Students from Mrs. Hall's class working on their Tators dance.

 

Week 4:February 12 – 15

 

Monday:  Today was interesting; I forgot that we did not have class on Monday.  This tore my lesson plan completely apart. The new material for the classes was fine, but the old material we had added to it because it was new last week.  The students did not have the prior knowledge for the new stuff, but I didn’t want to completely skip it because then it would make them behind for the performance.  I did some quick thinking and ended up introducing most of the new just didn’t do as much repeating.  Luckily the classes I have today are quicker learning classes and they will be with the rest of the classes in terms of ability next week.  

 

Tuesday:  One of my classes could not come to music today because they were not behaving properly with a sub.  In order to give the sub their break, Jackie and I went down to the room to “baby-sit” them during their punishment.  I used this hour as an observation hour.  The rest of the classes did very well today.  I was astounded that my really snotty 6^th grade class participated and I even saw smiles on their faces while we were doing the dance.   I actually had fun teaching this class today and in the past few weeks I felt very frustrated and discouraged.  I think the new rule totally helped.  I didn’t even have anyone in for lunch.   I taught more of the period during the kindergarten class today.  I focused really hard on teaching by example and making my directions very simple. The majority of my objectives for the lesson were met, but I could still use more improvement.  I need to find a healthy mix of leading by example and verbally giving instructions.  My voice started to give out during a couple of the lessons.  I need to make sure I have water readily available and that I drink some water between classes. 

 

Wednesday: SNOW DAY

 

Thursday: What do you do with a student that does not participate and has a very negative passive behavior –like attitude?  I have a student that would not even acknowledge me when I asked him a question.  I stuck to my intuition.  He needed to start participating, and he still wouldn’t do anything.  After class, I pulled him aside and reiterated my expectations.  Then, I told him if he still couldn’t comply with that we will have to call mom and dad have them come to class, and have a conference.  He told me he did not want that and would participate next week.  Other than this funky episode, every class was a bit obnoxious today.  We just had a snow day and tomorrow we don’t have school, so the kids were ready to party.  It’s very challenging to keep the order in the classroom.  I felt like I was constantly saying do not talk, who’s talking and other things.  I did make sure to give each student 3 warnings rather than 2 because it was a hard day. 

 

FRIDAY: NO SCHOOL!  Winter Break!

Ms. Miller's Physically Disabled Students at a full program rehearsal!

Week 5: February 20 - 23

 

Tuesday: Today is the first day that I can say I am mostly completely satisfied with the way my lessons were comprehended by the students.  I still had my issues in some activities, but I am finally starting to see full comprehension of some of the skills I have introduced the last two weeks.  Last week, I started a new way to teach the mallet parts to Boogie Woogie, by asking questions repeatedly before we go to mallets.  The classes are picking up the instruments a lot faster.  Before, I went to instruments and we discovered the notes and rhythm, but now we do that all at our seat and when we go to instruments we review quickly and take off playing.  I still need to work on my simplification of my beginning elementary classes.  I am having problems with the instrument section on one of my pieces and it is simply because I am trying to do too much at one point in time.

 

Wednesday: I had a big problem in some of my classes today with talking.  One class was just at the instruments and the other class is was the entire time.  I noticed earlier this week that I had some chaos at the instruments, but now it’s in more of my classes.  I am going to start a new rule that if you talk, touch the mallets or the instruments before I instruct to do so then they will have to go back to their seat.  This way hopefully I can get my classroom order back.  The other classes that just talk and talk, depending on the age, I start taking minutes off their lunch.  The younger students are asked to stop and then we do whatever we were doing over again row by row and it has to be absolutely silent. 

 

Thursday: I had the opportunity of having two classes at the same time today.  At first, I was a bit nervous, but I remembered earlier this semester that when I told the students why we do things it made everything work better.  So, I just told them why both of them were in there and they were alright with that.  I also made sure to tell them how important it was to follow the rules and not talk in order to have and get work done. In my other classes, I have been noticing how everything I’ve been teaching the last couple weeks is coming together.  It is one of the most nerve wracking things to have the students read and then sing a piece with you and it doesn’t sound very good.  However, after numerous repetitions, the students become comfortable with it, know the song better, and they sing their little hearts out. 

