two more things!!!
I was just about to burn a CD when I looked down at my hand and saw a little smiley face on it. Let me explain. I had a student at DMS today who is a beginning clarinetist. She's able to get most of her notes, however, she's having a hard time remembering to roll her left hand index finger to the A key rather than pressing it down. So, I showed her how your hand rolls to the note and where the finger strikes the key. I then took out my pen and drew a mark on my hand, looked at her and said, "I bet you would like a smiley face on your hand too!" and drew the mark there for her. She was excited about having the smiley face and she was able to roll to the A key. I think this will be a lesson that will stick with her.
The other thing was that yesterday I was teaching a lesson to a student while SCT was teaching another lesson in the room next to me. He overheard me use a technique that worked and he then used it in rehearsal today! The good thing is that the student I was working with caught on right away, unfortunately, if there's a second step to the technique that SCT didn't get to overhear at all, so half the band was lost when he tried the technique today. I might have to ask him tomorrow about that.
crunch time - day 2
Well, I'm adapting now to the fact that our concert is two weeks from yesterday. I ran through Festivo with the band and fixed some minor things that ended up changing how the entire group sounded. I think the rehearsal went really well, and I want to remember how that felt so that I can continue on with that the next times I direct. I'm also at a point where I have the music memorized and am actually forgetting to turn the page as I am so engrossed with the ensemble's sound. That's the mark of where I need to be in my mind.
Got some interesting news from college last night that made me a little angry with the red tape again, but I think I managed to get past it. Still a little irritated by it and how little things are continually made into something larger there, but, I should hopefully be done with that all soon and be able to teach with a license.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it in here or not, but I ended up writing a coursepack/workbook for use with teaching solos for Solo and Ensemble Festival. I've showed it to a few people and got up the courage today to show it to SCT. Great news: he's going to use it with all of his students playing a class A solo this year!!! I know I've been making an impact with the kids, but this will hopefully make even more of one, and one that they will remember for life!!! I remember talking with some other teachers and they mentioned how they feel that their classes are not remembered by students years later. However, this coursepack will allow the students to have something that they can keep as a portfolio for later. All I have to do is burn it onto a disk tonight and print it at school tomorrow for the kids! I showed it to several studetns, parents, and music store people, and they are just as excited about it as I am! I cannot wait. Solo and Ensemble Festival has always been something that I've seen as more important in my mind for the students as it is something that makes them more musically independant. Now, the coursepack will help even more.
Then, remember the story about the student with the moldy reed? The student bought a new one today and is going to come in for an extra lesson tomorrow for help on breaking it in. Another teacher of his told me how much being in band is helping this student with the rest of his life, and the student's confidence and attitude have improved greatly because of it! I cannot wait for his lesson tomorrow!
That's all for now, lots of work to do tonight! Will probably just tape House and watch it in a few weeks.
Crunch Time!!!
Well, Thanksgiving is officially over, and the next break comes after the three concerts, a parade, numerous pep bands, numerous lessons, numerous ill students, Hallelujah Chorus rehearsals, portfolio presentation at college, commencement, graduation announcements, graduation party (family is insisting on those two things, I'm saying no as nicely as possible), two insurance applications, and starting solo and ensemble. This means, IT'S CRUNCH TIME!!!
Dates are as follows:
Dec 2 - final eval by my professor
Dec 3 - parade
Dec 9 - pep band
Dec 12 - HS Band concert (will be long)
Dec 13 - pep band
Dec 14 - Hallelujah Chorus full rehearsal
Dec 15 - MS Band concert (will be very long)
Dec 16 - Portfolio Presentation and Mued 398/400 Final Presentations (very high pressure)
Dec 18 - Commencement and Graduation Party
Dec 19 - HS Choir Concert (Hallelujah Chorus)
Dec 22 - pep band
Dec 23 - start of winter break.
