Mission Accomplished!

I had so much fun today! I'm disappointed senior project is over- these past two weeks have flown by!

Today, the morning classes were 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. The 3rd and 5th grade were doing the same lessons. I stepped in to teach the tone chimes, leading the Memorial Day Songs and trying to keep switches fair. I also started the tableaus (like yesterday) and it was interesting to see how everyone reacted. I had them count off into groups by 3s. One kid said he could not work with another person in his group and that that person "hated him!" I tried to talk him into cooperating, but finally after awhile, I just sat there with him and of course, that's when he got bored and decided to try it out. Go figure! I attempted to intervene in the groups that really needed direction, but other groups were completely independent. I looked for any major differences in the groups that worked well and the groups that didn't work well, but I didn't notice anything in particular. I guess I'll have to leave some questions unanswered to revisit in future teaching opportunities! The other morning class was the fourth grade. They were practicing for their end of the year concert so I worked the stereo and observed. Mrs. Densmore did a really good job of refocusing the students after she had asked for quiet several times. She sat them down and explained that if they didn't catch up to the other classes, they would fall behind and drag the concert down. She was very logical and afterward, they complied and we ended up finishing everything!

The afternoon group was really exciting! There was a slight change to the lesson planned so I observed and helped with the second grade class right after lunch. But then I got a chance to solo teach a first grade class! (Well, not entirely because Mrs. Densmore was right there just in case, but other than that, all eyes were on me!) I started the class by taking attendance, trying to go fast to keep their interest. Then I led them in solfege! (This is what scared me so much before! But it wasn't bad at all and the students all sang really well!) Then I transitioned them into Memorial Day. My goal was to hit home the moment of silence after taps and I think it went really well! They stayed quiet even though there was outside noise as we practiced! Next on the agenda was Memorial Day songs with tone chimes. I'm not sure I did as well on this part. It was difficult to get everyone music and then over to pick out their tone chime without losing focus. After asking them to switch and give their tone chimes to the back row, one kid looked at me and said, "I haven't played yet!" So I said, "Well, we just sang. Why didn't you play?" And he went, "I didn't know I was supposed to!" That was a bit of a misunderstanding, but then I discovered that he didn't know when to play his note anyway so I decided to take a step back and explain the entire thing. The next couple of songs went much smoother. After singing the national anthem, I then retold (in a very animate way) the Francis Scott Key story. The students then had a chance to act it out themselves (a simpler version of the tableaus) as I dictated the story. While we were acting it out, one child started being rambunctious. I quietly asked him to stop because he was being unsafe and the other students couldn't hear. Once he refocused, he became interested in our activity and I didn't have to talk with him again! They were so attentive during class that they had extra time to play musical 'duck duck goose' at the end. During the game, one girl was upset that she had to go in the middle and then, guys on the outside of the circle started to pick on her. I was really upset because she was on the verge of tears and I couldn't let that happen while I was teaching! So I clapped for quiet and explained to the class that this was a safe learning environment where no one should be put down or picked on. I asked them what were nice, encouraging things they could say. I was glad to see the girl smiling on the way out. Overall, I was really excited to truly teach my first class and I think it was a very positive experience!

This is turning into a very long post, but I also wanted to mention the other afternoon class quickly. We were interrupted by the all-school picture and when they returned to class there was only 10 minutes left. I was really pleased when we sped through all the material and they had time to play a game! I'm so happy my senior project went so well and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to try teaching music!

Mash-Up Monday

Class today was a great compilation of many different topics. We covered everything from a review of Memorial Day to tableaus of Francis Scott Key to a reflection on Junk 2 Funk.

Mrs. Densmore started by asking the class 3 questions (which she also highlighted on the board): What did you learn from Jeff Irwin? How did he influence you? How was the concert successful? These questions were designed to get the students to respond in more than one word and really get them thinking about their topics. It was great to hear stories about how a couple of students had gone home and made recycled instruments. Others had taken initiatives to reduce, reuse and recycle. It was exciting to see how much of an impact he had. The class then switched gears to Memorial Day review. With the fifth graders, we simply sang through the songs and discussed proper etiquette during the service. The fourth graders were responsible for the tone chimes so we had them practice a couple of times and then they did a dress rehearsal with silent transitions. It’s a really big day for Sutton Elementary School- the secretary of state will be attending the Memorial Day Service!