 

Friday: Yesterday I talked about how neat it was to see everything start coming together.  Today I reviewed my dance for fourth grade and then we all did it together.  I started to fade out and eventually all the students were doing it on their own.  It was the coolest thing ever. Earlier, I talked to Jackie earlier about how to quit being the leader on everything.  I asked her how she begins to let the kids lead the dance without her instruction.  I took what she told me and then added a few twists and turns of my own and slowly but surely, I weaned the children away from my demonstration and they were all doing it on their own. In sixth grade things went surprisingly well for having a week off.  The mallet piece was particularly surprising to me because each class remembered the piece somewhat.  When we got to instruments the first time through was rough, but the second time through was nearly perfect.  I was able to experiment with special groups going on my instruction.  I felt like this was a big accomplishment because it proves to me that the students are listening to me and I have good control of the room because they do things as I tell them. 

Choir dances to Macarena!

 

Week 6: February 26 – March 2

 

Monday: The entire day was interesting today because we only had 1 class in the last 3 weeks.  Most of the things I introduced two weeks ago were gone.  I had to alter my lesson plan quite a bit because they were not ready to do the advance steps in the activities.  Most of the activities required a bit of repetition to get them up to speed, and then I merely introduced the next concept.  I usually had to cut one or two activities from each class.  Fortunately, I was able to decide that in the five minutes before they came in.   I had to take in consideration of what was most important for each class to learn based on their solos/dances/instruments in the upcoming programs.

 

Tuesday:  I had a big risk taking day today.  In my morning classes, while I was teaching the tango I demonstrated the opposite dance of a tango to show the looseness.  The students lost it; they said it was the whitest thing they ever saw.  Then, with my kindergarten class, I had all the kids doing the entire clapping game and singing Peas Porridge.  It took quite a bit of class time, but the students did not seem to mind and they loved learning the game.  I was really nervous about how I was to teach it, but I slowly one at a time eased them into it, and within ten minutes I had the entire class doing. I started with a demonstration then allowed that person to do it with a partner, and I picked another student to do it with.  Afterwards I let that student do it with another.  I did this until everyone had a partner, then I walked around and made sure they were all doing it correctly.  Even though the students got many laughs at me, I loved teaching today. 

 

Wednesday: Earlier this semester I mentioned how amazed I was at changing the order for a lesson.  Today, for my 5^th and 6^th grade classes I began changing the order to suit the need of each class.  It gives me a little confusion because it’s like teaching a new plan with each class, but as long as I changed the order on the board, everything worked out great.  I felt for my more challenging classes, that I had a better grip and a tighter run in the classroom.  Tomorrow is our last day to practice the full music program before the performance.  I am a little nerved about some of it, but they kids know the songs and it’s going to be great. 

 

Thursday: The 2^nd/3^rd grade program rehearsed today and as many things that went wrong the students are really responding to what they need to do and doing it when they need to do it without too much instruction.  It’s a really exciting thing to see.  I am a type of person that has a hard time relying on students to do something without telling them, so the independent responsibility tasks that I am seeing and teaching is a new and great experience.  I am very fortunate to be learning the independence of students because I am the type of teacher that will have everything set out and done for them so they don’t have to learn the responsibility task.

 

Friday:  I am starting to see the benefits of some of my rules for the 5/6^th grade classes.  Today, one of my students that I had in lunch detention two weeks in a row and has a very passive behavior came in today and participated more than he ever has in the past.  He even went to get a paper when he did not have one.  When we went to instruments he applied himself the best he could, and he even sang.  I was so excited.  I talked to him after class just like I did the last time, but this time I told him how impressed I was with his participation and excited attitude he acquired for music.  I asked him if he would like me to call home and tell his parents how great he did.  He really liked that idea, and he even stayed to tell me his mom’s cell phone number because he wanted me to call her as soon as possible.  I am really sad that I am leaving this school next week.  I feel like I’ve grown in my teaching, but also I am finally getting to my students.  The first few weeks of teaching was me making them realize I really was a teacher and keeping there order.  Now, I got the students under my thumb and they see me as their teacher.  I can finally start really teaching, and I have to leave. 

