"Malcolm is an enthusiastic musician and is someone who loves to learn and share what he has learned. He possesses a desire to produce meaningful educational opportunities for students and peers across different mediums, wanting nothing less than to help others achieve artistic goals."
- Matthew Easton (Penn State University - BS in Mathematics '16)
Supervised Teaching Excerpts
Music 345/395B
Music 345: Instructional Practices in Music Education and Music 395B: Cohort Practicum II are concurrent classes at Penn State designed to offer students with the necessary skills and experience to assess music in different settings, as well as, learn how to design lesson plans and rubrics for assessment.
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Middle School General Teaching Experience at Mt. Nittany Middle School, State College, PA
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Middle School Orchestra Teaching Experience with Dorseyville Middle School
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Student Teaching Summary
In the spring of 2015, Mr. Katzen had the pleasure of conducting his student teaching in the Fox Chapel Area School District, a school district that has been awarded one of the Best Communities for Music Education in 2014 and 2015 by the NAMM Foundation.
Emphasis area: Middle School Band
As an elementary and intermediate band emphasis, Mr. Katzen spent each day from January to early-March at Dorseyville Middle School teaching 10 different music classes: 6th Grade Brass, 6th Grade Woodwinds, 6th Grade Percussion, 7th Grade Brass, 7th Grade Woodwinds, 7th Grade Percussion, 7th Grade General Music, 8th Grade Band (all instruments), Jazz Band (all grades, non-auditioned), and Honors Band (all grade, auditioned). His cooperating teacher was Mrs. Anne Goggin, assistant chair for the school district's music department and director of bands at Dorseyville Middle School.
Because most of the classes he taught were composed of students who played specific instruments, Mr. Katzen felt that playing euphonium for each class wasn't appropriate. Instead, he played, modeled, and demonstrated many instruments for his students, such as alto and tenor saxophone, clarinet, various percussion instruments, euphonium, trumpet, trombone, horn, and tuba. |
The video above shows Mr. Katzen conducting the Dorseyville Middle School Jazz Band as they perform Chattanooga Choo Choo at the school's 6th Grade Band Concert on March 18, 2015.
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Below are samples of a classroom management plan that Mr. Katzen would apply to his own classroom, the unit plan he used for the Dorseyville MS Jazz Band during his student teaching, and a couple lesson plans from the unit plan.
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Although we all know the colloquial saying about assuming, at times, it could not have rung more true for Mr. Katzen. Repeatedly, he had to remind himself that his students didn't know as much as he thought they did. Although it was frustrating at times, Mr. Katzen learned that he often needed to take a step back before going forward. Learning not to assume so much, while student teaching, could not have meant more to him because he knows that when he has a music program of his own, he will have to learn quickly what the students know and don't know.
Non-emphasis area: Elementary General Music
In mid-March, after Mr. Katzen completed his time at Dorseyville, he moved to O'hara Elementary School to teach general music as part of his non-emphasis. He taught a total of 15 classes, including four in kindergarten, six in 1st grade, three in 3rd grade, and two in fifth grade. He saw each class for two forty-minute periods each week, except for the kindergarten classes, which he saw once per week. His teaching incorporated practices of all of the music pedagogues, including integration of Orff instruments, emphasis on the pentatonic scale with la-based minor, encouraging lots of student movement during musical activities, and rote learning.
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Mr. Katzen also had experience administering and scoring the Primary Measures of Music Audiation (PMMA) test for his first grade classes. Outside of teaching, he had breakfast duties once per week and volunteered as a bassist for the school's orchestra. His cooperating teacher was Mr. Shawn Funk. Below are some of the lesson plans Mr. Katzen created for his student teaching, as well as some worksheets that he used throughout his teaching at O'hara Elementary School.
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Copyright Malcolm Katzen ©2018