Normally, if I wasn't following a collegiate schedule on top of the two public school schedules, I would be fine. However, as of December 18, everything changes is my life according to the US IRS definitions and I can no longer claim dependancy. I'm glad I'm finally moving on to "adulthood," however, it comes at the worst time of the year - holiday concert season. My entire family is after me about following college-traditions for commencement, but if I do so, I will not be mentally alert for anything at school. My students definately come before my family in this case, and I wish they would understand it. I'm not some kid anymore pretending to teach music, I am a teacher teaching music about to be licensed to teach. There's a difference, and none of them realize it.
Looking at my rant, I remember reading a book this summer about med-school interns, and it was actually a compilation of students' diaries assembled by their supervising professor at the medical school. Every intern in that book said something to the effect of what I said above, and they added an additional statement that I agree with:
"I have changed because of experiences I have had throughout this internship, and the people in my life cannot see why. However, live my life for that period of time, and you too will change. It might not make you a better person, however, it makes you better at what you do and appreciate what you've been through even more." And while writing that, my parents told me to get off my computer at least three times.
Festitude!!!
I wasn't at school today, but, I had a good reason. The school I'm student teaching at is hosting Solo and Ensemble Festival again in Spring for the second year in a row, and I was in Waunakee at the Wisconsin Center for Music Education today for a Festival Manager's Conference. Let me back up a bit as to why I am volunteering to go back after I'm done student teaching to work at the festival and help out in every way shape and form posssible...
During college (aka, the last five years) I have volunteered at our university's State Solo and Ensemble Festival and worked in the office/headquarters each year. I started out as a lowly freshman who sorted paper into envelopes and worked up to running the headquarters for the last two to three years. Last year, I observed SCT at CHS and we started talking about Solo and Ensemble, and I agreed to volunteer to run the headquarters there and come in early that week to help with final preparations and to chaperone students. This year, I am student teaching at CHS and was allowed to go to the WSMA conference in place of SCT. I just got back and cannot wait for Solo and Ensemble to start! I already have several students working on entries for this year; plus I know the school and both music teachers' copy codes as well for this years festival.
The best thing about today is that it wasn't just about Solo and Ensemble. There were workshops as well on WSMA/WMEA/WAME Resources (Wisconsin School Music Association/Wisconsin Music Education Association/Wisconsin Association of Music Education - all at
http://www.wsmamusic.org), music education advocacy, and publicity workshops. It was also a wonderful day to network and meet other people in music education in the state that were not connected with the university I attended. Also, I saw people that I did go to college with as well that I haven't seen for a couple of years.
And... Festitude!!! Our last portion of the day dealt with the attitude to approach Solo and Ensemble. Instead of using the mindset that this Festival is a requirement for WSMA member schools (which it isn't - the Concert Festival is though), think of this Festival instead as a way to provide a unique and pleasant experience to our students. Don't just throw names and numbers into the scheduling program, instead, take a look at it and make sure that the order is setup to make sure that all participating students, schools, and adjudicators have the best experiences possible.
To end with the words of a professor of mine, who is also connected with WMEA and is also a State level Festival Manager, "A happy judge means a happy student. A happy student means a happy director. Think before you say anything that would offend anyone."
what's in my iTunes...
Stolen from a fellow music ed major:
Take all the songs in iTunes (or your music player of choice), alphabetize them, and tell the first song of each letter.
A - "A Change Would Do You Good," Sheryl Crow
B - "Baby," Bobby McFerrin
C - "C'Mon C'Mon," Sheryl Crow
D - "D'Une Prison," composed Reynaldo Hahn, sung Robert Peavler
E - "Early Afternoon Blues," Chick Corea & Origin
F - "Fana Kaisi Bana Kaisi," Janki Bai (Vintage Music from India)
G - "Gaian Visions," Frank Tichelli (band composer)
H - "Halleluja," Jeff Buckley
I - "I'll Be Seeing You," Jay Atwood (jazz piano)
J - "J'Ai Deaux, Amore," Madeleine Peyroux (jazz vocalist)
K - "Kamarinskaya," composed Dmitri Kabalevski, performed San Diego Chamber Orch
L - "L'Oiseau de feu - Suite (Firebird Suite)," composed Igor Stravinsky, performed Royal Concertgebouw Orch
M - "Maids of Cadiz," composed ? (don't remember), performed UWSP Jazz Ens (I'm on the recording)
N - "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)," Cannonball Adderley
O - "Occasional Overture, Op. 38," composed Benjamin Britten, performed ?