The Three Soldiers rehearsing before their big gig!

 

Week 7: March 5 – 9

 

Monday: I stepped out of my comfort zone today and participated in the spirit month activities for March into Reading month.  This is the first week, and I plan to participate all week.  I have never participated in any school spirit functions ever and today was mix match Monday, so I had to wear clothes that did not match.  It drove me nuts, but the kids appreciated it.  My first class was a bit wild today, I ask Jackie if it was just my teaching and she reassured me that I did fine, but the students could not keep control of themselves.  The rest of the day was great and a little hectic.  I learned how distracted kindergarten children can get.  Due to the program being at their music time, I had to take them during my lunch hour when Jackie had students out in the hall way practicing choir.  Then we had a select group of choir students in and out of the room grabbing supplies for their dance.  So it was hard to keep their attention and singing when they saw all these new people. 

Tuesday: Today is program day.  I learned from the beginning of the day how fast viruses like the flu can spread, and that teachers have to be flexible with the responsibilities we give students in case things like this happen.  I had three students that had reading parts for the program that were absent because they were sick.  I also learned what a teacher is willing to go through in order to get their students to attend an after school program.  It only happens once a year, and when you have a student that can’t come because his parents have to work and other possible guardians do not have transportation for one reason or another; a teacher will depending on the circumstances offer to drive that student.  We even workout out rides between their neighborhood friends. The biggest thing is learning to be flexible and learning that if a student can’t fulfill their duties you can always get another student to do it. 

Wednesday: Last night was amazing!  I observed in various classrooms the rest of the week.  Please see those observation notes. 

 

*************************************Midterm Switch*****************************************

 

Week 8: March 12 – 16

 

I switched to the high school this week.  Monday was the only normal day because they were going through all sorts of different testing on the other week days, and Friday marked the first day of the MSBOA District 8 Band Festival.  As a result, I was not able to do any teaching of the sort this week.  Instead, I made instrumentation lists of each band, and during rehearsals I sat at different positions in the section to view the director's podium presence.  As a woman director, I am really trying to watch how he gives facial expression and works his band to watch him, because I do not think my presence on the podium will be received as empowering as his.  I am much smaller, and going along with the thought of students, much weaker because I am a girl who is very nice and “motherly.” 

 

Due to all the testing and festival, I felt like I was loosing not only one week of my teaching here for spring break, but two weeks.  I decided this was my best time to start learning students’ names, and becoming familiar with their everyday band routine.  As students walked in the door, I walked up to them introduced myself, and asked them their name.  I did this with only the first two bands of the day.  Next week, I will do it with all the bands.  Since I started this on my first day of teaching, I felt thrown out of my comfort zone.  Looking back on it, I may have made some students feel pretty awkward too because some bands I have not even been introduced to yet before I started meeting the students.  Next time, I might wait a couple of days so the kids know my face. 

 

Throughout the week, as I sat in on rehearsals including some observations of the orchestra, which was an awesome experience since I’ve never seen or heard a high school orchestra.  I even did some practice sight – reading with the band, I noticed that the director wasted a lot of rehearsal time on Monday.  I understand having some down time on occasion, but this is every day and in every class.  During the week of festival, I find this especially unacceptable.  The rest of the week, rehearsals were very productive and efficient.  Fortunately, he was able to crack a joke or go over some part of the piece and still maintain complete focus when it was time for the entire ensemble to play.  My final interesting concept I learned to keep in mind this week is that even though you have a plan for each day, the week, or any time.  It can always be changed based on what you think is going to be more beneficial to the ensemble.  We were supposed to sight read with each ensemble for an entire hour a couple of days this week, and the director decided that it would be better to rehearse a couple of spots in each piece instead.  I think this really paid off for the students, and made the director a lot more at ease for what he was to enter at festival. 

