My experiences at Awesome High have changed the way I approach teaching. Being in this block has helped all of us become more professional or for me at least attempt to be more professinal. I think being in this block with interns who are educated in different fields has taught me to respect other subjects and even to not be so afraid to incorporate their subjects in my classroom. I think before this block ecperience I always had my dukes up ready to defend music and my future students who want to be apart of band. I know that I don’t have to go into it but the arts are often critisized or seen as less important. Yadayada…I am sure you have heard it all as well. I have learned so much from all of the interns here. Everyone was so open and eager to help everyone out. I always felt comforted by everyone here because it was a constant reminder that we are all going through the same things.

Working with my cooperating teacher was eye opening as well. My CT is a unique teacher who has one of the biggest hearts around Texas. He taught me about ”loving” your students (in a professional way of course) and still be able to be extremly tough on them. One student said that he expects a lot of every students and it gets frustrating. She ended by saying but I know he does it because he wants the best for us. The students can’t always see what is important for them. My CT constantly reminds them that they are great but he also reminds them that they can’t ever settle for being the best. They have to always strive higher and higher. I am blown away by where he has taken his students. The lesson I will carry away is that teaching students has to begin with believing in your students. The other lesson is that he used to always say is that it is not that the students can’t learn it but that I the teacher can’t teach it.

This morning we went over making test questions in 007′s class. This whole discussion on how to make a test that reduces students’ anxiety has been eye opening. Most of the things we have talked about that are considered a bad test pretty much sums up my middle school and high school experience with taking tests. It seems that the schools that I was at did not really care that I understood the material. It felt that it was really a test of how complicated they could make the material seem. Now that I think about it the best teachers were those that knew how to asses us on tests. For a long time I was confused about the purpose of testing. I am comforted by our discussions of how to test them with purpose and anxiety reducers.

Contest for band is 4 days away! It is finally here. Today they played in the auditorium and ran some of their pieces. They are sounding great! My CT also was telling me about how at 8am they sight read a new piece daily. That is so wonderful because there are many directors that don’t touch sight reading except for a few times a year. Sight reading is important because the students will walk away with a strong ability to read music……not just the ability to play the same 3 pieces they have practicing since January.

I feel that all of the lessons we have learned and observations we have made are finally coming together. It can feel overwhelming sometimes when you look at everything as a whole but I do feel that certain things are starting to sink in.

Countdown

Today we talked about motivating students in the classroom. This reminder of motivation could not have come at a better time. My personal goal for my lesson plans are to make my lessons much more about the students. One of the ways my lesson plans have been lacking is in how I was motivating them. I feel like I need to let go of the tension I have and bring the students  into the lesson in a motivating way. 

In my C.T.’s class I was once again blown away by how far they have come and how much they have achieved. I can tell they are going to go far. April 5th Misty and I plan on going to their competition and can’t wait to hear them in action. It is going to be useful for us to hear them in the sightreading room as well. According to our CT that is where we can learn the most.

My ELL buddy is doing so well!! She is reading outloud and asking questions. My favorite thing about her is her curiosity. It makes working with her exciting. She has a notebook that she writes every word she learns down in. I noticed today that she has a whole notebook of words she has learned along the way. There is no doubt she is going to do well with English and in school. Today I asked her if she ever needed help with her homework I can help her. Everytime we have meet she has said not but today she said yes. Next time we are going to get her going on her homework. I can’t believe or sessions are almost over but I have no doubt that she will be succesful as lon as she keeps going at the pace she is now.

I observed my ELL buddy’s sheltered biology class today. The class was made up of 10th graders.  The lesson was a multi-day lesson. Today’s specific lesson was over pollination.

I.Preparation

The teacher has an agenda on the board telling them what to expect. The subject he was teaching was about pollination which seemed to be age appropriate. He used a PowerPoint presentation to teach them about the subject and give them visual examples of the things he was talking about. After his presentation he had them individually read the chapter alongside of a guided reading worksheet they had to complete.

II. Instruction

(1) Building Background

He linked how animals respond to food to the way the students respond to food. This helped the class be able to relate the information to their own lives to gain understanding about animals.

Before he began his lesson he reminded them of the past lessons they have done. As he talked he referred back to labs they had previously done or other subjects they had already gone over.