P - "Pagan Poetry," Björk
Q - "Quartet Finale," composed Leonard Bernstein, Soundtrack to Candide
R - "Radio Sweetheart," Elvis Costello
S - "Sacred Love," Sting
T - "Tadbir Se Qismat," Mohammed Hussein (Vintage Music from India)
U - "Uf dem Anger 10. Were diu werlt alle min," composed Carl Orff, from Carmina Burana
V - "V Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age," from The Planets, composed Gustav Holst, perf. London Symphony Orch
W - "Waiting for the End of the World," Elvis Costello
X - ---
Y - "YMCA," The Village People (hey, it's fun to dance to)
Z - "Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20," Best of Wiener Philharmoniker
you really should consider a new reed
Wow, was today interesting. Friday, start of deer hunting, and the students are wound up. Friday, all but three students played their lessons. Friday, we did pep band music in band. But that's not what made it interesting. The lessons were
very interesting.
The first interesting lesson came with a senior who was last chair in his/her section. I've been teaching this student all semester and haven't been able to figure out everything that's going on with him/her. Finally I realized that the student isn't using his/her full lung capacity, therefore running out of air and he/she stops counting at the point of taking a breath. This is the one student that is throwing off the entire band in a soli section in Festivo. Spoke with SCT about this student and he said that the student had been doing that since day one in sixth grade and he's tried everything to change the student's habits on this. The same student is showing no musical improvement as well, despite hearing the student practice in our practice rooms.
The second interesting lesson came with a student who is on an IEP for ADHD and is just being transitioned into the inclusionary setting after several years in a non-inclusionary environment. This is the second lesson this semester that the student has shown up for; the first of such where the student had everything for the lesson (music, instrument, reed, etc...). I asked the student if there were any questions when student (lets call said student Minnie Mouse as PC language is harder to type quickly) said that the instrument wasn't playing well. I told Minnie that I wanted to look at it, so I took it from her and started looking at it from the bell (rather than from the top). I figured that SCT hadn't looked at this yet, and it was Minnie's first year at the high school. There were no problems with the instrument until I got to the reed: here was this chipped gray thing where the reed should be. I asked Minnie how old the reed was, assuming that she just didn't take care of the reed, when she said that she had the reed since the beginning. I knew I didn't really want to know, but I then asked, "The beginning of this year?" Minnie replied, "No, since I started in sixth grade." A three year old, moldy, chipped reed that really needed to be quarantined by the CDC or something. I've never seen anything that bad (unfortunately, I know that this will not be the last one either). I followed through with Minnie's SpEd teacher afterwards as well as SCT who just looked at me and smiled without thankfully aknowledging that there would be plenty more reeds like that in my career (for the record, the SpEd teacher looked somewhat disgusted about the reed as well; I think she chose the safer environment to work in).
The third interesting student I allowed SCT to take as I was working on grades. Finally worked out a system that SCT and I can use to easily identify students; I re-wrote the eighth grade band list in Excel and listed instrument next to the name as well as made columns for each day of the week. It is going to be so much easier from this point on with that band; I plan on doing that for my students in the future.
Also went over the audio recording of the rehearsal from Wednesday. I realized how not being an aural learner (I'm visual-kinesthetic) is going to make my job of listening for articulations and wrong notes harder. I had listened to the recording several times but never noticed small things such as an articulation in one spot. I had noticed some things, but not as many as I would have liked to.
On a final note, high school students are messy. Eighth hour came and there were no music students left in our wing. The choir teacher came over and exclaimed how she was annoyed by how the students use our department as their "closet." So, she and SCT gathered all of the personal belongings scattered around the departement and hid them in the band room (this was while I was picking up after the low brass and percussion from the last two days - SCT cleaned at parent-teacher conferences and the room was immaculate, I wanted it to look the same). I looked in the corner by the marimba and saw a stack of sweatshirts, so I grabbed them and joined SCT and the choir teacher (VMT) in hiding clothing. Then, SCT and I proceeded to clean out the band lockers of personal belongings (I never would have survived being SCT's student - my band locker held everything of mine).