 

Week 9: March 19 – 23

 

Week two at Jackson High has been quite interesting.  Monday all the bands were able to compare their festival ratings to each other.  Then, we listened to the performance and the adjudicators taped comments, and discussed a few issues on our own.  All the bands I have participated in always did this after festival, but I felt like there were too many students not listening and using the hour as a “blow off” hour.  After thinking about this a bit, I thought that with my band, I will copy a blank judge’s sheet and we will listen to the concert and then fill it out.  We could do this collectively or in groups.  This assignment would get all the students listening and maybe also allow them to think about their future music performances in a different light, and get to experience what it is like to judge a band. 

 

Tuesday was my first day of teaching.  I must admit I was quite nerve racked because Joel was not there and I have not been in front of the bands.  I started the first band and things were alright.  However, I had quite a bit of talking when I was addressing specific problems throughout the band, and some of the students thought it would be fun to mimic me.  The next hour I decided that I would tell the band my expectations.  For the most part, I expect the same that the director expects, but I do not like to have too much talking.  I think that is one thing that bothers me about the director's rehearsals.  This band took to those expectations, and the class was as perfect as I could have it.  This short lesson allowed me to learn that before you step in front of any group of kids, you should tell them who you are, and what you are doing/expecting. 

 

There were also many other good and bad things that went on this week.  The first of which, I know I can fix with experience and possibly making up my own charts.  I had a hard time conducting the bands on warm – ups because all the bands have a different set – up to accommodate the sound.  I would go to cue an entrance for my chorale and the place where I am cueing has the wrong instruments.  In my future school, I would like to keep the set – up as close to the same as possible so these things do not confuse me.  I am still learning names, and to be quite honest I do not think I know any more than I did at the end of last week.  I think these things will get better as I work with the students more. Another thing I found out this week is that three of my flute students have instruments that are well past the point of working.  When I found this out, I was so frustrated.  I know as a band director that you cannot listen to every instrument and make sure it works, but I do believe that if we had more playing tests or sectionals the director could pick up on these things quicker. I find this terribly important especially because we just had festival and these students did not have a properly working instrument.     The coolest thing that happened this week is something I have been waiting for years for and still never believed it could happen.  I had full control of the band! J At the end of the song, there is a big ritard and a fermata, then the low brass come in on cue with the final ending.  I was able to slow the band down to a crawl, hold the chord at a fortissimo sound and decrescendo it down, and then give the cue to the low brass.  It was so neat!  I definitely got chills. 

 

Flowers from the choir concert!

 

Week 10: March 26 – 28

 

This week was very hectic and went very fast.  I got to learn a little bit of what it is like to have two different programs at two different schools.  I am still working with the 5^th/6^th grade choir after school and on Tuesday we had our concert with a Monday night dress rehearsal.  So it was interesting to learn how to manage my lesson planning and score preparation time, with a concert of another ensemble.  In the beginning, I felt almost as if I might let the other ensembles down because I would not have sufficient time to prepare for full lessons.  However, I was able to creatively work some review of the last rehearsals in, sight – read, and continue work on our pieces without forgetting too much while I was on the podium.  Looking back on it, it was a neat experience.  On Wednesday morning, I felt a bit unprepared, but I had first hour to compose my final thoughts and the lessons went off without a hitch.  However, the first two hours the kids were in my mind “out of control.”  Every time I talked they were off to their own world.  They did not seem to care that I was there and wanted to rehearse.  It could be because of spring break, but I find that unacceptable.    

