Katie Blomarz

edTPA Submission
December 2014
Task 2

Part A: Video Clips

Video Submission #1:
Day 1 Lesson 1:
o http://youtu.be/F5UC6FonkTM
Video Submission #2:
Day 4 Lesson 4:
o http://youtu.be/m0eHYjaHK04

Part B: Instruction Commentary Pg. 1-4

Instruction Commentary
In Task 2: Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning, you will write a commentary
responding to the prompts below. Your commentary should be no more than 6 singlespaced pages, including the prompts. If needed, insert no more than 2 additional pages
of supporting documentation for the videorecordings at the end of the commentary (e.g.,
digital copies of indiscernible materials or transcriptions of inaudible comments).
1. Which lesson or lessons are shown in the video clips? Identify the lesson(s) by
lesson plan number.
Day 1 Lesson #1 is my first video, and Day 4 Lesson #4 is my second video clip.
2. Promoting a Positive Learning Environment
Refer to scenes in the video clips where you provided a positive learning
environment.
Within my first video, I encouraged students to answer questions. Even if the
students got it wrong, I tried to reassure them they were on the right path. I did not
want to discourage them from attempting further questions. I wanted to continually
make them feel comfortable.
a. How did you demonstrate mutual respect for, rapport with, and responsiveness to
students with varied needs and backgrounds, and challenge students to engage in
learning?
In the second video, I gained rapport with the students by allowing them to use
their police system to keep their peers in line. One student is selected to be the police.
That student is in charge of whether or not students behavior is satisfactory. If it is not,
the police can choose to send a student to jail. If someone is sent to jail, they must sit

in a chair for one minute before returning to the activity at hand. This allows the students
to patrol themselves in order to ensure they are not sent to jail.
Along with this, in the second video, I allowed students to break into groups of
their choice. This allowed students to pick group members they were comfortable with. It
also made for a diverse atmosphere among groups. The students who are farther along
in music than others chose not to work with each other. This helped to spread different
ideas around the groups in the classroom.
3. Engaging Students in Learning
Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts.
1. Explain how your instruction engaged students in developing

artistic skills (e.g., self-expression, creativity,

exploration/improvisation)

In lesson 1, I allowed students to try the different rhythms that I had prepared for
class. In particular, when discussing the funny rhythms pertaining to the triplet, a student
was able to try it on their own. I also asked students to explore their knowledge of
rhythms and guess what rhythm they might expect from dog photo-bombing.
At the end of the lesson 1, I gave the students an opportunity to come up with
their own phrases. Within the lesson, the students loved having this freedom. They came
up with some very clever phrases to remember the rhythms I gave them. They also
enjoyed performing them in front of their peers.
In lesson 4 (video 2), I introduced their composition projects. We went over all of
the requirements for the project and the students really understood what was expected
of them. The compositions were all composed correctly and the students did a great job
putting together performances of their original content.

knowledge (e.g., tools/instruments, technical proficiencies,

processes, elements, organizational principles)

Within video 1, the students used a lot of their knowledge from previous lessons
to help not only review, but also solidify the rhythms we used in class. They are
challenged to listen to exactly what my question was. Some of them did a great job
picking up on whether I asked for the name of the rhythm or the syllable, and some
students just blurted out answers.
In the second video, the students had to listen to the directions for the
composition project. Without the prior knowledge and language verbiage used, they
would have been very lost. But, because they have been retaining the information from
previous lessons, they understand what they need to accomplish.

contextual understandings (e.g., social, cultural, historical,

global, personal reflection)

With both videos, I can see a lot of student reflection happening. The class does
such a great job of staying engaged, so they are constantly learning. The students, who
may not have gotten a right answer never, gave up. I could tell they were using selfreflection to fix their answer or even understand why it may be wrong.

2. Describe how your instruction linked students prior academic learning

and personal, cultural, and community assets with new learning.
In this class, there are many students who take private music lessons outside of
school. Each lesson helped solidify what the students were learning from their private
lesson teachers. They are given a leadership position and do a great job helping others
in the class.
This segment also helped students feel more creative. From the first lesson to
the last, I saw students start to feel more comfortable playing in front of the class, or
more confident trying something more challenging. It allowed students to come out of
their shell more and give students more confidence in other realms of their lives.
4. Deepening Student Learning during Instruction
Refer to examples from the video clips in your explanations.
1. Explain how you evoked student performances and/or responses to
support students development and application of artistic skills,
knowledge, and/or contextual understandings.
At the end of the first video, I asked students to think of their own funny phrases.
Most students were very excited to come up with something silly, but other students
struggled and said they could not do it. I encouraged those students to write something
down even if they couldnt think of anything clever. Some of the students were still
reluctant, so I even gave them an example where I said random words to fill the rhythm.
The students thought it was so funny that they still remember it.
2. Explain how you used modeling, demonstrations, and/or content
examples to develop students artistic skills, knowledge, and/or contextual
understandings for creating, performing, or responding to
music/dance/theater.
This is definitely seen in the first video. I begin the lesson reviewing rhythms and
having the students repeat them after me. Eventually during the lesson, I look to
students to give the first example for the class. This gave students confidence in what
they were doing and allowed me to have small informal assessments for some students.
In the second video, it is very obvious the students have started to retain the
information. Over the lessons, they had become very confident in the material we had
learned and were able to answer all of my questions.
5. Analyzing Teaching
Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts.
a. What changes would you make to your instructionfor whole class and/or for
students who need greater support or challengeto better support student
learning of the central focus (e.g., missed opportunities)?

Overall, I think I could have challenged the students more in this lesson.
One of my biggest issues with my teaching is that I said good way too much. I
should have seen that the students were excelling at a quicker rate than
anticipated and could have thought on the fly a little better. In video one, students
picked up on the funny phrases very quickly. They were able to repeat them back
and eventually do it by themselves without my help. Some students seemed
bored with the activities, but instead of disengaging, helped other with their
confusion. In the second video, I really wished I could have solidified my
explanation better. I caught myself saying the same thing over and over again. I
am surprised the kids werent more confused with my rambling. If I had a chance
to do this lesson again, I would sit down with these videos and rethink my
prompt. I would make sure to talk less and allow for the students to discover
more things about the project. It would give them even more freedom to think
creatively about a composition.
b. Why do you think these changes would improve student learning? Support
your explanation with evidence of student learning AND principles from theory
and/or research.

I believe that students get bogged down with talking too much. They are
so distracted by electronic devices and adults telling them what to do that they
lose some of the creativeness. I feel like I contributed to that. I attempted to make
a project that had some guidelines from fourth-grade composers, but I made a
book. While I think the project was a huge success, I would love to refine it and
try it again with another class. I would like to see what kind of material they would
present if the project were a lot less descript. I think the students could be more
creative with less. This will improve student learning by helping them become
more creative in the arts. Allowing them to be more spontaneous and
improvisatory will help them develop great young minds.