Well, on to the weekend. I now have three more stories to share with the family...
a challenge I'm up for
Had an interesting lesson today. Third hour I ended up teaching five lessons within a 46 minute period, which waiting for students made the lessons about seven minutes each. I was teaching a drumset lesson, when the student said, "Hey, ya know, YOU play it!" This student is a really good percussionist and passed my ability level about two years ago on snare and drumset (I'm still better at mallets and the other drums than she is).
I told her, "You have the advantage right now seeing that I've never played your part, however, I can help you still."
My student replied, "No, YOU should play it."
I proceeded to sit down and play her part the way it is supposed to be played. I then told her how to get better at the lesson and then said that I had things at home that will help her (which I do). So, I'm going to burn her a CD or two of some good jazz percussionists (gotta love Elvin Jones) and photocopy an article from the newest Jazz Education Journal that will help her a lot.
I feel bad though; she is at a level where she needs to be studying with someone whose main instrument is percussion. I don't know if it is my place though to tell SCT that I think the student needs a professional to study with. If I was the main band director at the school, and not a student teacher, I would have her in private lessons in a flash. However, I am just a "student" and therefore still feel that I am stigmatized by the label, a label my students are very well aware of and still take advantage of at times. Most of them still see me as an authority figure except this percussionist, who I know I will have to win over with talent rather than anything else.
Hopefully the CD and article will help her; if there was more time in the day, I'd just show her these things instead.
snow days
Well, Winter has officially kicked off in Wisconsin - the highway I take to school is "ice covered and hazardous" according to the state DOT/State Patrol. However, this officially confirms the belief in the students' minds that it is definately a good time to be inside and learning. Students today just wanted to linger in lessons and band, which slowed down the pace to one I like better. Plus, students just wanted to listen to an adult talk today, which is a nice change of pace.
One thing I did think of was how to approach a person playing a solo part that needs to be double checked. Many directors would call on the student and have them play that part in front of everyone with us being directly across the room from each other. That's easy for us directors as it saves time and we're used to doing that ourselves from our college days. However, this is highly unnerving for our students who are often just trying to hide behind their instruments. I realized that it is much better for the teacher to stop rehearsal for a moment, walk over to the student, stand next to the student, and have the student play the part. That way, most of the band will start talking amongst themselves and less attention is on the single player who needs help with his/her part. Then, the student is less inclined to make mistakes knowing the entire band is listening/watching. It's so much easier; yes, you lose control of the class momentarily, however, if you are working with just one student, do you really need control of the other sixty at that exact moment?
going along
Well, the semester is going along, and we are just at the start of cold and flu season. Half of my students at school today canceled lessons due to sore throats, and my after school students at DMS did the same, so I got to come home early. I honestly don't blame them for being ill and wanting to rest; I feel the exact same way.
It is harder and harder for me to find new little discoveries each day while I am student teaching. I have been at the school for over two months now and feel as if I've been there for years. I'm developing more of my own style now (well, become comfortable with it) and am using more visual-aids while teaching. I still need to work on my list of catch-phrases to be remembered by (all teachers have them). SP observes me again in one week and I have made special arrangements with him and SCT to teach lessons that day. I'm looking forward to it - there are several students coming in for lessons that are not on our regular schedule for that day, so there will be a diverse group of instruments (including one composition student).
I'm getting back into composition too. With having been ill, I don't have the full lung capacity for flute or other instruments, so I've ended up playing piano a lot and have picked up where I left off for the Peter Pan ballet thing I was working on. It's tough though balancing teaching and composing throughout the day. I have periods of twenty minutes or so where I can work on other things, and then the bell rings and I have students again. The trick is balancing the teaching/organized thoughts with the composing/creative thoughts. I looked at a note this morning from CBD that mentioned those two things in it, and that's the challenge I'm seeing now.