The last activity was designed to get the kids up and moving. I reviewed the Francis Scott Key story with the class. One student even remarked, “You did a really good job explaining that!” which was really nice and a huge difference from my first, stumbling attempt two weeks ago. Then we started the tableaus (living pictures) because it’s a great way to get the kids physically acting out the story. I watched some interesting group dynamics as the students hurried to finish all 5 pictures. One group didn’t really understand the concept of using everyone in each picture so I stepped in to straighten them out. I also added in some creativity when some kids were left out of a picture, but other than that, they really came up with some interesting concepts! They had a great time acting and freezing and they learned a lot. I also had a lot of fun learning and teaching today!

Weekly Reflection #2

This week was not a boring, repetitive time in the music-teaching world! I saw many different types of teaching this week: Mrs. Densmore, the substitute, the Junk 2 Funk program and my own teaching. Each style demonstrated a unique aspect to teaching and even as a teacher, I learned quite a bit! The flexibility within senior project also allowed me to pursue other music performance venues: my bassoon lessons and the quintet tour. Even though everything did not go as planned this week, I had a great time and really experienced a lot.

I learned so much this week from the different teaching styles. On Monday, Mrs. Densmore started class and I got to watch her navigate through David Coffin’s website. Although she was lecturing in a way, she used the smart board to keep everyone engaged and each student got to pick an early instrument to listen too. One class even commented on the blog; it was great to see them so excited! I learned that in elementary music, even when you have to lecture, it’s very important to be creative and keep the kids interested. I also got to show and tell my bassoon on Monday. As I put my instrument together, I watched the kids eyes get wider as the bassoon grew taller. I led a discussion on why the bassoon plays in the bass clef and how it makes such a deep sound. I played “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and had the students sing along with the last verse. Then I played a more classical piece and took questions afterward. I think Mrs. Densmore asked me to do this because she knows I am really passionate about bassoon and it’s a subject with which I’m very familiar. I was very comfortable in front of the class and it was fun to show them my gigantic instrument.

The Junk 2 Funk program was also a great learning experience. Jeff Irwin had the challenge of keeping 20+ students attentive with the added distraction of noisy percussion instruments. Mr. Irwin did a really good job of connecting with the kids. His way of getting them quiet was to shout, “Yo!” and they would answer, “What’s up?!” It was cute and they enjoyed doing it so they quieted down right away. It also crossed their sticks so they couldn’t make noise on the drums, which was really clever. I really enjoyed the program and I even got to pound away on the drums a couple of times!
One thing that didn’t go quite as planned was having a substitute on Thursday. However, it was a good time for me to take a leadership role. The sub had never taught music and so I was available to help. I started the tone chimes and helped them sing along. I also took a more prominent role in discipline. I talked to a couple of guys and used the clap method to get their attention. All in all, having a substitute and seeing the Junk 2 Funk program was very informative.

I really appreciated the flexibility of senior project this week. My bassoon teacher was only free Wednesday morning so I was able to take the morning off and become a student again. My lesson went really well. On Friday, I also toured with the Scholarship Quintet. We played at four different venues for about a half hour each. It was a playing marathon and very challenging mentally. If I was to major in music, I could branch into music education or performance. This week was great because I got to explore each venue.

World Tour

I didn't go to school today. I was on tour with the CCMS Scholarship Woodwind Quintet! It was quite a day as we traveled to 4 different schools and performed a 30 minute concert at each. I had a lot of fun traveling, answering questions, and in one case, explaining what a bassoon was! One of my challenges was staying focused throughout the performances. It is especially hard to mentally because of nerves and playing the same piece over and over. I kept thinking I had it down and then, I would just skip over a couple of notes. It was tough remaining consistent. But we had 4 excellent concerts and I saw today as the other side of a possible musical career- performance!

Lord of the Flies

Today was an interesting experience. Mrs. Densmore was sick so I shadowed a substitute teacher. She had never substituted for a music class and I've only been doing this a week, so together we made a great pair! Well, it actually didn't go so badly and I did learn a very important lesson.

