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.

Week 13

This week I started taking over more and more of my cooperating teacher classes. I am finding it hard to plan for general music lessons. And an even harder time getting my lessons to work. What I think will be fun and engaging isn't, and the concepts are either too hard or too easy. But I am working with my cooperating teacher and getting an idea of how to teach a general music class.

I have not had a lot of experience in general music, so instead of splitting my time between general music, band, and choir I decided to stay with my general music placement so that I can see more of it and hopefully start to learn how to run a general music class more smoothly as well as learning what a good general music class looks like.

This week's chapter is about social justice and the part that stuck out to me most was the part that said that all children have the right to an education. I feel strongly about this and started to think about my placement, the special needs students are included in the general music class and if they need their aid or individualized attention that aid goes with them to music and participates in the class with them, the main focus is for the student to receive the same music experience as the rest of their classmates. I think that this is so important in their schooling because some days those students have bad days and spend the day away from their classmates but when they come to music sometimes they enjoy it and they settle back into their day and turn their day around. The music class is a fun stress-free environment that every student should have a right too.

Week 12

This is my third week at my new placment and I am starting to get more comfor

Week 11

This was the second week of my second placement. Going into this general music placement I was worried about being good at general music, or if I was even going to like teaching k-4 since I have had my heart set on teaching band. I have to say I am really loving being in a general music class. The students are generally really excited to be in music class.

My day consists of for  K-3 we come up with fun musical games that teach the students musical concepts. There are games that involve movement that help teach students about tempo or major and minor. I feel like I am spending my day playing games with the students. They don't even care that they are learning. For example, we played a Halloween rhythm game that involved using a vibraslap and a glockenspiel and the students loved it, they even learned what a glissando was and how to play it on a glockenspiel. I am really amazed at how much music these students can learn and remember.

The 4th-grade class is putting on a show called "Compose Yourself" which teaches them all about the famous composers and their styles of music. The students sing a version of a Bach fugue which is really cool to hear 4th graders singing a fugue. They are learning about all of these famous composers in a show that they will put on for their families.

This week's chapter was about communication. This chapter comes at a good time because I had the chance to sit in on a meeting with all of the special teachers as they discussed the curriculum and how the program is doing. I will also get to sit in on parent-teacher conferences in a few weeks. The book talks a lot about getting to know your students by talking to their families. I will be interested to see what gets discussed in the conferences I see.

Week 10

This was a crazy week. It was the first week of my new placement in a general music classroom in Channahon Illinois. I haven't been to a general music class since I was doing my observations at Monmouth College. My new placement is kindergarten through 4th grade. After 4 weeks I am going to be student teaching at the jr. high with their band director. I am very excited to see so much of this district and be able to experience many different music classes.

I think I would have enjoyed the first week of my new placement if this was not the last week to work on EdTPA. I will admit that I was so stressed out that I could not enjoy my first week with my new placement. I can't wait to enjoy my second week with the grade schoolars without all the work I need to do on my EdTPA looming over me. 

Week 9

My last week at Manhattan Jr. High school went by way too quickly. I do not want to leave my students. It is so crazy to me that I became so attached to students that I knew I was going to be leaving in 9 weeks. I am so invested in what they are going to learn and how they were practicing and they started to see me as a real teacher and told me about their days and their lives at home.

Leaving on Friday was so hard, but I can not wait to meet my new class and try my hand at general music. I have an instrumental and a vocal background and studied both at Monmouth College so general music, with the singing programs, is going to be very fun and different, considering I am coming from 9 weeks of the band. I really enjoy elementary school students, because in music classes they are still so excited and want to be there. Basically, any new idea that you teach them they want to learn and it is new and something different from their traditional classes.

My cooperating teacher for my next placement has not had a student teacher in 18 years, not since she was a 1st-grade teacher. It will be interesting to see how she handles handing over her classroom to me. My last cooperating teacher and I had a good relationship and worked well together and I learned a lot. I can only hope that this cooperating teacher and I can have the same type of working relationship.

Week 8

This week was interesting week for me. It is really starting to hit me that I have to leave my students and go to a new placement soon. I am really going to miss the group of students that I have now. They are a great bunch of kids who are very excited about music.

I had my third observation this week and I actually had real sheet music to work with the band on, not just exercises out of their method book. I have been working with the symphonic band on a piece of music for Veterans Day, but I haven't had a chance to work with the concert band on music, we have just been working out of the book. The band started Christmas music, it seems a bit early but it really isn't a lot of time between now and Christmas to get the music ready, not with the random days off and breaks, and only meeting 4 times a week. It really stinks that I am helping the students with this concert music that I don't get to experience because of my placement change. I think that I am missing out on a major part of being a music teacher by missing the concert. Especially because I want to teach band.

I am going into my last week of student teaching at Manhattan Junior High, I can't believe how fast 8 weeks went by.