Off to composing...
hymnsong
Today went well, and I'm starting to feel better. I did the first hour rehearsal with my style of teaching and actually interacted with the students more. I asked them questions! They answered! SCT has been trying to get me to just rehearse the music, but my style is to also explain what is happening. I started with Festivo; once the students knew that the first and last sections of the piece were the same, just orchestrated differently, they did a much better job. I also worked them harder than normal, and they kept up with me. It seems that when I am not as intimidated by a teacher in the room, I do better. After that, I decided to run Hymnsong of Philip Bliss. Wow!!! I told them about the meaning that piece has to me and told them about their connection to the piece to me via college. I told them that I would interpret the music differently than SCT would so they needed to watch me. I conducted it and I almost cried while doing so - they played it so sensitively and kept up with my changes. At the end, they did not make a sound. While I had my hands up from conducting I told them a final word and then let them pack up early - they did so well today that they deserved it. Later, several students told me that they liked that I conducted it differently than they were used to. I didn't ask which interpretation they liked better. I think I'll ask SCT if he'll let me conduct that piece as well as Festivo; otherwise I'm only conducting one of nine pieces for the concert (one of six for the concert band, none for the jazz band).
Lessons went well today, the students are all doing a good job.
One interesting thing though was the fact that the high school did its final dress rehearsal for Grease this afternoon in the auditorium. This was interesting. I ended up watching a bunch of students that were in the musical and watching the bandroom to prevent sound from leaking into the auditorium. We lost access to the practice rooms as those were changing rooms for the boys, so none of the students could practice. To prevent loud sounds from the students in my room, I ended up dimming the lights a bit and closing all but one door to the room. This actually helped a lot; it is a trick I picked up in ed psych last semester in our brain-based learning unit. We change our behavior based on the setting, and if you walk into a quiet room with dimmed lights, your behavior quiets. I did this technique with the eighth graders yesterday as well and it helped a bit, even though they were mentally spent from the testing.
Another problem with the musical was that the high school PA and bells were still active during this time, as well as students passing between classes. I ended up monitoring the hallways around the auditorium to keep students quiet and prevent that sound from leaking into the hall. Also, there wer only about three lessons during this time so I got a chance to watch parts of it. I tried to sneak in and literally almost ran into the director running out, so it was good I had opened the door for her. Instead, I ended up watching a bit from backstage in the scene shop to discover that you couldn't hear a thing. It was good they had it over the closed-circuit television system in the school (the cue to this info was the announcement to turn off the television monitors in the building right before the musical feed was started).
The students did really well, but there were some problems with the sound equipment that was fortunately resolved by the second act. It was rather fun to watch my students running around in costume and take part in this, even if it was a high school musical (FYI - the last musical I saw was Les Miserables on Broadway my senior year of high school, and then Blast II at Weidner).
Well, to college tomorrow for the second meeting of our portfolio class.
better not procrastinate
Yesterday and today would have gone better had I not been ill and SCT going out of state for the week (I'm with a sub). So, I'm with teachers who are giving me a lot of advice and helping me out a lot, however, I'm responsible for everything when I have been told by my doctor to not even bother being there. I can't cancel rehearsals though, and the students need their lessons. It's too important that I show up.
I'm discovering the art of how to phrase questions to prevent outbursts. Case in point: the schools are doing WKCE testing this week and I addressed the eighth grade band (while yelling with both laryngitis and tonsillitis) as such:
Me: So, how is the testing going?
Students: (enter cacaphony of noise)
I managed to get them under control quickly, but it was tough. They weren't as responsible as they had been last time I directed them - maybe I took that for granted. I told them about some of my limits and expectations as well, but I needed to keep reminding them.
Me: When my arms are up I expect you to be quiet and ready to play.
Students: (randomly talking to each other)
I tried several times and they're starting to get the hang of it. If I directed them every rehearsal, they would have this nailed by now (FYI - my middle school band teacher had us very well trained at this). They are at least a lot better about responding quicker to me and to SCT, however, I could tell they were mentally spent due to the testing and just wanted to relax for awhile. We played, and rehearsed a little. I tried to rehearse the percussion - big mistake. That was a mass chaotic sound and six students taking completely different tempi and different starting points. I'll have to get SCT to let me take their sectional next week.
