were covered over the class
period in order to allow for the students to learn a variety of different things and keep them entertained and engaged
throughout the course of it. I really enjoyed witnessing everyones way of teaching and that worked with the students.