(2) Comprehensible

He had a nice teacher voice. His voice was loud and assertive. Sometimes he spoke a little quickly but he made up for it by repeating certain ideas. He explained the reading guide well but had some difficulty keeping the students on task.

(3) Strategies

I did not see much opportunity for the students to use any type of strategy. He would use a lot of real life examples to support their learning. There weren’t any questions served to students during his lecture.

(4) Interaction

There wasn’t any opportunity for discussion today. It was mostly a student work day. The students did ask questions about their reading guides and he made is way around the room many times.

(5) Practice/Application

The students were presented with the information by lecture, assigned to read the material out of the book, and answer questions alongside the reading. 

(6) Lesson Delivery

The content and language objective was supported by his lecture. He was able to clearly teach what he had told them they would learn. After they were taught they read more about it and tested their own knowledge throughout the reading. The kids were engaged about 45% of the time. The class was talkative and starring off into space. However, the closer they got to the end of the period the more the kids got engaged. The worksheet had to be finished or it would be homework. This helped them concentrate on getting their jobs done. He could have had a faster paced classroom. The kids seemed uninterested and antsy. I feel that they were almost beginning for an engagement activity.

III. Review/Assessment

The review that the students had was the guided reading worksheet. The was the only type of assessment they received. He did give them feedback on the worksheet they were doing in class.

Monday Morning

Today in 007′s class we went over profanity in the classroom. It has been interesting to observe Awesome High’s procedures in dealing with this issue. I was kind of shocked that the students can get away with saying certain words and not have any consequence. It is quite a different experience then what I grew up with in school. I like the philosophy that sometimes you have to pick and choose your battles. In 007′s class we talked about discussing the appropriate times to use cuss words and when we need to be more professional. I think that it is important to talk to the students like adults and not pretend that they don’t use them all the time. Explaining the rationale behind why they can’t use those words will help them be more successful. It is important to respect what they say on their own time. Something I will say to my students is that cussing does not make them sound intelligent.

Today my coop. teacher’s class they did more rehearsing for their contest that is coming up on April 5th. He was using some good strategies to get them going after the break. He had recorded them two days before spring break. Today they listened to the recordings and he gave them a lot of feedback. He also had them play experts of the music right after they listened to it so they could hear the difference in the sounds.

My ELL buddy is starting to show some real interest. She brought a notebook today and was writing down everything she didn’t understand. She even says she feels comfortable reading out loud now. Next time I am going to read to her and then she is going to read back. At the beginning she was afraid to read out-loud. I am proud of how much she is interested in learning as much as she can.   

In the rhythm

This week has been good yet challenging. It is funny because I was typing my blog today during my conference period and went to hit save and somehow the sight lost everything I had written. B-e-a-utiful. haha. Well lesson learned. Be more careful when blogging. *pauses to save*. 

My lesson plan that I made for Monday fell through because of a scheduling conflict. I then made a new lesson plan after talking to the director more about what he thought the kids were capable of doing. I guess we all have those weeks where you feel like nothing works right. I think my teach today went okay. The students enjoyed the board game I had them play. However, I should have set up the game a little differently to save time and have more engagement from all the students.

In class I have been learning more about behavior and how to deal with it. I am quite intersted in this because I know that as a first year teacher I am going to need to know how to apply this to my students. We talked about Glasser’s WDEP. At first I was skeptical because it seems like there is too many steps. However, I feel like this could be an effective tool for giving kids the power to control their behavior in a positive way. Nick had talked today about how he had attempted to try it in his class and it had gotten the girl’s attention right away. I thought that was pretty neat.

 Using a list-group-label strategy has sparked some ideas in my head. I think that this strategy can help my students relate the pieces they are playing to one another. It gives me an idea on how to teach my kids the differences in the styles they will use from piece to piece. As musicians we don’t compare the pieces we are playing often enough.

Today, I learned quite a bit about another side of being a band director. This director expects the world out of these kids and when they don’t deliver their best it becomes an ugly scene. The band students call it ’tough love’. He loves the kids and invests so much of himself in the program. He does not let them slip by with giving 99%. He expects his students to be at 100% all of the time. It is a lot to ask but I don’t think he would ask anything from them that they were not capable of doing. After class he told me a quote that I thought was the perfect way to describe his class. I have searched for the exact phrasing and can’t find it. I believe it is by JFK and states that every man wants to be successful but to be successful you have to drag the man into being sucessful. I am sure I butchred those words but they reflected what I saw the director doing. Some of the students in his class have all the talent in the world but make a choice to not be invested in the music.  He has to almost beg some of the students to work harder and invest some of their heart into what they are doing.