If I feel like this tomorrow though, I'm calling in sick.
practice
So, I need to rant for a moment about students and practicing - more specifically, two of my private students who don't practice and are known to not practice. I am teaching voice to two high school students who have a lot of potential providing they practice. Here's the thing though: they have shown absolutely no improvement since they started with me in June. Why have they shown no improvement? They Haven't PRACTICED. The other thing is they keep showing up for lessons on their death bed and I know it's because their father is a heavy smoker (the two students are siblings). They are also both taking voice lessons at the LAA, which means they SHOULD be practicing something. I am sick of wasting my time with them and wasting their mother's money who said to me today, "I know you always have a reason behind your lesson plans..." as I attempted to explain to her YET AGAIN why her kids didn't do what they were assigned to do. The other teacher that they take from has given up on getting them to practice, and I am too. We've both asked the mother, and practicing is not enforced. I don't even know if these kids want to be in lessons. I do know that they are being pushed - by their parents - into doing this to improve, however, improvement begins at home. In theory, you shouldn't need to take music lessons if you practice; it's just nice to have a teacher double check what you are doing.
End rant.
two sites
Here are two interesting sites I found just now:
http://teachers.net/ - A site for teachers of any experience/age. There are several forums, including student teaching, where teachers can talk to each other about professional development, and just getting help.
http://teachfirstamendment.org/ - An advertiser on Teachers.Net; it is about how to teach the first amendment in the classroom. Included is a
quiz on the first amendment.
short day, grades, and a cool link
Well, we had a shortened day, which meant that the high schoolers were acting up. SCT took the rehearsal this morning and did pep band music. I taught several lessons, and then the day was over.
Grades. Today was the official end of the first quarter, and the half-way mark in my student teaching. Next Friday I get my letter of pending licensure, which means I can officially start applying for jobs if I find one. We had three classes total, about 120 students, to assign grades and comments to digitally. It took about three hours; this is because the computer system was slow and every other teacher in the district was working on the exact same thing. The actual time to enter grades took about half an hour; the rest of the time was spent waiting for the computer to load the webpage of the program. I am so glad that we have kept on top of our grading system, otherwise I might still be there right now.
Found a cool site for anyone who is into 20th Century American history and the Civil Rights Movement:
Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement at The Smoking Gun. Rosa Parks' photo is number 35 in the slide show; I haven't found Martin Luther King Jr.'s yet, but it's in there. The slide show features 100 photos of the Civil Rights era (Bus Boycotts and the Freedom Riders) found in the basement of a Montgomery County Sheriff's Department. The Rosa Parks picture is one that has been used by the media these last couple of weeks. Trivia Tidbit: Rosa Parks' booking ID was
7053 and Martin Luther King Jr.'s ID was
7089. It's amazing to see the looks in the eyes of these leaders; some show shame, others show determination. Rosa Parks has a look in her eyes that shows that she will win.
On to find more educational time-wasters...
what I love about music
Well, today was interesting, to say the least. It was one of those days where I woke up and everything just went wrong from there (well, for three hours or so). Everything just kept cascading downwards and was topped of by the fire alarm going off. I'm one of those people who keep saying, "Okay, things will get better from here," but right as I said that to myself, another thing went wrong. I didn't want to admit how horrible the day was going, cause that's a personal thing, but finally I had to tell SCT. He thankfully knew exactly what to say to make it better and the day started to improve. Taught some lessons after that point and several of my students were having similar days, so we laughed it out together as well. Best part of laughing it out together led to a spontaneous drum circle with about ten students, myself, and SCT just jamming. That's what I love about music.
Then, I discovered that I can still plunk out some notes on acoustic bass with my hand being bad (FYI - my way of getting over things is to work it out on any available instrument). So, after finding out if the strings were still good on the bass (still questioning this - they didn't snap on me) and finding out if it was in tune (G string is a little flat, but I don't want to break the string tuning it as it is large and would be close to my eyes), I played during every free moment I had and it was the most freeing feeling I have had in a long time. I love that too about music - the way it can instantly change something for the better.