 

I am really happy with the way the students are responding to me now too.  On Monday, I had my second time in front of the groups, and they were still a bit chatty and didn’t really know if I really was going to be alright as their teacher.  When Tuesday came and the lessons became a bit more intricate, they paid attention.  When there was talking or mimicking of any sort, I made a stern look and kept it clear that that behavior will not be tolerated.  One time, I even asked a student why they were doing it, and continued to tell them that I am a teacher just like my coordinating teacher and I should be treated equally if not better than my coordinating teacher. This technique whipped them back into shape, however the next day made interactions a bit rough because the students felt sheepish around me.  I do not know if I portrayed I was made at them, but I was my normal happy self.  So hopefully, things will get better.  It was interesting to see how this worked when my coordinating teacher was in the building, but when the students knew he was gone, they were the most disrespectful humans on the planet.  I am not really sure what to do about this, but I am going to talk to my coordinating teacher when I get back from break. 

 

The most important technique that I learned and need to work on is my vocal dynamic/expression/enthusiasm in the classroom.  I have a very strict approach to things, and I need to work on chilling out.  As I watch my coordinating teacher, I notice that he cracks jokes in the middle of class.  One time he got really excited and said, “Yes you can play in the key of Bb!”  Then he changed his voice and said, “If you could all play in the key of C that would be splendid!”  If I were in that situation, I would have only pointed out the flaw and said, “There is a key change to C at this measure.  Let’s try that again.”   Mac also came into observe me this week, and he gave me a couple things to work on with my conducting so I can get a better response from the band.  So I also need to continue working with these suggestions over the break. 

 

****Next week is spring break.  No Journal will be sent.***

 

Week 11: April 9 - 13

 

The week after break is always tough to get back into motion.  When I looked at the board and noticed my coordinating teacher had long tones on the board, I was quite surprised.  Once band started he told them the first days after break are always rough because they don’t play for so long and in order to get the chops back up, we needed to play, play, and play.  That’s the reasoning for spending time on the chromatic scale doing long tones and then we really worked the circle of fifths with various exercises, as well as read 3 pieces without a break for each band. 

 

Keeping this in mind, when it was my turn to start rehearsal, I had planned on moving to a new scale, but I reviewed the scale from before break.  Then the next time, I introduced a new scale.  When we rehearsed the pieces, I did a run through first just to see what they remembered and what they forgot, and then I was able to modify my lesson plans accordingly. 

 

Some really good things started to happen this week.  I am beginning to get really comfortable with all the bands.  I have been working hard on creating a dynamic lecture voice to keep the enthusiasm and attention of the students going throughout the rehearsal.  I think this really helped me out on Tuesday for my Varsity band.  However, each band is so different that it is hard to know what you need to do in terms of expression for each group.  My best moment of the week happened on Wednesday.  I introduced the new scale, but approached it from a new angle. Instead of jumping in with the scale, I worked the circle of 4ths, and then went back half way and stopped at the key I wanted to work.  The students picked this up so fast.  I was surprised. There was no guessing game to figure out the correct notes, they knew where they were within the circle and pulled it out.  Even though this is not the ultimate goal to playing scales, it is a good step. I think this worked so well because when we do circle exercises sometimes we use up to five notes on each key.  I realized the students could hear the key and knew where to go before we even did it.  You could tell they were excited by the motivation they put out to learn it.  I also think this made the rest of the rehearsal run smoother because they realized I was not setting them up to fail.  Last week, they struggled with the A Major scale, but it’s because I needed to find the correct approach. 

 

The technique I need to work on now is trying to find a way to explain/demonstrate the exact dynamic and/or lyricism I am hearing with each piece.  The students do the dynamics and show contrast, but I don’t think they are confident in the painting they need to produce.  I hope the writing assignment that I have in the works will help with this.  I am sure that over time, through trial and error I will find that technique that works best for my way of teaching. 

 

 

There were some really great interactions I had with students this week when I gave them time to work on their scales individually.  Unfortunately, I did not have a camera present. 

