Week 14

This week was a tough week for me. All of the students were excited about the break and I was having a hard time at the end of the week with classroom management and keeping the class under control. I tried some things, but turning the lights off and sitting quietly works with the younger kids and not so much with my 4th graders. They responded to nothing I did. I think part of it was that they were supposed to have their show on Tuesday but there was a fire in the high school, while we were there having the dress rehearsal, so the show was pushed back to Thursday so the 4th-grade class was a bit hyper and distracted.

The 4th-grade show was called "Compose Yourself" and it was all about famous composers and their music. Seeing the kids put on the show was pretty awesome knowing that you helped them create and practice that and having it go so well on the day of the performance was an awesome feeling. The 4th graders were so proud of themselves and their families loved it.

This week my cooperating teacher was spending a lot of time planning her holiday lesson plans. While most of her plans center around a Christmas theme, I wondered if that was because she knows the district that she is teaching in. When planning the lessons with her I wanted to incorporate the Chinese tea dance and song from Tchaiskoski's "The Nutcracker" and we also talked about doing Hannakuh dance with each grade level.

Next week we have parent-teacher conferences on Monday. We are required to be there from 10am to 8pm and go between NB Galloway School and Pioneer Path. Between those two schools, we do not have a single parent signed up to meet with the music teacher for conferences. I understand why they are not meeting but what I don't understand is why we are required to be there 12 hours if no parent is coming to a conference. I am not sure what my cooperating teacher is going to want to do in all of that time. She said planning, but I don't know how we can plan for 12 hours straight.