Driving back tonight was another thing about music - I was behind SCT on the road, and looked in my rear-view mirror to discover one of my students. She was waving and honking to get my attention. Finally she passed me and I kept up to her for several miles until she turned off to go home (gotta love a rural school district). As she was about to turn, she waved again. She was also one of the students having a bad day.
Overall, it all worked out for the better. SCT gave me good advice when I told him how my day had been going and how I couldn't work over it - he told me to remember that there are far worse things in life and things could always be worse. Also, I'm going to take his wife's advice she passed onto me too - keep a folder of things that are really good, such as letters and pictures, and look at it when times are tough.
rehearsal and other things
Just got back from today. It went really well; I just have to keep my injured hand away from instruments (and apparantly computers too).
Band went well - I conducted Festivo again, and used a lighter beat pattern which made a world of difference with everyone. There are still a few spots where I am cuing the wrong person, but that should change soon. SCT told be to be "meaner" to the group as I am quite laid back and relaxed on the podium. It worked. Rehearsal went better and SCT answered more questions for me as well about the piece. Ironic thing is that the tempi that he likes for it is what I've been trying to do, however, the group/beat pattern has been dragging.
Lessons at school went well - I'm getting to know the method books better there. I realized tonight while teaching lessons at DMS that I am teaching about 120 students a week, with the group representing seven different schools, with four school systems thrown into the mix. No wonder I am getting confused at times - I need to keep track of all of the happenings in these districts to know what is going on. Snow days will be fun as I cancel a student's lesson at DMS if school has been canceled due to snow; and CHS never closes its doors.
Started two new students tonight. I got all the wrong impressions from the parents, but the two (brother and sister) are such good kids. All of my students are generally wonderful.
Well, being called to the other room, plus it's hard to type with a taped hand.
a long and humbling day
My day was divided into two parts: the part where I felt like a high school student, and the part where I realized I really wanted to play any instrument. The former is because my high school geometry/pre-calculus teacher walked into my bandroom today while I was teaching a lesson. I knew that he was in the school subbing, I just didn't know when he would be there. We got to talk a little bit about old times (I don't like that phrase, but I don't know what else to use) and I felt both old and extremely young at the same time. It was a very humbling experience. I ended up spending the rest of the morning talking with anyone and everyone and even got some stories out of SCT.
The long part of the day came after most of the students left the bandroom. It was very quiet and SCT likes to wander during the day. Plus, we're seeing the firsthand effects of No Child Left Behind; our eighth grade band is in the middle of state testing for that, so we are barely meeting at all this week. We're getting some lessons in, but that's it. Our schedule is so messed up between the two schools that I don't know how it would work if there was just one of us. SCT took the eighth graders while I took the lessons at the high school.
Another part of what made it long today was that lessons went well, and nothing really has to get done at this point. We will have to fit concert uniforms, but that's it for the pressing work outside of lessons.
Then, I didn't realize how much of the day I actually spend with an instrument in my hand. I am either teaching with one or am playing one to pass the time, or am playing piano to work on score study (a never-ending process). The day goes even longer when you are limited by an injury. It was one thing in college - I had other homework to pass the time. But today, I had nothing. I'm to the point of just turning on CNN or something after the lessons are done, but then that destroys the few opportunities for quiet within that room. I can't really use a computer easily, and I shouldn't even be doing this. So that really only leaves books, so I guess I'll have to go digging through boxes tonight. I'd write out some short stories since I have the time, but I can't hold a pencil easily.
One thing I have discovered is that I am a better conductor when I have a mamed hand. I can't grip the baton properly, so I can't have a death-grip on it and I can't tense up. So I'm left with being simple with my conducting pattern. SCT had me conduct for him eighth hour and he noticed this happening. I also was able to clear up some questions I had about the music as well.
Off to find some books...
technology
I got an e-mail from one of my professors the other day that I just disregarded; the professor thought that I had an elementary placement for student teaching, and not secondary. Then, this morning, I went to double-check AGAIN that the paperwork I filled out to correct the problem in my registration went through correctly, even though I've checked this before and it was correct (call it a 5 am rude awakening). Well, the Registration and Records server is down, so I can't check. And, until I know, I will probably be slightly panicked.
I don't like technology, especially when it doesn't work.