 

Week 12: April 16-20

 

 

This week has been another uplifting week and I feel that I’m starting to be well on my way to becoming a great band director.  Finally, I feel confident with knowing most of my students’ names, and when I’m on the podium they listen.  I did a few things to help this.  The first of which, instead of “setting them up for failure” on the scales, I go around the circle and arrive at the scale.  Fortunately, this week I moved into the next step of knowing the scale and I didn’t write it on the board.  I brought them to it, but they needed to lead the way.  Next week, I will not bring them to the scale because by now, they should know the notes and fingers.  Also, I began to explain and ask more questions.  After doing a couple scale exercises, I asked, “Where do we play this kind of articulation?” I allowed them time to look through their music, and then they came to a general understanding with me to know that I was not up there wasting their time during warm – ups.  They were actually practicing something so we wouldn’t have to rehearse it later.  Another thing I did was worked with the group to define OUR definitions of dynamics.  I haven’t been able to get the exact levels I want the last few weeks, so instead of describing again since it hasn’t worked.  I said listen to this scale, it’s an mp, and can you play it back.  We went through that doing several different dynamics.  Then, I would just play a scale and ask them to raise their hand if they thought it was a certain dynamic. After they decided, I told them what the level was to me.  I wasn’t sure how this would pan out at first, but once we dove into the music, I knew it had paid off.  I didn’t have to rehearse the same spots again and I could begin to conduct the music. 

 

I also felt really good when I noticed that I gained some respect from a couple of my more talkative brass players.  Throughout the last week, I’ve made it a point for myself to say hello to them personally and make sure they day is going alright.  About mid – week, during rehearsal I noticed one of my trumpet players, who is always talking and never where he needs to be wasn’t talking and had his horn up looking at me.  I wanted to say something to him, but instead I smile at him and gave him the keep up the good work nod.  It must have been enough because he kept it up all week.  Another occurrence happened during my Cadet band.  The two trombone kids that are just awful had their horns up and ready every time I looked at them. I didn’t even have to look at them for talking this week.  For this band, I knew it would be good to comment aloud.  So I said, “It is so great to see the low brass with their horns up and ready to go.  They did such a stellar job today. Thank you and keep up the good work.”

 

There are still things I need to work on with my lessons, but they are minor.  Some include, giving more facial expression while conducting the music, and being more dynamic so I can have everyone’s attention all the time. 

 

 

Week 13: April 22-27

 

Again, I am at the point where I have established relationships, am able to teach, and I have to leave.  It’s rather disheartening.  I put the final touches on my pieces this week and on Thursday we ran them.  The Varsity band was more prepared then the Cadet band, but I think it’s due to the difficulty of the pieces and the playing/experience level of the players.  The Cadet band is playing a piece that is very thick and requires a lot of breath support, which they don’t always use. 

 

Since this week was winding down, I got to observe a lot of music rehearsals.  I decided to pick a couple different things to focus on during my coordinating teacher's rehearsals.  I learned quite a few different things.  The first is that quite often my coordinating teacher will not give the beats and instead use his hand to show the direction and intensity of the melodic line.  When the percussion came, he started the band on a piece.  Then, went back and conducted just the percussion as the band played on their own.  It was really neat to see them play together and listen to each other.  They were able to play through all the songs and stay together through many tempo, style, and ritard changes.  On another day, I paid attention to his conducting. I wanted to see how he conducts music and not notes.   My coordinating teacher was rehearsing the Ticheli piece.  He transformed the 5/4 bar to a 6/8 bar and 1 4/4 bar to help them play the notes and rhythms easier and it was very valuable however only for the people who were playing and not for the people with rests.  By the end of the week, the band was really starting to get this piece, and he was able to go back to the traditional style of conducting this piece. 

 

Although I just polished this week and observed, I learned more than I could type in this journal.  I am quite sad that student teaching is over, but I am ready to tackle my next adventure. 

 

Home    Philosophy    Resume    Content Knowledge    Growth and Development    Learners and Learning    Planning and Instruction   

Management and Motivation    Communication    Learner Assessment    Reflection    Collaboration    Conclusion

Student Teaching Experiences    Secondary Literacy Pedagogy Final   

Academic    Professional    F.U.R.S.C.A.

 

Questions, comments or concerns can be emailed to me.