We started out by writing thank you cards to Junk 2 Funk. I went around and talked with the fourth graders, making sure they added what they learned or what their favorite part was. Then we had back-to-back 4th and 5th grade classes. They both followed the same schedule because of the sub plans. It was amazing how each class came in, recognized that Mrs. Densmore wasn't there and then almost started to panic. There was a lot of, "Where's Mrs. Densmore? Why isn't she here? What are we doing today?" The kids didn't like the fact that something had changed in their schedules. It immediately made them noisier and more disrespectful. It was difficult to make them settle down to talk about Memorial Day. I found myself intervening a lot more in discipline issues as the sub tried to teach. After the discussion, I helped the sub hand out tone chime sheets and helped the students get the proper tone chime. Then I led the singing side of the group. (My fear almost completely mastered! I was singing loud!) It was really hectic during transitions as we changed tone chimes each song. The kids would get loud and we lacked the rhythm Mrs. Densmore uses to keep the class focused. I realized that sometimes you have to push ahead to keep the class in the present.

Both of the classes finished with extra time so we played four corners. However, half way through one of the games, there was a heated argument about whether a girl was out or not. Although it was a minor detail, it was a quite the shouting match; I could really see the effects of a stressful environment. Coming into the classroom, the kids were disconcerted and then, when they didn't see the effective authority leader, they abandoned classroom rules. This put stress on all the other kids and they became frustrated with their other classmates. This showed when we kept having to wait for quiet to start the tone chime songs. Kids would turn to the louder ones and 'shhhh!' them loudly. I thought it was a good thing at first- the kids were 'policing' themselves so to speak. But then, I realized that the kids could only really be responsible for themselves because when they had to police their classmates, they lacked the disciplinary figure that they could rely on. By the end of class, it was apparent this high-stress environment was putting strain on the kids. I understand 'Lord of the Flies' better now. Younger students need structure. It makes them feel in control and therefore, they feel safe. Take that away and they suddenly become highly stressed, little monsters. And you could definitely see they didn't want to be badly behaved. It was the lack of structure that led to the outbursts. Maintaining structure- something to ponder for future teaching.

One great moment today- everyone was talking really loudly and I used the 'clap clap clap-clap clap' method to quiet them down. They all clapped in return and went completely silent. It was really cool to see them respect me and respond!

Rest, Reprieve, Relax

Today I got the day off because of conflicting time schedules. I did however do musical things like my own bassoon lesson. (The teacher becomes a student again!) I also went to a quintet rehearsal. Unfortunately, because of play rehearsal, I did not get to see the Junk 2 Funk concert. I'm sure I'll hear tomorrow that everything went superb! I'm excited to get back to regular classroom teaching tomorrow!

Junk 2 Funk!

Today was quite an interesting day! All of the classes were centered around the ‘Junk 2 Funk’ program, a percussion presentation with recycled materials. It was a later start this morning, which was a nice (if short) sleep-in. I started at 9:30 am and got to meet the instructor. Then it was one of those days where I just moved around to help out where I was needed. I felt a bit awkward at first, because I wasn’t sure what I should do and I didn’t have anything specific that needed to be worked on. It was a bit hectic because they only have two days to put on a concert. But I found my rhythm (no pun intended) and the rest of the day was a blast!
My first (self-directed) task this morning was to help out the dancers. The ‘Junk 2 Funk’ set-up is really neat. Each of the kids gets to play on a different drum- big water barrels, turned-over buckets, the ‘beast’ (a rack of pots, pans, and springs). All of them are really cool. There’s also a screen on which the dancers are silhouetted against. That also looked really cool and I helped come up with a routine. It was a way to keep the dancers interested while everyone else worked on the percussion part. (It also kept all the drummers from being distracted by the screen.) The kids were so cute! I even played a little bit of dress-up with them as they accessorized with brightly colored scarves. I was impressed with how well they remembered the routine and how they worked together to finish the ‘free style’ section. It was great to watch!
I also got to eat lunch in the faculty room today and that was a learning experience in itself! I sat with the teachers and got to hear their discussion. I heard the positives (a lot) and complaints (a few). It was a whole new perspective. I also realized though that really, a teacher never gets a true lunch break. As I walked through the halls, I saw many teachers having lunch with their class or aids supervising a directed lunch of one or two kids. I saw that the teachers all really cared about their kids and they didn’t care that they didn’t get a lunch break. The message was crystal clear- if I wanted to become a teacher, I had to love teaching kids and seeing their progression.
Although I won’t be in class tomorrow, I’ll hopefully get to see the Junk 2 Funk concert and my amazing dancers!