Music Education Department

Student Teaching Final Assessment Form

Teachers Name: Steven Castaneda Grade Level/Discipline: 9-12

Date: 12/5/2014

Using the rubric below based on the New Jersey Professional Teaching Standards, please check the appropriate box for the
student teachers attainment of these pedagogical domains, taking into consideration the timing of the observation (i.e., near
the beginning, middle, or end of student teaching). At the bottom of the rubric, assign an overall description of the student
teachers progress.
NJ Professional Teaching Standards

Below
Standard

Approaching
Standard

Meets
Standard

Standards 1 and 2: Learning Development and Learning Differences

The teacher uses language, musical materials, and
activities/strategies that are developmentally appropriate.
A variety of resources, ideas, and perspectives are accessed in
order to support learning differences and needs.
Standard 3: Learning Environments
The teacher facilitates a positive, safe, and respectful
environment.
The teacher promotes and facilitates self-directed learning by
inviting students to interact in large or small groups, and by
honoring their interests and cultural backgrounds.
Standards 4 and 5: Content Knowledge & Application of Content
The teachers musical skills, understanding of musical
x
content, and preparation of musical materials enables students
to improve their musical performances or creations and make
appropriate adjustments during the lesson. These skills may
include (but are not limited to) singing, playing the piano,
conducting, playing guitar, sight-reading, and improvising.
The musical materials are of high quality and exemplify the
best materials to engage students in artistry and meet the lesson
objectives to lead students to strengthen their musical
understanding of creating, performing, responding and
connecting.
Standard 6: Assessment
The assessment(s) reflect the learning objectives and
x
demonstrate a range of different ways that the teacher will collect
information about student learning.
Standard 7: Planning for Instruction
The lesson plan is thorough and written precisely enough that
x
someone else could teach it. Musical experiences are connected
to clear lesson objectives and New Jersey Performing Arts
Standards.
The plan has a logical scope and sequence that allows students
to build upon prior knowledge.
Standard 8: Instructional Strategies
The plan incorporates various learning modes (aural,
x
kinesthetic, tactile) through activities such as singing, moving,
making connections to visual art or other content areas, creative
expression, playing instruments, discussing/critiquing,
integrating technology, and other activities that engage students
musically, physically, and intellectually.
The instruction was interesting, imaginative, creative,
engaging, and worth the students time.

Exceeds
Standard

x
x
x
x

Supervisors Comments:

Instructional Practice/Positive Outcomes:

-I like this routine youve established with the one-word recap of your day. Ive seen you
do this multiple times now and it always seems to be a positive and efficient way to get the
rehearsal started.
-Your warm-up was fast-paced with excellent exercises in a logical sequence. I appreciate
that youve finally added some breath exercises to the routine. Despite not being a priority
for your cooperating teacher, this is an incredibly important step in the warm-up sequence.
-You did a nice job with regaining the students attention during the more off-task
moment of the warm-up. One suggestion: consider phrasing the questions in ways that
avoid a massive, all-choir response.
-I appreciate the use of student names when using the cold-call strategy.
-Bravo Stephen, your use of humor and overall rapport with the students is excellent. You
seem to have gained a great deal of confidence in your time here and its been wonderful to
watch your progress over the course of the semester.
-I appreciate how expressive you have become with your conducting. Your facial
expressions and dramatic gestures are clearly working to elicit a desired sound from your
students.
-Im glad to see you keeping the boys together in this run-through of Tiny Baby. They
sound much more confident this time.
Questions to Consider/Suggestions for the future:
-Listen very carefully to vowel unification and placement, even in the warm-up. This can
really define your ensembles intonation.
-The intonation on the Ba of Baby is in question. This is a vowel unification and breath
support issue. What could you do to address this? As you get closer to the concert, students
will often go on autopilot with much of the repertoire. What can you do to combat this?
How can you rehearse a well-known piece in new ways so that it does not become such a
monotonous exercise?
Nice work, Stephen. Im impressed with the amount of progress youve made this semester.
Its been a pleasure supervising your student teaching.

Considering all of these domains, the student teacher (circle or highlight one):
Meets Standards

Approaches Standards

Student Teacher Response (Optional)

Below Standards

Exceeds Standards

Nicholas McBride

12/5/2014

Supervisors Signature

Date

Student Teachers Signature

Date

Notes:
1.
Student Teachers signature indicates that he or she has had the opportunity to review this
assessment with the supervisor and has had the opportunity to ask questions as necessary. It
does not acknowledge that the Student Teacher concurs with the Supervisors assessment.
2.

This form aligns to New Jersey Professional Teaching Standards (2014 version).

3.

To earn a final grade of A in student teaching, the student teacher must meet 95% of the
standards on this evaluation, 95% of the standards on the evaluation by the cooperating
teacher, 100% of the expectations for student teaching seminar and complete a successful
summative/integrative portfolio review by the faculty members in the Department.

4.

A copy of this form is retained in the Student Teachers departmental file.

Rev. 9/13/14 FA. Adopted by the Music Education Department, Fall 2014.