Once again, I feel like the stars are lined up just right and that the things I am learning in my classes are linking up with the things I am observing. We talked about how students have the ability to control their behavior and in band I could see students dancing on the fine line of being in control and almost giving up. The director’s strong faith in his students help them come over to the side on being more in control.

I have been meeting with my new ELL buddy. I really enjoy helping her and talking to her. She is interested in learning and is motivated to try hard. I am still trying to build rapport with her. She is quiet but is vocal when she doesn’t understand something or if she gets excited. I know she has trouble speaking and reading English. I am trying to find way to help her improve. If any of you have suggestions please let me know.

Even though I felt a little shot down this week I still really enjoyed the block. I don’t think it would be the same without the professors, all of you interns, the CTs, or the students. Hope you all have a fab-u-lous break!

  

I learned a lot from Monday’s block and enjoyed it as well. I enjoyed learning about the Madeline hunter lesson plan. That has helped me clarify how I will lay out my classroom lessons. I feel like band kind of already has the warm-ups and closures built in already. However, it has made me think of how I will get them into their seats and what I will have on the board for them to be looking at or playing while they wait for the band warm-ups. Learning more about cooperative learning has made me think about the classrooms I have been. I am amazed that teachers are afrais to try this. I am not an experinced teacher so it is easy for me to say something is easy. Bond’s lesson helped claryify that you have to start small with partners and then ‘graduate’ to bigger groups. I had never looked at it like that. I would have gone full force into big groups before the class was socially trained to work in groups.

I enjoyed the crayon activity as well. It was such a non-threatning way of approaching a new subject. We got to use the knowledge we already have along with a dash of creativity to open a new subject. This is a great tool to use in the classroom. I think that I could try to use this in a beggining band class. It would be useful to opening a new subject of music and preassesing what they already know about the subject.  

Today I met with my ELL buddy for the first time. She is quite sweet and has an interest in learning. I am excitied about helping her try to get better at English. She has a little trouble with converstation. She is motivated to learn more and I hope that I can help her in her classes.

Hello again.

I feel like I have been all over the place. Last week I toured with the Texas State Wind Ensemble around Texas until last Thursday. Then came home for 30 minutes and traveled back to San Antonio for TMEA. TMEA is a big deal for music educators and musicians. It is four days of seminars, exibits, and bands. I have gone every year but this year was different. I had to act a little more professional this time around. I tried to soak in as much as I could and talk to as many educators and directors as I could. I went to quite a few seminars, watched bands, talked to directors, and walked around the exhibits. It was quite an experience and recharged my “music batteries”. Honestly, I thought I would be dead tired from the non-stop weeks I have had but instead I was ready to get back into the swing of things. That proves to me that I am right where I need to be. Thank goodness.The lessons we have been learning in block have been mirroring what I am seeing in the classroom.

Professor Bond has been talking about objectives and how to make them specific not abstract. That has made me think about the words I use when I am teaching. When I find myself using those abstract words I try to resort to words that are more specific not “fluffy”.

Professor Nicholson has made me think hard about how I could use text in a band class. How can it be helpful to them as readers and as musicians? This is challenging for me but I like being forced to think outside of the box we always feel comfortable in.

I no longer have an ELL buddy but will be reassigned one soon. I hope my last buddy is okay. I know that she got into some trouble and may not be coming back.  Today, Misty and I went and observed Mr. Raymond’s class during our conference period. It was interesting to watch how differently the ELL kids acted in his class. They all were vocal and confident.  Mr. Raymond even came and talked to us for a while about his students and how he teaches. 

Monday I started teaching band students. It made me a little nervous to teach a french horn player but I was so pumped after I got finished teaching him. I did not expect to enjoy teaching so much and everything came to me a lot easier then I expected.  Today I helped abass clarinet player/clarinet player on his solo and ensemble music. Solo and Ensemble is an individual competition for band students. This kid is a great player and has practiced a lot. Unfortunately, he has had minimal help on the piece and has practiced some of the part wrong because no one was there to guide him. It is tough to tell someone that the hard work they have been putting into something has been incorrect. I helped him mostly by trying to teach him how to practice. I was correcting his mistakes but the main thing I wanted him to take away from our time was how to apply this information on his own. I kept reviewing what we had talked about and had him demonstrate the skills. I hope it helped him.

Once again, this past week has been eye opening. I am amazed at how everything we are learning in our block is beginning to make since in our teaching. I know I am a huge goober but I am extremely excited about learning/teaching as musch as I can. I feel so lucky to be in this program.  

Rules are rules or are they?

          Today we learned more about how to set rules in the classroom. I started to think about what kind of rules I will try to use in my classroom. I know that one of the biggest rules used in band is “To be early is to be on time. To be on time is to be late. To be LATE is unacceptable.” That is one of the rules that has to be in place in order for a band to start on time. Most band halls around Texas have that hanging on their walls. The students have to have their instruments together and be warmed up before the bell even rings. It is a lot to ask from a student but it necessary of all bands. I am still thinking about what other rules are important to me.

     I also liked the idea of working hard outside of school so that the students have to work hard in school. Wong talked aboutteachers being exhausted  by the end of the day because they worked hard teaching students while the students just sat and listened. It is important to have students actively involved in class. 

      Today was my second day in band class. I watched both the first and second band. They were night and day from each other. The top band had mature musicians who gave attention and energy to the rehearsal. The second band acted up, talked throughout the rehearsal, and gave minimal energy when they were playing. It was an eye opening experience and I am glad that I am getting to see this difference. I am confused on if it is the difference in directors, the age of the kids, or all of the above. I am sure there are multiple reasons for this difference in the kids behavior. I felt the first director brought a huge amount of energy and also demanded that they pay attention. Those kids were serious about the music and knew what they had to accomplish. At one point he had a kid act up and eliminated the problem right away. When he did that the rest of the band started to concentrate more and gave up any idea of having conversations. The second director had energy as well but he wasn’t as firm with the students. He used a “fluffier” approach to talking to them. I think he is a good director with a good ear but I am not sure that those kids can handle having such a relaxed environment. I feel that if he turned up the firmness with the students just a notch he might be able to have the students pay more attention. Watching him was very helpful. He had wonderful things to tell the students but it was in how he delivered the information to the students that determined if or if not the students were going to pay attention. I am excited to see how the semester unfolds for these directors and students.

        I feel as if the teacher side of me woke up a little more today. I am continuing to ask myself questions on exactly what I would do in the classroom. I am still questioning how I am going to walk on that thin line of being stern but at the same time being able to reach them. Today in Wong’s video he talks about not smiling until Christmas. I think this is important for me to remember because my tendency is to want to try to be nice and be their friend. watching these two classes today taught me about trying to find that balance for myself. I am excited that I get to try this out and I keep telling myself that if something doesn’t work then I just need to keep tweaking things until it I get it right.

Another First Day

       In Dr. Bonds class today we continued learning how to manage our classrooms in an efficient way. Learning about classroom management makes me feel more confident about teaching.  I fear that I will lose control of my classroom.  Today we watched a video about rules in the classroom. I like the idea of limiting the rules to 3-5 rules in the classroom so that they are able to remember what they have to follow. I also like that we can give them a choice of consequences and rewards. Students enjoy having choices. Also, this technique gives them the ability to see the results of their actions and take responsibility for the actions they take.

       I met my cooperating teacher today. Faust is one of the most inspiring people I have met. He talked a lot about focusing on teaching students life skills. He sees music as just a vehicle to get those students to the valuse and lessons he is trying to teach them. He believes he is there to help make better people. He never says, “My students can’t do this.” Instead he says, “I don’t know how to teach my students well enough.”  Faust believes that his students can do anything they want to do. Once they say they want to achieve something he will push them until they get there. He is tough but fair. I am very excited about working with him.

       Today was eye opening. I am inspired by everything I have seen today. I am going to start teaching in band on Wednesday. It makes me somewhat nervous to start teaching but at the sametime I am excited to begin teaching. I hope that I can help these students and be someone that actually helps them. I don’t want to be a teacher that adds to their list of problems. I am going to work hard to help them as much as I can. Can’t wait.